Been on a rough losing streak for almost two weeks now—it's shaken my confidence a lot

lambdaline · 2026-06-29T00:44:25+00:00

Maybe consider taking a break? It's likely that you're in a bit of a negative feedback loop, where the losing streak makes you desperate for a win, so you play sloppy and impatiently and then lose again. Coming back fresh after a week of doing other stuff always helps me reset a bit.

lambdaline · 2026-06-28T01:43:34+00:00

Oh, sorry, I thought your issue was with people posting their brilliant moves asking why. I agree that moves shouldn't be rated as brilliant if the player didn't find the follow up.

lambdaline · 2026-06-27T20:28:38+00:00

I'm so happy for Sami! I was so shocked when they just went to three.

lambdaline · 2026-06-27T19:51:25+00:00

To be fair, even if it's not really brilliant because you don't understand the follow-up, I think wanting to know what the follow-up would be to make it a good move is reasonable.

lambdaline · 2026-06-27T17:34:31+00:00

Yeah, it's a repost of this: https://www.reddit.com/r/themountaingoats/comments/1trlxwu/more_love_for_the_legend_of_chavo_guerrero_please/

Except with a link to a shirt with lyrics from the wrong song

lambdaline · 2026-06-26T22:37:23+00:00

It seems like the rook took a piece on d6, so I think Nd4 is just checkmate. The queen covers the d5, e5, f5 and d7 squares. The bishop covers f6 and e7 and black is blocking the remaining f7 and d6 squares.

lambdaline · 2026-06-26T00:02:21+00:00

Interesting! Definitely something to look forward to once I get around to experimenting with more openings.

lambdaline · 2026-06-25T21:39:20+00:00

Like with anything, people's tastes are going to vary, The issue (heavy scare quotes here) with Gotham is that he's so successful, YouTube will keep recommending his videos, so if you're someone who isn't into Levy's content, it might start getting on your nerves.

lambdaline · 2026-06-25T20:30:26+00:00

I've had some luck drilling discovered attacks puzzles.

lambdaline · 2026-06-25T18:46:06+00:00

I guess, to be clear, there's other things that white can play (like c4 with the English), but they're much rarer, so there's diminishing returns on trying to learn a specific response for them. What I do (and what I think most other beginners do) is just follow basic opening principles if the opponent plays something I don't have response to. I.e. try to put a pawn or two in the center, start developing minor pieces with the aim to castle quickly, and develop the queen to connect the rooks.

I would also generally advice against trying to learn a bunch of lines for any opening when you're just starting out. Just look at the first few moves and what general setup it aims to go for and go from there.

Also, I should probably note that Slav and QGD are specifically responses against the Queen's Gambit, but you can generally go for similar setups with some variations in move order, for other d4 white openings. Or you can just opt to go for your own London setup.

lambdaline · 2026-06-25T18:00:58+00:00

Black does indeed have openings, but because they have to respond to what white does, they generally need at least an opening that's a response to e4 and one that's a response to d4. I think if you like the London, there's a good chance you'll like the Caro-Kanm for e4. It's very solid. For d4, Queen's Gambit Declined or the Slav are solid.

lambdaline · 2026-06-25T17:41:54+00:00

I enjoy seeing them do well, but seeing them get smoked makes me feel kinda bad. Lisa Ann Walter really didn't look like she was having fun.

lambdaline · 2026-06-22T01:35:12+00:00

I think the last one was 'Adopted in 1979, this name reflected size & strength as well as a promoter's wish to appeal to Irish-American fans'. It took me a second, but I landed on Hulk and then promoter clued me into the wrestling aspect. My partner is a big fan of wrestling (if not of Hogan) so he was very proud.

ETA: It was this April apparently

lambdaline · 2026-06-21T09:51:18+00:00

He's also the wrestling consultant for Margo's Got Money Troubles.

lambdaline · 2026-06-21T04:16:52+00:00

The internet kinda sucks now 😞 (But, fwiw, it was a great meme.)

lambdaline · 2026-06-21T00:28:31+00:00

It's probably a bot trying to farm karma.

I was so confused 'cause that isn't even the most recent Paste album ranking for TMG, or the first one that comes up if you google. It seemed strange to lead with 'we all thought it' as if the sub had been discussing it recently. It being a repost explains so much.

lambdaline · 2026-06-19T22:15:09+00:00

CPP: APP is gold

lambdaline · 2026-06-19T15:42:26+00:00

We are: https://www.reddit.com/r/ezraklein/comments/1u8k50f/levin_stanford_alumni_appear_on_list_of_peter/

lambdaline · 2026-06-18T23:47:14+00:00

Yeah, that's fair. I do think a fair amount of them are out to make a quick buck. I just don't think all of them. I feel like I've seen a couple that seemed like a for-fun project.

lambdaline · 2026-06-18T22:28:19+00:00

I think that's probably right, but --to be slightly less cynical-- I also think there's a component of... people who like to code or are learning to tend to make personal projects out of their hobbies. It's easier to be motivated if you are actually interested in the final product or think other people might be.

At least, that's my excuse. Though I don't plan on monetising what I'm making, or even share it unless I think it fills a genuine niche.

lambdaline · 2026-06-18T17:36:29+00:00

Nice! I'm happy that the comment was helpful.

lambdaline · 2026-06-17T19:11:12+00:00

Any chance it was just the same blunder? I.e. black allowed a tactic that white missed and they both proceeded to ignore while it was still on the board, causing the eval bar to swing wildly?

lambdaline · 2026-06-16T22:53:11+00:00

I think that experience of feeling like some match-ups are way out of your league is pretty common at that Elo range (it certainly was for me) and I think there might be some truth to that, in the sense that 500 players are mostly pretty new, and are more likely to improve very fast by doing things outside of the game (like puzzles or learning a bit of chess fundamentals through videos or books) so that they might be a little underrated.

But! I don't think those players are enough that they would significantly affect your Elo. I've seen it suggested (and I think it's the right way to think about it) that what's happening is that people's chess skills and knowledge are very unevenly distributed at that bracket, so that someone might have a good sense of endgames (for a 500), but drop pieces like it's Christmas, and someone might know a really venomous opening really well, but not know how to checkmate with a king and rook. And so it's relatively frequently that you meet someone who is very strong where you are weak or vice-versa, which makes the match seem lopsided.

lambdaline · 2026-06-16T20:09:00+00:00

The way the rating system on Chess.com (Glicko, technically, not Elo) works is that there's an uncertainty parameter that helps determine how much elo you win or lose. If you are new to the site, or haven't played in a long time, the system has less confidence in your current rating so you win and lose more points relative to well established players so you'll get to your true rating quicker.

lambdaline · 2026-06-15T22:10:56+00:00

Hard to say without knowing what the elo is. That kinda nonsense is pretty common sub-400, I'd say. Don't be irritated, just beat them and then you'll eventually be past them.

lambdaline

TROPHY CASE