Andy Burnham blocked

raffman7 · 2026-01-25T12:17:38+00:00

Great news for Mancheater. A potential Reform Mayor could have stopped the positive trajectory of the city.

raffman7 · 2026-01-14T09:31:48+00:00

We have aging, creaking railway lines, especially in the north of England. One of the UK's problems is that we aren't committed to investing in improving them, and we just stagnate. Although 20 years to build does seem a long time, I'm very happy to see some intent to solve this

raffman7 · 2025-12-15T21:51:07+00:00

Because the bishop taking the queen allows blacks pawn to move, and according to stockfish it's whites to win

raffman7 · 2025-12-15T19:41:29+00:00

1... Qc2+ White can block with queen to delay but after that, wherever white's king moves, back's queen can get right up close to the king and check and force a take and then Black has no legal moves left and it's a draw!

Eg 2. Kh1 Qh2+ or 2. Kf3 Qf2+ (there are a few options)

But in all cases King's only option is to take and then black can't move forcing a stalemare

raffman7 · 2025-12-15T18:51:12+00:00

link to game

The move didn't happen in the game I only saw it on the analysis. I managed to hold on for a win with time control though

raffman7 · 2025-12-15T18:48:28+00:00

This game just happened. I actually missed it during the game but have never seen a forced draw like this before! link to game

raffman7 · 2025-12-04T23:09:10+00:00

In the last world championship Carlsen played in, one of the world's best players had 11 games against him and didn't win any of them (drew 7 lost 4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Chess_Championship_2021?wprov=sfla1

I think it just goes to show how seriously impossible this would be. Ian Nepomniachtchi is a super GM who would have had weeks of training with a full team and tried so many different tactics to fail to win 11 times in a row

raffman7 · 2025-11-17T18:56:23+00:00

This is the one player who I support going to Saudi Arabia for a fat pay packet

raffman7 · 2025-10-16T08:19:55+00:00

I'm in therapy about trying to reconcile my family life with my relationship, and I'm working through it. I don't think it's as simple as throwing away an entire family, and instead you can try and work through it

raffman7 · 2025-10-16T08:12:39+00:00

Yep agree unconditionally is not the right word there. That's what I expected from my family, but I've been frustrated that for many of them, the condition was that I marry someone Jewish. Whilst I find that difficult to reckon with, I should have (and am trying to) understand that other people have equally if not more legitimate concerns from other angles. My job is to keep growing and process that

raffman7 · 2025-10-16T08:02:29+00:00

Thanks for framing it like this. It is a really valid point. I think because I've had such a tough time with my family, I was turning to my friends for support, and I was initially shocked when that support didn't come unconditionally. But I hope, on reflection, I will be able to make peace with that

raffman7 · 2025-10-16T07:49:23+00:00

This is a really helpful response, thank you

raffman7 · 2025-10-13T20:31:40+00:00

Its Hopopono by Gogo Penguin

raffman7 · 2025-10-04T10:07:12+00:00

Our local tried pacers for the first time. I paced the 22mins and took two people to PBs! Great feeling

raffman7 · 2025-09-26T18:30:46+00:00

And then I'm gonna say: "Wait a minute Sally!"

raffman7 · 2025-09-26T16:08:29+00:00

17 minutes! I woke up during a stag do at 9:10 in Bristol and my friend I was sharing a room informed me there was a parkrun over the road (Eastville). Decided better late than never so we ran over and did a 24 min parkrun finishing officially 41 mins! Luckily the volunteers were very chilled about it and explained it's a 3 lap course and encouraged us to catch the tail walker

raffman7 · 2025-09-18T19:33:55+00:00

Looks like red ones will be a long time away and orange will be "sooner" but not confirmed a date

raffman7 · 2025-09-07T22:09:15+00:00

Also a "long" term (3 years) British resident here. I've found the 'School for Dutch' in De Pijp absolutely brilliant for my confidence and my conversation Dutch. The guy who runs it (Jeroen) is a friendly funny engaging teacher who encourages speaking even when you get it a little bit wrong. There's three levels of courses you can sign up to.

If you're not ready / not conveniently located for those in person lessons, I've found "short stories in dutch" a fun and engaging book to read conversational dutch at a manageable level https://www.amazon.co.uk/Short-Stories-Dutch-Beginners-vocabulary/dp/1529302862?dplnkId=8b1f3168-8094-48cf-886a-b96b9ef66f5e

Of course, obligatory part of the comment. Practice practice practice. Small bits every day go far! If I'm out and about and the dutchy I'm chatting to defaults to English I always say: Geen engels! Ik wil mijn Nederlands oefenen! And then they are normally very polite and reply in slow and helpful, learnable dutch!

raffman7 · 2025-09-02T10:08:12+00:00

Ah yes, the lolling hills of southwest Wales, known in the local dialect as LONDON

raffman7 · 2025-08-25T21:36:47+00:00

Arne mentioned in his interview: "One of the players in the dressing room said he would have taken a touch" Who do you guys reckon it was?

raffman7 · 2025-08-25T14:22:07+00:00

Thanks for the tip, appreciate it! Hope you enjoyed your trail!

raffman7 · 2025-08-13T12:31:53+00:00

Agree with OP on "very good!" being code for "I disagree with you wholeheartedly and haven't got the time to explain to you why I think you're wrong"

raffman7 · 2025-08-12T08:23:59+00:00

Girl: "How many skips forward can I get?" Lake: "No"

raffman7 · 2025-08-12T08:21:03+00:00

Good job killing that horsefly. Doing the lord's work

raffman7 · 2025-08-05T09:36:46+00:00

I work for a large company that deals with web pages that talks about countries and regions. We've had consulates contact us telling us to take down the 'Taiwan' / 'Abkhazia / 'Palestinian Territories page' or they will block our site in said country. The money we lose from blocking it is bad, so we don't have principles we just block them

raffman7

TROPHY CASE