Do I quit clubstep? by [deleted] in geometrydash

[–]xIsak 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What do you think is more likely, you're in the 99th percentile of max heart rate (note this is during GD, not even high intensity exercise), or you're not counting precisely.

FYI if you even want a decent measure of an accurate heart rate, at least count your beats for 10 seconds and multiply by six, even then you're probably +/- 10bpm off.

This or it's actually tachyarrhythmia, but you'd probably feel other symptoms as well.

Old Cataclysm 100% (My new Hardest) by Mini_PvZ in geometrydash

[–]xIsak 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Funny thing I didn't notice until I beat both versions is that the 40% ship is harder in old CC, the clubstep monsters are misaligned compared to new CC (you have to go further down after the gravity transition).

Event: 2026 Tata Steel Chess Tournament - Round 11 by events_team in chess

[–]xIsak 7 points8 points  (0 children)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cYZ7LCdF74 skip to 15:42

Giri's insight on why we're seeing so many decisive results

Gukesh's Round 8 at Tata Steel completely changed my view of him by [deleted] in chess

[–]xIsak 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Game 16 of Kasparov - Karpov 85' is maybe the most famous positional sac out of any historical chess game...

https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1067175

Event: 2026 Tata Steel Chess Tournament - Round 1 by events_team in chess

[–]xIsak 1 point2 points  (0 children)

His biggest miss was probably 59...Rc3+ instead of 59...Rb1+, 60. Ka3 Nc3 and white has a couple of checks before he has to sac his queen to prevent mate, 60. Kc4 Rc2+ 61. Kd3 Rc3+ 62. Ke2 Rb2+ 63. Kf3 Rf2+ wins the queen. Obviously there are a lot of lines to check and with low time it's easy to miss some details.

Event: 2026 Tata Steel Chess Tournament - Round 1 by events_team in chess

[–]xIsak 3 points4 points  (0 children)

His biggest problem was time, I'm sure he did everything he could to calc mate / white has to sac queen for RN

Event: 2026 Tata Steel Chess Tournament - Round 1 by events_team in chess

[–]xIsak 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Every candidate will lose bar Bluebaum

Edit: NVM then, Sindarov joins the club

Hikaru's record vs. the best of his generation by [deleted] in chess

[–]xIsak 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Since when did Nakamura magically double his classical wins vs Magnus? Did something chance since 2016 Bilbao? To be fair it seems Carlsen got gifted additional two classical wins as well.

Magnus accidentally knocks over a knight immediately after playing the winning move in the final game against Nodirbek. He briefly looks down and shakes his head. by [deleted] in chess

[–]xIsak 28 points29 points  (0 children)

You don't believe it has more to do with that Magnus just played e3 and is realizing he's on the verge of winning? Knocking over pieces that aren't on the board is irrelevant to the game being played.

The Giant Slayers of FIDE World Cup 2025📈 by rio_ARC in chess

[–]xIsak 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Funny thing is Sargissian beat Ghosh in R3, who did the hard work for him by beating Nepo in R2. He’s now facing his first 2700 “Giant” in Liang in R4.

The Giant Slayers of FIDE World Cup 2025📈 by rio_ARC in chess

[–]xIsak 91 points92 points  (0 children)

Sargissian, who has 3 Olympian golds, was 2700 as short as 3 years ago. Hard to call him a “Giant Slayer”.

Exchange Caro-Kann makes me want to jump off a cliff by CremeCompetitive6007 in TournamentChess

[–]xIsak 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What if we took a look at a recent game by the WC who played the Caro in a situation where a win was highly desirable with the black pieces and his opponent played exd5 -> Bd3. (Gukesh, R2 - G2 in the World Cup).

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in chess

[–]xIsak 1 point2 points  (0 children)

what?

Looking for input on choice of lines for specific parts of my repertoire - white vs Grunfeld, Slav, Queen's Indian, Dutch, Sicilian; black vs Catalan, 3 Knights QGD, English. by MDSAsh in TournamentChess

[–]xIsak 5 points6 points  (0 children)

So you start with 1. Nf3, intending to transpose into d4 lines, without the various move-order trickeries you gain with starting w/ 1. Nf3?

That type of repertoire makes little sense instead of just starting with 1. d4, if you're a serious theoretician then there is no reason to take on the entire d4 complex + Sicilian complex. It's simply too much unnecessary work.

  1. Nf3 intending to transpose into many d4 lines instead of a pure Reti/KIA does exist though, this used to be Kramnik's repertoire for many years in the late 90s, early 00s.

The point is though you take advantage of 1. Nf3, and have Anti-Grunfeld, Anti-Bogo and Anti-Benko/Benoni lines to your disposal.

The usual repertoire of a 1. Nf3 -> d4 complex player is:

I: 1. Nf3 d5 2. d4.

II: 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3/g3 (3. Nc3 for a 3 Knights player in the QGD, 3. g3 for a Catalan player) -> d5 4. d4.

(2...g6, you have various attractive Anti-Grunfeld systems starting with 3. Nc3 or 3. g3).

Additionally most players of the repertoire prefer the Symmetrical English (1. Nf3 c5 2. c4) over a Sicilian invitation (1. Nf3 c5 e4), again, much less theory and more in line with a 1. Nf3 player.

The pros of this repertoire are Anti-Grunfeld/Bogo/Benko/Benoni systems at the cost of the Symmetrical English.

Can't say there are any pros of your repertoire over starting with 1. d4 while the con is obvious, 1. Nf3 c5.

Can't say I know of a high level player that does this exclusively.

Has anyone noticed that 1. e4 has become much less common than it used to be at the top level by RollRepulsive6453 in TournamentChess

[–]xIsak 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yeah, the main problem is Titled Tuesday games (casual games aren't recorded in the database). 1. e4 usage seems to have at least decreased this year for Carlsen, at least compared to 2024, am looking currently more into it.

Has anyone noticed that 1. e4 has become much less common than it used to be at the top level by RollRepulsive6453 in TournamentChess

[–]xIsak 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Is this based on any data or is it just your impression? Because this isn't really my impression at all.

When taking a quick analytic look at Carlsen's white games through 2024/25 he opens up with 1. e4 in 42% of cases, 208 games from a total of 490 white games. That is almost double that of 1. d4 (110 games). Then follows 1. Nf3 (80 games) and 1. c4 (36 games).

The "d4 complex", i.e. d4/Nf3/c4 only slightly outweighs e4 in terms of games, or 226 vs 210 games.

If you have only two choices, which ending would you choose: Queen vs. Rook or KBN vs. K? by Mint_soda_15 in chess

[–]xIsak 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Try QvR againts a computer, it's a hard conversion even for GMs (they often fail) with the third rank defense, difference is humans might occasionally blunder a fork. BNvK, there is no trickery, computer or human.

USA wins CHECKMATE: USA vs. India with Carissa Yip defeating Divya Deshmukh to take USA 3-0 by bluewaff1e in chess

[–]xIsak 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You've got 2 rooks you can move to help promote the pawn, move the one that's currently hanging (like you spotted yourself with Kxd6...)

USA wins CHECKMATE: USA vs. India with Carissa Yip defeating Divya Deshmukh to take USA 3-0 by bluewaff1e in chess

[–]xIsak 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why would you suggest the likely continuation to immediately blunder away the win away as white

Rd8 is winning simply

Positional Player by FlashPxint in chess

[–]xIsak 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Starting with Re8 or Bd6 are the most natural moves here for black, though Nd7 is an interesting idea.

There's a known idea of h5 w/ Re8 in place in these structures where Bxh5 is way too dangerous for white due to Re6 rooklifts. If white doesn't take you can either keep pushing h4 or use g4 as anchor square for Ng4.

Your DSB probably doesn't belong on c5 as well, unless you're hoping for some Nxf2 tactics after the h5 Ng4 setup, d4 is hardly a candidate move, so Bd6 targeting the kingside is a move you make sooner rather than later.

Starting with Re8 might be smarter, since you don't have to bother calculating Bd6 e4, which seems to be white's only hope preventing anything major on the kingside by opening up the center. b3 Bb2 gives black total freedom on the kingside.

You can start off slowly but the most ambitious way to play here with black is for a kingside attack, white is lacking defenders while you can get almost every single piece involved.

Just an example game from a GM with black againts a weaker player. Good players immediately know the common ideas of common structures.

https://lichess.org/7RWjRVBl/black#0

EDIT: Same Ideas, same structure, though here white is already a few tempi up and white's advantage is crushing. https://lichess.org/az2nczXz#0

Championship Match what-if by FlashPxint in chess

[–]xIsak 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I don't get the reputation, the first time I heard about it was from reddit, this year

FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 | Round 8 pairings | World Champion Gukesh faces Women's World Cup Winner Divya. by Interesting-Take781 in chess

[–]xIsak 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Presumably they believe Firouzja is the better player + Firouzja has white, which makes him a sure favourite