Young man at a desk by a window, hand on head in thought

By @DavidP · Apr 20, 2026

52 likes · 22 comments

QT: Chess My spin: the question every chess player asks ----------------------------------------------------- Some personal IRL story, maybe TMI I learned to play chess back in late 70s. Played in primary school, maybe a year into high school. Just the basics, a few simple tactics like fork and pin, and was never that good. Perhaps my desire was squashed by my younger brother. He learned at the same time and took to it like the proverbial duck. In our province and smaller city, Eastern Cape and Port Elizabeth, he became the strongest high school player, winning both primary and high school provincial titles, and one of the storngest national players. Best national place of 2nd. Fast forward 45 years and I resumed playing chess. I signed up on chess.com and have been playing what they call Daily Chess ever since. Daily Chess is like old school correspondence, in that you have 3 days to make your move. That suits me as it gives time to think, and best supports learning and pursuit of mastery by not having time pressure of a realtime game. I did it for fun and to have a shared interest with my brother. He lives in Brazil and we video call weekly. With his chess coaching I have improved way beyond the player I was in those school days. My personal best rating is now 1561. Of course that is a positive outlier, having broken 1500 in Oct '25. Will I break 1600 - I think in time I may. ----------------------------------------------------- https://budgetpixel.com/p/26430

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A focused individual sits at a home office, gazing into the distance while resting his head in frustration. The laptop screen displays a chessboard, suggesting online chess practice or problem solving, with a coffee cup nearby and a sunny garden view outside the window. This image conveys study stress, concentration, and the pursuit of strategic thinking in a casual, productive setting.

Comments (22)

@DavidP · Apr 20, 2026
I have never played blitz. I don't think it is good for learning. Even 10 with say 15s increment is not good for me. I am not yet good enough for those formats, sufficiently well drilled in my thought protocols. Daily is great cause you have time to think carefully and avoid many dumb blunders. So games are better quality - at least that's my theory
@DavidP · Apr 20, 2026
I guess good is a relative term. I don't think I am good but I compare to my brother. But I can expect many would look at me and think I was good - friends I have played with whom I beat pretty much every time. But my brother looks at people who are maybe titled or almost titled and considers himself not good.
@germancowboy · Apr 20, 2026
Never thought of that of these long term games; I started out with the 10 minute games, as I thought Blitz was too fast for me, ended up playing nothing else but 5 min. Blitz. Maybe I'll look into that ...
@DavidP · Apr 20, 2026
Cool. What is convenient about Daily Chess is the 3 day window to make a move allows it to fit well into a busy daily routine.
@DavidP · Apr 20, 2026
Join if you have time and inclination --- @antares @aqualemonade @archangeltara @base451121 @Belinda @Biscuit @CaylaCatz @charlypalermo @Cheinia @ChildNerd @chris70 @Colossus @dirty_biker @dovonko @elkanthe @elysian @EternaSky @fantasydesignink @germancowboy @gman @gummiefish @Hephzibah @Hiths @humtum8182 @IndoAIArtist @justrob @King @mim86 @nametaker @NickWolf @NielsCarlsen @notyourcleo @PabloArtStation @panos @paulie @pocahontas @Sealine @SkarletFever @southamericanmyth @strixowl-47 @standartis @strixowl-47 @suga2309 @TheBard @thedreamcatcher @To4kawa @TTRPG_Player @To4kawa @Troxley @Unleashed @winter_witch @yzsy --- let me know if you don't want to be tagged
@germancowboy · Apr 20, 2026
Great. That was me, when I still had time playing on lichess, but on the phone.
@EternaSky · Apr 20, 2026
Well typically screen would be more of a top down view. Not a real world situation look
@panos · Apr 20, 2026
I am absolutely sure I am one of those people who would find you VERY good 😁
@panos · Apr 20, 2026
Never was good at chess and so I only dabbled in it superficialy
@DavidP · Apr 20, 2026
🤣 maybe so but still not very good in my eyes