Category: Journal

Day two!

It was a slow day today, I was down with a slight fever, had to take a medical leave from work and thus were unable to do much on chess.

I did teach, though. Had a class and, seeing that I am a dedicated coach, did not cancelled and went on to teach.

💓Why do I love chess?

I find joy in learning the small, minute differences that will only become apparent in a long run. The most famous example is the explanation/calculation/flexing done by the ex-World Champion, Garry Kasparov.

Kasparov – Karpov, Lyons 1990

In this famous game, Kasparov, in the heat of the attack, suddenly tucked his king away to h2 on his 31st move. This “tempo-losing” move was explained by him in the famous “Kasparov mind-boggling calculation” video circulating on Youtube. He simply said that “now knight can go because my rook is hanging without check”.

Why this is baffling? Because normal player like me would “unpin” my heavy artillery by simply moving them. Not Kasparov, though. He move his king instead so that the pinned piece can move and the opponent can capture the piece behind it without a check.

The famous Youtube video can be reached here.

The accuracy? 93%, according to modern engine.

Superbly high, but not as high as Rapport’s game against Pragg.

⚒️What I worked on today

Didn’t had time to analyze a grandmaster’s game (the ones above were from my memory), but I did managed to do my puzzles and focused on my accuracy.

“🤖20–30 min: 2-3 tactical puzzles at slow pace (focus on accuracy). Use Woodpecker-style repetition if a theme repeats.”

That is what was suggested by ChatGPT. I hope I got it right!

Gonna get some shut eyes – will continue to work on my chess and muster up what little motivation I can get to improve.

The player that takes risks may lose, the player that doesn’t always loses. – Savielly Tartakower.

ChatGPT suggested for me to journal “Why do I love chess?” Seeing that I have this old blog at my disposal, I might as well use this to journal them.

💓Why do I love chess?

One of the reason is that it is one of the escape I had from the real world when I was a young lad.

Due to situation in the family (nothing negative, I’m just too lazy to include them here), I usually spent my time alone in my home from after school until around 8pm/9pm. The chess board was my company, apart from the books and occasional video games.

I prefer the board.

⚒️What I worked on today

🐴Revised on how to checkmate using a bishop and a knight against a lone king.

Can’t believe that I forgot the method; and I was more baffled when I realize that I am able to pick it up in less than 5 minutes.

I guess I… still got it? 😅

📚Studied a Grandmaster’s game

The game I chose was Praggnanandha – Rapport, UzChess Cup Master, 2025.

They played the …a6 variations of the King’s Indian Defense, Sämisch Variation. I remembered having the note to this variation, courtesy of one of my coaches, NM Dan from the UK.

The idea? Simply to give up a pawn on b5 and loosen white’s central grip.

The way Rapport attacks, ignoring materials, is superbly stunning. I can feel the funny glittery feelings when I was studying the game – is that what “inspired” feels like? lul

And check out the accuracy:

If this was played on Lichess or Chesscom, Rapport would be… rapported, for cheating. (see what I did there?)

I guess that’s just about it. I hope I have the energy and time to continue this journaling thingie tomorrow.