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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 6th, 2023

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  • Not really --the reason being that no-one would play this who is experienced at the game, and I’ll do my best to explain why:

    1. Black’s bishops are incredibly passive. If you’re going to sit back and let white take the centre, generally you’re going to stick the bishops on the long diagonal so you have long-term compensation (as in e.g. the King’s Indian). On the long diagonal (a1-h8 or a8-h1), the bishop is always going to apply pressure to the centre, and once the centre opens control a lot of key squares.

    Compare that to black’s bishops here. Which squares are they looking at? Not ones you particularly care about. You are completely free to carry on developing, then play e4, clamping down on the centre.

    1. Black’s knights are doing nothing. You may have heard the phrase ‘a knight on the rim is dim’. Black’s knight on h7 is doing not very much, while yours are controlling key central squares (the one on d2 prepares e4).

    2. Pawn structure. Generally in an opening like the King’s Indian, black prepares pawn moves like e5, c5 or f5 to strike back at white’s centre, and when the centre opens their great pieces (like a fianchettoed bishop or active Knights) can take advantage. Your opponent doesn’t have any pieces geared towards making these pawn breaks useful. e5 loses a pawn, d5 opens up your dark squared bishop, c5 can be ignored and allows you to apply pressure to the weak d6 pawn.

    The bottom line is: black has wasted a lot of their time, and you are developed and ready to crack their position. In terms of how to press an advantage, many people overbalance and try to push too hard. The best way to punish passive play is to finish developing (Qe2, and put the rooks on d1 and e1), then pick a side to attack on, and gear yourself towards pushing pawns, and manoeuvring your pieces to support those breaks. Your opponent is hoping you overextend and collapse; don’t give them the satisfaction. Good luck!














  • History podcasts I like:

    Revolutions. Well known; Mike Duncan goes through various revolutions through history in an excellent, detailed narrative.

    American History Too!: two academics from the university of Glasgow have various guests on to discuss different topics from American history. They know their stuff and are really charismatic.

    In Our Time: BBC podcast that’s been going since the early 2000s. A panel of academics are interviewed and discuss a topic on which they are all experts. Incredibly well researched and interesting, though not especially humorous.




  • It’s also just commonly done in UK newspapers. Age and familial status is always given. Terry Pratchett made a joke about it in one of his books, though I can’t remember the quote.

    Edit: found one (not exactly the gag I wanted but CBA to look further)

    ‘Exc–’ he began. But the citizen’s eyes had already detected the notebook. ‘I saw it all,’ he said. ‘Did you?’ ‘It was a ter-ri-ble scene,’ said the man, at dictation speed. ‘But the watch-man made a deathdefying plunge to res-cue the old lady and he de-serves a med-al.’ ‘Really?’ said William, scribbling fast. ‘And you are–’ ‘Sa-muel Arblaster (43), stonemason, of The Scours,’ said the man. ‘I saw it too,’ said a woman next to him, urgently. ‘Mrs Florrie Perry, blonde mother of three, from Dolly Sisters. It was a scene of car-nage.’