Dan @BishopPair Twitter profile | Pikagi

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Dan

@BishopPair

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1,012

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| oxford philosophy dphil student | chess national master | 23 | 🇸🇪 | 🌱 |

Oxford, England

https://t.co/Wyk17Dxrhk

Joined January 2020

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 years

Met two people at Uppsala chess club yesterday who asked if I wanted to go to a bar with them. I was like sure, but 5 mins later they were like “by the way, we’re on a date”. Never thought I’d experience “we saw you across the CHESS CLUB and really liked your vibe”

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@BishopPair

Dan

4 months

Man I can’t wait for Gukesh - Abdusattorov 2026

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 years

Solidarity. I hope he’s safe. Of course he’s one out of 40 million, but sometimes we need to think of an individual to comprehend that scale

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

My girlfriend: “Babe, no one else thinks that philosopher academics on Twitter are cool” It hurts the most from the people you love

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 years

Staying up late at searching “are orgasms mental states” and “do orgasms have representational content” instead of actually getting laid does feel like a low point

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

The h-pawn survives more than any non-king piece on the board! The e-pawn… not as lucky

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@samidma92

Samantha Mendoza

3 years

Don't let them treat you like an "h" pawn when obviously you are an "e" pawn. Love yourself (and #chess )

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 months

Chess players, how’s this going for you?

@EdLatimore

Ed Latimore

3 months

Something a lot of men don't like to admit: All of your hobbies and ambitions are to attract women. Nature doesn't care how much personal fulfillment you get from them. Those things are cool, but they're a coincidental positive externality to the prime objective: To keep the

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@BishopPair

Dan

7 months

After 6+ hours of grinding down my 2400 opponent, what move did I play here?

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@BishopPair

Dan

4 months

Magnus claimed he’s fed up with classical because of the amount of prep required to even get a game. I think this candidates is casting doubt on that reasoning. New ideas are extremely cheap at the moment!

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@BishopPair

Dan

4 months

Anyone noticed the huge increase in gorgeous opening preparation compared to a decade ago? Short thread on how modern engines make finding these ideas so much easier (1/x)

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@BishopPair

Dan

1 year

You won’t believe which line he’s complaining about having to memorise

@ctjlewis

Lewis

1 year

final verdict on chess: mistakenly thought this was a creative activity, but the skill is purely in memorizing opening lines. effectively just The Line Memorization Game all chess players straight to jail

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 years

Starting to get PhD applications together but am also beginning to understand that academia might not be the healthiest place for me. But I don't know what else to do! Anyone have suggestions for decent jobs that i) pay better than a funded PhD and ii) are also less stressful?

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

Merry Christmas to everyone except people who play the French

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@BishopPair

Dan

1 year

Been here 4 years, first time doing the pilgrimage

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

Analytic philosophy has broken me. Just had the urge to taxonomise different kinds of shitposts to understand how to tweet better

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

A friend of mine sent me this meme and I feel very attacked

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

"Chess is good for your mental health" - guy who almost never loses at chess

@FIDE_chess

International Chess Federation

3 years

"Chess for me is a game I can never quit, I believe. When you learn chess - it's finished, you should go all the way. Even if you're not a professional, you will think about chess every day. It's a very nice game and very good for mental health" - Alireza Firouzja, Candidate 2022

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@BishopPair

Dan

16 days

@turnabouttess @alexandrabotez @itsandreabotez @chesscom @imjenyu @akaNemsko @julesgambit ok tess in fairness you did write "reminded me how much I hate these people" in the original tweet, which was one of my caveats

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 months

I’m only able to write productively between midnight and 4am, but this is obviously bad. I’ve been trying to change this for at least 3 years and so far have failed. Does anyone have solutions?

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

Just got admitted to the Master’s Programme in Logic at Amsterdam!! So happy :)

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@BishopPair

Dan

4 months

Just realised that new players use "take" and "kill" synonymously in chess, but "to kill the bishop" means something completely different than "to take the bishop" for people fluent in chess-speak

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

I’m now an NM!

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@BishopPair

Dan

1 year

Some news: very excited to say I'll be starting a DPhil in philosophy at Oxford this autumn, with a Parfit Scholarship from @GPIOxford !

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 months

Wonder what Ding Liren’s true strength is rn. 2550? Lower?

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@BishopPair

Dan

8 months

You have 10 seconds to decide how to recapture on e6. King or pawn? Why?

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 years

I really hope Niemann is innocent and has just broken Magnus. I've still not seen any good reason to think he's cheating tbh, it seems whipped up by the Magnus tweet and Hikaru's stream

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@BishopPair

Dan

7 months

Just drew 4-4 in an OTB blitz match vs 8-year-old Bodhana Sivanandan. Something tells me this might be the best I ever do against her

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@BishopPair

Dan

16 days

She absolutely delivered on this and then keeps adding fuel to the fire. Incredible posting talent, best chess twitter has seen

@turnabouttess

tess

18 days

should i make a thread that i will inevitably regret because the take is perhaps a little too hot? i am slightly worried this one could get me in hot water. vote now on ur phones

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

I’m considering doing the unthinkable: learning the Grunfeld

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@BishopPair

Dan

1 year

I won the brilliancy prize in this year's Cambridge - Oxford match! Tricked my opponent out of his favoured Caro and into a French, which resulted in a nice miniature.

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

An anecdote about targeted preparation in chess: I was playing in Hastings 19/20 and was drawn with white against a 1950. I looked up his games and found he had a really irritating black opening repertoire. (1/x)

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

I just love Rapport. Shits on all the classical principals and then somehow manages to conjure up this weird harmony anyway. Feels like witchcraft

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@BishopPair

Dan

1 year

The varsity match is probably the closest any actual chess tournament gets to the vibe of the queen’s gambit

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 months

Decent setup

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@BishopPair

Dan

4 months

@chessfeels Niemann wins the candidates and then abdicates his world championship match spot without explanation

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 years

Well I clearly don’t know how to assess myself because I got a FIRST WITH DISTINCTION AND CAME FIRST IN THE YEAR

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

Haul!

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

I hate how attached chess has got to crypto recently. Sad to see big names using our game to promote something so anti-environmental. Also the crypto community is even more cringe than the chess community, which is saying something. Don’t sink lower!

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

Firouzja is just out of this world. I feel like I’m watching some kind of Fischer/Kasparov hybrid. World championship is a matter of when, not if.

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@BishopPair

Dan

22 days

On the current reading discourse: in our “intro to Oxford teaching” seminar we were told to assign more reading than the students could feasibly do 👀

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 years

First classical games in about a year went pretty well! Drew with the current British champion and then with a 2550 GM :)

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@BishopPair

Dan

7 months

Playing Abdusattorov OTB must be terrifying. He’s perfected the “you’re fucked and I know it” stare

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 years

My controversial chess opinion is that smart opening study is probably the most efficient way to improve for most people

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

“Superhuman” gets thrown around a lot in sports, but I’ve never seen a time where it can be used as aptly as today. I’ve played 6 hour chess games and invariably come out physically and mentally broken. 8 hours at a sustained 2800+ level in a world championship… 🤯

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@BishopPair

Dan

1 year

I got a PhD offer from Stanford and am visiting at the start of April! Do I have any mutuals in that part of the world? What are the must-sees while I'm there?

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 months

… could it happen

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 months

It can work

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@BishopPair

Dan

1 month

Tenerife over, with a solid result putting me above 2250 for the first time. The march to FM continues!

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

Chess opening tier list based on my perception of people who play them: (1/n)

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 months

Had my viva today, so first year of PhD essentially done. Quite proud of myself because the burnout that had been threatening to hit for two years finally came in January, but I dealt with it pretty healthily and recovered in time to produce a writing sample. Small victories!

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 years

Name a stronger negative correlation than that between: i) Chess strength ii) Interest in chess boards

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@BishopPair

Dan

4 months

Chess is just so rich it’s crazy. I was looking at the Berlin and stumbled across this 6.a4!? in the Re1 line. (1/3)

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 years

The King’s Indian and the Queen’s Gambit

@AlbertoPupo84

Alberto Pupo

2 years

Who are they? Wrong answers only.

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@BishopPair

Dan

1 month

I played an 8-year-old Turkish kid in round 1 and for the rest of the tournament he’d come to look at my game and smile at me. And now after the tournament he got his dad to ask if he could take a picture with me! I feel so blessed!

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 years

Thread: the 5 most popular opening positions at master level that have NEVER been reached by players rated below 1000

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@BishopPair

Dan

1 year

@rindwince @ctjlewis Neither of you understands chess at all lmao

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@BishopPair

Dan

24 days

@IglesiasYosha @chesscom @jakepaul Not that it matters but I also suspect he might be the least talented chess player of all time

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 years

The perfect tinder opening line doesn’t exi-

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@BishopPair

Dan

8 months

@JDHamkins “The person whose articles everyone has read has not read anyone’s articles.” Not possible, since they must have read one of their own articles.

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 years

@lularobs Am a bit hurt that he feels resigning is better than playing the KID

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 years

I'll be resuming chess coaching once my exams are over next month. Chess twitter knows me by now, but I'm an NM, former British U15 Champion, with a creative attacking style. Have been coaching for 5+ years. Will have plenty of slots, so let me know if interested!

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@BishopPair

Dan

4 months

My friend and Oxford teammate Tom O’Gorman made his 2nd IM Norm yesterday! How did he finish off this crucial game from the penultimate round with black?

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@BishopPair

Dan

1 month

I have such double standards for openings. When I find a line in the Scotch that the engine gives +0.01 I'm like "white is better", but when it says a KID line for black is +0.67 I just say "ahhh there are only three REAL evaluations in chess, God would probably say it's drawn"

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

I forgot about this Petrosian move, and opening My Great Predecessors to this page has given me the same feeling as hearing an old favourite song!

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@BishopPair

Dan

1 year

This is why I’ve pivoted to (checks notes) doing a PhD in analytic philosophy

@RuxandraTeslo

Ruxandra Teslo 🧬

1 year

I can’t imagine a more efficient way to waste smart people’s talent than encouraging them to become competitive chess players

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

Would there be any interest if I ran a group online class on the basics of the Sicilian or the King’s Indian? I would split my hourly rate (£25) between whoever attends so could end up being pretty affordable. These are my ‘specialist subjects’ in chess! Let me know if so :)

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@BishopPair

Dan

7 months

Pain.

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@BishopPair

Dan

7 months

Fuck it, I want to make FM this year

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

Reading over my shoulder she’s now said the chess side is worse; it was good while it lasted

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 years

Online cheating - the most serious of which occurred at the age of 12 (!) - and cheating OTB are completely different kettles of fish. If I was a PR manager the defence I’d opt for is to tell the truth, which I think is what Hans is doing.

@ChessProblem

MrDodgy

2 years

i'm just saying if i was a PR manager, i would opt for a more robust defence than "my client simply would NEVER cheat for the THIRD time"

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 months

One of the better chess tournament venues I’ve seen

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@BishopPair

Dan

25 days

Just had an idea that was too obvious to be original. So I googled all the related key words and, sure enough, the first result is a paper by my supervisor putting the insight better than I ever would be able to. I’m in the right place :)

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

Just gained over 150 rating points in bullet to avoid doing my uni work

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@BishopPair

Dan

4 months

Gukesh deserves this. Hope he holds out against Hikaru tomorrow.

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@BishopPair

Dan

4 months

Some photos from the varsity match! (Credit @johnchess )

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

The worst kind of graph

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

5 things I can talk about for 30 minutes without any preparation: - King’s Indian, Mar del Plata Variation - King’s Indian, Saemisch Variation - King’s Indian, Fianchetto Variation - King’s Indian, Petrosian Variation - Why you shouldn’t play the French

@rohn_jawls

rohn jawls

3 years

5 things I can talk about for 30 minutes without any preparation: - Rawlsianism and technology - Anabaptist history - AI vulnerabilities - Qing dynasty China - Science fiction

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@BishopPair

Dan

5 months

I think chess might genuinely be the only thing I will find endlessly interesting. Which is weird since I’m paid to do philosophy, which has infinitely broader scope - and yet, idk, it’s not as cool as chess

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 months

Sacrificing the exchange

@11kmrn

lil piss baby

3 months

what hobbies can a 25 year old have other than the gym and drinking?

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@BishopPair

Dan

1 year

Dissertation viva (and with it my 4 years at Cambridge) done!

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 years

Have been regretting not committing fully to chess when I was younger. I understand that path has a whole host of different challenges, but I can’t help but feel that I’ll never be truly excellent at anything, when I did have the opportunity to be.

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@BishopPair

Dan

4 months

Very nearly got completely crushed by a 11- or 12-year-old girl in a rapid game; apologetically flagged her in a dead lost ending. She’s played ONE tournament. These kids are scary

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@BishopPair

Dan

4 months

Lei with perhaps the most delicious prep of either tournament my god that is disgusting

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@BishopPair

Dan

6 months

We won the British uni championships! Oxford and Cambridge both on 8/9 with 27.5 game points, but Oxford take it on head to head

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

(Apologies for a shameless plug) Just in case anyone was interested, I’m available for chess lessons. I’m 2205 fide with a few years of tutoring experience, including someone who went on to be a British junior champion. DM if interested!

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@BishopPair

Dan

4 months

Finished Southend Masters on 4.5/9, which felt pretty good against 8 higher-rated opponents and one Indian kid!

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@BishopPair

Dan

4 months

Seriously considering putting a fair bit of money on Humpy and Muzychuk at these odds. What am I missing? Seems like insane pricing

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@BishopPair

Dan

1 year

@rindwince @ctjlewis Chess is much more down to pattern recognition than calculation. No chess player learns ‘algorithms’. You learn to evaluate positions based on feeling and heuristics, which is then supplemented by calculation

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@BishopPair

Dan

1 year

Currently at a 100% acceptance rate to UK PhD programs and a 0% acceptance rate to US ones, was I THAT British in my application?!

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@BishopPair

Dan

11 months

I’m actually offended that my opponent let this happen in a KID

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@BishopPair

Dan

4 months

Like seriously, name any opening and give me 90 minutes of clicking time, I’ll find a sound idea with some bite that’s never been played at top level before. And I’m only 2200!

@BishopPair

Dan

4 months

Magnus claimed he’s fed up with classical because of the amount of prep required to even get a game. I think this candidates is casting doubt on that reasoning. New ideas are extremely cheap at the moment!

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

The lesson is: targeted preparation can win you games! Don’t always choose the best line, or even the line you like most. Choose the one that will upset your opponent! (6/6) Here’s the game:

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@BishopPair

Dan

6 months

I have been told I’m hot because of my chess, but what’s even better is being told, begrudgingly, that you’re hot DESPITE your chess

@b3broad

Hannah ♟

6 months

I played a bunch of chess with this girl last night and she kept telling me how hot she thinks it is that I’m “good at chess” (I put this in quotes because I’m totally not that good but ok) and lemme tell ya being told youre hot specifically because of chess never gets old.

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 years

Our top board has sadly fallen ill so I’ve now been moved up to board 3 (!) in the Cambridge - Oxford match tomorrow. Feeling nervous but sooo ready to play my first classical game since February 2020!

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@BishopPair

Dan

5 months

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@FPallopides

Francesca Pallopides

5 months

"I had a normal life until x came along..." What's your x?

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@BishopPair

Dan

4 months

@SurenVynn Killing a piece is to severely or permanently restrict its movement. Here’s an extreme and classic example - white’s bishop on g3 will never be able to leave the g3-h2-g1 squares without sacrificing at least a pawn. The bishop has been killed, but not taken.

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@BishopPair

Dan

3 months

I’ve played a lot of classical chess recently and have been happy with my performance - feels like I’ve gone up a level. Even better though is that my mistakes seem to be falling into two main categories: (1/2)

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@BishopPair

Dan

2 years

‘Elite Amateur’: Ding Liren has never had a brilliant game Ding Liren:

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@goldenbeer0

goldenbeer

2 years

@PHChess What’s special about a player who didn’t play the entire last year and never had a brilliant game? Just because he sat on his rating? Given his attitude, even if he was getting a wildcard he may do not play there.

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@BishopPair

Dan

1 year

Gf looks a bit too happy about it. Must be an Augustine fan

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@BishopPair

Dan

1 year

Can we have a Berlin draw please? I’m not sure I can take more of this

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