Peter Svidler

very brief bit as it turns out

evergreen

Today has been a great three days of Test cricket. #Ashes 🏏

I recently read the lathe of heaven (and then listened to @aptshadow.bsky.social & @emmanewman.bsky.social discuss it on their pod), and it occurres to me that Stokes is George Orr, but without the buddhist inhibitions - and, thankfully, so far content to bend only cricket realities to his will.

steve smith, you scored 17 on your specialist subject, "getting hit by jofra archer"

i'm going to get a lot of mileage out of this in the next couple of months

just an absolutely ridiculous cricketer (laudatory)

i'm going to have to wake up at 5 for a bit, aren't i #ashes

Black poodle snoozing on a brown sofa, bent into a ridiculous shape, with paws up on the back of the sofa. there's a molar visible in his mouth

toothy goofball <3

screenshot of a post from X by the Mirriam-Webster account. Their tweet says Words step up when numbers fail. They are retweeting a post from @david_arid that reads: There was a computer flitch at the end of tonight's Nuggets game that erased all the players' stats, which led to this fantastic screengrab from the post-game show. Then there is a blurry picture from a men's basketball game and the chyron says: Time Hardaway Jr. Stats are down but he played great."

I need "Stats are down but he played great" to make it into the lexicon.

black standard poodle lying curled up on a brown sofa

this is a large hedgehog but it still counts

Whomst among us hasn't felt a little vacuum about snackie all done

fab

I'll be honest with you, i only know it from the amis book. you've just given me a reading assignment i guess, and those are always welcome

how the hell did i manage not to watch any of that test at all. moronic inferno

it's on me but holy cow this was NOT the week to finally decide to play adios. excellent game, doc @docseuss.bsky.social but yeah, not right now would have been wiser

Clear out toys now!

Love being reminded to do this every year. It's a win/win all round

I still think this is a strong contender for the funniest video ever uploaded. Absolutely unbeatable comedic rhythm

this is where i expected the original thread to go. can't say I'm disappointed by what emerged instead, but still..

this one appears to be a) extra long and b) aimed at more or less me exactly. if you're curious about the intersection of text, dialogue, and plot in gamedev - this is great stuff

the navy sea copypasta but it’s in the zohran text

I’m so sorry

99% certain it's the stalemate, the race is trivial to assess from any distance at any non-bullet tc

chess diagram White: Kf3, Bg2, pp a3 b3 Black: Kf6, pp a4 b5 g3 h2

chess diagram White: Kf3, Bg2, pp a3 b4 Black: Ke5, pp a4 b5 g3 h2

chess diagram White: Ke3, Be4, pp a3 b3 Black: Ke5, pp a4 b5 g3 h2

and one last finesse: if after ke4 kf6 kf3 black tries a4 (diag1) white has to make two only moves in a row: b4! Ke5 (diag 2) ke3!, shouldering the black king away. The plan then is to achieve the position on the third diagram with black to move, and then white gets to play kf4, take on g3, and win

chess diagram White: Kf3, Bg2, pp a3 b3 Black: Ke5, pp a5 b5 g3 h2

After ke4 kf6 kf3 ke5, you can still go wrong by playing kxg3, which would allow a4!, and after bx bx kxh2 kd4 bc6 kc3 bxa4 kb2 black is suddenly safe! Instead, it's time to ensure the bishop will protect the all-important a pawn by playing a4 ourselves, and then we can finally start collecting

chess diagram White: Kf4, Bh1, pp b3 Black: Kh3, pp g3 b4

.. instead of playing a4, ensuring that the pawn ending is winning since white can just head over towards the b4 pawn now and happily give up the bishop for the one on g3. However, there is still some care required:

chess diagram White: Ke5, Bg2, pp a3 b3 Black: Kh2, pp a5 b5 g3 h2

However, none of this needed to happen - a few moves prior to that fateful resignation, Titus could have won completely drama-free by not playing a4. the same trick won't work anymore because the king on g1 won't be stalemated, and if black plays b4 themselves white will trade..

... with white to move they can't free up the bishop, they can only pass the move over to black with bf1 kg1 bh3 (ba6 kh2! - but not g2 kg3! - is also a draw) kh2 bg2, reaching our diagram again, but now with black to play - but then after kg1! kxg3 is a stalemate

chess diagram White: Kf3, Bg2, pp a4 b3 Black: Kh2, pp a5 b4 g3

finally remembered i wanted to expand this a bit. by now, i assume we all know that instead of resigning, wesley could have waited for the king to get to f4 or f3, and then played h1q bxh1 kh3, resulting in this position, which is a draw regardless of whose move it is

Say what you like about ‘Sadiq Khan’s no-go hellscape’ – Britain’s cities prove the rightwing agitators wrong | Jonathan Liew To rightwing populists, places of fluidity and freedom will always be the enemy, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Liew

on cities

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

FIDE World Cup 2025: Pragg, Vidit & Nodirbek Face Risk Of Upsets! Will They Survive? Rd 2 Tiebreaks YouTube video by chess24

magnus is currently commentating the world cup tiebreaks, by the way

hard to overstate just how good that is to watch if you're at all interested in chess

www.youtube.com/live/NAaIig3...