13 Comments
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Kerim Demirkol's avatar

a very insightful article - thank you.

Junta Ikeda's avatar

Thanks for reading.

Cristian Martín's avatar

Very useful article, thanks. And you've quoted one of my favorites books ever!

Junta Ikeda's avatar

Thanks for reading, hope it helps your chess.

I had a bit of a Kundera phase in 2015, reading 4 of his books then! Immortality (rated 4/5) was my next favourite after Unbearable Lightness of Being (5/5), did you read that one too?

Cristian Martín's avatar

I've read almost all of his books. Unbearable... was my first one.

Cristian Martín's avatar

By the way, applying what you explain, I won 3 games in a row. Thanks again!

Junta Ikeda's avatar

That's awesome to hear, you're welcome!

Andy Lee's avatar

I thought decision #2, about whether or not to castle, was very interesting. As I glanced at the position I strongly wanted to castle because that's the one move that I know I'm going to have to play sooner or later - and I like to avoid tactical accidents. But there are definitely exceptions to the "castle first, think later" rule, and if I'd thought about the position for 3-5 minutes I very possibly would have picked Nd7 instead. But in blitz, always 0-0!

Junta Ikeda's avatar

Probably ...O-O was fine there too objectively, maybe with White's pawn on g2 castling would feel even more automatic, but with g4 on the board ...Nd7 just felt more interesting with more dynamic possibilities!

I've been burned too many times trying to be smart and delay castling and definitely most of the time, it's usually not wrong to just castle. But we must squeeze the maximum where we can...

Jim Taylor's avatar

Simple and clear! Chess already feels easier. I love the Kundera quote. Live life in naked awareness.

Junta Ikeda's avatar

Glad you found it worthwhile Jim, and always happy to hear the quote was appreciated (couldn't find the perfect one and this Kundera one from Immortality I quite enjoyed was the best I could find from my quotes library!)

Raúl's avatar

Excelente entrada! De mucha utilidad y bastante inédita (por lo menos para mi). Muy práctica. Ya empecéd a tratar de aplicarla en una partida que estoy analizando. Ojalá se cumplan todos tus deseos. Éxitos.

PD. También me gusto mucho la anterior entrada: "Lo que el diálogo interno dice sobre tu ajedrez"

Junta Ikeda's avatar

Glad you found it useful, and hope it helps your chess! (would love to hear how it went if you use it in a game)

Thanks for reading my posts