All Night Bullet Party Firouzja vs Nepo FIDE Candidates (2022) Round 11

 

No way I would have found the best move at the pause the video moment. Ian didn't play it, but he probably could have found it if he spent the time on the move. This has been a great tournament for Ian, it looks like he might win it for a second time in a row.

Awaken From My Slumber Caruana vs Ding FIDE Candidates (2022) Round 11

 

I wouldn't have been able to find the right move at the pause the video moment. I have to work on my endgames.

Ding Wins Material Daily Chess Puzzle

I got this puzzle right away, that was the only move I saw that did anything.

Content Machine Makes Content Nakamura vs Firouzja FIDE Candidates (2022) Round 10

What a great win by Hikaru! I didn't make the right move at the pause the video moment, it's such a wild position.

Candidate Highlight: Alireza's Forced Mate Daily Chess Puzzle

This is a really cool checkmate. White is down material, so I figured everything need to check Black's king. 

"Infinite in Mystery is the Gift of the Goddess" Ding vs Duda FIDE Candidates (2022) Round 9

The pause the video moment is crazy, there's no way I would have saw that move. At least I was thinking the same one Duda played.

Candidates Rest Day: Happy Birthday, Anish! Daily Chess Puzzle

This took me several tries. Happy birthday Anish!

Meme of the day June 26

Meme of the day June 25

Meme of the day June 24

Magnus Carlsen: "Be a F*cking Shark!" Nakamura vs Nepo FIDE Candidates (2022) Round 5

I thought about the strongest move at the pause the video moment, but I wondered what that was even going to accomplish so I moved a different piece. Going for the draw was definitely the right move for both men.

Meme of the day June 22

Meme of the day June 21

Immortal Inspiration Daily Chess Puzzle

This one was really easy because I recently watched several recaps of Adolf Anderssen's Immortal Game. The ending is incredible and he found a great sacrifice to get checkmate.

Meme of the day June 20

Reading Tactical Signals Daily Chess Puzzle

This took me a minute to get. There's an important pin you have to see to get the right move.

Greetings From Stockfish! Firouzja vs Nakamura FIDE Candidates (2022)

I've noticed analyzing my games and playing puzzles that I'm not good at finding when I need to sacrifice a piece. This game was fantastic, I'm looking forward to seeing what else happens in The Candidates Tournament.

Spidey-Sense Malfunctioning?? Ding vs Rapport FIDE Candidates (2022)

I'm not as good as Ding, so it's pretty wild to players my level he didn't see the capture he needed to make at the pause the video moment.

Calculate Like Bondarevsky Daily Chess Puzzle

This position is a lot to take in. I needed a hint on the third move, I'd never see or play that in a game at my current level.

Firouzja's Fireworks Daily Chess Puzzle

This one didn't take me long, there's only two good moves for White and only one that leads to checkmate.

Meme of the day June 17

Svidler Blows Out the Candles Daily Chess Puzzle

I got this one pretty quick, I just looked to keep the attack on The King going.

Meme of the day June 16

Aronian's Fingerprints Daily Chess Puzzle 6/16/2022

The first move I tried was Rd8+ but that's wrong. I had to watch the video Keti Tsatsalashvili's on the puzzle to help me understand it.

Meme of the day June 15

It's Lonely at the Top Daily Chess Puzzel

It took me a few tries to get this. You have to see a combination of moves and just make sure to attack what's important.

I'm going to leave Kotzebue

I feel I’ve stayed in Kotzebue for all these years because that was the safe option. Just find work, make money and hangout on my off time playing video games. I’m not going to talk down to people who do that and enjoy it, but I can’t help but feel there must be more to life.

 

I’ve always wanted things, I’ve spent plenty of money on art, video games, movies, books. While before I got excited getting something new, now I found myself empty now not getting enjoyment from this. Before I thought it might be depression, maybe there was some of that, but buying things that’ll end up collecting dust isn’t fulfilling. I’ve simply shifted to getting things that I’m going to spend time with and enjoy. I’m looking at all these things and think that I’d be just as happy without most of it.

 

Now that I’m past 30 I’m asking myself what I’m doing in Kotzebue. At this point it’s not my plan to become a hunter or do anything that’s special here. It’d be one thing if I planned on living a substance lifestyle, but am I really going to go all in on something like that at this point? When I’m 40 maybe? I just don’t see it happening. I like going to the theater, I’d like to participate in a Chess tournament, and it’d be great to go out and have something to do. In Kotzebue someone living a substance lifestyle would have no problem with that, as there’s always work to do, but where does that leave me?

 

In Kotzebue I found myself in state of stasis, and that’d be fine except for the fact that I’m not getting any younger. I don’t want to insult anyone, but to be honest I don’t know about my friends. Most of them have no direction in life, kind of where I’ve been as well. I hate to say it but if those are the people, I’m hanging out with than that’s where I’m going to continue to stay. Moving won’t guarantee that I’m going to meet amazing driven people, but I think I need at least a reset, a fresh start.

 

When I talk to people about moving, I always get asked about work. The fact is there is more working opportunities out there than ever before, I’m not worried about work. And after my brother Tom’s death in April, I think I need to put less of a priority on work. It’s not that I’m going to just quit working at all, for over a decade I’ve prioritized work, never saying no to anything and making work the most important thing in my life. Now I look at what I been doing and wonder what it’s gotten me. I’ve been unhappy, I haven’t been in any sort of relationship, and the only interesting things I’ve accomplished have been mostly worked related. What’s that really doing for me? Working is great, contributing to society is great, but I’ve keep forgetting about the most important thing in The World, myself.

 

I was at another funeral last week, and Pastor Robert Sheldon made a point that one day we’re all going to die. He also pointed out that we have no clue when it’s going to happen; I certainly didn’t expect my brother to die before he made it to 50. While I’m not a religious person he’s certainly right, what am I doing with my life? I’m getting older every second, closer to death, but I’m not living like it. I think it’s time to figure out what I want to do, and work at accomplishing that. Yes, I need money so I’m going to work again, but that’s not going to be my priority. A great example of this was I used to wake up to go to work; now my plan is to work out after I wake up. I’m getting out of bed to accomplish the things I want to do, not for a job.

Meme of the day June 14

Onward! Daily Chess Puzzle 6/14/2022

I got this one pretty easy. The first move you want to make is a fork.

https://www.chess.com/daily-chess-puzzle/2022-06-14

Early Special Election results

Leading right now with 32,371 votes, 29.77%, is former governor and onetime Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

In second place with 20,994 votes, 19.31%, is executive chairman of FarShore Partners and grandson of former Representative Nick Begich, Nick Begich III.

In third with 13,563 votes, 12.47%, is orthopedic surgeon, commercial fisherman, and former candidate for Senate Al Gross.

Right now, in 4th place with 8,101, 7.45%, is former State Representative Mary Peltola. People are predicting North Pole city councilman Santa Claus, right now at 4,864 votes, 4.47%, can pull ahead and make it onto the ballot for the special election in August.

ElectionSummaryReportRPT (alaska.gov)

Fallout 76 Was Made With Abusive Crunch

The first time I played Fallout 3 I was amazed by the game. I had a lot more fun playing Fallout 3 and New Vegas than The Grand Theft Auto games. Fallout was an exciting world that demanded to be explored but with caution, as the world was filled with mutated monsters twisted by exposure to radiation and mercenaries out to make a buck. I still remember what shocked discovering John Henry Eden was a computer, or the fun I had running around in New Vegas.

 

I had fun with Fallout 4, but I really grew tired of being told some settlement was under attack. Fallout 4 did nothing to really improve the game, in fact with the lame new dialog tree I thought the game was a step backwards for the series. I told one of my friends that while I enjoy the series Fallout that the games didn’t have great gameplay. Look at a game like The Outer Worlds as an example of where the series could have gone in terms of gameplay. Not only was The Outer Worlds set in an interesting universe, had a great story, but also was fun to play.

 

Then there’s the total failure that is Fallout 76. Hopefully this game hasn’t ended a series that I loved, but we must ask ourselves if we really expect much better from Bethesda the next time around. For years we’ve given them a pass on the bugs in their games because we really enjoyed them, but obviously they had gone too far in Fallout 76. Even without most of the game breaking bugs what fun is there to be had in the game? As much as I complain about Call of Duty the core gameplay is good, that’s not the case when it comes to Fallout. We’ve seen what happens when you take Fallout 4 and make it an online game. It was a real mess.

 

Now we’ve learned that this is all due to bad management. Bethesda wanted to maximize profits and I suppose making a quality product doesn’t fit that equation. I’ve said on the last Top of The World podcast that this is going to continue being a huge problem in the video game industry. Huge AAA titles like Fallout 76, Cyberpunk 2077, Battlefield 2042, and more titles to come are coming out broken. I understand the industry isn’t the game as it was 2 decades ago now that games can be fixed with updates, but I think this has led to the problem with new titles today.

 

Management has grown lazy, instead of doing the work to see what the developers need to finish a game, they’re having them crunch so they can make as much money as possible. Without a union or the means of production the workers are just being taken advantage of, and the result has been terrible video games. And are they really making more money releasing games far too early? They still must pay the developers to work on fixing their broken games. What is the long-term strategy here?

 

This has ruined the reputation of Bethesda and after 76 I’m not really interested in whatever Fallout game comes out next. Is Microsoft going to clean house or is Bethesda management going to stay the same? I don’t think Bethesda has the same love from the community like they used to. Even if they can make another title as good as Skyrim are people really going to put up with bugs like they used to? I think people would have put up with it if games like Fallout 76 wasn’t released in the state it was in.

We’re going to continue to get terrible broken video games if we have management in companies like Bethesda putting pressure on their employees to crunch. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they could have tried to and done a terrible job. If management at companies like Bethesda continue to fail like that I say we need to give the workers a chance.

Meme of the day June 13

Jordan Peterson Is Under Attack By Thick Women

Peterson got ratioed on Twitter and left the platform because he's outraged a thick woman is on a magazine cover.

I announced my departure from Twitter recently. I will still post now and then through a staff intermediary (so I won't be tempted to read comments, etc.) and my staff will still post clips and relevant information about my tours and other public activities.

— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) May 25, 2022

 

If that woman wouldn't have sold magazines, she wouldn't have been on the cover. Why does he have to pretend these things are being forced on him? I think Peterson should take some advice from George Carlin here and ignore these things that offend him so much.

Meme of the day June 12

Top of The World Episode 21 The Summer Game Fest Begins

This week on the podcast Justin and I talk about The AEW World Title situation, WWE Hell In A Cell, and Summer Game Fest.

Meme of the day June 10

Accounts are starting to dissappear on Truth Social

Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker review

 

My favorite film when I was a child was The Empire Strikes Back. The first Star Wars film was kind of a bore and Return of The Jedi didn’t capture my imagination in the same way. When I got Shadows of The Empire on The Nintendo 64, I played the heck out of it, replying several of the missions just for the pure joy of it. The Prequal Trilogy happened, and I thought those films were fine.

 

My father, who banned me from watching The Empire Strikes Back every day, remarked how I fell asleep watching The Phantom Menace. My feelings on these films have changed throughout the years. At first, I thought they were fine, but by the time I had gotten into watching films that aired on TCM I began to think they were bad. A few years ago, I gave these films another rewatch and concluded that they’re a mixed bag. I think what helped me get to this point is seeing terrible movies, like Plan 9 From Outer Space for example. While The Prequal Trilogy has terrible writing, I don’t find them boring and there’s plenty of interesting ideas.

 

I was excited for The Force Awakens and I felt that was a film I needed to see in theater. While I certainly enjoyed the film, I was annoyed that the filmmakers decided to use an old plot device of the bad guys having the ability to destroy planets. It didn’t help that to get myself ready for the film that I watched all the 6 prior entries before it. If you did a marathon of these films the problem of the bad guys having and using a planet destroying weapon would be part of the main story in A New Hope, Return of The Jedi and The Force Awakens. And that’s skipping over feature films like Rouge One.

 

I’m not saying you can never do a Death Star, but there’s a lot more to Star Wars than that. Honestly The Force Awakens made me appreciate The Prequal Trilogy, even though they’re not the greatest films George Lucas wanted to do something different. This being different is what I appreciate about The Last Jedi. While The Last Jedi is far from a perfect film it presents something different for the audience.

 

It’s strange that a kid would have been barred from watching The Empire Strikes Back every day, only for him to grow up and not even care to watch this supposed last entry of The Skywalker Saga until 3 years after it came out. Part of the problem was Disney’s attempt to keep pumping out Star Wars films like The MCU does, but without the quality. This new film has all the old characters we loved, but gives us no reason to care. It’s great to see Lando again but to do nothing? I guess thanks for stopping by. To have a good film you need more than the good will built up in the pervious films from decades ago.

 

The greatest example of leaning heavily on what fans like from the past is bringing back Emperor Palpatine. He clearly died in Return of The Jedi and bringing him back though some convoluted cloning process didn’t work. A main issue with this film is there’s no consequences to anything, so much so to that this film ruins the older films. Why should Darth Vader’s redemption mean anything if he didn’t actually kill Palpatine? Heck in The Last Jedi Kylo Ren destroyed his helmet and that ended up being on a starship that was destroyed, but just like Palpatine the helmet came back… but why?

 

I tried to like this film, there’s certainly cool moments. When Rey was exploring The Death Star, I thought it was such a cool scene. The lightsaber battle that followed with those gigantic waves was a fun idea. As stupid as it was a cavalry boarding a Star Destroyer was awesome. It all falls apart though when the filmmakers not only did nothing to make us care, but they also really sucked the tension out of everything. CP30 sacrificing his memory to help his friends should have been a huge moment in the franchise, on the level of Spock sacrificing his life to save his friends in the second Star Trek film. But I guess the fans had to be sent home happy do R2D2 gave him his memory back. This also happened Rey, Kylo Ren, Chewbacca, and even more characters that I don’t even remember. If there’s no stakes at all why should I care?

 

I gave the film a 3/10. It’s not a total wash but it’s not something I’m interested in seeing again. I’d be sad at the untapped potential of Star Wars, but we are getting the new shows on Disney+. While these might never be as good as the original trilogy, I think they’re a lot of fun. Honestly out of all the films Disney has made I wish Solo would have done better and something like that would have been a good direction for Star Wars. While not perfect the film is fun while exploring parts of The Star Wars Universe we hadn’t seen. Thankfully now we’re getting the TV shows for that.

Meme of the day June 9

Meme of the day June 5

Meme of the day June 4

Top of The World Episode 20 Shocker, Even More Mass Shootings

This week on the podcast Justin tells us about the AEW pay per view, we talk about mass shootings, and what's going on with The Green Party of Alaska.

Meme of the day June 3

Meme of the day June 2