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Bold move by Dan

@boldmovebydan.bsky.social

960 followers 360 following 1.8K posts

Dan Bock from Durham, NC. Three-time chess podcast guest. 114th best chess player in North Carolina. I have a Substack called the Chess Improvement Lab. Web and mobile app developer, runner and dad in my spare time.

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Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 1d

Well, you know how cautious they are about making permanent changes

Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 1d

Chess tip: don’t bother developing your pieces. Just attack.

Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 2d

Think of all the sexual assaulters Elon Musk hasn’t endorsed!

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Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 2d

It’s not a lot?

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Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 3d

Be6 Kd8 Qd7

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Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 3d

g5 Kh5 Rh3

Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 3d

Amtrak

Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 3d

Older kid: constant whining and appeals of our “must be 13 to ride in the front seat” rule and endless comparisons to her friends’ parents’ rules

Younger kid: turned 13, still wants to ride in the back like a VIP being driven around by her chauffeur

Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 4d

It’s 2021. I have a random thought about chess. I post it on Twitter, because that’s where everyone is.

It’s 2025. I have a random thought about chess. I post it on X, Bluesky, Substack Notes, and a half dozen Discords and group texts, because that’s where everyone is.

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Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 4d

That’s correct, Bc1-g5-f4-c1 variation.

Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 5d

Guess the opening

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Reposted by Bold move by Dan

Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · Jul 23

It's Halloween. I am taking my kids trick or treating. So far I have seen eight couples dressed as the couple from the Coldplay concert and six dads dressed as Azel Chua

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Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 6d

Took me a minute but I figured out why the previous move cannot be Nb5-a7 or Nc8-a7. Thinking backwards is hard.

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Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 7d

Ng3 fxg3 Re2 blocking the queen

Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 7d

Qh8 Rxh8 Re6

Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 8d

I have no idea how black is supposed to play in these Keres Attack type middlegames except sit back and hope white screws it up

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Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 8d

Qf1 Kd2 Qe2

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Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 9d

Didn’t the legislature make it illegal for him to sue the Trump administration?

Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 10d

Good example of why checks/captures/threats is a dubious calculating technique. Are you going to look at every check, capture and threat, on every ply, for both sides, on every line you calculate? Or are you just going to be aware of the diagonal leading to your king.

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Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 10d

A Taylor Swift song is playing in the hotel lobby. “This is the one where she says ‘checkmate, I couldn’t lose,’ I say to myself. I am wrong. It is a different song. This symbolizes all the chess games where I mistakenly thought I had a winning position but didn’t. In this essay I will

Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 12d

ALTO. I wasn’t sure what it would feel like to be at a chess tournament in Charlotte this weekend, but it’s good to be here with everyone.

Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 12d

First two rounds at ALTO. I played an IM and a 2100, both Catalans, and had the same story: White gets an advantage out of the opening, goes on to win a pawn, and grinds out a win in the endgame. Luckily I had the white side in one of these games!

Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 14d

In December I wrote a blog post called “Vladimir Kramnik is the most boring person in the chess world” and then stopped thinking about him entirely, which felt like the right thing to do at the time. Now I’m not so sure. Ignoring problems doesn’t make them go away.

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Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 15d

I think AI chatbots would have a better reputation if, instead of being 80% right on factual questions, they just refused to answer them. You’d be like “who was president of the United States in 1954” and it would just say “ERROR: factual question detected. Please try again.”

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Bold move by Dan @boldmovebydan.bsky.social · 15d

Good news, I asked ChatGPT if it can help with NFL officiating, and it said yes.

Andrew Siciliano @andrewsiciliano.bsky.social · 15d

Roger Goodell says the NFL is looking into how AI can help officiating in the future.

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