Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026Before-and-after procedural painterly texture baking and shaders I did for a project. The actual effect does NOT run in real time, but it bakes pretty fast and can let you process hundreds of textures in just hours. 010
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 23/09/2026I blundered mate in 1 in games I was winning twice today, but at least I won this endgame that had six pawns vs my four without any passed pawns all because of the endgame pawn theory I've been studying. 010
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 22/09/2026This was their only real mistake. I didn't do the most-optimal path apparently but the most optimal trade removes one more piece from the board (not winning the piece, just one more trade) and I think that bakes in your advantage a bit more, but I was happy with how it went. 010
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 22/09/2026I try to play 3 games a day so I get a good volume of practice but sometimes you play a game so good against a strong opponent that you just close the book. Genuinely my opponent only really made one true error and otherwise played a very challenging game, so I felt very proud of this chess game. 100
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 21/09/2026POV: you didn't mentally resign despite blundering a whole piece and applied endgame pawn theory that you literally just learned and end up with two queens and a victory. 130
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 18/09/2026The reaper came a callin' for me after my winning streak haha 130
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026My streak is over, I lost my next two games LOL. I straight blundered my queen in one and just played poorly in the next one. I'm honestly relieved, the streak was stressing me out 120
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026This is a somewhat-classic chess puzzle solution, and I did set up conditions here so they'd be favorable to me, but they weren't forced to fall for it. It looks like a queen trade, but you can do a check with your rook that the king MUST take, which attracts them away from guarding the queen. 110
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 16/09/2026This was one of the best games I'd played when it came to just really strong back and forth, it was an incredibly even game for most of it. A couple of blunders back and forth that kept us more or less even. I finally got to use a genuine puzzle tactic in it however to win a queen! 110
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 15/09/2026I've been thin on games for the past week while I work on some important stuff that needs my attention, but I'm currently on a six game win streak on chesscom and just beat my strongest opponent yet by rating, though their play was actually not that great imo. 120
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 12/09/2026This is my third day in a row of only playing one chess game out of my normal quota, because how do I top another game-ending brilliant move led with a rook sacrifice that ended with me being up 2 pawns and a piece? 120
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Another day of only playing one game because this was probably one of my best tactical games yet (despite me hanging my queen for a turn oops). Despite a one-turn fuckup that my opponent didn't notice and a mouse slip another turn, I was utterly dominant. 120
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 10/09/2026This is a type of player I call "me push pawn" because they forgo development in order to make bad pawn walls, and I usually find them easy to beat, but I blundered pretty badly and at one point was down 7 points of material, but my piece coordination was too good and got my first pawn checkmate. 110
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 08/09/2026This was my most notable game, I think, where I managed to fuck up the Fantasy variation of the Caro-Kann and had to really get creative with my pieces and take advantage of a gnarly pin to leverage some advantage back, and then my opponent blundered. 110
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 08/09/20263 for 3 today in my chess games so I cashed out instead of doing my fourth on Lichess, I know when to quit! 131
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 06/09/2026I quit my daily chess games early today. I won my first game (hard-fought) and then my next opponent resigned after three moves because I played my replies extremely quickly and they got scared 😂 120
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 05/09/2026This is the sort of game I'm talking about, just messy and sloppy because I blundered in the opening. I had to resort to a check to pin the queen to the king, and even after all that I was still down material because it cost me a rook and a bishop to get a queen after having lost a knight for free. 120
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 05/09/2026Anyway here's a chess game I won that I had no business winning, but my opponent didn't respect the threat that I was posing. I blundered terribly in this game but they made one mistake and it cost them. 120
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 05/09/2026I know human beings are inherently illogical about understanding numbers because I myself am purely lizard-brained before I gutcheck myself. 100
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 31/08/2026Calcifer is too smart for his own good, he got my ass. 3133
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 30/08/2026Sharing not because it was some amazing victory of mine (opponent gave up a knight for free for some reason) but because this was my first game of chess where I got to use a proper greek gift strategy. 120
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 27/08/2026I try to play so many rated games a day on Lichess or Chesscom but this was my first game of the day and I'm done for a while, I know when to cash my chips out. 120
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 27/08/2026sent this screenshot mid game to a friend of mine just saying "I hope that pawn was worth it" LOL. 010
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 27/08/2026Won more games than I lost today in Chess and have a rating growth chart that looks like this and yet I'm unsatisfied with my performance lol. 120
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 25/08/2026This is my tutor report for the last month on lichess. I score quite highly compared to my peers in all but one category, and it's the ability to come back from a losing position. I'm not really sure how to even target that deficiency, but I feel like if I could, I'd improve heavily. 000
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 22/08/2026Playing my spouse in chess and they open with this and I'm like "do not recite the old magic to me, witch!" 040
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 20/08/2026I'm trying out the Caro-Kann defense as I'm starting to find main line Scandinavian too difficult at my level. This is only my second Caro game ever and phew, PHEW, utterly swept this game despite playing the opening imperfectly. #chess 210
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 11/08/2026POV: you get all your chess openings from youtube videos that tell you how to get a checkmate in 7 moves and your opponent doesn't follow the script and instead spends the entire game turning your queen into a piñata while they develop their pieces with tempo. 100
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 11/08/2026Playstyles like this use to brutalize me but I've started to master them somewhat, though I don't see them too often. Basically it's "don't let your pieces get trapped, take the center, and break open the pawn wall as early as possible." You have to trust your development will carry the rest. #chess 110
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 10/08/2026The chess game I played over lunch today was a bit harrowing but I got through it in the end with some endgame tactics. As my rank goes up the tactics from my opponents get way more clever and the blunders are far more subtle. 100
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 07/08/2026Learning chess right before turning 40 is probably the meanest thing I've ever done to myself psychologically lmao. 120
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 07/08/2026There were some opportunities I missed, which were my only real blunders this game. There was a forced mate at one point but the sequence was pretty spicy, I don't think I could've pulled it off. So walking the king into my fortress works, I suppose. 010
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 07/08/2026Pro chess tip: if you end up in this position as white you've fucked up in a profoundly monstrous way. #Chess 000
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 07/08/2026Prototyping a real-time 3D pixel art shader for work. Needs work if we're going to go through with using it but the proof of concept turned out pretty good regardless. 120
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 06/08/2026I do the London for white when I open, and scandi against king's pawn, but my queen's pawn reply is still not very well-baked. I've become fond of the delayed Steinitz countergambit, and I realized why randomly: it actually resembles a line of the Scandinavian defense lol 120
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 06/08/2026I got out of this game by the skin of my nuts--my opponent found a deceptively amazing attack on my rook that discovered a bishop attack on my queen, and I therefore had to put on my gigabrain to try and get out of it. I realized after taking on h3 that the pawn on f2 was pinned, which saved my ass. 100
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 05/08/2026I thought America was Land of the Bombs, Home of the Missiles, how is it even possible we've used up all of our missiles against Iran lmao 062
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 04/08/2026This person tilted after they lost the next game after me and played a game with 20 top engine moves in a row and was banned for cheating, I was apparently a factor in their villain origin story 😔 010
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 04/08/2026I decided to play one more game and this is hands-down the least-deserved victory I've ever gotten in Chess lol, but the upside is maybe I managed to teach my opponent that kings aren't useless and can create fake back ranks. 341
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 04/08/2026POV: you didn't make your lighter to scale, oops lol 050
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 03/08/2026Won 3 out of 4 rated chess games today and I'm obsessing over the loss instead of celebrating crushing 75% of my opponents, something is wrong with me psychologically 130
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 02/08/2026My opponent thought for SO long too, I was sure they were gonna take my queen. I almost resigned, but then they didn't, so I clinched it. I gotta stop doing dumb shit like this though lol 000
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 02/08/2026This is the analysis graph of someone who hung their queen but their opponent didn't notice LOL. 000
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 01/08/2026My opponent offered me a draw after I got my queen so I had to be a bit disrespectful with my second promotion. 110
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 31/07/2026I almost messaged my opponent after this game to say "this is why you should always take the pawn against scandi." I'm actually much worse in the proper "pawn takes" main line because I don't get as much practice with it, but god help if you if you push the pawn, you're in for a bad time. 120
Hourigan @arhourigan.bsky.social · 31/07/2026The hardest part about being a generalist techy/creator person and now being a Tech Artist is constantly feeling like a fish out of water. Flipflopping between Unreal Engine, Unity, Blender, and several other programs/engines is constantly confusing lol 030
