iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Benji Portheault

Ono @theonozone.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Want a guaranteed weekly classical game against a serious opponent who will actually show up, AND almost definitely analyse with you after the game? JOIN: www.theonozone.com/club

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Best chess content right now: @drcanchess.bsky.social 's podcast. Worst chess content: shameless GM's substack posts fully AI generated ...

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Reposted by Benji Portheault

Jon Mackenzie @jonmackenzie.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

You can pre-order my book, The Spectre of Pep, now by clicking this link: geni.us/TheSpectreOf...

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

When Sindarov said he never studied classic games everyone had to give their (tepid) take on x. I think it's interesting sociologically, these are seen by some as quasi religious chess history holding a special place. Disrespecting what is culturally sacred just cannot be met with silence!

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

By the way this was the article I wrote two years ago that got quite a bit of engagement at the time. Since then there is one huge bug in the Grand Swiss that came to my attention 1/ mindcreaser.substack.com/p/tournament...

mindcreaser.substack.com

Tournament Formats in Professional Chess

Getting the conversation started on the drawbacks of ubiquitous formats

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Re. The ATP/tennis rankings for chess. I have written but not published a blog post on the financial workings of the chess world esp compared with sports and esports. Didn't publish because it was a bit whiny and off brand but ... 1/

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Round Robin is a bad format for the candidates. Poor for the players (out of contention yet can still influence the result) Poor for the spectators (narrative arc is killed) Poor for the sponsors (can't you market tickets/views for the big finale?). Candidates should be KO I will die on this hill

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Round robin is a terrible format for the candidates

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

F1 & sports adding current standings to tv broadcast ... eval bar debate anyone?

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

The flood of chess AI slop content is already there

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

I'm tired of the chess drama, and tired of everything being packaged in short-form video, and tried of aglorithms shaping content. None of these things are acting for your wellbeing. My latest blog post: open.substack.com/pub/mindcrea...

open.substack.com

The War on Attention

I’m done consuming chess content

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Playing in a chess tournament and being afraid for your rating

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Reposted by Benji Portheault

Dr. Can's Chess Clinic @drcanchess.bsky.social · 25/01/2025

Dr. Benji Portheault joined the podcast to discuss the mental side of chess— rating anxiety, nerves, and building confidence. Thank you so much, @benjiportheault.bsky.social for sharing your valuable insights! #chess #chesspunks #psychology #mindset Video below.

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 15/01/2025

Classical time controls football has a draw problem. Five-a-side is the way forward

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 01/01/2025

Throwback to Ian complaining of FIDE splitting title between Russia and India at the 2020 Online #chess Olympiad after global internet outage. Bad for fans and other players indeed!!! #SelectiveNobleness

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 31/12/2024

Swiss system as a seeding for a KO in a #chess tournament is subpar. Of course it leads to short draws. open.substack.com/pub/mindcrea...

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

GM @danielkingchess.bsky.social is at the London Mindsports center tonight to talk to @hammerchess.bsky.social to talk about the sicilian #chess

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

Time to name a chess opening after that thing

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Reposted by Benji Portheault

Ono @theonozone.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

Hey #chesspunks, @benjiportheault.bsky.social latest post is a cracker: The other day I went through my entire white repertoire. Every line. Took me three hours. I thought this was a nice example of how you can train and mimic the intensity of a classical OTB game. Any other ideas?

lichess.org

10,000 hours? Understanding the conditions for expert learning

An introduction to key ideas about the expert learning process

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 02/12/2024

Welcome @thegeert.bsky.social 👋 Check out the chess starter pack bsky.app/starter-pack...

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Which "version" of Ding Liren are we witnessing at the world chess championship after a confident win with Black in game one? Let's learn about Bayesian Inference! (with no maths) Say we model the probabilities of the form of Ding with: 10% chance he's in prime form, 40% average, 50% poor form 1/

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Very fun @lichess.org thematic arena from this starting position yesterday!! Can go very wrong very fast for either side. Please keep doing this lichess!

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

En passant? J'adoube? En prise? the French language words in chess, how difficult they are and how they are actually used inthe daily language? a thread:

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 19/11/2024

Algorithm to solve any chess tactics on social media (thankfully no scan bot yet here)

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Just one more habits and discipline book just one more habits and discipline book - bro I swear this is the one you need you tried all the other ones but finally you'll be disciplined bro just one more, none of the others are like that

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 17/11/2024

Done with the old site, on top of being hellish, engagement was absolutely zero. Looking forward to share cool stuff and engage with #chesspunks. Right now working on a long-ish post on the "structure" of training and plans, aiming for next week mindcreaser.substack.com/p/this-subst...

mindcreaser.substack.com

My Substack as a Knowledge Base

Classification of all my previous articles by subject

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