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 · 08/08/2026

I feel that chess media reports are super shallow and that "gukesh bad" just gets clicks. Thanks for doing this deep research and give us a nuanced perspective.

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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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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Idk but waffle cut and triple cooked have to be S Tier (and sweet potato A tier)

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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 · 22/04/2026

Oh I remember this place! enjoy (here's me sweating there 39° 60% humidity in august)

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

True and he even says he saw some of the games with his coach. But somehow this whole thing about classics and books was very triggering for people and i find that sociologically interesting.

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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

In an Ideal world FIDE would say "yes that pairing algo is broken and unfair, the fancy ones are complex but we could give it a go" but we don't live in this world *shrugs* (bigger fish to fry I guess) rant over, read my substack, maybe I'll start posting again who knows 🙃

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

Because the current pairing algo could give people 7w 5b making the problem worse. But some other pairing algos that ensure 6w 6b for have been designed by Cseh 3/ arxiv.org/html/2112.10...

arxiv.org

Improving Ranking Quality and Fairness in Swiss-System Chess Tournaments1footnote 1footnoteFootnotefootnotesFootnotes1footnote 1A 2-page abstract of this work appeared at The 23rd ACM Conference on Ec...

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

A paper by Ágnes Cseh er al That over the 9 rounds of the tournament having 6w 5b is a HUGE help ... last years Grand Swiss 15/19 of the 7+ group had 6w-5b. But we *can't* have an even number of rounds ... 2/

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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

Anyway, not a decision maker nor within earshot in any case. Will leave this in the draft box. Got other irons in the fire ... rant over

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

I actually wanted to sit down and sketch out details of what tournaments would be slams and give points and realised that little practical things like some major tournaments being annual and some biennial is also a major headache 5/

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

Otherwise we're in the famous xkcd "there are 13 competing standards, let's unify them" ending with 14 competing standards ... staring new tours from scratch isn't the solution. E.g. Your grand slams have to be Wijk-an-zee ... 4/

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

People rant against the current system but theres little deep though about the obstacles or what a tour would look like. Saying the words "inactivity" and "atp rankings" won't magically move things forward if the current system is deeply incompatible without serious change 3/

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

One thing i wanted to do is sketch out a tennis/atp style rankings for the tour. I think it's almost impossible because for tennis model to work all tournaments HAVE to be Opens. This deeply cuts against the patronage financial model of chess:if i pay for a tournament i want to choose who plays...2/

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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 · 16/04/2026

"homer disappearing into the hedge.gif"

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

We could have 4 instead of 2 classical games without problem and it would be a lot shorter than the world cup. There's always variance but at the end of the day do the sport want to attract sponsors and viewers?

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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

It needs to be knockout, fide world-cup style or a bit longer. I don't see why slog through a whole month of world cup but can't have a decent last-8 KO

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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 · 05/08/2025

The FT longread about Disco Elysium last weekend was amazing

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 04/07/2025

The life hack big chess doesn't want you to know

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

London Chess Classic and the Cambridge Open

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 02/07/2025

Looks like a great book, beautiful photo of my local tube station (Canary Wharf). Drop by my neck of the woods if you visit London!

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 26/04/2025

With the dynamic duo of 1) hard to find schedule and round time starts 2) out of date pairings and results

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

I wonder is people will always "prompt engineer" their way ... "please make my essay sound like a student and not like ai"

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

This is sat in person with no documents or computer allowed, so every exam in this fashion in gpt-proof

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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 · 02/04/2025

Aling the same line, check out "Clairette de Die"

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Benji Portheault @benjiportheault.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

Oh so that's what "thinking during your opponent's turn" means

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

Not actively harmful advice ... but nothing genuine or insightful. Rehashed bullet points - slowly crowding quirky genuine voices

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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

Thanks Cleomina, your praise is deeply felt 🙏

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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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