Your knight for my pawn, and you have to take it. Things are about to get worse, sunshine. This is my game now. You have been out-calculated. I don't want the piece, I want your soul. My attack hurts like a school disco and I'm going to sac sac mate until... wait. What? 10 seconds left. But, I'm winning, right? I must be like +5 right now. Just play any move. But how do you have 10 minutes on your clock? Anyway, just play any move. That one will do, fine. For. Fuck's. Sake. Any move but that move! How could I instantly find the one move that loses? Literally, I could have played anything el...
Read MoreWhy Your Chess Openings Suck (and the first automated repertoire builder)

The truth is, my openings still suck. As, I’m sure, do yours. But it’s not our fault. It is, I concluded conveniently, our repertoires’ fault. They are not built for humans, because they are not practical. Here’s how to fix things.
Read MoreCalculating About Magic
Once I’d officially failed, my friend, colleague, and investor Alice asked me, ‘are you happy you did it?’.
A hard question.
I failed last year. Closed down the startup I started. An adulting, unarguable, and public failure. I let people down - my investors and team members were mostly friends. Thinking about it now I feel ashamed and a bit sick. This isn’t a complaint. I’ve had plenty of good luck in life, some earned though lots not, and I deserved what I got this time.
So, am I happy I did it? That seems easy. No, I’m not happy I did it. Starting a startup was a painful way to lose my time, and (mainly) other people’s money.
But it’s not that simple, even if it wasn’t worth it.
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