I am coming gingerly back to rapid/online chess after acquiring in late October 2023 a machine that will get me through to live chess and the other worthwhile parts of Chess.com for the first time since its change of software on 17.xii.2020. Having played next to no chess in the Covid years I find I have forgotten an awful lot of the theory I once knew, as well as losing much of the tactical acuity gradually gained through overindulgence in 15|10 tournaments in my former incarnation as Anumakaar. Most of my mental energy at present is directed toward historical linguistics and related matters, so I expect my chess will remain erratic for the foreseeable future.

I continue to be afflicted by multiple short interruptions of connection to Chess.com, which sporadically turn into complete disconnections that lose me games. N.B. I have NEVER voluntarily abandoned a game on Chess.com. (Chess.com seems both mean and inconsistent in what time it allows for possible recovery.) This time round unlike three years ago the trouble isn’t usually in the village where I live (at least if continuous blue symbols in the router are telling the truth) but somewhere intermediate.

Xethuen