Scott Rose
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rprose.bsky.social
Scott Rose
@rprose.bsky.social
3.1K followers 730 following 1.4K posts
News product at Bloomberg. Before that, was in Moscow for 15 years with @bloomberg.com & @themoscowtimes.com. Mostly Russia news & chess. Views are mine
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rprose.bsky.social
chessbase 26 unboxing: intensive expectations management from the new desktop icon
side by side image of the desktop icons for ChessBase 18 chess database software management program and the update released today. the first image for the previous version is a reasonably handsome picture of a wooden knight on a vaguely wooden-toned background. the new version is a giant read icon in a white frame that says '26 in white lettering
November 10, 2025 at 3:00 PM
rprose.bsky.social
I'm sorry I'm still thinking about it
the offending post, complete with alt text, which was presumably the prompt to create this 6x7 abomination Classic @OkButStill post from twitter crumbster: Hi, hawaiian bread forum newb but i've enjoyed it for years. Got a loaf of Lewis (budget fav) today. It seems not as sweet lately? anyone else notice this? Tj Lee (Mod): Well, I'd link you to the rules, but you must have read them and decided to break every single one 11:19 AM • Mar 2, 2022 • Twitter Web App
November 10, 2025 at 12:21 PM
rprose.bsky.social
I dunno, gang. Might not be pre-ordering for the 20% discount this time
Screen grab of Chessbase email with new features for version to be released in a few days NEW IN CHESSBASE '26: Opening report - Club players need statistics different from top players. Prepare for your level, not for GMs. - Top players instantly see the latest fashion and the statistics for various move orders. - Understand the typical variations with their strategic themes and frequent plans. - Train by looking at selected instructive games. - Solve the typical tactical motives - this is revolutionary for opening training and great fun. More power with remote engine now with 4 CPUs – free with a ChessBase Premium Account – and much more.   New Reference filters - Instant preparation: Just type the name. - Filter out Blitz and rapid with one click New detection of duplicate games. Ten times faster and much more precise. Database maintenance has never been easier   Monte Carlo Analysis An engine evaluation is a single number. Monte Carlo provides additional insights into a position. Practical chances, drawing width, typical manoeuvres.   AI description of plans Explains a position to you like a good personal trainer would do it. (Valuable insights, but beware of hallucinations which are still possible).   Real time ray tracing The ray tracing 3D boards have become ultra fast and reach high resolution within seconds.
November 8, 2025 at 6:00 AM
rprose.bsky.social
The new Chessbase is jumping from version 18 to version '26. Release notes are like, new, opening report, you can prepare for your opponents, and something something club players too

counting on you @anishgiri.bsky.social
screen grab from Chessbase website with a testimonial from Anish Giri, who is now building a competing project
November 8, 2025 at 5:57 AM
rprose.bsky.social
A strong stance from @garrykasparov.bsky.social, on Kramnik and his campaign against Naroditsky. "I don’t know how he can appear at any chess tournament now. He’s become untouchable."

Original: www.youtube.com/live/1NVDy-D...

In English, via the great Leonard Barden:
www.ft.com/content/cf99...
Partial screen grab of text from https://www.ft.com/content/cf999aae-e044-4eca-930c-0ee50b3ac98f Garry Kasparov has joined the condemnation of the former world champion Vladimir Kramnik following the death of Daniel Naroditsky. In an interview in Russian, Kasparov, who lost his world crown to Kramnik in London 2000, said: “It’s absolutely clear that the campaign which Kramnik conducted has influenced Danya. Vladimir behaved strangely in this situation and not only in this one, This stain is indelible now. If we meet, I most likely won’t shake his hand. “Over the past few years he’s been almost exclusively occupied with trying to catch someone, to pin someone down. It’s clear that the campaign Kramnik has been running affected Naroditsky, Moreover, Kramnik kept fuelling it. He made a statement that if Fide takes any action, he’ll sue them. I don’t know how he can appear at any chess tournament now. He’s become untouchable.” Asked by his interviewer whether Daniel was unfairly targeted, Kasparov said: “Unfairly? It was absurd. Danya was one of the most transparent players around — he streamed, he explained every move, he played Blitz at 3000-plus for years. To accuse him based on some statistical model which even its creator says is preliminary? That’s not serious chess analysis, that’s character assassination. Kramnik didn’t just question moves, he questioned integrity without evidence. And when Danya responded calmly with data, Kramnik doubled down. That’s not how a world champion behaves. That’s how a bitter man behaves.”
November 3, 2025 at 1:24 PM
rprose.bsky.social
two photos from his wikipedia page. saddest way to go

1) 2003
2) 2019
shnurov performing back when he had something to say shnurov performing when he didn't
November 1, 2025 at 12:40 PM
rprose.bsky.social
I've seen some very old men on tour to pay their relatives' bills, but it's hard to imagine a sadder concert than this fucking guy, whom I last saw on state TV channel kultura, playing his leningrad set for russians in dubai
Screen grab of Instagram ad for Sergey Shnurov at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai in November 2025. Tickets from AED 275 (about $75).
November 1, 2025 at 12:36 PM
rprose.bsky.social
Please forgive the tweets, but GM Nihal Sarin is extremely on the nose about Daniel Naroditsky's passing. I hope more of the chess community will make their feelings known about Vladimir Kramnik so we can protect other players and the game itself
Three tweets from Indian chess grandmaster Nihal Sarin in a thread on Twitter (sorry). Completely heartbroken. Daniel was not just someone I played thousands of games with on @chesscom and @lichess - he was a brilliant mind and a gifted teacher. (1/3) @ChessbaseIndia @FIDE_chess @CLTchesscenter @chesscom_in @chessdom 2) The relentless, baseless accusations and public interrogations he faced in recent months caused him immense pressure and pain. This has to stop. When respected figures spread unfounded allegations without accountability, real lives are destroyed. (2/3) 3) Daniel's smile faded after the attacks began. We all saw it. The chess world has lost one of its brightest lights - someone who made our game accessible to millions. Rest in peace, Danya. You deserved so much better. (3/3)
October 21, 2025 at 10:10 AM
rprose.bsky.social
still from Old Yeller where Travis, tears in his eye, is about to shoot his beloved but now rabid dog
October 20, 2025 at 4:15 AM
rprose.bsky.social
Correction: Kovalenko was actually on Board 4 for Ukraine, although he entered the tournament with the highest rating of the group. Still gotta hand it to him!

s1.chess-results.com/tnr1263013.a...
screen grab from chess-results.com showing the Ukraine (open) team. board 1 Ruslan Ponomariov board 2 Andrei Volokitin board 3 Anton Korobov board 4 Igor Kovalenko board 5 Ihor Samuenkov
October 15, 2025 at 10:35 AM
rprose.bsky.social
Congratulations to Ukraine for their victory in the European Team Championship yesterday.

Their top board, GM Igor Kovalenko, has been mostly inactive from chess recently as an active duty soldier. He scored 6.5/8 with no losses for a 2827 performance
Photo of the Ukrainian team celebrating their win at the European Team Chess Championship in Batumi, Georgia, on Oct. 14, 2025
October 15, 2025 at 7:11 AM
rprose.bsky.social
think i'm starting to see the endgame here
screengrab of FT post on Bluesky. OpenAI makes five-year business plan to meet $1tn spending pledges on.ft.com/49ajoEy Picture is Sam Altman making a face with a pile of $100 bills in the background Screengrab of post from The Verge, slightly earlier, that reads: Sam Altman says ChatGPT will soon sext with verified adults https://www.theverge.com/news/799312/openai-chatgpt-erotica-sam-altman-verified-adults
October 15, 2025 at 4:17 AM
rprose.bsky.social
МИНИ КЕБВБ "МИККИ"
Old still of Mickey Mouse grabbing his head in alarm as his faithful pal Pluto the dog looks on, also alarmed.
October 11, 2025 at 3:26 AM
rprose.bsky.social
image with the text: Ten Hours Later... ARM shares down 9.7%
October 10, 2025 at 7:31 PM
rprose.bsky.social
On Oct. 7, 2006, Novaya Gazeta reporter Anna Politkovskaya was assassinated in her apartment building in Moscow. 19 years ago today. At least one of the men who planned her murder, a former police officer, has since been pardoned for going to kill again in Ukraine.

Also today, Putin turns 73.
Archive photo from Novaya Gazeta, her newspaper, of Politkovskaya sitting at her desk with a pen. She is pictured from below, with a stack of papers in front of her.
October 7, 2025 at 4:01 AM
rprose.bsky.social
I don't think there's a ton left to take. And whatever is still there is going to be peanuts in the scheme of things compared to the assets Europe has frozen. From the top of the article:
Screen grab of the top of a Bloomberg article linked in post above: Russia may nationalize and swiftly sell off foreign-owned assets under a new privatization mechanism in retaliation for any European moves to seize Russian holdings abroad, according to a person close to the government. President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed an order allowing for fast-track sales of state-owned assets under a special procedure. The decree is intended to speed up the sale of various companies, both Russian and foreign, the person familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. Should the European Union begin seizing Russian assets, Moscow may respond with symmetrical measures, the person said. Hundreds of western companies working in sectors from banking to consumer goods still operate in Russia, including UniCredit SpA, Raiffeisen Bank International AG, PepsiCo Inc, and Mondelez International Inc.
October 1, 2025 at 4:58 PM
rprose.bsky.social
Share your favourite black and white movie
Still from the 1925 Russian silent film Шахматная горячка (Chess Fever), featuring Cuban chess champion Jose Capablanca during a visit to Moscow. 19 minutes and great fun if you've never seen it. The caption reads "Remember, dear, the most dangerous thing for family life IS CHESS" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM_5bi9pkqk approximate english subtitles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN6m711ddZk
October 1, 2025 at 6:26 AM
rprose.bsky.social
the orb can scan your iris, but until it can also sense your deepest hopes and fears, please continue entering those into the chatbot manually

thanks,
screen grab of sam altman post on twitter: Today we are launching my favorite feature of ChatGPT so far, called Pulse. It is initially available to Pro subscribers. Pulse works for you overnight, and keeps thinking about your interests, your connected data, your recent chats, and more. Every morning, you get a custom-generated set of stuff you might be interested in. It performs super well if you tell ChatGPT more about what's important to you. In regular chat, you could mention “I’d like to go visit Bora Bora someday” or “My kid is 6 months old and I’m interested in developmental milestones” and in the future you might get useful updates. Think of treating ChatGPT like a super-competent personal assistant: sometimes you ask for things you need in the moment, but if you share general preferences, it will do a good job for you proactively. This also points to what I believe is the future of ChatGPT: a shift from being all reactive to being significantly proactive, and extremely personalized. This is an early look, and right now only available to Pro subscribers. We will work hard to improve the quality over time and to find a way to bring it to Plus subscribers too. Huge congrats to @ChristinaHartW , @_samirism , and the team for building this.
September 26, 2025 at 6:07 AM
rprose.bsky.social
"In any event, I wish both countries well"
guy holding up a glass to make a toast. captions read: "I'd like to make a toast." "To the troops... All the troops... Both sides."
September 24, 2025 at 6:10 AM
rprose.bsky.social
Missed this when it came out a few days ago. An excellent piece of reporting from RFE/RL to put all of these guys' mugs in the public record through open sources, including their own propaganda. They probably also won't be thrilled that their office is now on the map

www.svoboda.org/a/tayna-rubi...
Edited still from Russian state TV identifying Sergei Budnikov, Evgeny Shmyrin and Alexey Krivoruchko at the secret drone facility. The fourth person is state TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov A composite image of Colonel Sergei Budnikov with his family and then from the state TV video. RFE/RL found images of him confirming his identity on his wife's now deleted VK social media account Another picture from the wife's social media account. Budnikov is embracing a woman whose face is obscured by the reporters in front of presents and a New Year's tree
September 19, 2025 at 3:19 AM
rprose.bsky.social
300-point underdog and bottom seed at the FIDE Grand Swiss takes a half point off GM Baadur Jobava, who apparently had a plane to catch

www.chess.com/events/2025-...
Final position after the players found a miraculous repetition on move 17 of an Exchange Slav. Unusually, I find no fault with White in this position. Chess :/
September 15, 2025 at 11:58 AM
rprose.bsky.social
Vladimir Kramnik has moved on to posting about Ch*rlie K*rk so he might not have noticed that GM Matthias Bluebaum, whom he's been casting aspersions on for many months, is tired for first in one of the strongest classical chess tournaments of the year. 2829 performance

updating his priors I'm sure
One of many Kramnik tweets casting doubt on Bluebaum's online chess performance. the post https://x.com/VBkramnik/status/1749368853941924209 many more along these lines: https://x.com/search?q=from%3AVBkramnik%20bluebaum&src=typed_query&f=live FIDE Grand Swiss table after 10 rounds, with Bluebaum tired in first. To the right are his opponents
September 14, 2025 at 5:43 PM
rprose.bsky.social
Final round pairings for the 2025 FIDE Grand Swiss, via @chess24com.bsky.social. Particularly excited for Giri-Niemann given all the matches they've played. Five players on 7/10 (Bluebaum 🇩🇪, Firouzja 🇫🇷, Giri 🇳🇱, Niemann 🇺🇸, Keymer 🇩🇪).

Mishra on 6.5 with the top performance rating: 2837
Screen grab of pairings on the top boards. First two places will secure spots in the next candidates tournament to challenge current chess world champion Gukesh 1. Bluebaum - Firouzja 2. Giri - Niemann 3. Erigaisi - Keymer 4. Abdusattorov - Liang 5. MVL - Sarin 6. Woodward - Yangyi 7. Gujrathi - Mishra
September 14, 2025 at 5:27 PM
rprose.bsky.social
reposting this from @dgriffinchess.bsky.social in the sincere belief that if there's a home and an audience for cover-boy-era boris gelfand content, it's on bluesky now
Douglas Griffin post on Twitter of the cover Shakhmaty v SSSR (Chess in the USSR) issue no. 2 from 1990, featuring a young Boris Gelfand.
September 11, 2025 at 4:37 PM
rprose.bsky.social
hate to be posting tweets but one from @mrdodgy.bsky.social
tweet that contains an image of two posts by vladimir kramnik complaining about hikaru nakamura playing against lower rated opposition to attempt to qualify for the candidates tournament. Dodgy comments above it: if hikaru REALLY wants a world championship match he should do it like we did in the OLD DAYS by losing a match to shirov
September 8, 2025 at 12:51 PM