Ray Lillywhite

Product & Engineering at Spruce

[Ray Lillywhite @RayLillywhite]

@DanielRensch - 45 + 15
- 60 | 0
- 90 + 30

[Senator Scott Wiener @Scott_Wiener]

His current slogans notwithstanding, Aaron Peskin has long been San Francisco’s housing obstructionist in-chief.

He also opposed car-free JFK.

He’s not progressive. To the contrary, he’s quite conservative.

Now he’s running for Mayor.

Hard pass.

[Ray Lillywhite @RayLillywhite]

@thestrongchess @hartmannchess That’s a genuine question, didn’t mean for it to sound like a “gotcha”. Is there a reason that wouldn’t work? And would any changes to the fide rating system allow it to work?

[Ray Lillywhite @RayLillywhite]

@thestrongchess @hartmannchess Why do you advocate for removing u2000 fide rating instead of advocating for doing away with uscf ratings? Some countries don’t even have their own rating systems. Wouldn’t the lack of games u2000 also be improved by making all tournaments fide rated?

[Ray Lillywhite @RayLillywhite]

@ineedacortadito @chessfeels Doc is about to capture on f3

[Ray Lillywhite @RayLillywhite]

@elitanjourno Read the comments on your piece about Threads rate limiting. I'm pretty sure you're misunderstanding what they're rate limiting, and your article is spreading misinformation as a result https://t.co/RdDCYF1Jpt

[Ray Lillywhite @RayLillywhite]

@Nihaositgoing @shmueli 11,000 saw your tweet and 58 agreed enough to like it. Yep, you’re definitely in the right then

[Ray Lillywhite @RayLillywhite]

@Nihaositgoing @shmueli If you want to self-righteously steal people’s tables while they’re in the bathroom or getting their food from the counter, go ahead, but everyone agrees that you’re the asshole in that situation.

[Ray Lillywhite @RayLillywhite]

@ECUonline @ChessProblem @Kasparov_Chess @GMSokolovIvan Maybe you should be asking for conference material for the conferences you sponsor? And maybe you should recognize that despite not organizing the conference, you still share responsibility. And you still have not condemned the views that were shared at your conference

[Ray Lillywhite @RayLillywhite]

@chesscom @DanielRensch Also very interesting would be the average accuracy of different openings. I assume someone who plays a very sharp repertoire will have lower accuracy, but so will their opponents, so it'd be great to see how that plays out in the numbers.

[Ray Lillywhite @RayLillywhite]

@chesscom @DanielRensch Can you guys publish an updated chart like this for CAPS 2.0? (from https://t.co/Laj7yR2QLN)

[Ray Lillywhite @RayLillywhite]

@IDoTheThinking because cops are fascists who want to see more crime in San Francisco so they can blame it on left leaning policies

[Ray Lillywhite @RayLillywhite]

@ChessProblem Firstname bunchofnumbers always asking the important questions

[Godspeed You! Woke Moralists @DrWallkick]

it is a little funny how we complained for years about Jack's management of Twitter and then Elon bought it and instantly tanked it so badly that when Jack created Twitter 2 we're all like

[Ray Lillywhite @RayLillywhite]

@onlyrockythings @ass_beaters I aimed my gun to the right of you. If you weren’t squirming scared and moving unpredictably, it wouldn’t have hit you. You’re 100% at fault. Just stay still and trust that I wasn’t going to hit you

[Ray Lillywhite @RayLillywhite]

@PezRadar You all are doing an amazing job communicating with the community. The way things are going, the d4 team is really restoring a lot of people’s trust in Blizzard

[Ray Lillywhite @RayLillywhite]

@Karmageddon67 @SukritGanesh @duncancampbell “What’s the point of that?” Food. That’s the point of it. Do you eat food?

[Susan Polgar @SusanPolgar]

The problems and the solutions!

It is exhausting to try to communicate/explain to SOME men who continue to insist on setting rules for women in chess, and trying to force women to follow their rules. This is especially bad when they DO NOT understand the issues, the problems, and have no clue on how to fix anything. I hope this will be the last time I have to explain it. 

Let’s start off by clearing the usual misconception. I was NEVER a WGM even though I met the requirements when I was about 12 years old. My goal was to break the gender barrier, to become the first female in history to earn the GM title by norms and rating, which I did in December 1990/January 1991 (the tournament started at the end of 1990 and concluded after the new year of 1991). My sister Judit did it 11 months later in December 1991. Pia Cramling was the third to achieve this feat in 1992. Now there are more than 3 dozen women who hold the GM title.

The issues, which require different solutions:

1) How to get more girls in chess and retain them longer (most drop out in their early teens) 
2) How to raise the playing level of top female players 

I believe that if the number of men and women in chess is 50/50, we will see very different results and achievements. However, in a number of countries, this percentage is 99/1. Even in some of the most supportive countries, the ratio is still less than 80/20. This is the same as the lack of support for chess in Africa and many less developed nations.

As I have always clearly said, if girls want to reach the pinnacle in chess, they need to aim higher, train harder, and play against top level competition. However, this may be a very small percentage due to many reasons (this requires another separate article). Most girls, as well as a lot of boys, play chess for pleasure. If we force all girls to follow this path, the overwhelming majority will quit. 

That is why we need a system and environment to introduce chess to more girls, and most importantly, retain them. We need to encourage them and PROTECT them from sexual/physical/verbal abuse/harassment. It is a number’s game.

In many countries, a title like WCM, WFM, WIM, or WGM, can mean the difference between receiving financial support for training and competition, or nothing at all. While I never cared for the women’s titles, I recognize that there is a need for many female to stay in chess. By taking the titles and women’s only events, the number will drastically fall.

These titles, tournaments, or prizes, are not an insult to most women. They are also not an admission that women are inferior. They are a part of the solutions to help retain more female in chess. For the women who want to be the best, bravo! Go for it! But don’t penalize the majority because “some men” artificially feel that these tiles and women only tournaments are bad for women and want to arbitrarily take them away. 

Without getting more female into chess, and retaining them, the problems will never be solved. Please be a part of the solutions and not create more problems. And by the way, there is not even one top female player who has never played in women only events. We all did, some more, some a lot less, and some not by choice.

[Ray Lillywhite @RayLillywhite]

@chessable My opponent played the London

[Ray Lillywhite @RayLillywhite]

@NoJokeChris @FIDE_chess Did you vote? I don't remember getting to vote