Chess

Chess is the perfect complement to music and building—it's all about patterns, strategy, and thinking several moves ahead.

Why I Play

I've been playing chess since I was a kid, and it's stuck with me through every phase of life. What I love about chess is that it's endlessly deep—you can study it your entire life and still find new ideas, new patterns, new ways to think about the game.

There's something meditative about working through a position, calculating variations, trying to see the board from your opponent's perspective. It's a mental workout that never gets old.

Chess also taught me a lot about decision-making under pressure. In both music and startups, you often have to make quick calls with imperfect information. Chess trains that muscle—weighing options, committing to a plan, adapting when things don't go as expected.

Playing Style

I tend to play positional chess—building small advantages, restricting my opponent's pieces, and trying to grind out wins through superior strategy rather than wild tactics. Though I'll admit, a good tactical shot is always satisfying.

My favorite openings are the classical systems—Ruy Lopez as White, Najdorf Sicilian as Black. I like openings with deep theory and rich middlegame positions where both sides have clear plans.

What I'm Studying

Right now I'm focusing on endgame technique. I think a lot of amateur players (myself included) spend too much time on openings and not enough on endgames. The difference between knowing and not knowing key endgame positions can literally be the difference between a win and a draw.

I'm also going through classic games from players like Capablanca, Karpov, and Carlsen—trying to understand how the best players think about the game at a strategic level.