Sam Trenholme’s blog
Round up
October 29, 2026
Today, I have a mating puzzle, discuss the political situation in Brazil, and talk about the imaginary “Chad”.Mating puzzle
White is winning here. Find how to end things in only three moves. Like all matings puzzles I post, this position is from a real game of Chess. Solution below.
Brazil’s election
Here is the best summary I have seen of what’s going on in Brazil right after the leftist candidate Lula won the election.
To summarize, it looks like both Lula and Bolsonaro are really corrupt. As soon as Lula won, they told Bolsonaro to give up his passports. He responded by fleeing Brazil with his family and coming to the US to seek political asylum.
The fact that Bolsonaro was asked to give up his passports as soon as the leftists secured victory in Brazil looks like political prosecution to me, even if Bolsonaro is guilty of all the charges being levied against him.
The leftists do not support Bolsonaro’s politial asylum. To summarize the general tone of leftists, one leftist posted on left-wing social media that “It will be up to a Democratic administration to ensure that this criminal faces justice”. Another leftist posted, again on left-wing social media, that “Interesting how this criminal asylum seeker was approved”. Even the left-wing mainstream media has joined the fray, mentioning Bolsonaro’s crimes and highlighting his ties to the Trump administration, while not mentioning Lula’s crimes.
The myth of “Chad”
Here is yet another refutation of the myth of “Chad”. “Chad” is an imaginary man who magically makes lots of women want to have sex with him. In the imagination of some, this “Chad” gets all the women, leaving most men without sex. I discuss why this is a myth in a long article. And, no, women are lot lying in those surveys (archive link).
Solution
Here is the solution to the mating puzzle above:
1. Qf7+ Kd8 2. Qxf8+! Rxf8 3. Rxf8#