Ideas, learnings, half-formed thoughts.https://kaelan.fyi/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/aji/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/aji/Latent potential left unused in a position — possibilities you keep in reserveSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/asymmetric-balance/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/asymmetric-balance/Factions that play by different rules and still come out fairSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/attention-in-games/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/attention-in-games/Real-time strategy as a study in where to spend finite attentionSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/fog-of-war/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/fog-of-war/Deciding under hidden information, and scouting as paying to reduce uncertaintySat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/horizon-effect/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/horizon-effect/Pushing a problem just past the depth you can see, so it looks solvedSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/pawn-structure/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/pawn-structure/Slow, near-permanent commitments that shape every later moveSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/piece-activity/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/piece-activity/Fewer pieces doing more can beat more pieces doing lessSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/prophylaxis/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/prophylaxis/Preventing the opponent's plan before pursuing your ownSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/sacrifice/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/sacrifice/Giving up material for position, time, or initiative — when losing on purpose winsSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/sente-gote/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/sente-gote/Who gets to dictate the next move, and who only gets to answerSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/skill-luck-axis/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/skill-luck-axis/What variance does to learning, to fairness, and to how long it takes to know who's betterSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/snowballing/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/snowballing/Runaway-leader dynamics, and the design choices that keep a game aliveSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/solved-games/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/solved-games/What it means for a metagame to be figured out, and what's left when it isSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/thickness-vs-territory/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/thickness-vs-territory/Securing points now versus building influence that pays off laterSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/weak-squares/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/weak-squares/Permanent structural holes you can't undo, and what it means to occupy oneSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/zugzwang/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/zugzwang/When any move you make worsens your position, and the duty to move is the trapSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/discovered-attack/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/discovered-attack/Move one piece, and a second one you weren't watching does the damageSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/fork/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/fork/One move, two threats, and an opponent who can only answer oneSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/overworked-piece/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/overworked-piece/A defender given two jobs, and the move that asks it to do both at onceSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/pin/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/pin/A piece frozen in place by what stands behind itSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/zwischenzug/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/zwischenzug/The in-between move — refusing to make the reply your opponent is counting onSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/bluffing/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/bluffing/Why hidden information makes lying profitable — and why you have to do it on scheduleSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/calculation/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/calculation/How far to look ahead, and the discipline of not looking at the same thing twiceSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/center-of-gravity/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/center-of-gravity/The one source of strength everything else depends on — and where to aimSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/collective-action/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/collective-action/Why groups fail to act in their shared interest — and the conditions under which they don'tSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/concentration-of-force/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/concentration-of-force/Why numbers count for more than they look — Lanchester's square law and the case for massingSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/credible-commitment/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/credible-commitment/How tying your own hands — removing your options — can strengthen your positionSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/endgame/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/endgame/When the board empties, small edges become decisive — and simplification is a weaponSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/expected-value/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/expected-value/The long-run average of a decision — and why good process survives bad outcomesSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/friction/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/friction/Why the simplest things become hard in practice — Clausewitz on the gap between plan and realitySat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/iterated-games/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/iterated-games/How cooperation survives among selfish players when the game repeatsSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/ko/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/ko/The rule against repeating the position — and the strange politics it createsSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/miai/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/miai/Two options of equal value — so you can take neither yet, and lose nothingSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/negotiation/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/negotiation/Bargaining over interests rather than positions, measured against your walk-awaySat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/ooda-loop/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/ooda-loop/Observe, orient, decide, act — and the advantage of getting inside the other side's cycleSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/position/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/position/Acting last means deciding with more information — why the button is the power seatSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/strategy-vs-tactics/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/strategy-vs-tactics/Long plans versus short blows — what you do when there's nothing to do, and what you do when there isSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/trade-offs/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/trade-offs/You can't maximize everything at once — the frontier where one gain costs anotherSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/two-weaknesses/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/two-weaknesses/One weakness can be defended; a second one, far away, breaks the defenseSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/war-of-attrition/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/war-of-attrition/Contests won by who will pay longest — where both sides pay even though one losesSat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/zero-sum/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/zero-sum/Whether your gain must be someone's loss — and why mistaking which is which is so costlySat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/barbell-strategy/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/barbell-strategy/Pair extreme safety with extreme risk and skip the mediocre middleThu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/convexity/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/convexity/Payoff structures where the upside dwarfs the downsideThu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/inversion/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/inversion/Solve problems by asking what guarantees failure, then avoiding itThu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/liminality/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/liminality/The threshold state — between what was and what hasn't yet becomeThu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/mise-en-place/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/mise-en-place/The cook's discipline of total preparation before the first moveThu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/negative-knowledge/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/negative-knowledge/What experts know not to do — the silent half of expertiseThu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/pre-mortem/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/pre-mortem/Imagine the project has already failed and write the autopsyThu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/threshold-concepts/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/threshold-concepts/Ideas that, once grasped, irreversibly change how you see a domainThu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://kaelan.fyi/notes/doorway-effect/https://kaelan.fyi/notes/doorway-effect/Memory is more room-bound than you thinkThu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT