My name is James Labadorf. Healthcare data scientist by day. Chess data scientist by night. I am - to be blunt - super curious. This journal documents the more interesting things I've found out about chess.

A little backstory

I'm an Associate Data Scientist at University Hospital Systems of Cleveland, Ohio. I use the Electronic Medical Record to discover epidemiological insights to better serve our patients. I started at UH in March, 2020 - on the same day the first case of COVID-19 hit Ohio.

I'm also finishing a grad degree at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Spatial Analysis for Public Health program. I'll graduate in May, 2022. My thesis maps the interplay between demographics, the built environment, and mental health.

Chess

I'm a terrible chess player. Like less than 1,000 ELO terrible. I love the game, but my midgame needs a lot of work. That is why I turned to data science and technology to help me understand why I'm such a terrible player.

And than there are the rabbit holes. I have ADHD so if an idea gets lodged in my head I am compelled to think about it for way too long. This journal is a result of the analytics that comes from such ADHD fuel rabbit holes.

The Journal

I'm writing this journal because I think my findings are cool. I hope you will too. I'm not trying to be a rock star or make money from my writing. Just to document the processes and ideas that come across my brain. Some of these ideas become reality (like chessmapper.com) and I may charge for some of them but my goal is not profit. Sometimes profit allows me to share more of my thoughts.

The main topic of this journal is chess data analytics: the intersection of my two interests. I'm not trying to provide coaching or strategy tips. There isn't much by the way of tactics. Honestly, some of my analysis may be more interesting than useful. That is fine by me.

If you enjoy data science and chess this journal will be fun for you. If not, try someone else's work. There are many great writers out there.