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Chess forum by Grandmasters
2.Nf3 in Benoni
I play Modern Benoni but when someone plays 2.Nf3 I get confused. Can you tell GM Avetik sir how to meet 2.Nf3 in the spirit of Modern Benoni?
Replies
Start with 2...g6.
Also 2...e6 is a good reply, depending on the rest of your repertoire of course...
You can play Spielmann-Indian (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5). Chessable has a complete course:
Huy's Original Repertoire: Spielmann-Indian by BanhGiaHuy.
The mainline is 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5 b5.
Another possibility is 2…g6. If white plays 3.c4 then you can go for Maroczy Bind or Delayed Benoni.
There is a Gabuzyan example here: https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2021-avagyan-memorial/09-Paravyan_David-Gabuzyan_Hovhannes
There are some comments about that game here: https://www.chesspublishing.com/content/9/index.htm (King’s Indian Update September 2021)
I also play Modern Benoni and answer 2.Nf3 with c5.
1) In case that white plays 3.d5 then I play 3…e6 and in most cases the game will continue with 4.c4 d6 5.Nc3 exd5 6.cxd5
2) If white plays the popular 3.c3 then I play 3…cxd4. After 4.cxd4 I continue with g6, Bg7, 0-0,
a6, b5, d6 and Nbd7. I have great success with this setup.
3) If white plays 3.e3 then I continue with g6, Bg7 and 0-0. If white then plays plays c4 (e3, d4, c4 setup) then a good version of reversed Tarrasch (black plays cxd4 after castling and d5 if white plays exd4) is possible (more about that in Chessmood’s English course, section 6).
A good delayed Benoni (white plays d4-d5 but wastes a tempo if he plays e3-e4) is also possible.
If white continues with with c3 after 3.e3 then I play double fianchetto.
A thought
I was just thinking like Chessmood is doing so wonderful job for us but they can also add one more new thing in their stream. It's about thought process. We share our best games in Best Month Forums. That's good but I was also thinking that if we also share our thoughts with some texts and then send games in Best Games Forums then it will be easier for Judges to understand our weaknesses in thought process and they can make a webinar based on common mistakes by players.
Mistakes can be in :
Openings.
Converting an advantage
Time trouble addicted
Tactical issue
Strategic wrong or right trafes.
and there may be a lot more info. With this coaches can help all players to grow with 20x speed. Because 10x is already happening due to courses but for 20x even webinar like this can change a lot player's life!
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I do not want to bloviate by adding too much things in my post. But I hope Coaches understand this and may be it's cool idea. No other websites doing this . And for that one should post their games with some comments.
Anyone interested in this new idea!
How to pronounce Tsaghkadzor?
Recently chess mood announced the OTB tournament in Tsaghkadzor city. I am not able to find proper pronunciation. Can Anyone help?
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It is not so easy, but I will assume that you are familiar with the international phonetics nomenclatures>
In Armenian is written>
Ծաղկաձոր
This is the pronunciation with all the phonemes separated for an easy understanding, they are written twice based on the classical phonemes and the western ones> I hope that this will help you...
/dz/ /ɑ/ /ɫ/ /k/ /ɑ/ /dz/ /o/ /ɾ/
/ts/ /ɑ/ /ʁ/ /ɡ/ /ɑ/ /tsʰ/ /o/ /ɹ/
By the way, Tsaghkadzor literally means valley of flowers in Armenian
Oh! I see that you are participating in the open! Nice! You will get the pronunciation right for sure if you ask the locals!!!
Have a good tournament in Tsaghkadzor!!!! @nikhil_dixit
Lots of strong players will participate!!
GMs check best games of month?
I am curious to know who check best games of month? The reason I asked this is because one of my teammate crushed an IM in a national event and the checkers did not even liked his game. His game was full of quality.
Let me show his game.
https://tornelo.com/chess/orgs/indian-chess-fed/events/a5b9bdaa-d44b-4f13-8be3-8a6fc7c4457d/games/47b70d18-ed27-4c47-a3fd-a34bd1131437
He crushed a leading expert of caro. IM was so shocked when my teammate blitz out opening till move 17. It was cm line and some analysis later by him also .
Note: I am not saying he should get prize. But if a 1600 fide is crushing 2400 then atleast he deserve a like from cm mentors as appreciation.
Thanks.
This was the event link
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It's opaque I agree. Would be useful to publish the criteria or open it up to a larger audience, maybe as part of an event as I've already suggested. Otherwise when available time gets tight does judging suffer, who would know?
My Games for checking
Hello sir,
I am attaching three of my games with annotations right after the game below.
[There was no engine help.]
It would be very helpful if you could go through the games and tell me where I could improve.
Thank you in advance.
With Regards
J.Pragkya
Replies
Refused play at chess.com 10 min tourney Mon 060921
Today (Mon 060921) I tried to join chess.com 10 min tourney, but was refused to play stating too few games.
This has happened to me previously & I think I played a couple more 10 minute games, but obviously still not enough to count as a bona fide Chess Mood club tourney playing member.
So, can someone please tell me exactly how many 10 minute games I need to play to be able to join the Chess Mood 10 min chess.com tourneys?
Are there Chess Mood club rules somewhere that state tourney play rules?
On my last refusal to this tourney, I mentioned this in a post here that this had never happened before to me & I played several of these tourneys. I was told it is a new rule in place to try & ensure serious or verified players play here, but it is annoying for me as it has stopped me playing with members & very sad that online play is beset with cheaters & time wasters, that these types of rules have to be made. Thank you
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I had a different problem. After playing Round 1, my game for Round 2 wouldn't start, and for some reason the connection bar had one red, so pressed f5 and apparently I had been given a 0 point bye because I was detected as offline. I was so annoyed I withdrew.
In retrospect, opening another chess.com window may or may not have had something to do with it, but it's very frustrating as I was most certainly not offline.
Hi Richard!
The minimum game issue is a chess.com requirement, not a ChessMood requirement. I believe the number of games needed is 10, but I havent checked in a while, as I stopped playing on chess.com regularly.
I hope this helps!
Good luck in your games!
GM Jay
@ Chess Mood Team:
Is there a reason why not all tournaments are held at lichess?
I am asking because a terminated my chess.com account because I found the amount of adds extremely annoying.
The honest answer is, I don't know. But even with Chessmood tourneys at Lichess they have the minimum games thing (if I recall correctly, it's with games overall), so it makes sense they have something like that with Chess.com too.
This kind of thing is experience too for both of us, so I guess it helps us grow (in different ways to chess).
Hey, everyone!
As was mentioned, the minimum games requirement is not ours :)
It's decided by playing platforms.
Anyway, from next week we'll cancel these tournaments temporarily, keeping weekly Sat. closed tournaments for only PRO Members.
#CoGro!
#RightMood_RightMove
Chessmood events especially tournaments
It seems the current events need a little bit of attention. It's very well looking forward to all the new things which are coming (we are of course), but there is a lot to be said for ensuring the current features are being maintained well so interest doesn't wane.
First the Saturday theme tournament is now just a default tournament 'play first as Black'. This is getting a bit long in the tooth and without a GM playing there is little incentive to play this yet again - after all we can get hundreds of games (just with the right colours) whenever we like already. A few of the regulars are now not showing up (or their partners dragging them off to the garden centre where they will never be heard from again - at least until the credit card comes out to buy all the new things :-).
There are at least 2 or 3 good opening candidates for theme tournaments - the petroff (but given 2-3 weeks notice as it's a big course) and anti-sicilian 2nd moves - particularly 2. f4 which is very common at around the 1800 and below level, as well as 2. b4 would probably be deserving. If the Jobava course was tidied a bit (the main suggestion we came to the conclusion in the furm was perhaps not so good for Black) that would also be a good one. By completing these tournaments it means we get webinars which are very good not only to check our own knowledge, but sometimes to fill in gaps in the course and also as a quick opening summary which can be used to prepare games. In addition, I don't think it's so bad to do some repeats now, maybe starting from certain sub variations on the bigger courses. Similarly there are also plenty of starting positions that could be tried - the material difference ones were quite instructive.
Today since I had time, I entered the prize tournament. There were just 3 players, one left and it was canceled. It's unclear from the event time that this is the registration time, not the actual event time. Given there is also an event on Wednesday, is this too much for a single time slot and so dividing interest?
Most events happen at 3pm UTC, perhaps it should be looked to vary this a little bit, particularly tournaments (depending on the membership). 3pm UTC is still work hours for GMT/BST timezone and also probably for much of Europe. While this suits Eastern Europe, India and a few parts of Asia/Africa, it's not good for further East or the Americas. Perhaps there should be some attempt to have events in those zones. Although at this time it might not be possible to get a resident master who is available in those hours, certainly tournaments that run themselves once set up could be considered assuming the membership is big enough now.
The other things is the usual whine about timely promotion and ensuring events (especially those that need preparation) in the calendar early enough. This Saturday's event appeared Saturday which although didn't need prep is far too late. An oversight maybe, but it's a regular occurrence.
In addition instructions (particular for the simuls or player the GM) need updating and making sure the right server is mentioned, this was causing problems and frustrations a few weeks ago.
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I would also be very happy if there were classical closed tournaments on specific opening or endgame themes followed by a webinar again.
I did play some black starts with 1. e5 games (even one against Coach Gabuzyan). But it turned out that playing with reversed colours was not that hard for my brain/memory. So it is more or less a standard 5+3 game. However, playing against other PRO Members easily lead to one line in the Sicilian and was a bit boring. So I decided to play my old repertoire - Smith Morra and Petroff).
Regarding an early announcement - the ChessMood team knows my views on that :-)
Is there any news on the structure of the future events?
Will we have closed tournament/webinar as follow-up again?
And if so - please announce the topics and dates a good time in advance.
Today (Wednesday) there is no webinar nor a closed tournament in the event's list.
The issue of downloading chess books
How do we know whether downloading a chess book (.pdf) is legal or not?
This is a sensitive topic because I want to order a book but it's out of print. And the price at amazon is pretty high...
But if I search the book on Google I can find it pretty easily as a .pdf file.
In the past I've emailed publishers to ask about this, but they do not always answer.
Replies
In general assume it's not legal except for very old books.
Whether that is fair given publishers reluctance to produce online copies, or allow books to go out of print, and extortionists charging many times the cover price on Amazon is another matter.
I would assume not. Unfortunately, that would be stealing(as long as the book has copyright).
Freely downloading books is likely illegal, but no one will pursue you for it. Students around the globe probably download thousands of dollars' worth of books every year due to unreasonable costs. Researchers sometimes download papers in shady ways too for basically the same reason. Despite it being technically illegal, it has turned general practice, really.
I download a hell lot of books whatever i want in pdf files. I have never had any problem.
Caro-Kann - Bg4 & Qc8 line - the Qb5 novelty
In the line with 6.. Bg4 7. Qb3 Qc8, when black plays 10.. Bh5, delaying castling, we have the novelty of 13. Qb5. Since the queen is anyway going to d3, why not via c2 as usual instead? What's the added value of taking the b5 route?
Replies
as I remember, in that way we don't let black b5 counterplay
In the game 13.. a6 14. Qd3 b5 15. Ng5 b4 - the move 16. c4 is played. The game continues 16... dxc4? 17. Nxc4 18. Qd8?? and we see the Rxe6 tactic winning.
Instead of 16... dxc4, 16... a5 with the idea of playing Qa6 to swap queens is about equal.
Perhaps 16. Rc1 should be considered instead, the idea being if a5 then cxb4 and pinning Nc6, with ideas of Ndf3 and Ne5, with also forks if Nxf7 and Rxc6 are allowed. The a2 pawn can be ignored.
Opening study
Sir,
Can you please recommend a good way to study chess opening book { For example the book which I have , A Strategic opening repertoire for White by IM John Watson.} ?
Thank you in advance
Replies
Personally, I would not study an opening from a book. There are much better online resources nowadays.
Othewise you need to start with the basic ideas and setups. Then you should find master games to see how they play. Them you should play some training games to see if the opening suits your style.
And finally if all goes well, you should study the opening in detail.
You should read " Chess Openings" by Mike Basman. A well-written, instructive book, targeted to the beginner-novice, focusing on the application of opening PRINCIPLES and techniques. Does a better than average job explaining not only HOW to play the opening, but WHY moves are made. Features tutorial overview chapters on the following openings: Giuoco Piano, Sicilian Dragon, Queen's Gambit, Nimzo-Indian Defence, and Morra Gambit. This would be a good supplement-companion to John Emms' "Discovering Chess Openings..." (above). See also "Chess Openings for Juniors" and "Winning In The Opening", both by J.N. (John) Walker.
Best Website
This is the best website I have ever seen
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We are happy that you like it! Thanks!!
Move order in Maroczy Bind
I really enjoyed watching the "Marorczy Bind" course :) I have a question regarding the move order: is it possible that we end up having to play this standard English with Nf6?
1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. g3 Bg7 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O Nc6 7. d3
If so, is there another move order that would guarantee that we stay within the ChessMood repertoire?
Replies
The current recommendation by chessmood is to play 2…g6
rather than 2…Nf6, as 2…g6 is much more flexible and allows the option of a
later e5 and then Nge7 (depending on how White plays). The 2…Nf6 continuation
in the Maroczy course is from Febr. 2019 and outdated and was replaced by 2…g6 (please see the videos on the English Opening, 1.c4),
as it would take away from Black the option to play a later e5 (because then
the N on f6 would be misplaced!)
If you don't like maroczy after 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nc6
then imo interesting line is 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3
2...Nc6 (this is not recommended in the course cause of 3.e3 but I dont think it's that bad, plus if you know opponent will go for maroczy it's reasonable)
3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 (not allowing e4) 5.Nc3 e6!?
Is chess strength dominated by tactical ability?
I think that chess strength might be dominated by tactical ability. What do I mean by that?
Definitions:
Tactical ability = pattern recognition, clean calculation, trickiness, etc
Other book knowledge = openings, endgames, strategic themes, classic games, etc
If we could assign an ELO to “tactical ability” and “other book knowledge”, we would notice that chess strength is dominated by tactical ability. Example of two players I know personally:
Player A (2325)
Tactical ability = 2400
Other book knowledge = 2100
Player B (1975)
Tactical ability = 1900
Other book knowledge = 2200
This is the best example I know of, but I don’t know of any real counter-examples. For example, I have never met this player:
Player C (2050)
Tactical ability = 2300
Other book knowledge = 2000
With candidate master strength tactical ability, Player C will be rated 2150 - 2250. The thing is that a strong tactical ability will cause Player C to play the opening, the endgame, strategic themes, etc, much better than a 2000 player. After that, so many games are decided by tactical complications that it makes the difference in favor of the tactically gifted.
I know that saying that:
Tactical ability >> Other book knowledge
is a bit controversial, but if it’s true, it means that tactics should be given lots of consideration.
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Chess strength is determined by a number of combined factors:
1. Positional Understanding
2. Fighting Spirit
3. Health & Fitness
4. Tactical Awareness
5. Theoretical Knowledge
6. Confidence
Creating files for Chessmood openings
Respected sir,
Is it fine if I create my files working video by video or would it be better to work section by section only ?
I choose the first approach mainly because I felt that my memory is not very strong.
Thank you in advance for any feedback
Replies
Yes, it's fine. Sir said in a blog, if your memory is too strong, you can do full course and then create pgn. If it is strong but not super strong, you can do section by section. If it is weaker, then you can do video by video.
Benko delayed recapture mainline
Any thoughts about when Black delays the recapture on a6. This is suggested in both GM Ratkovic's and GM Dhopade's courses. The aim being to capture back at a later moment leaving the flexible option of what and when to capture back with.
So for example:
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. bxa6 g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. e4 O-O 8. Nf3 Qa5 9. Bd2 Bxa6
Replies
Will probably be looked at in more detail when the courses eventually get updated.
This was an attempt to save the Benko a couple years ago, but as explained in "Advanced Section - Modern Benko Gambit", it's no good either.
Hi David,
Did you watch the advanced section on the modern Benko? This move order is explained there and why Avetik believes that is not so good as it seemed...
Just in case: https://chessmood.com/course/benko-gambit/episode/635
And the following ones too...
The suggestion against h4 is Bxe5 and after h5, Qb6 tying Black to the defence of the b2 pawn.
GM Dhopade even considers the immediate h5 as ?! so it's probably worth another look if the cloud engine analysis is still available.
10 Bh6 is seen as the critical move by GM Dhopade (GM Ratokic only considers h5) as no Qh6 yet, followed by Ng7 11. Nf3 Bf6 12. h5 d6 e.g. 13. Ng5 Qa5 or 13. Qd2 Qa5
The only thing is there is a lot of analysis some of which is quite concrete, which might make this more suited to stronger players (ones that aren't engines anyway).
As for the other problem 8. a7 Rxa7 9. Nf3 - both GMs consider e6 as the right way to play against , no doubt appealing to the attacker.
NB. In a lot of literature the Modern Benko is used when referring to the e3 variation, which is why I hadn't looked here.
Caro-Kann Exchange Variation Revisited
Alexey Dreev has been quite successful with the Caro-Kann against our (Modern) Exchange Variation in the following line: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Qc7 6.Ne2 Bg4 7.0-0 e6 8.Qe1 Nf6!? This move was briefly mentioned in the course, but clearly requires more detailed attention in light of its success in recent praxis. I am hoping that our ChessMood GM's can find an effective move-order antidote and share it with us in the Advance Section of the course.
Thanks for all your great work. :)
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Hey Kevin! You know theory much better than many grandmasters :D
Yeah, Nf6 is a strong move and with GM Gabuzyan we suffered a lot until we found a way to keep the initiative.
Will record and upload it in advanced section :)
Thank you for your kind words.
Regards,
Avetik
Thanks Kevin D
Dreev seems to have some success with Black in the Caro Kann.
This game(Lendermann vs Dreev) has some analysis at this ChessBase link: https://en.chessbase.com/post/dreev-dominates-gabuzyan-dragoons
Why did Lendermann here play Rae1? and not Rxf3?
A game I like, is:
YuYangyi vs Dreev Blitz Caro Kann Exchange (Chess Mood line) 2016 1-0
[Event "World Blitz Championship"]
[Site "Doha QAT"]
[Date "2016.12.29"]
[EventDate "2016.12.29"]
[Round "4.7"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Yu Yangyi"]
[Black "Alexey Dreev"]
[ECO "B13"]
[WhiteElo "2729"]
[BlackElo "2652"]
[PlyCount "67"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Qc7 6. Ne2 Bg4
7. O-O e6 8. Qe1 Bxe2 9. Qxe2 Nf6 10. Nd2 Bd6 11. g3 O-O
12. f4 Rae8 13. Nf3 Nd7 14. Bd2 f5 15. Ne5 Nf6 16. Kh1 Ne4
17. Be3 a6 18. Rg1 Bxe5 19. fxe5 Qf7 20. Raf1 h5 21. c4 dxc4
22. Bxe4 Qd7 23. Bg2 b5 24. Qxh5 Nb4 25. Rd1 Nd3 26. Qe2 Rc8
27. Rgf1 Nb4 28. a3 Nd5 29. Bd2 Rfd8 30. Ba5 Re8 31. Bb4 Qf7
32. Bxd5 exd5 33. Qf3 g6 34. g4 1-0
(How do you add the pgn viewer to posts/comments?)
Hey guys!
Just recorded it! :)
Before we edit and upload I offer you to find a crazy and most unhuman move I have ever seen, that Engine offers in this position. Black to move.
https://chessmood.com/course/caro-kann-defence
Hey guys! Just uploaded a new advanced section in Caro Kann, "Dreev Line".
Hopefully, you love it.
Hello Everyone,
New PRO member here. Hope someone can help me here. In GM Lev Alburt's book "Chess Openings for White, Explained," (second edition), in the line 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Qc7 6.Ne2 Bg4 7.f3[ why 7.f3 instead of 7.0-0? AIburt does not explain 7.f3] Bd7" (p.410).
Would you mind helping me understand why 7.f3 might be preferred in this line? Thank you.
What a splendid game, GM Gabuzyan!
Congratulation to our mighty coach Hovhannes for todays beautiful win on European Championship in Reykjavik against our Croatian top seed Ivan Saric for the leading position in the tournament! And moreover, he did it in true Chessmood style... :)
https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/european-championship-2021/5/1/3
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You see, it is possible to win against the Maroczy Bind. :)
I have been working and analyzing Gabuzyan's games but yesterday game was simply extraordinary. Very well played even if he did not play a5, and knowing him, he just forgot about it. We will have to wait the video of the game, because this game belongs to the "Gabuzyan's mind " Collection.
I do not want to write about Gabuzyan's performance in order to not break or jinx his concentration, but look at the following stats from his last game with Saric in the picture.
He played like Stockfish NNUE. Saric also helped a bit with Bh3 instead of Bf3 allowing the LSB to become a SU35 like in the lesson 2 of the daily lessons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWArPpAstF0&t=2s
https://lichess.org/study/vCYeFLhn
We will have to call him Gabuzyan NNUE!!!
The only innacuracy made according to stockfish NNUE, was not even real, because the line suggested by the engine leads to a draw!!! Gabuzyan played a perfect game we can say!!!
I also enjoyed watching the game yesterday. I was a bit worried for Gabuzyan as he tends to play too quickly but in this case time pressure was helping him as the oponent made a mistake on the move 40.
Why do we miss tactics?
I've been working on tactical problems (50 a day which takes 2-3 hours). I've noticed that certain problems are harder to see than others so am trying to work out what is it about a puzzle which means a solution can be seen quickly, or in other cases can't or a mistake made.
We'll assume someone told us there was a tactic or it's a puzzle. Otherwise "I wasn't looking (hard enough), or gave up too soon (including the urgency from the clock)" are common reasons to miss tactics in games, perhaps also I thought there might be something but couldn't see enough and didn't want to risk it. Plus there is the blunder problem of being so self-absorbed in your ideas you overlook what the opponent has.
For a puzzle, let's assume there is a real solution and not an error. Many, particularly older, collections of tactics, not only have some errors, but overlook that the obvious line has a deviation line that is just raw calculation to a better position, and we didn't solve the position because of that (we are assuming there is something more or the raw calculation without winning something isn't the point, particularly if the position is already superior).
I think the following are common categories of why after staring at a puzzle (as opposed to being too quick) we miss the solution:
1. Didn't evaluate all the resources / hazards for both sides
2. Didn't re-evaluate after moves being made (how does the position change - the 'delta')
3. Cut-off too early
4. Overlooked quiet moves when the opponent is helpless
5. Assumption of move (particularly recaptures) when it is not forced
6. Incorrect visualisation / forgetting
7. Lost material count / sticky pieces
8. Inexperience with the theme / resources
9. Ignoring 'impossible' or illegal moves
I should really post examples of each, but I don't have the time to do so. However after the explanations anyone working through tactical problems will probably notice these issues.
1. Resources are important (problems with the the position or advantages). The recent solve with a grandmaster event (there is another this Tuesday) helped me see this. I really think there is no course or book that properly states this either, at best they will talk about themes, or loose pieces etc, and not really about evaluating the landscape before solving. Worse too is 'laziness' conditioned by solving puzzles that are too easy and of the sort sacrifice the queen and mate which makes us assume that tactics are just about forced sacrifices that the opponent must capture. Noticing all the resources are important, and perhaps it's worth having a list of what to look for. Similar to resources are hazards, and again only one place has every mentioned about hazards http://www.neoneuro.com/downloads/chuzhakinssystem.pdf
So off the top of my head (probably not a complete list) resources are:
. Bad king position (back rank, open files to king, under-protected king, king in the open, mating net, lack of moves) - also useful for stalemate tactics not just checkmate
. Open lines (or controlled lines) that can be exploited either to attack something, move pieces into attacking positions (including change of direction of rooks to occupy a 7th rank / get behind pawns / double along a rank against a target, and access of a different diagonal of the bishop ('Karpov's billiard balls') again as attacking or making batteries) - lines that can be opened, especially discovered / double attack
. Useful squares and outposts
. Pieces in forkable positions, or with 'one leg in the fork' that needs another move to attract another piece into the fork. One or both of the legs may be attacks rather than just capturable pieces
. Pins / potential pins, pieces vulnerable to skewers (rooks / knights /
pawns / kings from diagonals, bishops / knights / pawns / kings from
files/ranks)
. Material build up against a point
. Running pawns (either to attack or promote) and pawn promotion, especially pawn on the 7th
. Defender can be diverted, captured or replaced with less effective defender, or lines of communication closed to cause under-protection of pieces or key squares
. Overloaded (or vital) pieces or pieces that can be overloaded, helpless positions where nothing threatening can happen so pieces/pawns can be brought in for free or zugzwang
Not all resources may be exploitable, some might be impossible due to another piece in the way for example (see impossible moves)
Hazards overlap with resources, but the main ones are (not covered under resources):
. Un/under defended pieces (loose pieces drop off)
. Equal attackers and defenders (or if more defenders, the defenders are precariously places or easily dealt with)
. Pieces with limited mobility
. Pieces deep within the position / hovering around key tactics (especially the king) including cutting it off
One example of not considering all resources is seeing there is a piece that can be captured in sacrifice which is helping defend the king, but to occupy the now available spot takes two moves with the queen. Failing to see that a first possible move with the queen attacks a loose rook prevents the solving of the combination.
2. Similar to missing tactics is not looking how the position changes after moves are made. For example squares might become available, defenders move or disappear, pieces move into spots they can be attacked. For example a clearance sacrifice could free up a key square to perform a double attack. See impossible moves.
3. Cut-off too early is when we stop calculating a line, when keeping going would have yielded something. This can be down to problems visualising and missing changes in the position, but sometimes it's also tiredness (there must have been something simpler). The converse is going down a rabbit hole when something simpler is available. This is a problem with searching depth vs breadth. Some of this is helped by evaluating resources which otherwise might have to be discovered by unnecessary search and the temptation of seeing something new and going back to an earlier position arises. Practice and better intuition help here. Cut-off is also a problem when we think we've won something but the position isn't quiet and a counter-attack that needs dealing with now (or earlier) is available.
4. Some tactics are very difficult because they require 2 or 3 quiet moves and with the usual 'I go here, he goes there' are very easy to miss. Recognising the opponent can't do anything and asking questions like if I had 2 moves, what would I do, are useful.
5. Assumptions about opponent's moves particularly recaptures can lead into a false solution. There is the question about rechecking for things missed vs checking the solution there and then. Also by evaluating the opponent's resources, opportunities for defence or counter-attack can be better spotted.
6. Not an easy one to solve though practice helps. Visualising is harder for some than others, particularly those who don't think in pictures and so other parts of the brain may appear to occlude the visual feed. Forgetting resources or discovered ideas is easy given human's can't track more than about 4 pieces of information. Being able to pay attention to what is important and what isn't as well as being organised with the search and when to go back and recheck/recalculate are part of this.
7. Lost material count is similar to forgetting or bad visualising. Have we got an advantage of material yet, or did we sacrifice too much? I find instead of trying to work out what is left from the position, 'cross off' pieces that have gone from the initial position (without mentally moving them) which is easier as you can see it. Sticky pieces are pieces that have been moved or captured but are still in the mental image. Sometimes rechecking or working out the material count can help eliminate them. This is also related to noticing what has changed in that new lines will be open and closed, defenders will be moved or captured and so on.
8. Inexperience with the theme is more due to building intuition and knowing what to look for. Having solved many problems before helps.
9. Impossible or illegal moves are worth considering. Purdy mentions jump moves for example. Questions such as if this piece wasn't there or moved, or if the pin was broken, what could be done are useful to ask even when they are not possible right now. The opportunity for discoveries and clearance sacrifices may be possible.
Finally remember the basics of working out tactics which get overlooked - at each move look for checks, captures and threats - it's often easy to overlook this.
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Add to 5. Failure to consider alternatives e.g. if a king check, assuming the king will only go to a particular square or ignoring a potential interpose.
Can we really beat comps?
I defeated Daniel Naroditsky bot with black pieces with my favorite KID. I felt happy because i just woke up and defeated Danya. But on the otherside it seems quite strange. Can we really defeat comps? This game is not baked.
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We might be able to beat comps at a low level like 2200 or 2300. But it is next to impossible to beast stockfish or leela at its full strength.
Just so you know in King's Indian defense there is no mate for Black on the kingside (that is if leela is white) and white is always slightly better
Benko Gambit and 2.Nc3
Hi!
I've been trying out the Benko Gambit and really liking it so far. I have run across a couple of players who play 1.d4 -> 2.Nc3 and I was curious if there is a way to steer the game into a similar flavor somehow. I didn't notice anything in the course or via forum search.
My best idea at the moment is if I know 2.Nc3 is coming maybe try 1..c5 instead.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
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Sorry about that, the Opening Courses haven't been updated in awhile.
