Chess forum by Grandmasters

Daily puzzle 2 Dec

Again another with 2 plausible solutions.

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That's weird.

Thanks David, fixed again. 

Main course

I've only been a member for a few months now. I'm an 800 level player at this time. Listening to Whitemood courses, specifically the Scotch opening. A comment was made that you can learn more at the main courses. I've heard this comment previously. What are these "main courses"? Thank you Allen

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On the courses page (https://chessmood.com/courses) you will see a heading "Step-by-step opening repertoire for White". That contains links to the main courses for each white opening, including the Scotch (https://chessmood.com/course/scotch-game).

Daily chess puzzle 29.11.2022

Hello cm community, it seems there is a flaw in today s problem at 1st black move, and on white reply to it

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We just fixed it! 

Thanks!

Daily puzzle of 29.11.2022

Hi everyone, I didn't know where to post this, but there is a problem with the solution for today's puzzle. The second move should be 2.Nf7+, bagging the Queen after the King has moved to safety. The proposed solution loses material unnecessarily. This should be fixed.

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I guess the first black move was supposed to be Qg7. Then the 2nd white move of Be5 makes more sense.

We just fixed it! 

Thanks!

difficulty to see long distance tactics

Hello, I noticed that somehow I have difficulties to see or imagine long distances "easy" moves (when attacking (King) and defending like in the example below (White to move) from a tactics exercise book. Somehow focusing on near king moves. Any good way to train for such problems? thanks michael

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Perhaps try solving more studies? It's also good to collect a set of such positions (with long distance moves) and periodically go through and re-solve them. You can even make a private Chessable course out of them. I like how the attached puzzle finishes with Qe8# :-)

It's a combination of sight of board (what you unconsciously notice) and where your conscious attention is drawn to (the king, it's a puzzle and many of them are to mate). Since your mind can easily filter the irrelevant e.g. the rook on a6, which is only of use as a move delaying sacrifice, it's easy to forget about the bishop. One way to solve this is after a quick glance go through the forcing move process: look at checks, captures threats in roughly most forcing to least order. While looking for _all_ checks you might notice Ba3+. The only trap then is to miss the Qe8# follow up in favour of superior material (found a good move, check if there is a better one). More studies yes, but take your time and be aware of your thinking process.

sparring partner

Hello chessmood family i am punit dodhiya from india with fide rating of 1403 and i just finished scotch opening of below 2000 i want to practice with some one in chess.com or lichess.org we can play 3+2 or 10+5 chess.com id pdodhiya lichess id Ar300

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you might find better luck asking in the pinned post at the top, this will soon be lost as new posts occur.

here i can be your sparring partner

i sent you a message in fb

Help me get some inferences

https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/11951337/ Above linked data is from 9.7k low elo +9.7k high elo = 19.4k games about the openings used by them. Why do you think sicilian defence is so popular in high elo and not low elo. (I am a beginner chess player but doing a project to understand some patterns and infer some useful conclusion for chess players). Any other useful insights to get from this data?🙏 please help

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My experience and understanding (as an intermediate player ~1700-2000 online, no OTB rating), is that the Sicilian is very strong, but also very complicated. I started off playing the Dragon, but never developed much of an understanding of it. I got to roughly 1000 strength pretty quickly, but stagnated. I jumped to 1400-1500 (online) pretty quickly once I started playing the Caro-Kann, which seemed simpler than the Sicilian. I went from playing the Sicilian poorly to playing the Caro-Kann poorly, and my results improved. But I also put at least some effort into actually learning the thing. With the white pieces, I also went from playing the strong but complicated Queen's Gambit to the simpler (if less powerful) London System. This suited me well at that point in my chess development, at least in terms of gaining rating and confidence. Now I play the White Mood openings with 1. e4, largely to improve my attacking play, and also because GM Avetik said so. :) I'd like to try learning the Accelerated Dragon sometime soon, but totally changing all of my openings with white feels like enough of a project at the moment. In terms of stronger players, I think they like to play the Sicilian because it is objectively strong and also theoretically challenging. The best players are less concerned with the need to learn lots of theory. At some point, perhaps it's more necessary to learn lots of theory, and there is an edge to be gained by doing that. But at lower levels, there is still so much more to work on, I think it makes sense to just get a position with some possibilities that doesn't have tons of theoretical pitfalls to avoid.

I think a relatively simple explanation can be that Sicilians are generally more "fighting" openings, since they create imbalances right from the very start. For example, after the most common response 2. Nf3 and 3.d4 from White (the open Sicilian), after 3...cxd4 4.Nxd4, an imbalanced pawn structure results from the trade of Black's c-pawn and White's d-pawn. White has a queenside majority which can be useful in some endgames, while the semi-open c-file for Black can be useful for Black to put pressure on White's pawn structure. Due to these imbalances, usually one or both sides have some practical chances to play for win, since positions are rarely too "dry". Moreover, different variations of the Sicilian can offer a wide range of play, for example some sharp lines in the Najdorf can lead to opposite side castling and many attacking ideas, such as ...a6 and ...b5 from Black, g2-g4-g5 etc. from White, while other variations like the hedgehog approach Taimanov (against the Maroczy) mind can offer a struggle between dynamic and static advantages. All-in-all, Sicilian positions have huge variety and offers fighting chances for both sides, and players with different styles can often choose an approach as White/black that suits himself/herself.

https://chessmood.com/blog/5-reasons-to-play-sicilian-defense-for-black

😀

Playing the board vs the person

An interesting thought crossed my mind. A usual piece of chess advice is play the board not the person, that is (opening prep aside) play the strongest moves, not the sort of move you think the opponent will fall for. But with SLP, I guess it's the reverse, play the person not the board. The 'strongest' moves on the board won't win, so play moves that will be troublesome for the opponent. That said psychology is useful against opponents. Younger juniors are likely to be impatient and tire early, so a long maneuvering game in 'dull' endgame positions are likely to lead to their defeat (see my round 4 at Birmingham), whereas a fun fur-flying attacking game will no doubt keep their attention and it's an urban-adage not to try to out-tactic a junior. Very old people are also likely to tire on a long game. I forget which book it was, but someone was being given advice to play against GM Barcza after an adjournment that he was an old man, so keep playing on. One of the players at my club (in his 80s) tends to get good positions or even beat me at skittles-blitz but the results he has at longer games are worse thus his rating is falling away. No doubt as the game time goes on, mistakes creep in. Age is a factor in how and what you play. There is also psychological factors in time scrambles that once the adrenaline wears off tiredness starts to happen. The Chessmood openings often talk about not playing the most principled moves, but tricky moves that give trouble to the opponent and avoid deep [big] theory. So it's an interesting topic, when to play the board and when to play the person/situation or practical moves vs principled ones.

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d4Nc3

good day guys d4Nf6Nc3 are there any of the courses that explore this?

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In the d4 sidelines course (https://chessmood.com/course/crushing-d4-sidelines) there is a section on the Jobava which is what 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 will often transpose to. Basically you should play 2...d5. If they go 3.Bf4 then it's a Jobava. Also possible is 3.Bg5 (Richter-Veresov Attack) although that's not covered in the course but it's not very common these days. 3...Nbd7 is considered the best reply. You'll also occasionally face 3.e4 (Blackmar-Diemar Gambit) so it's good to have something prepared for that too.

Profile

I noticed that a lot of people have really cool pawn/other pieces profile pictures, I was wondering where you got those. Could someone please explain how you found them? Thanks!😄😄

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They were default assigned by the old website.

Hungarian g3

good day, anyone can point me in the direction of a good response for black, thank you

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g3 is one of those moves which is waiting to see what the opponent will play, and in our case it's going to transpose most likely into one of the other system. following with c4 it'll become a (reverse) maroczy or English following with d4 it'll become a sideline which perhaps isn't covered so well, but most of them are not so critical so good moves will suffice. Whether we should try the catalan setup is another matter and a few of these will be critical (maybe we'd wish to play c6 not c5) and perhaps something that needs considering in the d4 deviations course following with Nf3/Nc3 again it's a waiting move following with e4 then it'll be a closed sicilian or KIA (e4 g3 is covered in the course with c5 d5, but the KIA proper I think is missing) Thus with that in mind, your candiates are c5, Nf6, g6. The key is working out which one leaves you available to transpose into all those lines no matter which move the opponent plays next. Nf6 might not work so well in the English or closed sicilian so scrub that. c5 is probably okay, but catalan transposition, so I'd probably go for g6 here and see what the opponent does. Bg2 Bg7, now show your cards (well if it's h3 next try to not to laugh and expect some sort of hippo maybe :) Bear in mind I also know the Grunfeld and will look for transpositions into non-critical lines as well, so sometimes having experience of different openings/pawn formations when it's not the critical mainline is useful as well as good chess background anyway.

Dark Mode in the blog !

Hello ChessMood Family, I think we need the Dark Mode in the blog! (https://www.forbes.com/uk/advisor/mobile-phones/what-is-dark-mode-and-should-you-be-using-it/) The articles there are high quality and i spend lot of time reading them, :) thanks

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I agree although don't rush dark mode in the forum too soon. ChessMood is still under development, and so far, it is amazing!!👍

Must know endgame theory - knights

It should also be mentioned that knight endgames are also considered similar to pawn endings. If the pawn ending is winning, then it's likely (but need to consider concrete examples) the knight ending is also favourable. Not always though: https://www.chessbase.in/news/Croatia-GCT-2019-Round-2

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New article: Detachment: Focus on growth and not the result

Today’s article is devoted to legendary Kobe Bryant who always spoke about the importance of detaching from results and focusing on growth.

About shutting up the ego that is fed from results. 

This mindset shift will help you to enjoy and grow faster in chess and in life.  

In today’s article GM Avetik shares: 

✅How one of our students raised 1,000 rating in 3 months and what was the reason behind it 

✅In his childhood he was often forgetting about growth and was focused on results and rating. What words his father used to keep him in the right direction  

✅What mindset shift helped me to survive during his toughest times
 
✅His KPI technique that he and many of his students use to focus on growth and not the result  

And much more… 

Read it here 👇
https://chessmood.com/blog/detachment

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In a perfect world I agree, but I think in reality it's very hard to detach yourself from results. Yes for one or two, we all have bad tournaments or games, but what is the overall pattern. If it's not very much out for a lot in, it's quite tough to take a objective look and see why you are not getting results, as well as keep playing and studying hard and hoping things change. The problem with chess are plateaus, and plateaus are difficult to cross by nature. A lot of work is needed or a sudden perspective change, and that doesn't usually come by studying a couple of courses or playing sometimes 100 of more games. The other annoying things with chess is that rating is a very weak guide to strength or improvement and only can be looked at in blocks of maybe 200 points and online ratings are notoriously bad. You might get beaten by someone 400 points below you, but it's not because you are bad or playing bad, it's just that they are playing better than their grade (1600s coming top in tournaments where the top seeds are 2200+) and grading systems like FIDE being poor for progress because the 'K' factor limits the number of points one can win per game, so it takes a very long while and spectacular results to make a major difference once your grade settles. Places like chess.com do not have any indication during the game of the player's rating deviation (i.e. how stable their rating is or any indicator if the player is provisionally rated). That 1700 player (or whatever the starting rating is) if on a new account could be really 500 or 2500. Playing around that rating can be a rollercoaster, which settles as you get above or below it. Finally there are problems of different speed games. I had a 2200+ performance at the weekend, but I lost to a 1900 in the week. Why? The weekend games were 80 10, the week game was 65 10 and I had a clearly superior position before not being able to think for 15 minutes around the critical point caught up (the 1900 had been playing chess for at least as long as I had, yet some juniors with 2000+ ratings got theirs quickly and are not seasoned enough). To get a higher rating myself quicker I'd either need to leave the league behind which a lot of 1900+ players have done, or get better at making quick intuitive decisions which might be more fitting to a much stronger player than the rating above me. With every game needing to be a win, getting a higher rating when you're a big fish in a small pond vs a medium fish in the wider ocean can be really difficult. Unfortunately chess doesn't pay the way here, so getting above 2000, certainly 2200 is very difficult as you don't encounter enough competition of the right level. Have a look at the entries so far for Hastings: https://chess-results.com/tnr668610.aspx?lan=1 the are many GMs in the 2400-2500 range, yet to become a GM you need 2500, the number FMs in the 2100-2200 rating band and even an IM at 2040. To compare two tournaments (which you can't do), you're saying that effectively I've outperformed a whole group of FMs, yet the chance of my rating getting to 2300 to get such a title is really slim. Are these guy weak, probably not, but to maintain their high ratings they need to play a lot of international tournaments and no one is going to pay for that lifestyle, thus their stagnate or drop away slightly in rating deflation as they rarely get a shot at the 2650+ band and are always being sniped at from below. I think the real way to know whether you are improving or not is look at the quality of the game. Why did you lose? You didn't know something - that's not your fault. You need to focus more - how to tell when it's critical or when you should be looking out? Calculate better - is that reasonable, train it? Didn't play on in a winning position - how to be more objective? And so on... I think you notice that you're playing better even if you don't get more wins or rating point rises. The problem is when you're not improving and then you need to look at what is stopping you, or your training.

Which Courses Teach Positional Play?

Hello! I was curious: Which Chessmood courses teach positional play best? I know there are none by that title, but I know elements of it are highlighted here and there. Are there any future plans for such courses? If not, what resources are recommended?

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100 Classical Masterpieces (https://chessmood.com/course/chess-classical-games) has a lot of good positional stuff.

Bishop pair, rooks (speedboat) adventures, happy pieces as well.

Also the 100 Classical Endgames course is very good for learning positional play.

Working too fast?

On Saturday Avetik asks are we working too fast and could slow down? If it's going faster than people are consuming the new sections, there always could be a quick diversion to do something else.... Perhaps another couple of sections of Happy Pieces, or completion of the Czech and Modern Pirc courses would be welcomed :)

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Puzzle from previous day is displayed

Hello, Puzzle from the previous day was shown even if the new day had started. I think the moodcoin problem derives from this issue. People are solving the previous day's puzzle because it was not updated. So they are not getting moodcoins.

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Thanks for the info. Very much appreciated!

I can confirm that something like what Ozan Yarci describes is happening to me too. Earlier today, on the morning of 22 November local time, I was seeing the Troitzky puzzle from 21 November. Now, late afternoon on 22 November local time, I am seeing the Kubbel puzzle which is presumably the correct one. I note that the countdown timer shows that I have about 7.5 hours remaining to solve the Kubbel puzzle, i.e. until midnight local time. But for sure it was less than 12 hours ago that I was seeing the Troitky puzzle. Anyways I solved the Kubbel (b5 etc) puzzle and got my MoodCoins. This feature has a history of bugs. Perhaps a simpler approach might be called for.

Timezone thing maybe? Seems to be working fine for me.

Here is a screenshot, similar to Ozan's screenshot, showing the issue. Local time is 12:09am, 23 November (see the clock in top right of screen) but the puzzle from 22 November is still being displayed. Amusingly it says I have 23 hours 50 minutes left to solve yesterday's puzzle.

Scotch

https://chessmood.com/course/scotch-game/episode/1338 In this insane video 😀Avetik sir covers only 13..Ba6 but I am confused what to do after 13..Bb5 as after 14.bxa7 Kb7 there is no Rb3 check. Appreciate the response as always! Love the work😀 Regards Vedant

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Sorry for disturbing once again😅. https://chessmood.com/course/scotch-game/episode/1345 In this variation I was confused what to do after 11..f5 and white's pawns are hanging which is irritating. Appreciate the response as always! Love the work😀 Regards Vedant

I think it's very rare line, only two games in database and one Bb5 !? which is probably about equal at the end. Probably according to engine 14.Nc3 Qe5 15. Qe5 f:e 16.Nb5 c:b 17. Bg5 Re8 18 b:a Kb7 19. Rc1 with compensation. interesting but didn;t work is 14. Rb3 c:b! 15.Rb5 c:b 16. Qa8 Kc7 17. Qa7 Kc6 18. Be3 Qb4 19. Nc3 Qa5! with advantage for black

Nc3 is the best move in case of Bb5, attacking the Bishop and developing for free the knight as Vikram said, but these lines are very advanced, you do not need to learn all the specific moves but have a better feeling for the position since you are supposed to play similar lines.

Game plugin (forum posts) issues

Noticed a couple of problems: If the game is long, it's not possible to scroll to the end of the game on Android. The game result is not printed in the movelist.

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Thanks David, dully noted!😜

Move ordered in French Exchange

This happened to me a couple of times this week alone. 1.e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 as outlined in the course. Now here white can play 4. exd5 and I assume black replies exd5. However, now black cannot adopt the recommended aggressive setups as the f6 square has a knight "misplaced" on it. So how do we play this position? I am playing the French because Coach gave us a rather useful way to get something vs. the exchange but black cannot play this if white delays exd5 for one move. Thanks.

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I think then Nc3 is kinda misplaced, white wont have easy c3 to defend d4, for example 5.Bg5 Be7 6.Bd3 Nc6! (hitting d4) now if 7.Nf3 Bg4 so 7.Nge2 Nb4 and black gets good play imo, that's what I have from my personal analysis, cause sometimes this late exd5 is played

It is not only in this move order that our plan is crossed. If 1.e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3.ed ed 4. Nc3 we will struggle to play Bd6 and Nge7. Which can transpose from your opening moves see the following forum topic for some ideas on how to play... https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/question-about-the-blackmood-french

Hey there,

Norbert left you the link for the same discussion we had in another thread.

Good luck!