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Chess forum by Grandmasters

Forum - New Policies

Dear friends, 

I want to reveal one thing. 
One of the most common advice I'm getting from business advisers is that we should remove the forum… 
“What if in the future you have 100,000 students and everyone writes 10 questions a day… ” - they say. 
And they're correct. The business model with the forum is weak and vulnerable.

But… 

As I didn't create ChessMood for making money or for making a billion-dollar business, but to help chess players, I want to keep forum very-very much… 

I want to help our students whenever they have questions. Myself, when I was climbing to GM, I didn't have people to ask questions… 

However, recently some of our students are just bombarding us with deep questions, much more advanced than their levels. 

Here is the thing: 
Each time you ask a deep question and we spend 30 minutes answering it, we could record material for you in that time.  

Please, keep this in mind. Please! 
We aren't in the Maldives chilling and drinking cocktails from Pineapple. (Like I used to do in Thailand ?) 
We're working 6 days a week, coming office at 8 AM, leaving it at 10 PM. 
Today is Sunday, and I'm at the office, with the chess team working on the course about “How to stop blunders”… 

We're working on many courses, adding features… And much more. 
One day, I'm going to record a video and show what's going on here, what's the process behind every 1 hour uploaded video. 

Yes, we created this forum, so we can help you any time you have a question. 
But when some of our students start to abuse this option, bombard us with many questions a day, questions that would be advanced even for Super GMs, it's making us exhausted… We're stopping recordings to answer that questions, instead of recording super important courses which will immediately improve your chess. 

And it'll make us think about options:
1. Change terms of service 
2. Refund and remove some of the students 
3. Add forum polices 
4. Add a different plan and allow asking questions to forum manually
Or something else… 

Which will be very sad for me to do.  

You're welcome with smart questions! We're very happy to see them. We're happy to see whenever we made a mistake in the courses. 
But not happy to see a long message, proving that Alpha Zero shows +0.25 instead of Stockfish s suggested move, after which it is +0.02.
When on move 27 instead of our suggested move where is +3 winning, there is an option to get +3.5…  

I'm not going to mention someone particular who touches our mood negatively with long posts and advanced questions. 
I'm just kindly asking you to keep in your mind, whenever you ask a question, that, 

Each time we come to answer your question, we were recording something important for you.  

Thanks for understanding my dear champions. 
I love what I do. Our team loves what we do. And we love what we have created so far, people whom we found through ChessMood, the amazing students we met, and celebrated success with them. 
And I really hope, we'll never need to change the policies of the forum. 
Thank you! 

Replies

I think the above is clear plus very fair and reasonable Avetik. As somebody who spent over 30 years in 'corporate life', latterly in directorship positions I can empathise. Dealing with the expectations of the general public can be problematic and when your product is aimed at an 'intellectual hobby' for most but one that can induce obsession in a minority, then you really do have to manage expectations and establish protocols that enable the business to focus on product development and positioning. However, I would venture to suggest to you that there is another reason to retain the forum. It engenders a sense of community. In the several threads I have initiated I have been pleased at the level of very useful input from other Pro-Members and sense of collaboration in a common purpose. In fact, I feel that most of my questions are already partly answered by other members more skilful &/or experienced than myself. Unlike say a soccer forum, where some threads can descend into acrimonious arguments, I like the obvious goodwill within the ChessMood forum and want to compliment you on setting the right tone that engenders this culture.

I agree with you. People are like that because the chess industry lets you think you constantly need to buy new books with last novelties if you don't want to be out-prepared by your opponents. And here we are when buying books after books prevent you to improve! ? We should not forget about middlegame and endgame! By the way, Chessmood commented games are just wonderful for that! ? I hope people will understand, and I hope they will continue posting on the forum. I like when people share their tournament games with analysis, ask for advice and recommendations, look for sparring-partner, want to organize training tournaments, etc ? Eagerly waiting for the next courses ?

"Spirits that I've cited - My commands ignore." Coach, I do agree. But having in mind the way ChessMood promoted its courses ("crushing") and site ("all prepared/answered by Grandmasters"), I won't be too surprised about members going (too) deep into the lines with the ultimate authority on their hands. You and coach Hovhannes pointed it out many times: There might be some kind of ultimate truth/authority, but ChessMood is dedicated to people who are not scientists playing correspondence (email) chess but who play OTB or online against other humans with a limited amount of time and who like to win even if "objectively" they had missed "better" moves in the opening. Why not do the following: If in your opinion a question goes way too far over what the course is about - why not channel it to a dedicated deep (engine) dive thread. Those who like to scientifically work on opening theory can discuss the question. But you and your team can focus on the content that fits most of the members' needs. And now and then you and your team can jump on of the scientific discussions if you want (I guess somehow those questions sometimes are some kind of challenge to you, too).

I don't know if I'm in this category, but if I play a game (blitz/rapid/OTB) or see someone played it in suggested course line, then it means it's a valid question. First I try to figure it out on my own via searching database using engines and usually find answer for myself and mark it in my pgns, but if it's still unlear about the plan how to proceed in that position then of course I'll ask players who are better than me - GMs, better players in this forum. If my question is 'super-advanced' and 'only on GM level' I don't agree as that position was played on my or similar FM level and can be played next time, so I wanna be prepared and I wanna learn. I can stop asking this stuff, but then what's the purpose of this forum if I can't?

?GM Avetik I have just started to watch your webinar for today 29/3/22 and stopped the recording at 8:26 when you tripled 0(O-O-O). Without any recourse to engines I said why cant your opponent play Rxe7 ? Bxe7 Nxc6 bc6 Ba6+ Kb8 Qb3+ 1-0. Please point out my errors. Thank you Mike

Hi Avetik, I think the courses, the events and the content you give at ChessMood are really top class. I will be looking forward to any courses you produce and don't want the fact that you have to answer forum questions to delay the process of producing great content. As a member, who wants to improve I would much rather you spend time preparing and producing courses and events. Sadly, having a forum where all the questions are answered by GMs is not scalable as a business model and while the forum is nice from a community perspective it isn't worth your or Gabuzyan's time. Think of it like this, as pro-members we are collectively paying your business money to create content to help us improve. This money is not well spent on answering forum questions and so we don't want you distracted by the forum. The courses and events are where the real value in ChessMood comes from. A question should only attract your attention under certain circumstances. 1. If there is an actual error in one of the given lines that should be put forward in a separate thread called "Possible Corrections" that someone in the team other than a GM can then check with an engine to see if it is correct. If they agree they can add it to your re-recording schedule at a later date and add a quick reply to inform the membership that this is scheduled to be worked on at some point or tell the questioner that they are mistaken. 2. Anyone can add a question and then people can donate Mood Coins to the question - using the coins as a kind of voting mechanism Only when a question has received more than 500 or 1000 Mood coins, for example, does the GM need to answer as you will know that plenty of members are interested in it. Then Qs about move 27 in some line just won't get the votes to qualify. The simple Q's asked by beginners answered satisfactorily by 2000+ rated players also won't get the votes to qualify as they will already have "Accepted Answer" status. Members can either donate Mood coins to the question or vote on an answer already given as an accepted answer. If I asked "Who invented Tom and Jerry?" it wouldn't need a GM response because it also wouldn't receive the votes because it is a silly question. But feel free to answer it if you want ? Then you will only be left with the gems that the community as a whole really want you to answer. This is my favourite idea. What do you think of that? This is actually a small policy change from "every question will be answered by GMs" to "every question has the potential to be answered by GMs if the community hasn't already answered it satisfactorily. " This will be much more scalable and will allow the community to continue to interact and support each other and allow you to concentrate on creating great courses! Thanks to you and all the team for everything you're doing.

The best games of March, 2022, and the prizes

Hello ChessMood family, hello champions and future champions! 
Welcome to the "Best games of March, 2022" competition.
Under this post, we invite you to post the best games that you will play this month. 

The Prize fund is 350K MoodCoins which is equal to 350$.  

The 1st prize  - 150K
The 2nd prize - 100K
The 3rd prize-  50K
The 4th prize- 30k
The 5th prize- 20k

Good luck with your games and keep the Right Mood! 
#ChessMood
#Right Mood - Right Move 

P. S.
Here are the winners of February, 2022:

Ilja Haitin
Mik B
Green
Rob Dzedzic
Yuma Okabe

Replies

Hello ChessMood family!

Thank you for sharing your games! We’re very proud of the chess you’ve played and the ideas you’ve implemented from the courses! Keep up the good work! :) 

Moving on, here’s the list of prize winners for February month:

The first prize goes to Ilja Haitin for their classic-style attack in this game. 

https://www.vint.ee/en-gb/replay/12642824/

The second prize goes to Mik B for showing how to crush Black after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nxd4 5.Qxd4 c5? 

https://www.chess.com/game/live/39401970291       

The third prize goes to Green for finding some beautiful attacking moves in this game!

https://lichess.org/bBkjTEWG#56  

Rob Dzedzic takes the fourth prize for showing great understanding in the Caro-Kann Exchange variation.

 https://lichess.org/s21DLVWu#20  

Yuma Okabe bags the fifth prize for this attacking game in the Pirc.

https://lichess.org/nIBnnJT3/white#39  

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you once again everyone for sharing your games!

https://lichess.org/3uG5DDgfwol1

https://lichess.org/XaTsv5IsKun8

Whose king is unsafe? https://www.chess.com/game/live/40040363195

super attacking game!! https://lichess.org/Ss46RsL1/white

how to play GP vs 2..a6 variation https://www.chess.com/game/live/40242659747 quick GP knockout https://www.chess.com/live#g=41282444801 acc dragon attack on the q-side typical plans in Re8,e6 var https://www.chess.com/game/live/40417201297 acc another game, good I remembered b6 theory idea vs aggro f4 line, txs CM! https://www.chess.com/game/live/40417781775 crazy pirc (as usual) https://www.chess.com/game/live/40504242655

Nice attacking game in Caro-Kann Exchange variation. https://lichess.org/5KGRca7s

https://lichess.org/41BwSy0g/black#43 Nice moves that I saw on move 22, after my opponent played Ra2.

https://lichess.org/YhqROmyu/white#67 I play against IM Eric Rosen and He played Stafford Gambit! I play chessmood Stafford Gambit Refutation line, and I got his queen and winning position!! But I used too much time and Rosen flagged me? But I played perfect!!

https://www.chess.com/game/live/40480856629 Beautiful game with a POG Sacrifice at the end!

https://www.chess.com/game/live/40533015549 I played against 1950 player. and I am 1850 player. And I have defeated him in 12 movies very badly.

https://lichess.org/nb1fO46v/white#0 Nice attacking game! I played one of the best move I have ever played (24th move - I spent 50seconds to calculate the variations and almost flagged because of that but I'm proud about the move + my calculation because it's usually not my strength!)

https://www.chess.com/live#g=40637435639

https://www.chess.com/live#g=40638048941

Sicilian Dragon, mouseslip on move 16 .. then SLP! https://www.chess.com/game/live/40618774517

Sicilian https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/40428627101?tab=analysis

Applying Coach Avetik's concept of a deadly pin... https://www.chess.com/live/game/40839032549

Another good game played in the bullet time control!

Game played in the seventh round of the Cannes chess tournament (my first tournament), open C, I had the black pieces. https://lichess.org/study/7HacmSfg/znbD2HsY

?Beating a 2252 on Lichess 5min+3 13/3/22 1Nc3 c5 2 e4 Nc6 3f4 g6 4Nf3 Bg7 5Bb5 e6 6O-O Nd4 7d3 Nxb5 8Nxd5 a6 9Nd6+ Ke7 10e5 Nh6 11Nfg5 f6 12ef+ Bxf6 13Nge4 Bd4+ 14Kh1 Nf5 15c3 Nxd6 16cd cd 17f5 Nf7 18fe fe 19Qf3 Qf8 20b3 Qg7 21Ba3+ Ke8 22Qxf7+ Qxf7 23Nd6+ 1-0

Outplayed opponent in a queenless game and prevented counterplay. https://lichess.org/MzjcFCL3VC2x

https://lichess.org/Z4v5cRuWduuB Draw with a fm.

Tried new French BlackMood opening, with nice tactical trick to win (saw the sequence after move 22) https://lichess.org/wE6L2HkaE9Cg

beautiful game! https://lichess.org/0BuCWmL7/white#0

pawn checkmate!! https://lichess.org/Dqofg6XL/white#53

Mating attack against English opening. https://lichess.org/2Xu3Kzp78HUx

Positional advantage!! https://lichess.org/Yi6VOTvr/white

Perfect game! https://lichess.org/Aqx6Mpi6/black#0

two games with rook sacrifice - scotch and caro-kann https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/41262001365?tab=analysis https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/41526674773?tab=analysis

Beautiful Greek gift! https://lichess.org/EcUwqs8o/white#31

A completely lost game, lost queen ultimately turned around by a persistent b1 knight Watch the knight from the beginning...what a game! Avetik's advice about not giving up pays off. https://lichess.org/9SodM6zh#0

An interesting exchange French - not boring at all! https://www.chess.com/game/live/41365305509

super fast development and attack! https://lichess.org/M6u2D9oa/white

What a swindle! Nd4!! and Rxd4!! https://lichess.org/7BGzS36a/black

12 move check mate vs 2300 https://lichess.org/JS6OrS5c5VsQ

17.Bxb6 and cute finish for a mating matador https://www.chess.com/live/game/42140356897

18...Nxc3! https://www.chess.com/game/live/40914613379

?8 move win on Lichess vs 2360 at 5 min +3. 27/3/22 Voprak v Nazs 1 Nc3 d5 2 e4 de 3 Nxe4 e5 4 Bc4 Bf5 (Be7?? Qh5 1-0) 5 Qf3 Qd7?? 6 Ng3 (Ng5) Bxc2 7 Qxb7 Qc6 8 Bb5 1-0.

Chessmood repertoire beats the French Advance. #frenchattack #Kd7!! https://lichess.org/zX8AsHnj/black#56

My first game in this early knight sacrifice line of the Petroff

Positional exchange Caro Kann, 7...Qb6 line https://www.chess.com/live/game/42319281143

https://lichess.org/8gXI2UB1/black My immortal 2 rook sacrifice

A nice win ! https://lichess.org/HsrK1weeBYjF

An interesting win https://lichess.org/ygFpLUgkdLzq

Our line against Scandinavian 2. - Nf6 https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/42450609749?tab=analysis

https://lichess.org/aZF1Sxcl Just 1 hour before the deadline I play a 2 rook sacrifice.

https://lichess.org/4Lkv041x A kingside attack with a Tactic Ninja finish

Day puzzle

Very instructive today! (I didn't solved it by the way...)

Thought I had to go 4 mate cause pieces were too far...but...

Replies

Me too i had a problem with the today's puzzle. I think that it is the best way to keep your mind fresh

And today...I didn't realise I was losing the rook after pushing g4 but then I saw was mate with f5 

01/06/2021

That was another tricky one... after the Q sacrifice I thought about draw by repetition and went 4 it but... I was wrong!!

Today's puzzle (2021-01-21) was quite difficult. I almost given up and wanted to play a random move, but finally I have solved :)

Today 24 1 seemed too easy... it was... if I had paid attention till the end????????????

Ohhhhhh... yesterday one...26 January was really tricky! Still not have learned to calculate correctly

Really tricky one today...seemed so easy, pay attention to last move! 

It's much easier when there are not too many pieces ;)

Today again very tricky...I didn't thought about promoting to R.

By the way last move seemed the same Ra7+ or Rf5+... is it really the same? Seems draw anyway... what am I missing? 

Ohhhh...today's one (8/4) again  very tricky in last move... let's say... don't premove! 

And although paid attention... last move was wrong 16/4/2021

And today, 1st time, I considered not to promote to Queen????????????????????????

IoI last two days'puzzles 30 April 1st may were very nice! No way to think about that! 

But very instructive! I will in future!

04/05/2021 today again...distraction...didn't get it...

09 05 2021...& when you think you have done a great job... last move... pay attention at the last move! I missed that again... but one day I'll do the last move too! 

23 5

Very difficult one

24 5

Again... tricky one... when will I learn? 

14/6

Really nice one! Of course not solved at 1st attempt (think was 5th)

Easy one 1st & 2nd of july, solved fastly 

Probably easy 3rd of July if you see mate pattern... not solved IoI

15 7

Very nice and instructive one... of course didn't solve it 

16 july 

Difficult one but 4 the 1st time I solved it!yesssss! 

I solved today's one by using imagination. Once I imagined the idea then finding move order was not tough. After so long checked cm puzzle.

August 15

Very nice one and very glad I solved it! Impressive Knight power! 

28 September 21

Tricky one today... pay attention till the end...

Wow!...5 right solutions out of six... and the wrong one only because of the move order but caught the idea! Today's one in few seconds! Amazing!

Today's one, pogozian, was repeated, I solved it in less than 10 seconds

Attention, ah no, distraction, no, ahhh tr ...

The Forbidden fruit

When you were little, you have perhaps read a story about three daughters of the miller and an evil enchanter. 

There was one room in his castle forbidden to enter. Where the daughters tempted? I am sure you know what happened...

 Full story can be found here: https://storiestogrowby.org/story/spellbook-in-the-forbidden-room/

It is a bit like Chess Mood publishing the openings courses supported by deep computer analysis supposedly showing a path to become a grandmaster. have you been tempted, like me, to learn them, despite a warning that they are not suitable for my ELO range. 

It is obvious that most users who are like me bellow 2200 ELO skip the warning and are doing exactly the opposite. Just look at the number of openings posts in the forums versus the rest. 

Especially a good indicator are the posts claiming that the computer is showing a better continuation in the move ##. Who is at fault? The one who has made the forbidden fruit so tempting, or all of us who do not follow the guidance. Most likely, both parties are at wrong. 

While I do not hold high hopes that users will change, Chess Mood should try to do better. I do not want to sound negative, so here is my proposal to improve the situation. 

Personally, I find the best way to learn an opening is to analyze my own games and the model games. This way I get familiar with the ideas and patterns of the opening, but also with the middle game concepts out of the opening and with the typical endgames. 

Usually, I would first find a model game that has already been analyzed online, preferable on YouTube. before watching the video, I would spend two hours analyzing the game, and writing down my notes. Afterwards, I would watch the grandmaster analysis and compare it to mine. I can guarantee 100% that this way you are better equipped to play the opening, and ideas stay much longer in the memory. 

Now how could this be done even better on the Chess mood website? I have a very simple idea: 

1. In the beginning of the week (i.e. Monday), Chess Mood posts a model game in the forum without commentary. 

2. Chess mood users then have 2-3 days of time to analyze the game., without the help of the engines, which is a mandatory requirement. 

3. Friday is the day when everyone uploads his or hers commentary as a reply to the same post, indicating their current ELO range. 

4. On Saturday Chess mood uploads GM commentary, or even better links to a video analysis of the game. 

This way the number of model games would significantly increase in time. Moreover, everybody could see how their commentary compares to other players at the same level, how it compares to higher rated players and finally how it compares to GMS. 

What do you think?

Replies

This is more or less the way I created my repertoire before joining ChessMood. I used the Yusupov books that have dedicated chapters on openings. First they lead you through some annotated model games with diagrams in between where you should think about the next move ("pause the video"). Then the chapter ends with 12 exercises and in the solutions you find more model games. Although the main courses do include more and more model games (especially on the Scotch Game and the English Opening if I remember correctly), the new WhiteMood course does not. But I expect that this course will too in some time.

One thing to add: Not model games in a strict sense, but still very instructive are the games from the Rocketing to ... streams. With opening tree ? it is very easy to download the games and play through them (before or after or even without watching the stream).

Robert, you're right. There were many business/concepts related mistakes we did. I was absolutely beginner. 
And we're fixing now the gaps, as you can see. 
WhiteMood,BlackMood openings for below 1,800 players… 
Tactic Ninja… How to stop blunders, How to win the winning positions and much more are coming. 
We're daily thinking and implementing things to help our students to improve faster. 

Your last suggestion may possibly work, but then we'll need to create a separate pricing plan, as with thous thousands of students, it'll not work. It can work with group lessons. 

Assessing weak pieces

Hi - I started reviewing PRO members materials and I am loving them. In a middle game beginners course, GM Avetik says the red circled pieces are weak pieces. I am an amateur player, but can someone explain why these two pieces are considered weak pieces. In any game, how do we identify the weak pieces. Any suggestions, champions????

Replies

Both red circled pawns are backward pawns (which cannot be protected by other pawns), therefore, they are considered to be weak, and also both pawns are on half-open files, meaning they can be easily attacked by rooks or the queen

Larsen OP_1.Nf3 transposition

Hi chessmood family, My next opponent (with white) in a OTB tournament he'll play against me this line.. 1. Nf3 c5 2. b3 Nc6 3. Bb2 d6 How could we keep the idea of the Larsen OP (like coach Gabuzyan say, use the pawn structure against the enemy bishop) and play e5 closing the structure? White have d4 push and the enemy bishop stay very strong and open in the diagonal! Thank for the help!!

Replies

Hi Furiosi This line is fully covered in the Larsen's Opening course, section 3. You will be well prepared!

English OP_ Botvinnik line sacrifice refutation with 7.d3...

Hi chessmood family and team, in my second tournament I played a 1817 elo player and used this idea against me. 7. d3...( maybe he was scared to enter in the sacrifice line). I don't know how to responde and this is the theory line that I found! It's interesting but black need some move to castle....I managed the pressure but I lost the game...I didn't feel comfortable with black in that position! please help me! 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. e4 a6 6. Nge2 b5 7. d3 Rb8 (very important to avoid the pin of the white bishop) 8. O-O d6 9. f4 Bd7 (white plan is f5 push) My question is (For coach GM Gabuzyan and chessmood family): what are our plans and idea? How to finish our development? I felt that It was a sharp and difficult position!

Replies

Hello Furiosi Alessio, What do you play against first move e4? I looked at the last position, it looks very similar to closed Sicilian positions but in my opinion much better version for black, cause white's pawn on c4 is a kinda target and we have a nice square on d4 for the knight, also whenever he plays f5 we get another square on e5 as well, it's not really easy for white to attack, whenever he pushes a pawn something weakens. I prefer black's position there.

Instead of Bd7, which is a good move, I would have gone already for Nd4, and make this square ours. It will limit his dark square bishop and if it gets exchanged we can have a passed pawn on d4 when they take on c4 and our rook will be very happy, if they don't do it, we can take also on c4. The positions may be similar to the Benko, but here you will have the pawn on a6 which makes it equal in pawns. The game will get very sharp but I believe that having a pawn on d4 will be very difficult for white. I hope this helps a bit too.?

Sicilian - Alapin - 2.c3

Hello champions! ?
 

We’ve already emailed you about the launch of “Countering the Sicilian Alapin” course, which shows you how to react against 1.e4 c5 2.c3.

If you missed it, here’s the link to the course ?

https://chessmood.com/course/counter-sicilian-alapin
 

So why did we decide to launch a separate course? 

Well, the Alapin is one of the most important Anti-Sicilian sidelines and is especially super popular at the amateur level. So we wanted to give you in-depth and practical coverage of this opening.
 

In the old course, the focus was more on opening theory. But from our streams, we noticed that on low levels players don’t know how to deal against 2…Nf6 and often don’t follow theory.
 

In the new course, you’ll see how you can get a better position if White strays in the opening. Here the focus is not just on theory but also on moves you’re likely to face in a real game.
 

So even if you’ve prepared the Alapin from the old course, you can build on that knowledge by preparing for the moves you’re likely to face in a real game. 
 

At the same time, we’ve also shortened a few variations so that you can prepare a basic repertoire against the 2.c3 Sicilian fast and go deeper later through our advanced sections.
 

Apart from that, you’ll also learn to play against: 

  • The Delayed Alapin (2.Nf3 with 3.c3) 
  • The dangerous Smith-Morra Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.d4)
  • Passive options for White after 2…Nf6 
     

We highly recommend you watch the course as it will help you understand the Alapin on a more deeper level. 
 

If you have any questions related to the course, please ask them in this thread. 

Enjoy the course!

Replies

Thank you Chessmood ?

Thanks for the improved course! Just one thing I noticed comparing my pgn files in section 2 - 4.Nf3 video 9 around 0:25 there is mentioned again 9...Be6 move vs 9.0-0. Imo in this case it's not a good idea, as white has 10.Ng5! and we cannot take on b3 cause Nb6 and f7 would be hanging. Black would have to go then 10..Bd5 but then 11.d3 white gains some edge, cause e4 is good square for the N and Be3 is also coming. Thus i suggest an improvement 9..Bf5 with e6 coming next. Of course white now has tricky 10.Bxf7 but black is ok if he knows couple of moves.

Mister Gaby, Just to let you know I studied your new Alapin section up to the advance bit and for the first time picked up most of the ideas on my first studying. You are very good presenter. Very clear, structured and you answer all my questions as I am actively learning. Unlike Mister Avetik, who speaks too quickly and does not allow time for the learner to follow and only half explains points, you provide excellent coverage. I always need a second showing of Mister Avetik video and to sit down by myself and workout what is not included. I have always accepted the Sicilian Moria and have always played the line I worked out before seeing in a book 1 e4 c5 2 d4 cd 3 c3 dxc 4 Nxc3 Nc6 5 Bc4 e6 6 Nf3 d6 7 O-O Nf6 8 Qe2 Be7 9 Rd1 e5. First game after watching your Alapin and a 2300 player plays the Morra I play your suggestion transposing to the Alapin I play Be6 and get an easy draw !

Thanks very much for the new Alapin course! May I ask a question about the 3.d3 line. After 1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nf6 3.d3 Nc6 4.Nf3 e5 (the original Alapin course recommended g6) 5.Be2 d5, I've actually faced this position many times. I also got very similar positions when I was playing 1.e4 e5 before. Here my opponents almost always play Nbd2, they never play exd5. They will secure the e4 pawn by Qc2 or c4 (forcing Black to exchange the d5 pawn or close the center with d4). The pawn structure in the center is fixed, then they go Nf1-g3-f5, or h3, Nh2-g4 and start a kingside attack. I've been crushed many times when I castle kingside and faced this attack. My question is: What is our strategy when they maintain the e4 pawn and go for this kingside attack? Thanks, Alex

French Attack - Exchange Variation featuring Bb5

I've come across this Bb5 move during a number of blitz games recently (in the midst of various exchange variation move orders). I took a look back on the videos, but do not believe this Bb5 move for white was covered in the French Attack videos. Any recommendations on what to play against this move? (Or will another video be released for this move?)

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5. Bb5 was my old White repertoire, too. Taken from Christof Sielecki Keep it simple 1. e4. And since IM Sielecki is quite popular on Chessable and YouTube, you will face this line quite frequently at lower and intermediate levels.

Dear Joseph, this is a simplifed course and as such we can't cover every move. (Otherwise it would not be simplified). Everything will be dully covered in the main French course.
Then in he full course, if we miss and important variation we will gladly add it or correct it, but please understand that it cannot be done in the simplified course. We want to provide a simple opening rep. to get started :) 

Chessmood - French for Black

Hi, Yesterday I encountered this move order: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.exd5. This throws us outside of our Chessmood Repertoire. Against the Exchange we normally go for a Nge7 setup. Not that this move order causes any trouble for Black, but how would you respond?

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Just 4. ... exd5. The downside of White's move order is that now the c-pawn is blocked.

Doubt in the Benko Gambit course

I have a doubt in the below position. Why not c4 idea Nd3? In the game Qa6 was played with some same ideas.

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Another doubt in the same section. Image below. Why not here Ra4? preventing Ne3. 

Sidhart we cannot see the pictures. Can you post them again?

Hey Sid in Benko we normally try and exchange the queens to gain better endgame and we must always try and do it if we get an opportunity to do so and abt that Ra4 move even I had this doubt earlier and I find it good , I really don't know why ra4 was not played

Thanks for the updating the pictures. Now we can see them. I asked Gabuzyan to reply to you, we will get back to you soon.

Black pawns are connected and great ..the moment it reaches c4 alone it could potentially become weakness .unless there are clear advantage can be seen we want to keep it in c5 . exchanging queen is simple here and reduces white's coordination ....white queen does well in keeping white pieces together and better in Benko , if we can trade Black queen almost every time it favors us  

Hi Sidharth,

For position 1 there is a specific logic. C4 is a move that is being played sometimes. But it's good up to my opinion if we can avoid it. The thing is on c5 it's protected and is formulating a strong pawn chain. Controlling d4 square. If the bishop of white goes to e3 it's limited by c5 pawn. Knight can never go to c6 square from b4 or d4 squares. 

Meanwhile, once you play c4 it may become a subject of an attack and is losing so many benefits for black. It's just smarter to trade of the queens and focus with all pieces on the queenside pawns.

To summarise c4 is possible, but if we can we should try to avoid playing it.

For position 2 Ra4 I would say is a nice alternative and seems to me that can be played as well.

Love these questions!

Webinar: Attack with opposite colored bishops

Dear Champions,

We finished our webinar about: Why and how to attack with opposite-colored bishops.

Here I am attaching the slide with the main points that we discussed.

If you still have any questions you are welcome to ask here :-)

Good luck!

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Opposite square bishops in attack, couple of my games

Hiya! While waiting for today's lecture on OSB in attack, I checked if I had OTB games with this theme over the last year and sure enough these 2 fits the bill I think. Hopefully would be useful for someone ? https://www.chess.com/a/22rubAeQ6ZT2S https://www.chess.com/a/23kdkTGhCZT2S

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I think this is the position one should start thinking how to attack with White in the first game

,2nd game - Black to move. How to organise the attack?

new alapin sicilian section

If i am not wrong you have a section about the alapin sicilian for black in the part about the anti sicilian and on complete alapin for black course. What is the reason? I am very happy with this but i asked why there 2 sections

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Hey :) You will find more informations here: https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/sicilian-alapin-2c3

Thinking Process

This was mentioned in the Q&A session, so I guess there will be a blog or even a course on thinking at some point? Right now is there any advice to nurture a good thinking process say for the 1800-2200 FIDE range of player in long play especially? (i.e. that will be the rating of most of the opponents) I believe I compensate a more structured thinking process by longer time controls, meaning I use a lot of time and in shorter time controls am more prone to blunder. Avoiding structure can have its benefits in terms of creativity as well and not being in a psychological position that you're reacting to the opponent, particularly when you have the initiative, and if the opponent has serious threats or ways to combat the plan that didn't come to mind when the opponent moved, they are noticed later in the thinking. Also in OTB there is the time where the opponent picks up and moves the piece which often alerts one to their threats, where as online it's instant so it must be remembered to check what the move just did. One the common faster time control blunders as time gets low is getting over-focused on an idea and forgetting to consider what is happening elsewhere and what the opponent is doing. This happened during the play the GM event where I forgot about my kingside pieces assuming they were still untrappable. Maybe this is rigor of thinking process or just pressure under time (slow browser wasn't helping either). Does trying to stick to a rigid process help as a checklist here (i.e. check what your opponent played, what are they trying to do, is it a blunder, how does it affect your plans, ...). The problem is such checklists can either be exhaustive and so not practical, or trite and obvious. The trade-off in low time (one sided) is missing potential aggressive options as you're more focused on what the opponent is doing?

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Hi David, I am attaching a screenshot of my thinking process cheat sheet for OTB. Somehow copy-paste into message doesn't work :( The checklist items are listed in chronological order. I would start at the top and proceed to the end of the list. In case of shorter time controls, you can do just a few items (bold )from the list. Which ones? Depends on the needs of the position. P.S. - Is there anything that I have missed?

Interesting topic! I will be very interested to hear what Avetik and/or Gabuzyan have to say about the subject. When I read David's post the thing that sprung to mind was Jacob Aagaard's four types of decisions (automatic, simple, critical, strategic). What I've heard (from his interviews) and read (in Thinking Inside The Box) about this makes pretty good sense to me. Regarding my own playing at longer time controls I'm definitely not a fan of checklists, with the exception that I try to force myself to do a quick blunder check (checks & captures) before making a move. I'm a big believer in tapping into your intuition and combining this with explicit reasoning and concrete analysis to choose a move. If a move doesn't feel right, then you'd better double check your logic before deciding to play it! Sometimes a move will start to feel right only after you've looked at a few variations.

On the subject, this book has just been published https://chess.co.uk/products/think-like-a-super-gm-michael-adams-philip-hurtado which compares the thinking of various levels of players when solving around 40 puzzles. This also might be a good format for an event, where a GM thinks about test positions which have already been recorded being thought about by several Chessmood members of various levels. The final video is made by combining the event with the videos of the participants with a section or two on suggestions how to think and analysing the differences between the various levels.

One more doubt Sir..

What if he plays london system with c4 instead of c3.. Delaying c3.. For eg d4 Nf6 Bf4 g6 e3 d6 Nf3 Bg7 h3 O-O and then he plays c4 instead of c3. And then After tht I need to know how to continue for black if he plays c4 followed by Nc3 or Nbd2

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Sir I didnt get any reply for this question

Hi Sreenath,

That is a playable position and not a very concrete line. Usually, I am trying to make their ideas with e5 to fight for the center.
As well if possible we can still try to get the opponent's dark-squared bishop.

English_Botvinnik System

Hy everyone, tomorrow I'll have a OTB tournament and I'll played against an experienced player. I know that He'll played english OP as white and I'm prepared with line and plans. I have a questione about the line which our opponent doesn't allow the pawn sacrifice... 1. c4 c5 2. Nc3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. e4 a6 6. a4 d6 7. d3 Nf6 8. Nge2 O-O 9. O-O Rb8 10. f4!? (Is it good?), what is our plan if opponent push pawn (f4 - f5 and so on) 10. h3 (it is the move on the theory and I know idea and How to responde) I feel these pawn pushes like a strong attempt to attack my king, I don't have e5 anymore to control the square f4. is there a danger? Someone help me!

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I don't see any immediate danger for your king. Your have no weaknesses on your kingside, and white's pieces are not yet aggressively placed. Also, any premature f5 push will give you the e5 square for a knight. I think this is a position where white goes for a slow build up, so you have time to manoeuvre and create some play of your own. If necessary, black can sometimes play f5 to block white's f-pawn.

Hi Alessio,

F4 in my opinion is doable, though it's not a concrete danger. Black can try to go for the ideas on the queenside with Nc7 - pawn b5.
Positions are playable for both sides, so overall in different situations we show model games, which can help you play better in that middlegames.
 

Good luck!

E6 second move in scandinavian

good day, after e6 second move in scandinavian should we take the pawn?

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Hi Druva For me ...dxe6 helps Black develop with Bxe6, thus I would play 3.Bb5+ and after c6, 4.dxc6, bxc6 5.Ba4 Black had fractured pawn structure. If instead Black play 4..Nxc6 then Nf3, 0-0 and d4 and if Black allow Bxc6 where they capture with bxc6 then do it to fracture the pawn structure. Hope that helps

Hello Druva!

Yes, it's not a dangerous sacrifice at all! Take the pawn and play an active game, I like 3.d4. 
Many players make a mistake when getting extra pawns in the openings: they are playing passive. 
So just accept the pawn, and get active development of pieces.

3...Ne7 in our 3.Bd3 French repertoire

Today I faced this move in the French (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Bd3 Ne7), how should we focus the opening in this game? I know that this move is not covered and it should not be good, still, in order to stay in our lines what could be the best approach? Thanks in advance for your reply!

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One thing I notice here, what's going to be guarding his king? We get a lot of firepower on the queenside and the centre is unsafe so Black castles king side. He also has to watch out for attacks on h7. Ne7 presumably to come to g6 is awkward and invites h4-5. The fianchetto Bg7 weakens the dark squares. Just Nf3 and O-O per engine seems reasonable and Black will have to cede something.

Edo, Ne7 is just a very bad and passive development. After 3.Bd3 usually our next moves are 4.Ne2 and 5.0-0 
But after 3…Ne7 we can even play 4.Nf3, as after 4…de4 5.Be4 there isn't Nf6. 

Mating Matador K+2P pawn race mate

Noticed this one was absent even though it's common. Was this because it's in the endgame and thus covered (to be covered) in pawn endings?

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