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Chess forum by Grandmasters
Maroczy Bind with g3
In the following line: 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 cxd4 5.Nxd4 g6 6.g3 Bg7 7.Bg2 0-0 8.0-0 Qa5 9.Nb3 Qh5 10.h3 d6 11.g4 Bxg4 12.hxg4 Nxg4 13.Bf4 Be5 14.Qd2 g5 15.Bxe5 Now in the course only 15...Ncxe5 is analysed which only leads to a draw by perpetual check with best play. My question is isn't 15...dxe5!?N a promising winning try for Black? My analysis seems to indicate it is.
What do you guys think.
Replies
I was hoping that someone would say something about this interesting position, but I asked our GMS to reply to you. Sorry for not doing it earlier @Kevin_D
English 1..c5 rare system for white d3 with Bd2 and h4
1.c4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nc6 5.d3 d6 6.Bd2!? e5 7.a3 Nge7 8.h4 h6 9.e3 0-0 10.Nge2 Bg4 11.Qc2 Rb8 12.Rb1 a5 13.Nd5 Nxd5 14.cd Ne7 15.Qa4 Bxe2 16.Kxe2
Just had this opening in OTB game against 2500 player. Tried botvinnik setup, but it didnt quite work. Anyone seen this setup for white? I cannot find it in any of my sources, what this system for white is called.
Please advise what I did wrong as in the opening white gained substantial edge, txs.
Replies
Yes I have seen this idea with an early h4 before, it has been employed by British IM Lawrence Trent with devastating effect and is very dangerous practically: https://en.chessbase.com/post/cafe-batavia-chess-tournament-2020-r5
Kept digging and found some games in this line and how black setups against this interesting white play. Atm seems like a solid plan with Qd7, b6, Bb7 and e6 later e5 is the best try. What do chessmood GMs think about this?
Hi Paulius,
I have checked all the games you posted and to be honest I liked blacks position more.
As well I believe in your game you don't need to capture the knight on e2. Can't you just go Bd7 , keep it and try to play on both sides of the board with b5 and sometimes f5?
Should we have alternatives to ChessMood openings?
Hello ChessMood friends!
Very often my opponents respond to 1.e4 with 1...e5, leading to the ChessMood scotch opening. However, sometimes I get pretty bored of playing scotch, 3.ed Caro-Kann, etc. because I keep playing them over and over again. All that said, I am eternally grateful of ChessMood openings in general, but I do wonder:
Should we have alternatives to ChessMood Openings? Looking forward to your replies!
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Why not try the Jobava line (section 3 of d4 sidelines). Coach Avetik seems to find it intersting for White. Reminds me a little bit of Yusupov's chapter on closed openings (Torre, Barry, Veresow).
This site ends most newsletters, if not all, with the following expression: "COGRO", which I believe more or less answers what you have sought in OP.
When you are playing a serious tournament game, I would say stick to your repertoire. This is your bread and butter for your progression.
That being said, if you are not playing a serious game, then spice it up a little, and play anything that strikes your fancy. Part of our growth is having the right mood, and it is easier to have the right mood if we let loose and just have fun sometimes!
But dont forget to still practice your repertoire too, so you can stay sharp.
I hope this helps!
#COGRO
Hi Brody,
On my own, I am having a lot of openings. Sometimes I mix them trying to surprise my opponents. I would recommend the following, try to take your ChessMood lines to perfection. If you are sure you know well all the lines and you use all the benefits of good preparation trying something new may be an option :-)
For Stephanie Smith
Hello Stephanie!
I can see that you are trying to post a new discussion asking for help, but there must be somehing that you are trying to do and the site does not allow it...
Can you post below this post your question? Do not attach anything, just explain your question and if you need to attach something we will do it later, first, let's stablish contact!
Looking forward to your post...
Replies
Let's try to understand the ideas behind Bxf7 sacrifices.
Like you mention, it prevents castling, and we know that an uncastled king in a open position (one where the pawns aren't locked in the centre) can be a liability. The thing is you've given a bishop (about 3 points, and likely to be better than a knight in the upcoming positions) for a pawn (1) and the impediment of not being able to castle in one move.
The questions to ask, is how does White follow this up (if they do nothing, then Black will develop their pieces, find somewhere safe for the king and, all things being equal, win). White's problem in following up this attack is going to be the knight on f6 which defends against queen checks from h5 and f3, and supports d5 if the queen checks from b3. Getting rid of that knight isn't going to be easy, Bg5 and Bxf6 will cost another move tempo and bring another defender - either Be7-f6 or Qxf6. g4-g5 is too slow, and even then the f-file is closed so no quick White O-O and attack with the rook. d4 exd4 and e5 (before castling)doesn't work because of Qe7 pinning and d6 is likely to be a solid move reinforcing the centre straight after castling, or the move after if Black plays Bc5 first. One further thing is that Black may also sacrifice material back if needed to stop the attack or for gaining another advantage, which is an option that needs to be considered throughout the game, whereas White cannot do the same unless there is some forced tactic. Also Black can castle manually with Be7, Rf8/e8, Kg8 at the cost of one extra move (a very rough guide is a pawn is worth about 3 moves, but here you've sacrificed a bishop for just a pawn).
A few games against even 1500 opposition should convince you that Bxf7 doesn't work here. I suspect the computer won't look on it favourable (even older computers such as crafty or gnu chess will give Bxf7 a bad evaluation). You could then go to a database to see what other players played against it, but I suspect there won't be too many examples if any. Often this is a key sign that something is up with the move (particularly this early on).
Now given the question, I'm going to take the liberty to assume your rating is sub-1500, probably a fair bit lower. That's not a problem, nor is trying ideas such as Bxf7 here, we all started somewhere. The thing with sacrifices early in the opening, don't make them unless you know they work, or are just trying to understand why they don't work. Certainly computer and database work (of any seriousness) is better left for much later.
The usual advice is develop all your pieces, castle, avoid moving too many pawns etc, etc. I'm not always sure such advice is useful long term, because many openings don't follow those rules exactly, and you can then end in a position where all the pieces are developed, but there is no follow on plan. Also before you attack you will need some kind of superiority in the area you are trying to attack and be able to bring in your pieces quickly without your own king being counter-attacked - something that White is not ready to do this early, unless it's one of a few known exceptions.
Better advice for learning opening play (other than lots of practice and/or consulting a coach) is to find one or two players in history and see how they played and try to play what they did. Sure they've been eclipsed, but the eclipsing somewhat mirrors chess development. So at this stage I would consider looking at the games of Morphy, Lasker, Capablanca, maybe even Alekhine for example, but not in too much detail. Certainly games and players from about 1850-1945 (prior to the Soviet chess era). Try to get a feel for the sort of opening moves they would play (Morphy is great to study because he had opening strategy worked out better than many of the weaker plays of the time, so you can clearly see the difference in play and how bad opening play was punished).
On the subject of Bxf7 and attacks against the uncastled king, you might want to look at for example the Evans Gambit, or Muzio King's Gambit as examples which are better prepared. The book 'The Art of Attack' also demonstrates a number of such attacks. Also instead of Bxf7, experiment with Ng5 instead (it's not sound though hard to refute, but there are lots of hairy tactics which are good for building that skill, just make sure you know the Fried Liver 'trap' so you can try to punish that).
As your opening play matures, you might want to look at the Scotch game course here. There are a lot of attacks which in some lines are easier to play for White than Black. Supplement that with solving tactical problems on chesstempo and learning a few basic endgames.
Certainly don't spend your time looking for quick wins with the computer, at this stage the computer will be useful only as a blunder check.
Post Your Methods and Routines for Training and Improving
I am an aspiring 18 year old chess improver. I have my own methods and I'll share them if you wish but I want to here from other chess player what they are doing to improve in chess. No rating requirement or anything, let's just bounce ideas off of each other and all get better!
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I create my own Chessbase files from the ChessMood Online video courses. Add my own annotations. Then use the Chessbase Repertoire training feature to practice the lines. The ones I get wrong, I transfer to a pgn file and upload them to Chessable to do regular drills on my trouble spots.
I have a schedule that I try to follow every day...
Day 1: 1 hour of tactic exercises and 2 hours of chessmood opening
Day 2: 2 hours of tactic exercises and 1 hour of endgame studies.
It depends on how much time you can dedicate to chess, but there is only one thing that never changes...TACTICS!!
Please help w/ Blindfold Training
I just started getting back into Blindfold training 2 weeks ago and am starting to be able to visualize some fragments of the chess board mainly the 4 central squares and the a1-h8 diagonal and the h1-a8 diagonal. Any advice on how to improve on my Blindfold chess and Visualization?
Replies
For improving visualization, you have to see the position on a board with pieces. But solve it for next three moves on a board woth no pieces.
And do this again and again but increase the number of moves as you got the command on previous one.
Do NOT let them castle idea AND chess engines. HELP please
I been trying to post so many times and the website keeps doing funny things and not allowing my post to go through.. OK, here we go again.. I'm just copy-pasting my messages:
Hey guys,
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Here's the PGN I mentioned above..
Do NOT let them castle AND chess engine. HELP
Hey guys,
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Do NOT let them castle AND chess engine. HELP
Hey guys,
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How do you embed games into forum?
I always see people who are posting their games into the forum without a link, but rather it just is already there. How do you do this?
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I asked this when I first joined (use search function)
Just upload pgn into the forum post. (Add file)
this is a test.
Avoiding Benko strategies
Hello CM family, Veleno is here!
After watching the Benko and d4 sidelines videocourses, I was asking myself "what if white would try to avoid the Benko by playing a different move order or by avoiding playing c4?" For example by playing 1.Nf3 or 1.d4 Nf6, 2.Nf3...
Are there any videos coming up which will explain how to handle these "avoiding benko strategies?"
I tried to search it in the forum but I didn't find any answer.
Thanks for your replies and best wishes.
Veleno
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After 1.Nf3 we play 1...c5 in the chessmood repertoire, which after 2.e4 transposes into an open Sicilian or else most likely transposes into an English Opening after an eventual c4 - and after 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 chessmood recommends 2...g6 (also 2...c5 is playable on lower amateur level), and then maybe transposing into a Benko line after 3.c4 c5 ... or else we continue with 3...Bg7/d6...
Can you defend with honor?
(From a recent game against 2540 GM) In the following position shown in attachment, white pushed his f pawn forward to f5. How should black fend off this last offensive attempt from white and reach a more or less autopilot drawn ending?
P.S. I nearly played ef?! before slowing down and taking about 15-20 minutes to realize what needed to be done here and successfully held in the end.
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I see that f5 is a strong move and exf5 could be deadly mistake that costs you the game but I don't see how black can go for any sort of auto-pilot draw with seemingly slightly worse placed pieces and a worse pawn structure with 3 pawn islands and down one pawn on the Queenside. This looks like one of those positions where Magnus Carlsen grinds you down in a drawn position. In this position looking for or believing there is an easy way out when you have so many unsolved problems in your position is how you lose these position or go down the path of losing these positions like how Vishy lost a drawn Queen and Rook endgame in the World Championship Match against Magnus Carlsen because he went for the more defensive endgame when it wasn't needed. In my opinion I feel like it takes discipline and will to hold these positions and recognize that you can almost never go into auto pilot when the Queens are on the board. The reason why you almost played exf5 was because you were in the mindset of finding an easy draw when unfortunately there was likely none on the board. I'm not telling you any specific move to play because you are far stronger than me, but I'm telling you my approach and philosophy to holding these "drawish" endgames that human constantly fail to hold.
Open sicilian experiement
Hello ChessMood friends!
I was curious how I would do with the open sicilian(along with the ruy lopez) as white in my next chess tournament (next week) so, I will commit and post my games as they are played!
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Hi Brody,
Do you mean you are going to play the Ruy Lopez and the Open Sicilian without having any idea of the theory or usual variations? It is good to try new things from time to time, but if you keep changing openings you will not master them... Let us know the result.
About "Do not let them castle" idea AND chess engines - HELP please
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Raising $200,000. This is just the beginning
Hello ChessMood Fmaily!
I'm very excited, and can't help but share the good news with my ChessMood family members!
We raised +$200.000 funding (And the round isn't closed yet!)
I just couldn't wait anymore to speed up our growth, to bring more materials for you and to let chess lovers know about ChessMood.
Thanks for all your support, for being part of the ChessMood family, our friendly community.
P.S
I'll soon announce the steps we're going to take, the courses we're preparing for you and other interesting stuff...
#RightMood_RightMove
#CoGro (Constant growth)
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Congrats!! Well deserved
Congratulations!!
US Open
Hi ChessMood Fam!
Anyone else playing in the US Open July 30-Aug 8?
If so, be sure to come say hi!
I hope to see some of you there!
GM Jay
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Sweet, a like your title GM Jay :)
What happened Jay, only two rounds played and then nothing?
Pgn files in Chessbase 16
Perhaps a weird question, but I am not very tecknical with chessbase. So I want to know where in chessbase you guys store your pgn files?
When I save a pgn file I have worked on, then sudden I have many files. For instance I have over 10 files with Anticisilian part one, and then it is difficult for me to find the newest one.
Is there a way to keep only one file, so that you the next day if you choose to work on it you only have one file?
Keep the Mood
Tina
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Hi Tina
You can create just 1 file for 1 opening easily :)
Just open new board for every new chapter you want and put it in that database
Alternatively
You can put all the lines in just 1 board and save it as 1 big pgn
Hi Tina,
When you download the pgn file and open it in ChessBase it will be a PGN and in your PGN Files.
I created a new database called ChessMood and then when you get the PGN copy the games from the PGN and paste them into the database you created.
Then you can work on the lines and organise them by opening line.
I've taken a screenshot of mine so you can see what I mean.
PS. Taking a look at Adam's example you can see:
He has split the ChessMood games into individual games for different variations
He has used the fields for the players names to describe the variations
He has stored all games in one single databasse.
In the database he has included real games too.
And he found a way to make the index of games a little bit more readable including games with players name "---"
The Winners of July, 2021
Hello Champions! Hello ChessMood family!
Thank you for sharing your best games. We have been amazed and left awe-struck by a lot of them!! You have played some extremely high-quality chess!
Here is the list of winners.
The first prize goes to IIja Haitin for the absolutely insane Knight and Queen sacrifice with 20...Nd3!! 21.Bd3 Qh3!
https://www.chess.com/emboard?id=8265601
The second prize goes to Vladimir Bugayev for the subtle and strong exchange sacrifice after 14...Bd5.
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/19261629699
The third prize goes to Paulius Juknis for the very nice rook sacrifice with 19...d4 and 20...Ra1.
https://lichess.org/cxB4EQH1/black#34
The fourth prize goes to Avinash 004 for the hidden 25.Rh7 sacrifice.
https://lichess.org/ABEivM6d#29
The fifth prize goes to Abhi for demonstrating his sheer positional understanding in the following game.
Congratulations to all the winners! Keep up the good work.
Thank you once again everyone for sharing your games.
See you soon for next month’s contest.
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Thanks coaches!
The best games of July 2021 and the prizes
Hello ChessMood family, hello champions and future champions!
Welcome to the "Best games of July 2021" 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 June:
Valdemar Rasmussen
Vladimir Bugayev
Michael Larsen
Paulius Juknis
Andy Crust
Replies
https://lichess.org/3GH5iWv2KABu
I played as black, I crushed guico piano with g5 and g4
https://lichess.org/sp9zFzQu 5.Nc3 against Petroff
Today interesting Bundesliga Games
https://lichess.org/VDqpfbBj#63 Winning in symmetrical position
https://lichess.org/ZKbbYi2G/black#10 Checks that save the game
https://lichess.org/WUc1OJom#36 Typical c8 Bad bishop in French Structure
https://lichess.org/AG3DhhSV#65 Nice positional Game
https://lichess.org/ABEivM6d#65 Polgar Rh7!
https://lichess.org/04JvYGdu/black
God level swindle
Killing with the Grand Prix! I am white. https://www.chess.com/live#g=18940603447 I missed mate in 2 on move number 33 but I still think it was nice. 33.g6+ followed by Rf7# or Qxg5#
My games of july:
Quick KO in acc dragon Nxc6,e5 and Bc4 sac line (knew some theory, txs CM)
https://lichess.org/Bo86uMz2cLts
Antiscandinavian
https://lichess.org/EFoFK1fpuMWE
Crushing pirc chessmood style
https://lichess.org/Djhuxnc8ap4T
acc dragon - not quite remembered CM theory, but nice finish
https://lichess.org/cxB4EQH1qb0z
weird 3.Bd3 french
https://lichess.org/d5wIinOFZStM
queen sac in the dutch
https://www.chess.com/live#g=20021372875
Right trades and stop opponent's counterplay.
https://lichess.org/pZNjK0J49ZOP
The only thing which you guys may like is Kh7! Kg6 Kf5 plan which is so easy to find after I studied so much King Walks!
https://lichess.org/YCNzeSUKCikd
another positional quiet win and queen trap was fun
https://lichess.org/4udUVp1zEz84
https://lichess.org/l8IWPcvv/white#54
https://lichess.org/kBblE6ruvAHv
Scotch pawn storm
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/19340872167
Antisicilian in Titled Tuesday against IM
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/19335398817
Another antisicilian from Titled Tuesday
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/19331137535
Caro attack
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/19265160447
Caro for black, miniature 17 moves
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/19261629699
Scandinavian attack
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/19261055631
Another Caro attack
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/19260457369
Benko
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/19199762691
Scotch
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/19193206111
SLP against FM
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/19176986705
English
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/19175725775
https://lichess.org/Xkf3Bmo1NnOz
Crushed d4 sidelines
Positional play .
Total domination
23.Nf8! Invincible knight!
Najdorf with Bg5
I think a decent positional play
https://lichess.org/N0ewnc5ph5g2
Passive play leads to loss
https://lichess.org/EZa849gTucIW
Unusual opening queen sac mate
https://lichess.org/ayNUypuAGFf9
total chess violation.
https://lichess.org/TwIpgOK4h6TN
Power of Catalan
https://lichess.org/mjKMwTrXA2SH
playing against abra dabra in sicilians
https://lichess.org/JU53aMzLNqIa
Dominating with the chess mood anti Sicilian
Playing Najdorf is like playing with Fire!!! I did not revised lines from past one month but I knew this early e5 expansion wont work.
https://lichess.org/ZLyKW7Qp8gE5
In this game, the Karo-Can't! Our ChessMood openings give our opponents problems, even when they are rated 120+ points higher then we are!
https://lichess.org/vMdBcK33/black#58. Very interesting game where I sacrificed my queen in opening phase of the Sicilian and went on to have a very strong attack with 3 pieces against queen.
https://lichess.org/JxsuVNCf/white#41 Nice attacking game with cool queen sac at the end to finish
I am the Scadi killer! Your Queen can run, but she will only die tired!
Dubious Bc4 crushed. Learnt this idea from a french opening game which was played between Magnus and Hikaru. It was classical variation but I thought to apply it here. g5!?
https://lichess.org/EY6CkfkNhjfp
Scandinavian against 2500
https://lichess.org/3NK66Tpv/white#67
Modern from Titled tuesday
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/19940439617
Positionally won against Abra Dabra
https://lichess.org/EBXC1Xq9ZWuM
Crushed the caro kann
https://lichess.org/t9ZC4eihZ8CO
gp fire on board
https://lichess.org/XF5NlTUUiTIK
https://lichess.org/PjauGc8Per2d
Mate in 11 moves
Hello Sir,
The is a suggestion.
While Display a the best Game Winner and there prizes we can give a Game link Above winner Name.
So All member can see the Winner Games. And it will beneficial for all Members.
https://lichess.org/4Drw39fi/black#28
Sicilian Defense
https://lichess.org/HgjDjmEULWbp
Slav Defense
https://lichess.org/InVisfey/black#0
Sicilian Defense
https://lichess.org/IS4nyHJO/black#0
Russian Game: Stafford Gambit
https://lichess.org/sFodW7LR/white#0
https://lichess.org/VI7dKWIwA37x
I played as black
https://lichess.org/WqLi6BjG/white
Sicilian Defense
https://lichess.org/KSuHCz4Q/white#0
sicilian taimanov https://lichess.org/VlGnxxBb
https://lichess.org/EC003ppA/white#56
This was an SLP I was able to convert!
https://lichess.org/pY2GkWjF7XYS
Sometimes, you just need to play chess...
Watch out, our Dragon bites!
Account is hidden !!
Crushed the London System
Less experienced cm player lost in this endgame. A Chessable reputed author revived this line recently
Passive Scandi Player lost positionally
Won a good game-Scotch game (10 min. format)
https://lichess.org/rdddWf5L0cjQ
In this game, I played Black, the Benko Gambit, and crushed somebody 300 points higher rated. At the end I got into time trouble, so that may explain some inaccuracies.
Another game from same tournament with queen sacrifice.
Antisicilian... missed two checkmates in the end ;)
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/21162068585
Scotch
https://www.chess.com/game/live/21152443021
Scotch 2
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/21168667401?tab=report
Antisicilian against 2400 FM from Titled tuesday
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/21145885471
Antisicilian 14 moves miniature
https://lichess.org/32ZJV8T2/white#27
Scotch pawn storm
https://lichess.org/CSLOmKp3NA9T
SLP
https://lichess.org/dewkWO4qjv34
Scandinavian against 2500 in bundesliga
https://lichess.org/3NK66TpvexRT
Caro
https://lichess.org/uumIFlImMxXQ
https://lichess.org/XHR6QuyAxl0m
King hunt!
Tactical alertness training paid off!
Won an excellent game following suggestions of chessmood
https://lichess.org/OMzooV0cdBEV
London system? Not today!
Crushing 800 point higher rated fide opponent with Chessmood openings (National Seniors open 2021)
Caro crushed!!! (15+10)
He misplayed opening
Dragon queen sac
https://www.chess.com/live/game/21330037917
11 Moves Game
https://www.chess.com/game/live/21388880359
Scotch 3... Nxd4
using the bishop pair (still practicing)
i am black
https://lichess.org/e8IuoFzpDdku
Antisicilian attack
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/21423059571
https://lichess.org/gZO7RLVDzfqH
Chess. Com tournament
I've won chess. Com Monday tournaments many times but never got any prizes... How to claim help please
Replies
To get your prize, you need to contact chessmood.com/contact mentioning the email you used to register in chessmood.com.
