Chess forum by Grandmasters

Daily puzzle , are they easier lately ?

i m solving most of them very quickly lately , are they easier or is it  me who is Improving ? 

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I've actually found some of these quite tricky. Certainly you're probably getting more familiarized with queen fork deflection and stalemate trap themes, as those seem pretty common

Calcman, travel to rome, Smyslov vs spassky

Dear GM Gabu, in the section 11, in your explanation, of the move, after1.. Rxe6,12. fxe6, e5 in the case white had play 13. Rxe5?? then black has a mate in one with 13 … Qf8+! and would not have to play 13… Qg6: right ? 

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It's not in 1, it's 2 as is Qg6.

The problem I have with it (other than to demonstrate strong players also miss stuff) is you have to see the Qg6 idea from the start which isn't so obvious.

Celebrating my first chessmood anniversary

Today i won my first slow tournament otb ( 60 min / mat ) since I joined the chessmood family ! it got 4/4 against an opposition mostly equal to my rating . Thank you to all the team who helped me through this journey , and it s not over ! 

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Wow! That's really nice to hear!

New article: How I crossed 3100 and got into the top ten on chess.com

Have you ever wondered how to play chess in extremely challenging life situations and break through those plateaus? 
It's a tough question, and many players only worsen their feelings of despair by experiencing losses in chess.
 

In today's article, GM Gabuzyan shares his personal story of how he overcame adversity, broke the 3100 rating barrier, and achieved a top-10 ranking on Chess.com during the toughest year of his life.
 

Click here to read the article:
https://chessmood.com/blog/gabuzyan-3100-top-ten

Feel free to share your thoughts below. 

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+

Now, you should aim to become a world champion!

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Continue to do meditation!

+

Amazing work!

Good things and bad things happen all the time, and bad things happen to good people. Not easy when you're there on the receiving end. I've found success in life is often being able to insure or lesson the effect of bad things (like prophylaxis in chess), while preparing our ‘cards’ so we can take advantage of the fortunate things that come our way. While we can't always control what happens to us, we can control how we prepare and react and focus on what we can control and do something about. Easy to say as an outsider though.

Sorry to hear about the divorce (I thought the Twitter thing was just humour, not based in reality). I hope it was not acrimonious however difficult it must have been. If it was related to the time and pressures of being a chess professional and working at a start-up they must have known what they were signing up to. My suggestion - get a partner with a horse - they regularly want to go visit the horse and ride and that leaves plenty of time for chess :)

Take care,

David

aim for the stars and go for 3200+
(but first drink some water <3)

There is first time for everything. 3 200 rating barier will be broken, soon!!  👊👊👊

I think rating number is meaningless.
There may be rating inflation or rating deflation.

Achieving top 5 ranking on chess.com may be a possible target but I wonder how do you get it.

There are a lot of GM's and usually they do not get to the top 10.
What make you special relative to other GM's(maybe part of them play also when they do not want to play but I am sure significant part of them play only when they want to play).

I think that basically the advantage of strong players is knowledge and the question is what you know that they do not know
and I wonder if there are things that you can learn and most GM's cannot learn that helped you to become number 10 in blitz.

There are things that I believe most GM know and I cannot learn.
For example  I do not know and probably cannot learn to visualize chess positions like a GM.

Even memorizing one chess position like a GM is hard for me.

I can learn to construct a chess position that I saw and put the pieces on the right squares if I try to construct it few times from memory but even after doing it I do not see the position like a GM.


I would like to memorize the positions of tactic ninja chess quiz like a GM.

I remember for example the position in quiz number 1 of chess tactics ninja that I tried to memorize in the following way(I could put it after some tries in my long term memory to be able to construct it without looking at the diagram even after not looking at the position for a few days but I do not remember it like a GM).

I remember in the following way(I write my thoughts at the time of constructing the position on the board) 

There is a black queen at e2 that likes to do Qf3+ and there is a white king at h1 
I remember white pawns at h2 f2 e3
I remember white rook at d1 and white queen at d5 that protect f3 so there is no Qf3 mate in the root position
I remember that the queen at d5 has 2 pieces near it(white bishop that protect h2 so it is at e5 and white rook at c5.
I remember a black rook at g6 that help Qf3 to be a mate.
There is a black rook at b4 that is going to play Rd4 so Qxd4 is not possible because of Qf3

There is a black king and 3 black pawns near the rook at g6 so it was Kh7 pawns h6 pawn g7 pawn f7.

My memory is based on connection between pieces and I do not see the full picture and if people ask me what is in square X then I cannot reply at the same speed that I can reply if I look at the board.

I would like to be able to visualize all the positions in the chess tactics ninja quiz in the level that I have the ability not only to construct the position on the board but also reply to questions in the same speed that I reply to them if I see the board but it seems that I cannot do it.



 

+

  I am sincerely sorry for your rough year . I m impressed your were able to come back from your lowest point and turn it to success especially as it was not linear ! You are a model for all the students who follow your live streams . I feel I am learning something every time I have the chance to watch the streams . Eventually , I hope to be able to use all that knowledge successfully to thank you and  all the chessmood team for helping me in my chess  journey . Not easy to change habits at  57 yrs old but I m patient , resilient and determined ! 

Way to go Champion GM. Fighting back is inspiring. Your story is something you can be proud of. Thanks for sharing coach!

plus “+”.

What happened after GM Avetik read your story?
Especially "I sat down in front of the laptop, and in a few hours, I crossed 2900. The mood that day was fantastic and was multiplied after this successful session. I didn't analyze how that happened, I just enjoyed it all. I continued the routine for the next few days, any second I had the crazy feeling, "I want to play chess", I did so, and sometimes this even occurred during my working time in the ChessMood office. (I know my boss is reading this, so sorry.) "😜

Great job Hovhannes!!

Sorry to hear about family and health troubles but glad to see you were able to come back from your lowest peak with stunning performance!! Co Gro mate!!

+++++++

Bravo coach! 
Being able to come back is really inspiring for me, and now I want to cross my next objective like you did. 
I truly hope 2024 will be a better year for you and you can achieve your objectives. 

You are amazing bro, never forget it 💙

Unbelievable, what a great success, my warmest congratulations. That makes my heart beat even faster with every training blitz game with you. May all the best return next to the chessboard too. And: +

WITHOUT ANY DOUBTS +

Definetly! +++

Hi coach, inspiring story! Thank you for your honesty and openness!

I would first say  my very best wishes for good health and second keep going to 3150, 3200++

You're an inspiration and definitely the player I try to copy!

If I were in your place before ChessMood, 5 chairs and 3 mice would have happened (you can probably guess what happened to them ;) But ChessMood taught me that breaking chairs would make me go broke but not fix my rating. Thank you ChessMood! I hope to help more people find this amazing website! 

P.S. Totally go for 3200 as your next goal! It's completely worth it! +

New article - The 6 Lessons I Learned While Building ChessMood

In two days, we celebrate our 6th birthday🤩

From surviving tough days to finding a way to move forward, it’s been a crazy journey.

We’ve made mistakes, but we’ve also learned from them.

In today’s article, GM Avetik shares 6 lessons from our story that you can use in your chess improvement journey 👇
https://chessmood.com/blog/6-key-lessons-from-building-chessmood

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Great article. I LOVE chess Mood. Happy Birthday for Thursday!

Happy Birthday ChessMood! I'm very happy to be learning from the wonderful people who are teaching here. I send you my best wishes for continued success in helping chess learners for many years to come.

Feliz cumpleanos, chessmood!! And congratulations to the chessmood family that make it possible everyday. You're just great.

My very best wishes

Many happy returns for the last 6 years and for the next 6 ! Remember to enjoy the journey ! When are you going to release your book , lessons in life and chess ?

Happy anniversary to you and your team. Your vision and foresight has helped many( myself included). Keep growing!

Happy anniversary to you and your team. Thank a lot for the inspiring lessons.

I will never forget Chessmood anniversary, it's the same day as my wife's!. My two loves in life (my wife and chess) have now something more in common.

Congratulation for 6 years :) I'm only 3 years but still 50% percent time.

I see how chessmood is growing, adding new functionality like video speed 2x, exercises after video an a lot of new articles, videos.

I'm impressed by quality and examples for every chess course and still valid great opening analyses novelties. Sorry I've burned a lot of them :)

Amazing team both GM Avetik and GM Gabuzyan  and whole team in backoffice/background :)

Good luck!

Celebrating Six Years of ChessMood🥳

Hello ChessMood students! 

A week ago, a potential investor looked at the presentation and asked, "I thought you were the founder, but it's written you're a Co-Founder. Who are the others?" I smiled and said, “ChessMood Family.”

From his confused smile and silence, I understood he wanted me to tell more, so I went on: "I founded ChessMood. I’m Daddy. But ChessMood has many other family members. My wife is his Mommy. My teammates and our students are his uncles, aunties, grandpas, and grandmas… And we all raise him together. ChessMood is OUR baby. It is NOT just mine."
 

I meant it. When I was talking to Kevin Roberts, author of my favorite business book “Lovemarks,” he said something profound to me: "If you build a Lovemark and not a standard brand, it shouldn’t belong to you. It should belong to everyone who uses it."

Today, ChessMood family, our baby turns 6! 
I want to thank each and every one of you! 
For every single contribution, for positive and negative feedback, for advice, care, for bringing more people to family, for love! 

ChessMood would be a very different kid without you. 

You all have played your roles in how he has been raised, and all of you will play your roles in how he will grow and who he will become.

Thank you for everything! 
And happy birthday to our baby ChessMood :) 

With best wishes, love and gratitude, 
Avo the ChessMood Daddy :) 

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Thanks so much for the 6 unlocked days! I'm currently not in a position to financially invest in my chess, but someday I will be and chessmood will the first place I turn. Congrats on 6 years!

Hi Avo,

Happy 6th birthday for ChessMood!  

And thank you for the 6 days of access to the ChessMood courses.  

And finally, keep doing what you are doing!  ChessMood is a great online chess family and I'm happy to be a part of it. 

😀

Now in your 7th year! 

Keep up the good worl!

My chess improvement journey: week 7 (!!)

https://www.chess.com/game/live/101840189305

It is with this game and great pride that I announce that I crossed for the first time the 1400 milestone on chess.com rapid, after having touched it for a game in January, 17th.

Not only that, with the second game of my session, I consolidated it winning another game and reaching 1410!

Wow, I feel great! I know there are players here who are over 2000, but for me this is a great result anyway. I'm coming from a streak of 5 victories in a row, and I'm playing great chess, reaching 85 and 95 precision in 2 of those games (not sure the rest, didn't analyze with engine).

This week started great, I've been focusing on studying endgames, as I like them and I threw away too many rook ones:)

I'm keep on practicing tactics and tactical recognition, as well as better creating my thinking system.

I must say I'm very happy. One moth ago I was desperate trying to regain my elo, and blaming on myself for being a bad player. But now, I feel more relaxed and secure about myself, winning games while enjoying the process of learning and playing itself.

I always want to thank everyone who's reading those weekly recaps and supporting me, and in general the whole community and chessmood investors and workers for providing this beautiful place (I'm now taking advantage of the 6th anniversary to watch blunderproof course btw, thank you for unlocking the courses). 

Now I go take some rests, thank you for reading and see you next week!

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Fantastic! The game to achieve a milestone is scary, but the next is almost more nerve-wracking. Congrats, your work is paying off!

Excellent!  What a great post to read - I'm very happy for you.  Well done 😎

Very good!!! Happy to read this!!!! 

😀Keep it up and may the Chessmood Force be with YOU!💪

How and where should course PGNs be opened

😀

Hi everyone! I have recently been attempting to open some of the PGNs in lichess and it says it cannot paste the full pgn. Where is the best place to open PGNs like the commented classical games and mating matador ones.

Thanks so much

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Hi Zubin, 
There are many ways and many softs but lichess has a limit of games per file.
Please check the following thread for other ways to do it>

https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/pgn-files-3509

😅💪

Dutch Defence Advanced Course

Hi, is there Advanced Course for the Dutch Defence? This is a follow up on the Starter Blackmood openings which I will like to explore further.

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Dear Mark,

Thanks for your interest but we never provide any release date. We take a lot of time in selecting the best examples and this course is going to be very important. We always try to do our best and we expect to publish it this year, but we cannot say the date.

May the Chessmood Force be with You!😁

Looking for a Training Partner

Hello, I have a fide rating of 1700 and I am from India. I am looking for a training partner, with whom I can play training games and also study chess together. Thanks

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I'm willing to bet you'll find more luck in the designated study parter forum, linked below.

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/studysparring-partner-1362

Hi!
Please post your message in the dedicated thread that we have in order to look fo sparring partners and study companions. 
https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/studysparring-partner-1362

Also check out the previous posts in the thread, maybe you can find a suitable partner.😄
I will delete this post in 2 days, please copy your message and post it in the above thread.😅

Narjdorf sicilian

Can you create a blackwood repository covering the najdorf sicilian because i think that's all what's lacking from the sicilian courses. 

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Chessmood reccomnds the Accelerated Dragn against the open sicilian.

Learn the Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon from a GM (chessmood.com)

So instead of 2… d6, we play 2… Nc6.

Has the 6 day free period started yet?

Hello ChessMood and happy birthday! All the best for this amazing website! 

Has the 6 day free period started yet? I want to look at a new course and hasnt unlocked anything new yet. I dont have an active subscription.

All the best!

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3pm GMT I believe.

Those who are with a partner (e.g. ECF will have a link already).

starter course-whitemood openings

Dear Coach,

The “starter course-whitemood openings” has 22 sections. Its downloadable pdf files contain 20 files (this is right), but its downloadable png file only has 10 chapters (some of the chapters are missing).  I ma afraid that my operation on lichess is not correct. Would you please share the correct png files for both “starter course-whitemood openings” and “starter course-blackmood openings” with me via lichess? My lichess ID is pokemonknight 

thanks a lot,

Tony 

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Tony, I just checked the pgn file and it has 20 openings in it. 20 different games explaining every opening. Please download the file again and check it out with another software just in case.

We do not upload files to lichess or any other site normally. 

Below is attached a picture of the contents of the file for reference.😅

Would you please help recommend a private coach for us?

Dear Coach,

I need your help.

My 7-year-old son John has a USCF rating ~900, and my 9-year-old son Paul has a USCF rating ~1300. We just subscribed chessmood and started to study it and my kids love it. Every day they can spend 1.5-2 hours studying chess. Our target is to help them become a national master (NM, USCF rating>2200) in 4-6 years (4 years for Paul and 6 years for John). Do you think that this goal is feasible?  How to achieve it? Would you please help recommend a private coach for us? I am thinking about 1-hour lesson per week to go through progress, check openings, and analyze games. We prefer coaches who am passionate about coaching chess to kid, familiar with chessmood materials, have detailed, personalized plan for students and track their progress. 

I checked your online study plan for 1000-1500 rated players, which states that practice should occupy ~55% of their chess time. Is solving tactics puzzles considered practice or study? 

thanks a lot

tony 

Replies

Hi Tony,

We will look for one coach for you with this profile and get back to you privately via email (the email of this account). It can take a couple of days, but we already have someone in mind.

😃As for the practice, it should be playing, we would consider solving tactics as study… But what's important is to analyze all the games… and this is part of the practice you could say…  And at same time it's study too… Sometimes it can be complicated to put names to what we do… LOL.-.. 💪

Tony, hi again,

We already sent you a message, please check your inbox or maybe your spam folder if you can not find it… 😅

Tactic Ninja -- Data Discrepancies

Hey - Quick Question. I see the data for all my saved/completed quizzes is wiped out. Also, I see some weird discrepancies e.g. I was working on a Decoy section (Decoy and Mate) with 10 quiz problems and I see only 4 quiz problems for the same unit  this morning. Can someone please help ? Thanks.

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Yes, I can see this too.

The tech team will take a look at this. Thanks for your patience.😅

Hello Subbu Sundaresan, thanks for noticing this will be fixed very soon.🚀

Any update on this ?

D4 openings

I see that chessmood clearly doesn't cover d4 too much in depth and rather e4 but if we are to play in a tournament our opponents most likely to respond with d4 to avoid any sicilians and all. I my self find that playing against d4 is my biggest weakness and maybe it would help if you could create a d4 opening section for black

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If you're under 2000 (or 1800 IMO for longer play) the Blackmood coverage of the Dutch will be sufficient. Otherwise there is the Benko and d4 deviations. Personally the d4 deviations need a bit more to be complete and the Benko is awaiting the reboot, but they are great to get going with (more than adequate for blitz) and can be supplemented by other courses.

Puzzle progress gone...

After the new tactics ninja change, it shows I've done no puzzles, but watched all of the videos. Does anybody else think this is strange that puzzle progress was deleted, even if the puzzles are new?

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It's a little unfortunate but not a big deal.  I'm treating it as an opportunity to do a speed run back through course puzzles plus the new puzzles 

Reviewing Quizes and Spaced Repetition

Hello,

What is the Chessmood take on spaced repetition? Is it something we will see on this platform? If not, how often should we be come back to redo the quizes? What is recommended by the Chessmood coaches? Maybe once a month or once every three months?

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500 New Tactic Positions...Where are they?

Hi all, anyone know where the new 500 tactics positions are?

 I know the 777 tactics quiz has been available for a while, are these an addition that I cant find? 

Please help, I'm totally lost without the new tactics, I already feel my rating slipping away!

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Hi the new tactic positions are in each section (pin, skewer etc). Just expand the section and you can find them at the bottom. I have just done the pin section and there are 2 sets of positions - level 1 and level 2 which is more challenging. 

We've uploaded 500 positions training "Tactic-Ninja"?!

I've received today a message saying “We've uploadied 500 positions training in Tactic-Ninja course” which I've alredy learned but I can't see anything new there! Can someone indicate me what am I missing?!

Thanks! 

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If you go to the end of a section there are a number of training exercises in each.