How to recover from losses?

Hello All.

I am playing a classical tournament and in 2 rounds i consecutively lost aginst lower rated players. I am really upset. Could there be any solution to this and play better next round and suppose if I lose the next round again?

Replies

I would recommend you to read this article written by Gabuzyan. https://chessmood.com/blog/the-tournament-is-not-over-until-it-is-over
Also do not make the mistake of thinking about lower rated players, there are no lower rated players anymore! After Corona people still did not play enough OTB and many people have low rating but their playing strenght is much higher.
💪The only think that I can suggest is to try to play a good game of chess and not think about the rating! That's why amateurs play chess to enjoy it! Not to win rating, it will follow you if you play with good mood. Forget about the lost games and concentrate on the next one! 😁

The power of Tactics Ninja

Fans of Tactics Ninja might be interested to know that yesterday in the Candidates there was a perfect example of the “Lifeline” tactic.  Firouzja vs Gukesh, Round 7.

https://www.chess.com/events/2024-fide-candidates-chess-tournament/07/Firouzja_Alireza-Gukesh_D

After 30… Bc5, White's knight looks lost.  But thanks to the Tactics Ninja course, I found the game move for White within 15 seconds (!)  I am only a 1500-1600 rated player, but the techniques in the course were so clear:  see if the “lost” piece can throw a lifeline to another piece, to support an attack on a more valuable opposing piece.   This made it so simple to find the candidate moves, and therefore the solution.  Chess.com even gives the move a double-exclam.

Thank you Avetik and all ChessMood - I find this stuff very inspiring!

Replies

Very nice of you to point this out, thanks!! And well done finding it!😁

Help with classical chess

Hello all, I played in a rapid tournament in October and won it with 4 wins and finished unbeaten.  Today i played my fist classical tournament in years and managed to only get one draw. I barely used half my time. Any suggestions on how to use more time and train my brain to think differently in a classic al chess game with longer time controls. Any suggestions would be appreciated. 

Replies

Please Henry, watch the webinars related to time trouble in the following post:
https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/time-management
Also, if you did not play Classical games and only played fast online, you need to adjust, try to play 60 min game online, find a training partner to play longer games. You need to think in the critical positions, but you can only do it by actually doing it! 
💪Practice, practice…😀

Anti-Sicilian Part 3 question. 3....Nc6.

Hi Coach!

I recently faced the following line on chess.com

e4 c5

Nc3 e6

f4 Nc6?! 

I wasn't able to find this 3... Nc6 move in the material, it seems like a combination of several of the other lines. Can you (or anyone in the community) please confirm what to play against this?

Thanks!

Replies

After 4.Sf3 it should transpose to something known. 4...d5 or4...d6 we can play Bb5. And after 4...a6, 5.g3.  

I've watched only 1 and 2 parts of Antisicilians, I will try to answer after watching others too. I think somehow it should be transposed one of the positions. 

I didn't watch it yet, but I guess it has to be transpose.

Hi Benjamin!

You can be playing with 4.Nf3 as @Mogens_Nielsen mentioned it will be a transposition.

Reminds me of another move order trick:

1. e4 e6 2. d4 (French?) c5 (nope, sicilian) and now you've committed to d4.

which you can decide to play an Open Sicilian (Nf3), Benoni type position (d5) or c3 Sicilian / French Tarrasch IQP (c3 / Nd2) - none of which are in the repertoire, but the c3 Sicilian / French Tarrasch is played similar to the c5 lines in the Schlecter French where the cost of c3 is no worse than the cost of Bd3 and scores well at club level - you could probably transpose it though Bb5+ is likely to be more useful than Bd3.

We talked about this too during our GMs meeting and of course, there are many possible transpositions to our opening and some move orders can be strange to meet the first time. That said we always try to stir the situation towards a familiar battlefield. Our piece deployment should be consistent and we must be comfortable with the positions that we will reach. I just put together some initial moves where you can see that we always aim for the same and there are many possibilities that you should try and investigate by yourselves too. Find the position that you have more feeling for...

Hello, i got yesterday on the board, the following game. and it went to the line here (previous post, variation with 4. Bb5) :

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Bb5 Nge7 5. Nf3 a6 6. Bxc6 Nxc6 7. d3 Be7 8. O-O O-O 9. Ne2 Qc7 10. Ng3 f5 11. Ng5 d6 12. Qh5 h6 13. Be3 Bf6 14. c3 hxg5 15. fxg5

losing the knight and the game. but i was not sure what to play at move 4. 

and what to play after the strange 3…Nge7: 

french exchange with 4.nc3

whats the setup here??? usually, i play c6, and then i try to trade off my light squared bishop so that i may play my knight to a6, where it is veryyyy useless. any tips?

Replies

You will find your answer in this post: https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/french-exchange-after-5-nc3-3467 😃

In a streaming game, I once saw Gabo playing 4…c6. Actually, I think it was Gabo, but I'm not entirely sure. I've tried to find the game to send you a link, but without success. I only have some moves (sorry, no the entire game) I annotated on my pgn that I hope can be of any help. The idea is to stick to the plan with Bd6, offer to exchane the lightsquare bishops on f5, and attack on the king side. I personally think that 7…Bg4 would be a better move, to provoke h3, and then Bf5, but this is not how the game was. Anyway, these are the moves I have annotated

1. e4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. d4  c6 5. Nf3 Bd6 6. Bd3 Ne7 7. O-O Bf5 (7... Bg4 8. h3 Bf5  8. Re1 Qd7 9. Bg5 f6 10. Bh4 O-O 11. Bg3 Bxg3 12. hxg3 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 Na6 14. a3 Nc7 15. Re2 Rae8 16. Rae1 Ng6 17. Rxe8 Rxe8 18. Rxe8+ Qxe8 19. Qe2 Qxe2 20. Nxe2 Ne6 21. Kf1 Kf7

French Attack exchange variation question

I have a question about the French Attack exchange variation that I haven't been able to find covered in the BlackMood Openings starter course. After the initial exchange leaving pawns on d4 and d5, how should we handle our f8 bishop if white's next move is Nc3? The recommended position for this bishop is d6, but of course this will block the queen from protecting the d5 pawn which is now under attack. Trying to add protection to the d5 pawn and then move the bishop to d6 seems to interfere with the overall setup recommended in the course in various ways:

1) Moving Nf6 blocks the f7 pawn, and GM Avetik repeatedly recommends against putting the knight in this position during the course
2) Moving Ne7 puts the knight in the recommended position but blocks the f8 bishop from going to d6
3) Moving the pawn to c6 blocks the b8 knight from its recommended position

So is there a good adaptation for the aggressive setup recommended in the course for this scenario? I'm never quite sure how to play this and I see it fairly often at my level.

Replies

with nc3, we play bb4 instead of bishop on d6. for more info look at this thread :

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/french-exchange-after-5-nc3-3467

Hi, very interesting point. I had exactly the same problem in one of my otb games. Silly cate suggests playing Bb4 pinning the c3 knight. But this line comes after the sequence:

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Nc3 Bb4

If I am not wrong, Dave is asking for the reply against 4.Nc3, on the 4th move, not on the 5th. That is:

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Nc3

During a streaming game, I saw Gabo made the move 4…c6, which protects the d5 pawn and allow us to play Bd6 on our next move, and continue with Ne7-Bg5, etc. I guess this is the right sequence to play. (Obviously, we cannot play c6 if we already have our knight on c6, so c6 is valid only against 4.Nc3 and not against 4.Nf3 followed by 5.Nc3, for which we have to switch to the plan with 5…Bb4)

By the way, I read in previous forum messages that a French attack main course is programmed in the future. Anyone has an idea on when can we expect to have this step-by-step course? I've been using the simplified French attack with Blacks, and I'm now in a point in which I have to decide if I keep playing French or if I should move to the main reccommendation for Black and play Accelerated Dragon against 1.e4

The Power of Self-Belief in Chess

Replies

Inspiring and motivating...thanks so much for sharing...most of these stories are unheard but they carry more weight and value that should steer the chess world in the right direction...we are privileged to have a team of quality support emotionally and realistically...thank you so much

90% of my failures belong to this problem...Thanks a lot for choosing such common and important themes and of course for your motivation! 

2.0 begins

Rapid time management and focus woes!

Hi everyone,

I know many of you hereon Chessmood are much higher rated than me, but I'm hoping to get some advice from anyone who's battled similar challenges at the lower ELO levels. I've been stuck around 600 ELO for a few months now, bouncing between 600 and 550, with occasional dips down to 520. I primarily play rapid games with a 15/10 time control.

Here's the problem: My gameplay consistency suffers due to time management issues. If my opponent plays blitz-style, I feel pressured to respond quickly, which often leads to blunders. Conversely, if the game progresses slowly with both of us using the full time, I find myself losing focus and making careless mistakes late in the game due to fatigue.

An additional twist:  While I find middlegame tactics interesting, I confess to having a particular fascination with queenless endgames.  Perhaps this is affecting my overall approach to the game.

Looking for advice:

How can I improve my time management skills in rapid games? Are there specific strategies for handling opponents who play blitz or slow down the pace?
Do you recommend any training exercises for maintaining focus throughout a longer game, especially considering my fondness for queenless endgames (which can be quite tricky!)?
Any general tips for breaking through a rating plateau around the 600 ELO mark, while also incorporating my interest in improving queenless endgame technique?
Thanks in advance for your insights!

Replies

Hello,
Although i may not be able to answer all of your questions, i can try and give you suggestions on some certain topics.
First of all, when your opponent plays bullet/blitz style, don't be tempted to play a move! Control your impulses, and unless the move is in theory, try to look for anything that could be possibly wrong with that move. I suggest refraining from blitz games for this, try to develop the discipline to not impulsively play a move (this topic is covered in blunderproof course, section 10.)
Don't try to overthink each position/move, they might cause you possible time trouble. 
I don't have a specific strategy maintain focus on longer games, other than just playing more and more games. For the first time, it will be hard, but it will be more natural to you the more you play and focus longer.
To break through 600 elo mark, i suggest reading the study plans for beginners: https://chessmood.com/chess-study-plans/for-beginners
If you wan't to play queenless endgames, try to play some set positions on queenless endgames (either you create one or find a drawish position) with a training partner. You can find one in the forums if don't have one. Alternatively, you can play these positions against some bots. (for me, its the maia bot)
Hope i helped you with something!
 

Dear Csaba,

We just checked the courses that you worked on and we realised that you just started Tactic Ninja. Please concentrate solely on this course, do one section each day, learn the patterns. 
Read and follow the study plan since it is created for you, one step at a time. https://chessmood.com/chess-study-plans/for-beginners
💪Then everything will be easier, but do them in the order layed out in the program. Tactic Ninja is the course that will impact more your progress. May the Chessmood force be with you! 😃

Lifetime plans

Dear ChessMood members,

this is my first post - so i hope its in the right section (sorry - if not). 

I am about 2000 Fide and want to get serious with my chess - so i follow the forum a lot and all the activities from chess mood. My aim is to reach CM or FM title - which is a big dream (i know - i know).

I decided to apply for a lifetime pro membership and filled in the form (i hope it was sent - but i think so). I guess i will get my answer in the next week (and fine so - its sunday :)) - but i am not sure, what to do now. The lifetime accounts will get up in price and i am not sure if i have done everything correct. 

Could you give me some tipp - should i just wait or buy the not pro lifetime and hope to upgrade. I understand its a great obligingness from the founders and investors of chess mood to give such an opportunity.

So i hope you understand my question as its meant - in a polite way.

best wishes and hope to see you at the board

Manfred

Replies

Hi Manfred!

🤗 Welcome to the forum!

Yes, we received your application and you will be contacted by our happyness department.

Thanks!

The hero bishop video

    I recently watched one of the chessmood videos on YouTube called “the hero bishop” about Nepo's win against Mamedyarov. In many classical and blitz games, my opponent plays a bad move but I don't know how to punish it. My question in the initial position after bishop to f1. Why can't Mamedyarov play Rb4 applying pressure to the b2 pawn and keeping an eye on e4. I don't know if I'm being stupid and the rook is getting trapped, but I feel like Rb4 would be really annoying for white, and I pretty sure Rb4 is a bad move but those are the types of positions I freeze in because I don't know how to deal with “annoying moves”.

Replies

Chess on busy days

Hey everyone, I'm struggling to find time for chess during work days and often ill find myself playing chess during 11pm. Any tips on balancing chess with work? Been doing the 9 games strategy but it just takes too long.

Replies

Hey,
This Should be helpful to you 
https://chessmood.com/blog/raise-your-chess-rating-by-cutting-your-losses
If you don't have enough time, don't play 9 games in a day. Don't play too much chess, Prioritize sleep and focus on your health. Maybe if you have spare time on weekends or holidays, you could play more games.

Next Step After 'Under 2000': Advanced Openings or Middlegame Mastery?

Hi Chessmood community, 

I have just finished the 'Under 2000' section, also including the U2000 openings. What should I focus on next: 'Advanced Openings' or 'Middlegame Mastery'?

Replies

Hi Stephane! 
What's your level, time availability, etc.?
Do you like playing the Whitemood and Blackmood openings? If these are the openings that you are playing, for how long and how well do you understand them?😅

Modern Maroczy bind

Hi i was played an interesting line in the accelerated dragon maroczy and im not sure how to face it. It start 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5c4 Nf6 6 Nc3 d6 7 Be2 Nxd4 8 Qxd4 Bg7 9 0-0 0-0 10 Qd3!. After Qd3 i am not sure what to play. If its covered in modern maroczy i am not sure where. Let me know if u know where to look or if u know how to match it. I even saw on chesssbase a game Giri-Carlsen where Giri crush carlsen. tx guys take care and enjoy chess!

Replies

Hi 10 Qd3 is discussed in Section 4 - 9 O-O. The Queen on d3 is vulnerable to Nc5 gaining a tempo.

Coach Avetik gives two choices 1) Be6, Nd7-c5 and a5-a4 playing like normal Maroczy Bind.

More aggressive is 2) Nd7-c5 and then Bxc3 to break White's queenside pawn structure, then target the pawns.

There's also an explanation of what to do if White sacrifices the e4 pawn and goes for a direct attack since we've traded off our Bg7.

how to play this variation from anti sicilian

If black bishop on g7 non knight on f6 we can play f5 from lesson.

Example 1. 0-0 b5 2. Bb3 a4 3.a3 possible 

i meet many times about this case and make me blunder more 

after this position i never happy from white even we development quickly

Replies

Hello "Fighterpilot Chess" 😃,

The pgn you made really confuses me. Please provide us with a correct one.

First of all: 

6. O-O is obviously not good in that position, because it allows black to take over the center with 6… d5. 

Secondly, if black 6… b5, you obviously can't play 7. Bb3, because your bishop will simply get trapped.

But you recommend  black to play 7… a4, which is of course an illegal move. In normal chess, pawns can't fly from a6 to a4 in one move. Anyway, after a4 you said white should play a3, which would lose the bishop by the teleported pawn on a4.

At this stage of your chess career, you should not focus on the finest details of the openings, but on more basic stuff.

I would recommend you to go to the “Learn chess” section on lichess: ( https://lichess.org/learn#/1 ). You will learn how the pieces move, how they capture and a other basic chess rules.

I hope this helps you.

P.S. Please learn english, or just use google translate ( https://translate.google.com/ ). If you don't use proper english, people will not fully understand you.

I think you are just playing a wrong move order, because with e6 we usually don't put the Bishop on c4 but on g2… 😀

French Attack

I suggest adding a "take test" option for the Whitemood opening in the French Attack. It would be beneficial for practicing the French Attack with white pieces. Thank you for considering this suggestion.

Replies

The French Defense for White already has a “take test” option, is this what you are saying?
https://chessmood.com/course/french-defence

Why don't we play the hyperaccelerated dragon?

Why do we play 2… Nc6 instead of 2… g6 in the sicilian? We are allowing a Rossolimo, which means more studying for us. Why don't we play 2… g6 and avoid that? I assume there is a reason, because your opening courses have been really good, I'm just eager to know it.

Replies

Hi Neo,

Yes, you are right, we could do that. But we don't focus on playing tricky lines or fast recipes for winning. We want you to develop, to grow as players and Rossolimo is a great battlefield to be tested in. Also the 2..g6 has some very good lines as White along with the initiative, and it is not our cup of tea once you play against a prepared opponent. 
But the main reason is to play a very sound opening that allows you to grow as a player.😃

Anyone else notice?

When white plays d4 and we play e6 they always switch and play e4. I guess Nobody wants to play against the Dutch.

Replies

“Always” is really an exaggeration.

Usually, only 10% plays that. 

NEW ARTICLE: A Secret Weapon for Handling Tough Positions and Bad Moods

Replies

Thanks 

Awesome!

That's a very nice story, thank you for that!

wow .. thanks

Well I have a story also. It goes like this: When I was playing against one of my friends (Alexander Soll) rated 1,800 I was in a bad position but then I remember your story about how if you smile and straiten your back it would improve your mood and therefor improve your chess game. So I tried it out and .... It worked my situation improved drastically even though I was low on time. I still managed to find the right move to escape a check so I wouldn't lose time. This saved me the game. Thanks again for the advice Best of Wishes Mikeythehuggable

And after a few years we saw a GM named Kazbek Primbetov......😱

I am very grateful for your articles and your course content. I myself am coming to ChessMood because of a good friend who had many amazing things to say about your approach to teaching and developing a positive mindset! Recently I had a very frustrating moment in my chess life and realized I needed something different. The moment I saw Avetik and watched the opening course, I knew that ChessMood was the way to go if I truly wanted to improve myself AND my chess. Thank you so much for all you do.

I personally find that smiling on purpose makes me feel very disoriented and hazy. I've tried it a few times as an experiment and I find my brain just goes blank. I think it's the mismatch; your brain knows you're doing it for no reason and gets confused.

Puzzled by Stockfish recommendations

Hi all,

While reviewing a game today there were a couple of instances where I didn't understand why the suggested move from Stockfish was better than the move that I had made.  I'd welcome your thoughts 👍

First instance:

There was a fairly typical scenario with black (me) having pawns on h7, g7, and f7 and the white queen threatening the g7 pawn.  I played g6, thinking that the h & f pawns defend the g pawn.  Stockfish prefers casting.  

I can see that with casting my king defends the g7 pawn but I'm sure that I read/watched/heard some advice saying that it was a bad move to castle into an area where the opponent was already attacking.

What would you do here and why?

Board layout: https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/106314479371?tab=analysis&move=25

Second instance:

Embracing some of the learning from Tactics Ninja I managed to make a discovered attack / double attack combination!  Yay for me!  (Note that the attack by the pawn on the knight was just a bonus - I fully expected white's queen to capture the pawn)

Whilst I didn't expect white's Nc4 move I can see what he was thinking - removes the knight from the attack and also threatens my bishop on a3.  I proceed with my intended Bxh1 capture of the rook.  However, Stockfish prefers Qd3 - forking the knight on c4 and the rook on b1 ("You overlooked a better way to win a rook.").

Surely if white Nxa3 then he captures the aforementioned bishop and also protects the rook on b1, so the fork misses both targets. 

Is it that the fork isn't the real issue and that the real advantage is that this speeds up the checkmate moves that I made on my next turn?

Board: https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/106314479371?tab=analysis&move=39

Thanks for any feedback.

Replies

Hello!

For the first one, the reason castling is better is that the queen cannot do so much by herself. And with castling, you protect the square, and don’t create any weaknesses.

This one is amazing! The reason Qd3 is better is because of an insane tactic.

1… Qd3 2. Rd1 (Most natural to me.) 2… Qxc3+3. Ke2 Qc2+ 4. Kxe3 (After here I missed the amazing tactic.) 4… Rxb3+!! 5. cxb3 Bc1+!! ( the idea is to deflect the rook from the defence of the d3 square.) 6. Rxc1 Qxb3+ and Black takes the queen next move.

This is a very complex and insane tactic (report anyone who find this in less than 3 minutes ;) ) this is needlessly complicated. The route you chose was simple, and definitely good enough.

The only reason Qd3 was better was because of this tactic, as otherwise White would get a piece for the rook. 
In this case, if this tactic didn’t exist (The Qh3 was defended) your move is better.

If you have any question let me know!

Hi, just wanted to add a couple additional thoughts, but take them with a grain of salt as I am no expert!

For your first example, it seems to me an additional thing to consider is where you eventually want your king. Given your pawn structure at the time it seems like you would eventually want to castle king side. The pawns on the queen side wouldn't offer much protection. Maybe d7 would be an option? But the bishop there complicates that. Leaving the king where it is seems like it would leave it unnecessarily exposed. So if king side castle is the best option, moving that g7 pawn has the disadvantage of weakening the king if you eventually do castle there. And castling immediately saves a turn in having to do it later.

For the second position, beyond the tactic described in the other response, it's worth noting that after Qd3 another reason white can't just capture the bishop with Nxa3 is that then you could just proceed to mate the opponent in exactly the way you ended up mating them. The knight on c4 is protecting the d2 square that you eventually used when mating the opponent. So the move Nxa3 after Qd3 is the same blunder that they made in the actual game that allowed you to complete the checkmate. But please note that in an actual game I'm sure I also would have just done Bxh1!

WhiteMood Openings / petroff defense

Dear chess coach, i recently played a correspondence game in the petroff defense 4.Nxf7, which just end up in a draw, but with some luck. do you really advise this gambit (4.Nxf7) for standard game (maybe not correspondence but OTB) under 2000 elo fide ? by the way here was the game 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nxf7 Kxf7 5. d4 c5 6. Bc4+ d5 7. exd5 Bd6 8. O-O cxd4 9. Qxd4 Re8 10. Nc3 Nbd7 11. Nb5 Nb6 12. Bb3 Re4 13. Qd3 Bf5 14. Nxd6+ Qxd6 15. Qf3 Bg6 16. c4 Nxc4 17. Bg5 Ne5 18. Qc3 Kf8 19. Rae1 Nxd5 20. Qa5 Nf6 21. Rxe4 Nxe4 22. Be3 b6 23. Qa4 Nc5 24. Qb4 a5 25. Qf4+ Qf6 26. Bxc5+ bxc5 27. Qe3 Nd3 28. Bc4 Qf5 29. b3 Re8 30. Qd2 Qf4 31. Qxa5 Qd4 32. Qc7 Qe5 33. Qd7 Qe7 34. Qd5 Qf7 35. Qd6+ Qe7 36. Qd5 Qf7 37. Qd6+ 1/2-1/2

Replies

Well against the Petroff, we offer the course from the main repertoire targeted to players from 1800 to GM level. 

https://chessmood.com/course/petroff-defense
That said, the Whitemood openings are a fast road to get a complete, easy to understand and to remember FIRST repertoire and it can be played until 2000 perfectly. I used the Nxf7 many times in rapid, blitz, OTB, against strong oposition. It is also good for beginners to play a pawn down and try to build the attacking attitude needed in chess. Some friends of mine spent all their life playing this Nxf7 and believe me, they are vicious attackers!
That said, you played this game in a correspondence game and in correspondence people can check their engines and it is not the best idea to sacrifice a knight for 2 pawns at the beginning against an engine. Regarding correspondence, we are not fans of correspondence play because the engines do the work instead of the player. 

If you have the time and will to do the required work, by all means use the main line of our main repertoire. 
I hope this helps, by the way what is your elo? ?

For what my experience is worth, I beat a 1700-FIDE (before the rating revamp) player in the cochrane gambit in classical OTB chess and had a winning position on move 8, so it works surprisingly well!