Create your free account

By clicking “Register”, you agree to our
terms of service and privacy policy

Log in

OR

Reset password

Chess forum by Grandmasters

Exchange variation with NC3

Hello Family,

I play french attack with black from black mood opening for beginners.

I am always blocked after

  1. E4 e6
  2. D4 d5
  3. Exd5 exd5
  4. Nc3       Now, knigth attacks d5 pawn defended by the queen. It is no more possible to play Bd3 as it will cut the queen defense. If 4. Nc3 Ne2, the bishop is closed. If Nf6, we can not play the agressive setup anymore with pawn f6.

How to continue with black after Nc3, in french opening exchange variation?

Replies

Nf6 is one of the most popular moves, although you do have the option of playing c6, protecting the d5 pawn and preparing Bd6. This also gets rid of a potential Nb5, an attempt to exchange the bishop.

Calculation

Hi i d like to work on advanced calculation like the hard puzzles made for master and even Gms . The kind of hard one that we spent 10 or even 20 minutes on it. 

Replies

Dear Jonathan,

Is this a statement or a question ? 😀😀😀

Alapin and Sicilian Sidelines PGNs

Hi there, I'm going through the sicilian videos for black, and notice there are no pgns to download for the sicilian sidelines. Is there somewhere I can download them? Or did you intentially not put them up? I saw a post a from a few years ago saying that the courses aren't finished yet, but that is from a long time ago. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks!

Replies

Hey there,

About that courses we may have or not some restructuring. When decided we will make the update or just will have the pgns.

Thank you

Caro Kann Exchange doubt

Hello Everyone,

This forum is to discuss about a new move that I came across.

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nf6 5. c3 Nc6 6. Bf4 Bg4 7. Qb3 Qc8 8. Nd2 e6 9. Ngf3 Nh5!?

I was surprised by the move and was completely confused what to play and went on to lose the game. After checking in the engine I found that the best move was Be3. I do not understand what is the idea of the move. Isn't it making the bishop more passive. I need help to know what would be the most practical choice against 9.. Nh5 and what is the plan of Be3.

Thanks in advance!

Replies

Hi Pranav,

I believe I also faced the Nh5 move and replied 10.Be3 in order to keep the bishop pair. In my opinion our idea is to play after h3 and get a bishop pair advantage as that knight takes the square from the Bishop, not allowing later to play Bh5.

Personal Ceiling in Chess

There is an opinion that every person has a ceiling in chess, which he is not able to overcome under any circumstances. This ceiling is sort of predestined from above. Do you agree?

Replies

I've heart that once. Very interesting. 

My short answer is “No.”

Of course, I strongly believe in science, and there are probably several scientific articles/papers about

this topic. I am just wondering: They must contain lots of parameters with which every person can calculate

his or her ceiling to come to a concrete upper bound ?! If so there is a potential to desillusionate many people.

Me included. I like having illusions :-)

So on the one hand I'm interested in those papers (if you could link one here), and on the other hand I am not.

In the end- here in this question- I simply believe in me. It doesn't harm anybody if I ignore science in this very

special case.

Yes, almost certainly, but it's impossible to know exactly what that ceiling is.

If we set modest improvement goals then it doesn't really matter.  If we achieve them then great, we can set our sights on the next goal.

At some point we won't achieve our next goal, so we should remember to celebrate the victories and enjoy the challenge regardless of the outcome.

Dear Igor,

That's a question that doesn't really have a clear answer. 
Of course, not everyone can become a 2800-fide-rated player like in soccer not everyone can be Messi or Ronaldo.

But I am sure every chess player with strong motivation can improve. Just do your best and see what happens 🙂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVHyUzX5IQw

Starts at 1:10:16, and fits well in here.

In running, probably can categorically state a reasonably  fit close to 50 year old white guy will never run 100m in under 10 seconds because of physical limits no matter how much or what training was done as all the factors (age, fitness, body type and genetics) are against and the laws of physics and biology don't allow for some clever method (not always see the high jump as one example).

However for chess there isn't such a physical limit and while I think getting into the top 100 is extremely unlikely for someone who starts later, holds down a career and so on, it's just difficult not impossible. The difficulty might be impractical to overcome at some point as perhaps that is just as good as a ceiling, but I suspect that's 2600+.

Scotch Game Doubt

Hi Chessmood family, I recently finished the scotch game course and was putting it into practice when I saw this move I was unfamiliar with. The line is e4,e5,nf3,nc6,d4,exd4,nxd4,nf6,nxc6,bxc6,e5,nd5,c4,nb6,bd3,Qe7!?N 

I'm aware that this is not a very common line but since I faced it I was wondering what the best response would be so I can put it in my PGN file and not make the same mistake as in the game (In the game I played Qe2 which is fine but I think there was probably a better move.)

 

Thanks

Replies

😀I would say that the best move was 0-0. Putting the queen in front of the King is not the best choice since the DSB will have a more difficult life, then normal development should do, the pawn cannot be taken after 0-0, therefore I strongly believe that castling is the best way, not Qe2 since we want the Queen on c2 in this line if possible or maybe build a bishop-Queen battery… 😀

Restart a course

I do not know how to restart a course.

Can anybody help me.

Thanks a lot.

Vittorio

Replies

Hello

I think that all you have to do is go to the course page and click at the episode you want to see from any section. Even if you have seen it before, it will start playing and you can rewatch it every time you want. So if you want to restart the whole course, go to the very first episode and click on it.

It did not work. I would like to restart the whole course. Not only a part of the course.

Maybe remove all the checkmarks ?

MoodCoins

How can I purchase a course with my mood coins?

Replies

You can buy some courses with moodcoins, just select "or get lifetime access" on the right side of the page, then click buy the course and among others there is the option of making the purchase with MoodCoins. But be aware that it is not possible to buy all courses with moodcoins

Is the benko gambit refuted

Is the Benko gambit playable in classical tournaments? It looks like white gets a clear advantage. I could like to have your thoughts on this

Replies

Daily puzzle reward

Hello family,

I hope you are in right mood. This morning, I solved daily puzzle without error at first try, but I was not rewarded with 500 mood coin. Did someone meet the same trouble?

This 500 mood coin are symbolic, but they help maintaining motivation.

Regards

Replies

This happened to me too and I was wondering what is going on. 

I just did it too , minutes just before the deadline , success on first try and no reward . I thought because of the time zone maybe but , it seem it s the same problem as you two. 

Thank you. 😀

Fixed.

Hello, this happened today too, am I the only one who didn't got rewarded?

Hi, no, me too.

No, the problem is back and with the same puzzle

Trompowsky transposition into the Veresov

Hello Chessmood family, I was looking at the Countering D4 Sidelines course and I noticed that in the trompowsky section GM Avetik recommends 2.d5. I looked at the covered possible 3rd moves for white and noticed than 3.Nc3 (transposes into a Veresov) wasn't included. I think this is an issue as the Veresov is a relatively big opening which probably needs its own section like the Jobava or at least a couple of videos? Please can you let me know what you think? Apologies if the Veresov was covered in the videos and I missed it. Thanks. 

Replies

Please can someone respond?

1.Nf3

Hello everyone this to discuss about the flexible move 1.Nf3

I often get into trouble due to this opening as white is able to use the fact that he can transpose into various positions like English, Queens Gambit, etc. 

I need help so that I can play the positions where I am comfortable. I play the Tarrasch against the queens gambit, Sicilian Najdrof against the 1.e4 and the CM opening against the 1.c4. I do not have a repertoire against the Kings Indian attack. Normally play d5 and play the position on my own.

Thank you!

Replies

Hi Pranav,

Can you please mention whether you play the Blackmood openings or if you are using the advanced repertoire? 

I'm two different players!

What I mean is, I had a run of games where I felt unstoppable, hoovered up my opponents hanging pieces, gobbled up pawns, raced up the ratings by over 300 points - and this week I'm losing almost every game to stupid blunders. What happened! 

Replies

Maybe you are tired of playing chess. It has also happened to me. You should try playing only when you are not feeling tired, when you are on the right mood and you are feeling unstoppable and ready to destroy your opponent. You can also try to take a small brake from playing that much, play only a little bit for fun and study more instead of playing a ton of games. I don't say that this is the right thing to do and by no means I can say that I am the right person to tell you what to do. But this is what I did when this started  happening to me, when I was losing by stupid blunders all the time, and it perfectly worked in my case. Hope this helps.

Thanks - I think I have been distracted this week (family are visiting) and that had an impact. The problem is, I'm never tired of playing chess, I love to play, even when I am losing. But perhaps this isn't the week for it. I'll take your advice and study some ChessMood courses instead. 

Middlegame Help!

Hello Again!

Very often in the “Best Game of The Month” forum, I share games that I feel I did well in and demonstrated how to play a certain opening.

However, this game is a lot different. I need to preface this by saying I have not yet added 1. e4 Nc6 to my White repertoire, so I'm sure I played the opening wrong. However, that's not why I wanted to post this game.

Very early in the game my opponent blundered a bishop. But after that move I had extreme difficulty converting the advantage to a win because I'm unfamiliar with how to play the type of middlegame that arose from the opening pawn structure.

I often find when I play positions where the opponent gives up space in the center that I have a hard time determining where to castle, on which side of the board I need to attack, and I don't know what to do with my bad bishop to get it out of the way when opponent doesn't allow me to trade it. My pawn structure in this game wasn't a long chain running one direction,, but more of a wedge coming from both sides.

In this game it felt like castling kingside would lead to black attacking in similar fashion to a King's Indian, but going queenside didn't feel any safer. I also couldn't decide on which side I should advance my own pawns. So what I ended up doing was sitting back and getting crushed. I only won due to the opponent running out of time, but in the final position I have no advantage. If anything it's my opponent playing for a win.

I need help with how to play in games in which there isn't a clear side where I need to play based on the “direction” the pawn chain is pointing. When the opponent has all the space on the flanks and the center is locked, it feels like I'm having to defend both sides with no counterplay.

Thanks in advance!

1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 e5 3. d5 Nce7 4. Be3 Ng6 5. Be2 a6 6. c4 Nf6 7. f3 Bb4+ 8. Nd2 d6 9. Qa4+ Bd7 10. Qxb4 O-O 11. Bd3 b6 12. Bc2 Nh5 13. Ba4 Nhf4 14. Bxf4 Nxf4 15. Bc2 Nxg2+ 16. Kd1 b5 17. Bd3 a5 18. Qb3 Rb8 19. cxb5 Qe8 20. a4 f5 21. Rc1 fxe4 22. Bxe4 Bf5 23. Qd3 Nf4 24. Qf1 Qe7 25. Bxf5 Rxf5 26. Ne4 Rbf8 27. Kc2 Ng6 28. Kb1 Rf4 29. Qc4 R8f7 30. Rc3 h6 31. Qe2 R4f5 32. Nh3 Qf8 33. Rf1 Nh4 34. Ng1 Ng6 35. Qg2 Nf4 36. Qc2 Nxd5 37. Rd3 Nb4 38. Qc3 Nxd3 39. Qxd3 Rf4 40. b3 Qe7 41. Ne2 R4f5 42. N2g3 Rf4 43. Qd5 Kh7 44. Qd3 g6 45. Nd2 Qe6 46. Kb2 d5 47. Rg1 Rd4 48. Qc2 Qf6 49. Nh5 Qd6 50. Ng3 Rdf4 51. Rf1 Qf6 52. Ka2 e4 53. Rc1 1-0

Replies

Deal Joel,

Reading your question I can't provide a clear answer how to play there, as chess is a very concrete game and there can be super many nuances. So you need to improve your chess understanding - and my suggestion is to watch commented games on our website.
That's the way how I (and many strong chess players I know) improved their understanding and mastery level in this game.

Good luck 🙂

How do you guys study the courses here

Hey all, I’m new here and just wanted to know how people mainly study the courses on here. Do you guys study multiple courses at a time or just focus on 1? Apart from opening courses do you guys take any form of notes? Or just watch the videos and do the quizzes? I just want to get a feel for how I should approach studying these great courses. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advanced!

Replies

Hi DA QTPtwoT,

that's a great question that I've also had on my to- do- list for a while.

I take many notes for example in the Blunder Proof course for example;

whenever it is about practical / training advice. Same for blog articles.

When it's a purely chess course, I normally take many, many screenshots which I

put in a folder named after the corresponding course. This I do, whenever I think that a certain 

position is very interesting (for example there is an interesting plan worth to remember),

or there's a nice maneuver, a nice tactical motif, and so on. Then, my idea is to go through all those

pics and hopefully be able to tell something about every position. Should I fail, I can rewatch the 

specific course. To sum up, I'm concentrating on pattern recognition.

I watch several courses at a time, because I like to have variety. But I try to do only one topic per training

session, e.g. Monday openings, Tuesday endgames,… [Actually, I still fail in being consequent here :-)]

I am as well very much interested how other people study the courses. 

From an article on success stories (https://chessmood.com/success-stories/jules-carter):

“If you're unsure about what you're going to do and how you're going to improve, just start from the ‘Rating Booster’ courses. Start with Tactic Ninja, start with BlunderProof. Start there if you're going to follow the ChessMood route and if your rating is like 1,000 to 1,500. I mean look at me, use me as an example. Do those two courses and then if you have time, do the SLP course because that course is phenomenal. I can't praise it enough.”

I would say that I am a decent casual player (key word: casual), so I routinely find myself in lost positions. I had looked at SLP a little bit, but after reading “500 points in 7 months” (link above) and the ringing endorsement for it, I decided to get into it a little more.  

There are a couple of things I really like about SLP.  Firstly, at my level, it's a very practical course.  As I said, I get into lost positions routinely :/  .  Secondly, one of the strategies when in a lost position involves “making adjustments.”  That is, sometimes we have to forego, say, taking an open file if it means we have to exchange pieces (a no-no when in a lost position).  “Antichess,” he calls it.  

The point is, that in order to know what fundamentals you avoid in a lost position, you have to know the fundamentals you are avoiding.  So, in effect, I am studying the fundamentals at the same time as I am studying how to try to clean up the messes I make by ignoring the fundamentals in the first place! SLP is a very rich and practical course.

Also, try ChessMood's Training link (https://chessmood.com/blog/category/chess-training), lots of great suggestions there … one of my favorites: (https://chessmood.com/blog/why-It-is-a-must-to-study-classical-chess-games).

Happy trails.

Hi, there are already suggested study plans .. check them out first

https://chessmood.com/chess-study-plans

I'll generally have somewhere between one and three courses on the go.

I don't take notes.  I'm pretty religious about pausing the video and trying to find a move when instructed, plus of course solving all the puzzles.  For the classical games I play through the game on a physical board while also watching the video.

Hello, dear chess friend,

I noticed your post here and wanted to tell you that GMs are replying to the posts in the Pro-members channel (you posted in the main channel).

As recommended below, you can check the study plans available on the website, which will make your learning process more effective and structured. 

Good luck 😎

Question on courses

I was scrolling trough the courses and I noticed that some of them can be bought while others not (for instance the SLP course). Does this mean that I can get access to it only by buying a plan? Please explain if you know why this is happening.

Replies

French attack

how do we play this as well as 

1.e4 e6, 2.d4 d5,3.e5  Bd7 4. Nf3 a6 5.Nc3 c5 7.Be3. as well as Bg5

 

Replies

Dear Chessfriend,

Going through the forum I saw your question, but wanted to mention that Grandmasters are replying to the posts in the PRO-Members channel.

Good luck 🙂

Should I apply SLP to stronger opponents?

Hello chess friends,

 

I am starting the SLP course recently and I was wondering if I should apply this technique also against stronger opponents (change of winning < 20%) from the very start of the game. So by going to complicated lines, avoiding trades, going for material imbalances and targeting the king. Of course I can wait until my position is lost, but maybe then the resources are already insufficient. 

 

And how about the opposite for weaker players to apply WWP.

 

Any thought would be helpful.

 

Thanks,

Xander

Replies

Hi Xander, I believe that you should play “normally” against everyone- no matter if they are Magnus Carlsen or a 500 elo. If you play like you have already won on move 1 against an opponent with a lower rating you will probably lose. All of us have lost before because of this overconfidence- Wrong mood, wrong move! And if you play against a higher rated player like you have already lost- yes you will lose! (Big surprise.) So just play normally and when the position is won use WWP. And when it is lost use SLP :)

Josh Waitzkin once said you have to trust yourself in chess, because you're all you've got. If you know the opening prep of an opponent, perhaps you can try to play lines that aren't their strongest. But to change your style of play without any specific knowledge of their game may actually play into their hands. What if they love complex positions but hate closed structures? Or what if it's the opposite? If you prefer a certain type of game, play to your strengths. Don't try to predict their weaknesses.

One of the reasons I adopted the Whitemood openings instead of continuing with my comfortable lines is to broaden my experience and learn to play many types of games knowing very well that I would start losing a lot more games against players not as strong as I am in my strongest openings. If the game is just for online ratings, do your thing. If it's an otb game where a big prize is on the line, then I'm not the right person to listen to for advice. 😂

That's my two cents FWIW.

Hey there,

The SLP Techniques in my opinion more often work in lost positions, and I don't think you need to play from the beginning of the game with that strategy against stronger opponents. Just try to play your best chess, and improve by learning 🙂

French exchange variation

how to play 

1 e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5.white play Bb5 instead of Be2 or d3

Replies

Hello.

I consider the best move is 5. Bb5 due to it's the most aggressive way to be prepared against the natural 5. … Bg4

It looks like you have an extra tempo because you can castle in the next move (6. Qd3, with the intention of 7. Ne5 with a big pressure and 6. c4 - 7. cxd5 and 8. Nc3 and 9. Bg5, could be a nice plan).

Following and bumping. I also want to know this.

just develop the f8 bishop to d6, if white trades, all good, the c6 pawn can be defended with Ne7, and Bd7 if need be, and if white doesn't trade and castles, continue with Ne7,Be6 and castles. if c4, you can take and after d5 a6 Ba4 b5 dxc6 bxa4 O-O (Qxa4 Qe7+) the position is about equal according to the engine, although white scores 52% wins: 41% losses after c4, it is not very common below the 2200 level according to the lichess database, only being played in 4% of games. I am by no means a expert In the French, so I suggest doing a deeper analysis, Especially after c4. 

Attacking Woes

Hello!

I am currently going through the Attack Like a Viking course, and I have started making a point to think about the principles taught in that course while I'm attacking.

The game below, however, demonstrates that I still have a long way to go as an attacker. I managed to win, but I made many large errors during the course of the attack that gave my opponent defensive chances.

I would like to know if there are specific topics that are taught in the course that I violated, or if the inaccuracies I made were beyond the scope of the course.

I share this game, because I very frequently execute attacks like this in which I review after the game with an engine and realize that I make many errors which give the opponent defensive chances. If I can identify what my weakness is during this game, I might be able to use it for other games where I execute attacks improperly.

Thanks in advance!

 

In this game I was black.

 

1. d4 e6 2. Nf3 f5 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 d5 5. O-O c6 6. b3 Bd6 7. Bb2 Bd7 8. Nbd2 Qe7 9. c4 O-O 10. a3 Ne4 11. Qc2 Be8 12. Nxe4 fxe4 13. Ne1 Nd7 14. e3 Bh5 15. b4 Rf7 16. h3 Qg5 17. h4 Qg6 18. Kh2 Raf8 19. Ra2 Qg4 20. Bh3 Qxh4 21. Ng2 Qg5 22. Bxe6 Bf3 23. Kg1 Qh6 24. Bxf7+ Rxf7 25. cxd5 Qh3 0-1

 

 

 

Replies

Much easier if you provide a link or upload the pgn so it can be browsed.

Hi Joel,

I didn't check with the engine, but visually you executed a good attack in this game, and kept one of the most important principles of bringing the pieces and especially using the strongest attacker!

Hi Joel

I just payed through your game and I think you played very well. What is your rating?

There was just one question I have. When you played 21. …Qg5 did you see white's reply 22.Bxe6? If so, no problem as you had a great attack on the king! If not maybe you need to improve calculation/vision. 

Apart from that I think you're being too hard on yourself saying that you have much to learn as an attacker. Well played!

This website uses cookies. To learn more, visit our Cookie Policy.