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Chess forum by Grandmasters

Nimzowitch Defense with 2.e6

Last week I played a game where my opponent played the Nimzowitsch Defense, the game went like this : 1.e4,Nc6 2.Nf3,e6 i wasnt sure what to play so i just played the most normal looking move 3.d4,d5 4.e5,f6 5.c3,fxe5 6.Nxe5,Nxe5 7.dxe5,Bc5. could anybody tell me what the best approach is against this opening?

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I now found out that playing d4 and the e5 was what GM Avetik recommends, but I am still not sure what i am supposed to play against this early f6 move

Chessmood has an article on the Nimzowitsch Defense- Nimzowitsch Defense-How should you react? You should read that article. It tells you all about this opening. There is also a course on the same.

French attack, section 5 vs Nd2

Dear cm family, i faced after 4. Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nd7 6.c3 f6 7.exf6 Qxf6 8.Bb5 and wasn't able to find a good answer. I played 8.. Ncb8? and went on to win but it seemed too passive. What do you recommend? Cheers

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By looking at this position, you can go Bd6 and develop one more piece, there is nothing wrong if they take on c6, our Light square bishop can go to a6 and also we would like to play e5 anyways and open the position with both bishops. 

Yes, Bd6 is definetively the move, giving you 4 developed pieces while the opponent only has 3. You can castle in the next move or after e5 too…  

😀Ncb8 is way too passive, yes… Develop, develop… You must think how to develop, no going back if no needed… 💪

Alapin: White plays Be3 - to take or not to take?

I get the Alapin in almost every game (it completely boggles the mind why white players willingly opt for this epitome of boredom) and often white plays Be3 when I still have a knight on d5, and the question arises, should I take and when is it optimal to take? This can of course happen through various move orders, but here's an example: 1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. c3 Nf6 5. e5 Nd5 6. cxd4 d6 7. exd6 Qxd6 8. Nc3 Bg4 9. Be2 e6 10. O-O Be7 11. Be3 Any general guidelines on how to approach this?

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Often I'd leave it there. Why strengthen the isolated d-pawn you're meant to be attacking and open the f-file for White (unless something concrete such as picking up the e3 pawn after recapture or blockading e4/d5? Have a look at my Hastings round 9 game in the earlier thread which while not quite that exact line, I just build up against d4. That's also the suggestion in the updated Alapin course to play against d4 with all the pieces.

Exactly, like David said, we need to concentrate our attack on d4 and sometimes even b2. After9…e6, our plan should be Be7, 0/0, Rd8 and Rc8. If Ne4 in this position, we play Qc7 supporting a possible Nf4. Also with Qb6 we can attact the d4 and b2 pawns.
As far as the opening is concerned you reached a very good middlegame position with chances for both but I always prefer to attack the IQP on d4, at least I know what I must do… 😀

By the way if you take on the e3 Bishop it is not an IQP anymore, you can do it depending on concrete moves, but if the opponent has a weakness, just attack it.

Question About Sparring/online events

Hey All, Does chessmood organize online classical tournaments? Something in which players play 1 game per week. Much like the league4545 on lichess? How easy is it to find a sparring partner on chessmood? I'm thinking about signing up, but I'm on the fence. Thanks

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Although I am not sure, but chessmood does not have tournaments or sparring partners. Chessmood is a chess educational platform but not a playing platform like chess.com or lichess.com.

Hi Alfred,

At the moment we are not hosting any league or championship for games. We did in the past participate in the Bundesliga but unfortunately there were not enough members to keep the events going. 

Maybe in the future it there is enough interest we can try to organize it, but we must understand that we are people from all over the world with very different schedules… 

Maybe it can be feasible, we will see how it goes this year… Avetik is preparing lots of things for our Chessmood family and I am sure that everyone will like it… 😀

live tournaments

How to players get matched in live (in person) tournaments? Is it totally random so a GM could play a 1000 rated player? Or do they try to match up via the ratings so the game is more competitive?

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Usually they use the Swiss system which basically tries to match up people with the same number of points. It's more complex than that, and there are minor variations depending on which precise ruleset is used, but that's the general idea. In the first round, the draw is determined by rating such that the top seed plays the player just below the middle seed etc. For example in a 10 player tournament the first round would be: 1st seed plays 6th seed 2nd seed plays 7th seed 3rd seed plays 8th seed 4th seed plays 9th seed 5th seed plays 10th seed. But often the big events are broken up into separate sections (by rating) and each one is run as its own separate tournament.

https://www.chessable.com/blog/how-chess-tournaments-work/ Most online and OTB tournaments use one of three pairing systems: Swiss, round-robin, or knockout. The most common pairing system is "Swiss" (search for "Swiss" in the linked article). In a Swiss tournament, if you're in the lower half of players when sorted in descending order according to rating, you'll typically play a much stronger opponent (sometimes even GM) in the first round. As the tournament progresses, you are ever more likely to get an opponent who's roughly your strength.

Playing black against d4 and king's side fianchetto

To me, unambitious opening play from white with resulting symmetrical structures is quite challenging, as I often feel at loss as what to do. For example, the below: 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 O-O 5. O-O If 5.. d5 then 6. c4 and we're out of our lines, and if 5.. c5 then 6. c3 and we're also out of our lines. and in both cases the resulting positions seem quite lifeless. Any advise on how get something interesting from this?

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Hi Yair,

 

We go 3…c5 instead of Bg7. Check out this thread where Avetik replied 3 months ago:

https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/tricked-by-moveorder-benkostyle

 

Suggestion

If I can add a suggestion for future content, an interactive drill board where you make the moves shown in the videos can help members solidify their understanding and comprehension of what they're learning. This can be in place of or alongside a training partner.

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Thanks Noah for your input. It is a good idea and we will consider the viability to implement this function.

Nowadays most of the people just open Chessbase alongside the course, altough we recommend watching the video and then work on the pgns to see exactly what we remember. 

Please read this article if you haven't yet, maybe it will useful:

https://chessmood.com/blog/the-most-effective-way-to-create-chess-pgn-files

 

Tactic Ninja course: Difference between "Tactics with X" and "Test" videos

Hi! I'm just doing the Tactic Ninja course. Towards the end of most of the sections, there is a video called "Tactics with XXX" and then a "Test" video shortly after. Is there a difference between the selection of puzzles in these two kinds of videos? For me as a user, it seems like the first kind of video is doing exactly the same thing as the "Test" video -- in both videos I'm just supposed to solve the puzzles, which "tests" me. Would be nice to hear what the intended difference between the videos is and why some puzzles have been put in the first kind, others in the second kind. Hope my questions is clear ;)

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I thought this too. I think the idea was to show more examples (perhaps harder) and then test you. I treated both as a test and tried to solve all. Maybe if you score low in the test section that's the indicator to repeat, not the examples before.

I always try to solve all tactics when Avetik asks to pause the video and think. Tests are the one you should be able to solve after watching the section, tactics are sometimes harder.

Winning Won Positions / Technique / Converting an advantage

Hello everyone, I know a course is coming next month on Chessmood about winning won positions. However, I would like to know if you had some ideas on how to improve this skill, especially in Blitz? Do you know books about this subject? (I'm rated 2300+ online if this can help). Do you have techniques to recommend? For instance, playing certain positions against an engine or a sparring partner? Or is it just practice and time which will help? I analyzed my games a lot and losing won positions is a real pattern, so I really want to improve at this part of the game ? Thank you and have a great day :)

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Because of that, I'm losing my confidence more and more when I have a winning position. Hoping someone will recommend something. Thank you and have a great day everyone :)

There are lots of types of winning positions. Have you narrowed it down to a particular type? Occasionally I'll play out a winning position vs a weakened engine if I'm really annoyed about how I messed it up. Usually level 5 or level 6 on lichess. Another idea is to collect a set of positions where you should have made a particular move and put them into a custom Chessable course.

Hi Yes the new course is coming soon, but there are already some material on ChessMood website on WWP. Have you checked these out already? https://chessmood.com/search?q=winning

Well, I really need this course: https://lichess.org/kcF2hzqt/black have a good day.

How to solve tactics and play faster?

I noticed from Puzzle Racer in Lichess that some people can solve a hard to believe amount of tactics within 3 minutes. This usually transpose to their ability to play Blitz and Bullet. This may be a solution to play better before and during time trouble with 5+3 time control. Any feedback is appreciated. Thanks.

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I think Avetik alrteady explained everything in this article:

https://chessmood.com/blog/improve-chess-tactics

Please check the blog, it will help you a lot.

💪

What sort of Puzzle Racer scores are you talking about? I hadn't played Puzzle Racer before today as I tend to do Puzzle Rush on chess.com. Gave it a try and got a bit carried away playing it 25 times :-). One thing I like compared to Puzzle Rush is that you're the same colour in every position of the race. Looks like they randomly assign you a colour at the start of the race. On the other hand, with Puzzle Rush you don't have to wait for others to join before you can start. One good thing about these puzzle games is that you can review the puzzles you got wrong at the end. If you do that enough times you might notice patterns in the sorts of tactics you have trouble with, so you can work on improving that.

Today's daily puzzle is the same as few days/months ago

I notice that today's daily puzzle is the same as few days/months ago

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The daily puzzle feature has been going on for a few years already. From a collection of great studies only the best and interesting ones have been chosen, so you can imagine, that there is no unlimited number of puzzles available. Therefore, after a few months puzzles are repeated, which I think is no problem, as it gives us the chance to repeat finding the correct solution or to re-produce the solution, in case we did not solve the puzzle previously.

Anti-Sicilian with 2Nc3 d6 (Part 1), video 19

In this video it is stated that after 7.d4, cxd4; 8.Nb5, d5 doesn't work for Black because after the given line White takes Nbxd4 and is a pawn up. However, at the end of the given line, Black has 3 defenders of the d4 pawn (after ...Nxc6), so how can White win the pawn? I must be missing something!

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Dear Randy,

 

I carefully checked this video (19 of the course 2.Nc3 d6 https://chessmood.com/course/sicilian-defence-part-1/episode/773) and I took the screenshot below of the moment that you mentioned, to provide more info. Capturing with the knight allows a check with the Queen and Black cannot castle easily and can find himself in a worst position since he will have to play very precise. Still, you are right that you cannot win the pawn right away. Avetik thought about bxc6 which would be the most common recapture and did not consider Nxc6 I believe. I will ask to see if I am missing something.

 

Possible improvement in a variation in tactic ninja/windmill

In the last question of the test (subsection 9) in tactic ninja/windmill, it's possible for Black to do a little bit better than what is proposed: after 4. Tf7+, Black should not play Kg8 but Bf6. This leads to 5. Bxf6+ Kg8 6. Txd7 Rxf6, and Black captures an extra piece compared to the proposed variation. The conclusion does not change though, Black is completely lost. And the conclusion on the course does not change either, it's a really great course.

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Yes, you are right, we did not include all the possible variations when trying to teach a concept in order not to overwhelm the student. It is not the only case, some tactics with different move orders may work in other examples too. What is important is that you get the concept. This is our goal…😅

Thanks and Happy New Year!!!!! 

Thanks for pointing that out! I missed it and it's important to pay attention to these details, they can make all the difference.

Hastings Masters

Round 1 - draw vs an 2260ish FM Not helped by the weather, I arrived about 20 mins late. My cycle ride of 30 mins from my accommodation took about an hour. Best described as rain, wind, hills and unmade roads / potholes. However getting through the time control just in time, I took a draw against an FM. Both of us missed winning chances which goes to show titled players are not invulnerable (I've beaten FMs in the 2000-2100 range before). Black 14: Qg5 is the ChessMood line here. Nd4 is the main move in the Mega Database 2018 with a score of 1 win, 2 draws to White, no mention of Qg5. Black 16: Up to now the computer evaluation is a small advantage to White, which is pretty much the status quo for this line. Unfortunately the aggressive f5 upsets the computer giving White a significant advantage. But can my opponent make something of this? When faced with this position on move 16, how to find the right plan for Black when faced with this over the board? I saw c3 weakens the d3 square which gives me something to play against. As long as White doesn't get to strengthen the centre or get a winning attack along the f-file I believe I'm okay. White 18: This was a lemon. It shows that FMs don't play the right moves all the time either. Nf3 or exf5 was best here. e5 has some nice ideas to get the pieces on the e5 square as in the game, but it just doesn't work concretely. Black 19: Again how to find the right plan. While this looks good, Be6 was better here. I guess it's again a concrete evaluation showing the plan isn't right. White 21: This doesn't work. Free pawn. Black 22: Harry scared me! Qd6 wins outright - I missed that this was winning the piece whatever damage Harry does. Black 23: Qd6 or c4 was better here. Qd5 didn't work. My thought was if Nxg6 then because of Nf2 the bishop is now pinned. Black 26: Re8 was better, but I think this gives me more chances. Black 28: A bad move. I hadn't seen how strong c4 Bxc4 Qc3 was, though it's the computer's preferred line, though probably harder to hold. White 30: This just doesn't work. I think White missed my 31st. Black 31: I can afford to give back the exchange here. White 34: Concretely, getting on with Nh3 - g5 is better here. White is trying to stop Qa1+ Qe1 holding the bishop. Now it's 0.00. White 35: Of course not falling for something like Qd6 Qe1+ winning the knight. Black 43: Almost considered Kf8 here, wouldn't be a good idea though. White's king is weak and Black can just keep moving the king up and down, so it's a draw. 0.5 / 1 so far

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Tomorrow's game is against GM Gormally. He drew today against a 2041(!) IM. So maybe the chance for a nice upset. Games are being relayed, so tune in and support the mood telepathically ;) https://chess-results.com/tnr668610.aspx?lan=1 https://hastingschess.com/

Commiserations for your game vs Wilks. That looked like a disappointing one after being ahead for so long.

Round 2 vs GM Gormally I'd prepared Nc6 Sicilian, but he decided to play the Scandi. It wasn't because he was avoiding showing the other strong players what he'd prepared for the tournament, but that he'd been coaching a student in that line. Black 3: As we know this isn't the critical line against Nf3. Black 4: g6 isn't covered by Chessmood and it's the 5th most popular move having been played by Tiviakov. Would be interested to know how the Chessmood GMs would suggest playing against it. It works out fine for me though. White 8: It's possible to play h3 here to stop Bg4. I'd considered going queenside and going for the typical attack, but I wasn't convinced that I'd be able to keep control of the centre and then might find myself under attack. Black 9: I think this helps me. The bishop is strong on f3. White 11: b4 was suggested after the game intending b5 which is nearly winning. White 12: g3 was another idea, but I think we're conditioned to finish development which I do with a nice position. Black got some ridicule in the UK Patzer's chess.com team group (for which we both play) for just about beating me in a 'UK patzer derby'. Indeed this is good for White and not a good advert for the Scandi. Sure against a GM it's a handicap and he'll come back as he did due to my mistakes, but it's very risky given I'm playing around 2150ish+ irrespective of what my rating says and round 1 result should ring alarm bells to anyone thinking they'll get it easy. White 15: here h3 would have been a good idea since it takes away g4 and if h4, g4 White 17: this was my mistake, the c-pawn can't easily be attacked, was better leaving the tension there with the advanced d-pawn. White 21: Unfortunately I chose the losing move of my candidate moves. Both c5 and Ne2 were better. Black 21: I hadn't seen this idea. White 23: Unfortunately due to Bxb2 this doesn't save the game, but Black admitted to overlooking this idea. Danny thought I should have carried on for a bit at the end since he didn't see the win as that simple, even though there isn't anything for White. I guess being a piece down against a GM you assume he'll be able to convert it, but perhaps I should have considering making him play it out just as I would an 1800. 0.5/2

Round 3. My opponent was 2072 FIDE, but his national rating (ECF) was almost 2200. Unfortunately his SLP paid off, but a small tweak to my play and beating these sort of opponents the way I managed to get ahead here and I'd be moving closer to playing at FM level. I'd seen he played the Rossolimo, with one c3 Sicilian also in the database. He mostly plays the Bxc6 line, but perhaps my first round had put him off. I'd prepared that one with mnemonics about red quinoa [should be] eaten fast, real boys not quitting night operations and the need to brawl now (it's not _quite_ that rough here), but I did look through the Re1 videos as he'd played that and I was able to reproduce the theory. White 12: This deviates from Chessmood Qd2 suggestion and later the Q goes to a3. The only game is Timman - Kotronias with the g5 h6 Rg8 Bg8 idea mentioned in the course. Black 12: Nd4 beats Kotronias' move according to the engine. Black 14: c5 is also considered good by the engine when Qc1 instead of Qd2 has been played which might have made life easier. The king heads to h7 after Nf6+ Kf8. Black 16: Instead of castling qside which gives White a target, the king can run away with Kf8, g8 etc White 17: White should seal up the kside first, so the engine suggests Bg3-h4, f4 Black 17: The engine suggests Bxe5 here, but I don't think this is a good practical move, given Nc5xe6 would follow. g5 and try to find a way to press on the kside seems a much better alternative. White 19: This is wrong way to go about it as Black holds. a5 and if not b5 giving c5 to the knight, then b5 follows Black 20: Engine suggests taking on e4 which I had to do eventually gives near equality here since bxc6 is not scary. White 22: This gives equality, the engine thinks the way to win is play c3/c4 and then come via the centre. White 25: this puts Black ahead. Black 35: Everything was engine perfect up to here. Rg7 was better. White also had a penchant for time trouble. Black 44: Should exchange a pair of rooks here, and the ending would not have happened. Black 49: This pawn break was incorrect White 50: Rh6 is equality Black 52: Had I seen the danger I'd have played Kc4 Black 53: A horrid mistake that takes away the escape square from the king. Now White has mate in 7 which he finds. 0.5/3

I'd played this opponent before so I knew I was getting a French. Last time it was a draw in the advance variation. This time I'd prepared 3... c5 as he'd had two database games in this line, but also looked at 3... de as he had one game, but the opponent had played c3 to defend d4, so I didn't know which line he would play. White 10: So far all theory as covered in the course, unfortunately no advanced section! so hopefully that will appear soon. White 15: The engine suggests Qxb7 here as the only way to keep the advantage (hence needing the advanced section to know when to capture as taking on b7 looked counter-intuitive). So Qxb7 Rfb8 Ra6! and the queen comes back to f3. And despite taking a pawn in front of the king the engine thinks White is winning. White 19: I offered a draw here. Opposite bishops should draw here, and I wasn't looking for another long game.

Round 5. A marathon game (6.5 hours of play, 91 moves) with a really nice ending. My opponent plays d4 Nf6 anything goes, so very hard to prepare. In the database he'd played Benko with e3 (and wasn't quite punished accurately with the Nxe4 trap by GM Jones IIRC), London, Jobava and also the Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit (1. d4 Nf6 2. g4?! - my guess looking at it is to get a KI up a tempo for the pawn since the knight has to move from g4, but as long as you attack the centre and avoid the traps it looks harmless). I'd prepared the Jobava and the Veresov (I use GM Dhopade's Chessable repertoire against d4 since I'm not satisfied with the Chessmood (d6) London - if they miss the traps (and some have been playing it for 10+ years) theory ends in a very drawish position. This solid position is exactly what many White players gunning for a draw or a grind are looking for. d6 here doesn't integrate well with a few of the move orders where d5 would be preferred, plus missing a few major lines and still waiting for the Benko rebooted). So it wasn't much a surprise when he offered the Blackmar-Diemer (which is also missing from GM Dhopade's repertoire). As I've suggested it's a good candidate for a Abracadabra Gambit course as it's very dangerous at club level - IMO more sound/practical than the ones offered (Latvian maybe aside), though not quite enough compensation at top levels. I'm also not dealing with it perfectly myself. Unfortunately the 'antidote' Nxe4 doesn't work if they play 2. f3. Not that that move order happened here, I'd correctly predicted 2. Nc3, and I suggested 'Let's have some fun' as I took on f3. And what fun it was. White 5: Qxf3 is also possible here, but traps aside, White doesn't get enough for the d-pawn that drops - GM Colovic gives Qxd4. Black 5: c6 is also possible (GM Colovic's course - on the way to the Queen's Gambit), but why play this now and not leave it for later and the option of c5 open. White needs to get an attack in, and getting Bf5, e6, Be7/b4 in quickly as Black to neutralise, so c6 can wait until Nd5/d5 is a threat. If 6. d5 then c6 (or e6) giving back the pawn for tempo is winning. Black 7: c6 is also possible here stopping d5. There is a couple of tricks for Black to watch out for, both of which I've fallen into. The first is taking on f7 and after a king recapture e6 is pinned so if the f-file is open Bf5 drops. The second is a quick knock-out attack with g4 g5 maybe with h4. This is one reason I like holding back c6 here, it gives Black that extra tempo. Of course d5 becomes a possibility. Black 8: The good thing is without the f-pawn this is a tempo allowing castles. Black 9: Rushing to castle, much better here is Qe7 and O-O-O, especially since c7 hasn't been disturbed. Black 11: While Black is still better this is a concession. See how easier my game would have been with this pawn back on f7, particularly the endgame where White could just block it by putting his king on a light square, where as on f7 it would have been an easy win. On the bright side, the dangerous light squared bishop is now swapped off. Black 14: The engine likes Bb4 and I spent a long while thinking about this, but couldn't see it clear enough dealing with the knights and Bxf6. Just Bxc3 though doing damage was all that was called for. Black 15: A mistake. Qc6 and not caring about the damage was better (again another move I'd considered). White 16: Qb3 the other candidate was better, now Qc6 doesn't work due to Ne5. After Qh4 advantage is back to me. Black 18: The simpler Ne7 was better, and that would mean not giving up the c-pawn which was part of White's compensation in the ending. Going for B vs N as I did was still better for me, but this would have been much easier. Black 21: e5 is necessary to maintain advantage White 22: Re5/e2 needs to be played here, the good looking defend the pawn with b3 is a mistake. Black 22: e5 - another chance to push this pawn, I should have calculated this because Nxe5 isn't possible as it allows Bf2 to work after the rooks double. Black 25: Again e5 is called for with or without a rook pair exchange. White 27: The wrong plan, Ne5 was better, letting the queens come off adds power to my bishop since bishops can lose a tempo knights can't, plus BxN was pawns on both sides should be better for me. Black 34: Staying on the long diagonal with Ba1 was better, particular as getting control of e5 is important. I thought I could just waltz in my king, but it wasn't so simple. Black 39: The engine thinks Bxe5 is winning here. I didn't want to give up my bishop, but I have the active king. Low time was part of the issue though. Black 40: Bc3 keeping on the long diagonal was needed. I wanted to keep the king out, but it's not possible for long. Black 43: I needed to activate the king with Kd6 quickly. Boxing the king didn't help. Black 49: 'Surprisingly' this is equal as the king and knight can prevent entry. White 53: This is now winning due to Nd3 c5, but practically isn't not easy. White 54: c5 was needed now, with the idea of getting the king to the queenside while the bishop can't do anything, at the right moment of course. White 57: c6 now opening up the queenside for White to exploit. Notice the importance of the active king. White 59: I thought I was lost here, but b6 hangs on White 67: The losing move? The extra kside pawn is enough. He assumed that that wrong bishop endgame was enough and a few moves later offered a draw stating that fact. However I had other ideas. White 72: Nf5 is the drawing move since h5 is not possible without losing the extra pawn. He assumed capturing the g-pawn is enough. This is a problem with relying on concepts (wrong bishop for rook pawn) vs what's on the board and using that idea dogmatically without analysing carefully. Black 74: Tablebases kick in here and it's a draw with best play. Black 76: Is this drawn or not - draw by tablebases, but practically? The engine is useless (beware following blindly) as it thinks b5, b4 is winning, which if you've done the Must-Know Endgame Theory course, you'll know otherwise. Black just plants the king on h1 and waits. White 79: The knight is a short range piece, Nd6 is better keeping an eye on both sides of the board. On a3 it's too far away. Tablebases say it's a draw still, but practically... Black 81: I wanted to stop the king getting to f5 and holding the pawn White 85: Kxb6 is the losing move, now it's winning for Black. Nc4 is better (and the only drawing move) as the king captures the pawn and has to spend another move getting back to where it was. The knight can capture 'en-route' to somewhere else. Now to win, capture the remaining pawn and shut out the knight and king while promoting. What a game, exhausting and demonstrating the need for stamina, fitness (and more sleep!).

Round 6: Playing against a kid, which at a 2000 rating he was obviously doing well for his age, but had a severe lack of concentration, particularly when it became difficult for him. He rattled out the 'theory' and then I punished him, but one mistake and unfortunately it was a much more difficult to save. He then was interested in actually thinking. White 14: This is where the problem starts. I hadn't seen that after his next Rfc8 that c3 is going to be needed and now f5 means the knight has to go back to the awkward d2 square stopping development, otherwise there is a Rxc3 tactic. After Rfc8 I saw it but it was a little too late. Bd2 was easily winning for me. Experience I guess, was it reasonable that someone at my level should see this over the board? White 20: A blunder under pressure since I'd overlooked I can't move back because b2 drops. I had looked at Kd3 which the engine does put as okay for White, but it just looked to me that having the king there was difficult practically but was the best try. Chess can be a cruel game sometimes.

Round 7. Unfortunately another loss. I'd got the English move orders mixed up. I had worked out that he was going to play the e4 line most likely so had the a6, b5 gambit ready. It doesn't work here because of d4 which Nc6 stops and I'd have much rather played Nc6 than Nd7 which I had forced on me. Black 4: Nc6 here which stops d4 ideas. White 7: d4 was probably a better idea here White 9: This was a surprise, since the pawn is on d6, this works with a double attack. It's not losing, but it's complicated and not as good for Black as when the knight is on c6, since it now needs to go to d7. Actually Qa4 is a mistake since e5 wins the exchange since d5 is not possible due to Bxd5 and the fork, so the exchange has to be given up. Black 10: I didn't want to play this, but I thought I had to, and hope to close the centre. However Ngf6 is okay, since e5 works out okay for Black. White 12: This gives me some respite. I can now win back the pawn. Black 18: According to the engine, Qe6 needs playing now. Black 20: Now Ra4->d4 is what needs playing. I hadn't seen the coming tactic. Black 22: This makes a losing position even worse. White 23: This finishes it off nicely.

Round 8: Not going my way with another loss despite a promising attack. Black 5: This annoying move that stops Nc3. In the course I believe Bb4+ first then Bc5 is covered but not Bb4+ Be7 which I'm sure is mentioned in a post somewhere. I decided it looks like a philidor, and so I was going to try the Karpov plan vs the Antoshin line. White 9: I wanted to stop Bg4-Be6 and h3 was in plan to plan g4 White 10: The engine shows O-O or f4 better here as Black should play d5 with equality Black 11: Again d5 Black 14: We'd both overlooked Nxd4 cxd4 Nxe4 Nxe4 Bc6 White 16: Routing the knight to g3 as per the Karpov plan White 17: with the threat of g5 trapping the knight White 18: g5 was better Bf1-e2 is too slow White 24: The engine prefers Rhe1 due to Nd5 instead of Ng8 White 31: despite a potential attack, Be2 is better here keeping the pawns intact. Now it's equality, as I couldn't get f5, f6 to work which was my plan White 32: Bd1 is the move here with the idea of Nf5+ Be6 Nd5. Nf5+ also keeps equality, but Nd5 loses. I think often it's not that my opponents win games, but I lose them.

Round 9 was a disappointment. It was against the underrated kid from India, which while having a 1200 FIDE, was playing around the 1700 mark. After getting short of time (I'm tending to overthink) before the time control, due to tactical complications I simplified into a winning opposite colour bishop ending 2 pawns up, only to mess it up to a draw on a single move mistake. To my opponent's credit he played the endgame very well and I wasn't the only player he'd draw that ending with (and the other looked far more winning when I glanced at it). White 8: This move is passive, and Bc4 (not b5!) or Nc3 was called for here. Black 8: Perhaps the g6/Bg7 plan is better, but I often find in those lines e6 being a problem, so I opt for the move bishop e6 Be7 plan as in the current Alapin course. Black 19: The engine likes Rad8 and Qb6 here, but practically I don't want my queen in the firing line. Black 22: I secure things with h6 but e5 straight away is possible Black 23: same comment Black 35: Rd5 and f5 are both winning, but I was getting short of time, and was wary of tricks on the kingside, so I decided to simplify into a winning opposite colour bishop endgame, which given more time I wouldn't have Black 55 b5, b4 would be more sensible White 56: f4 is better Black 60: This is the wrong move since the king can get to c3. Letting the king get to h8 isn't a problem as White will be forced to swap the two pawns for the bishop and given a move headstart on the the f pawns, should get to g3 in time. Now it's drawn.

Round 10: A shot at redemption. Despite the generous time control 40 in 1.30 hrs 30 inc + 50 mins at time control, I was using up most of my time in most rounds. I had a 6.5 hour game and another round where the game was the last to finish. However here I had a problem, due to train strikes I needed a lift back (although the train would have given a limit too) and if my opponent finished first he didn't want to wait around. This meant playing a fair bit faster. Black 6: This just isn't good for Black, the engine gives it between 1.6 and 2 after d4. White 8: The aim is to isolate the pawn in a dispersal manner rather than removal of neighbours. With d5 intended, the pawn is going to need guarding by the heavy pieces. White 13: The need is to stop d5. However given the slow kingside development, d5 isn't possible due to the discovery. Black 15: So here is the Sicilian meets KI. Black's plan is to castle, stash the king and bishop off the g-file, and push the pawns with the heavy pieces to follow. White's plan is to open up the queenside or win the d6 pawn before getting mated. White 18: The bishop has to go so that the queenside can be opened up White 19: b3 is possible, and if c3 b4 then Qb5 to round up the pawns, but I thought fixing with c3 first then playing b3 to open up was simpler. White 20: f3 is unnecessary since the bishop can go to b6 anyway and leaves a hook for the g-pawn. White 30: Kh1 and Qf1 were possible, but I'd then have to work out what to do with Rc7. I had to calculate this carefully so that I didn't end up in a mate or losing material. So I'd calculated to at least move 37 if not further and saw I was fine. White 35: One of the things I had to see was that with the queen on g2 Kc2 is not possible as Nd4+ is a fork and double pin winning the queen. However here I'd seen that I could cover the checks and the a pawn was going to be a problem. I'd now calculated pretty much to the end of the game against reasonable defences. Black 37: Qa3+ is more challenging as the a pawn is picked up, but the mate threats are nasty. The other plan was to win e4 and d5 and try to defend with the queen leaving a race between a/d and f-pawns White 38: Now no checks White 39: a6 wins here since the same problems occur. I however focused on manoeuvring the queen to f7 where the e-pawn can be captured, but not the d-pawn leaving me with a winning pawn race. White 45: a6 is probably more practical, the forced swap isn't going anywhere Black 49: My opponent said that there is only one move, however Nd4+ is also possible, but again I can stop the pawn with Qa1 anyway. The irony is I finish long before the other player giving me the lift. While my opponent was 1700 and wasn't putting up a big of a fight as a stronger player, I think forcing to myself to play faster may have given me a better game. After all there is more time left if a critical position arises.

Final score 3.5/10 which isn't as good as I'd hoped for, I would have liked to finish where the 2100s were finishing so 4.5 or 5 was more my target. Certainly I have to win more games, and it's more me not winning than my opponent's beating me in almost all cases.

Model game 2 de5 Alekhine defense

I'm happy I didn't notice Shaynian tactic on minute 5.15 (Nf7) but a better one Ng6🥳🥳!! Since I could not see why it could have been wrong I checked with engine and it's is 1st choice! Ng6 hg6 Bg7 Bg7 fg7 Kg7 (actually didn't notice f5... but it's worst for Black) Qf6+ Rf4 over!😃😃

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Vs Reti Opening?

Hi Chessmood family, I keep facing Reti opening lately on chess.com, and I don't really know what's the best response to it. I was wondering what is the Chessmood recommendation for this? Thanks!

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I usually play 1...c5 and I think this is also the CM recommendation. The play more often than not transposes either into our Sicilian lines (after 2.e4) or into our English lines after 2.c4!

i like to play 1...d5, and works!🙂

Sicilian with 2.. Nc6, 3.. e6 and an early Ba6

I find this line quite challenging: 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. f4 d5 6. d3 Ba6 with 7.. c5-c4 coming. What do we play? 7. Nf3 c4 and then 8. d4 was what I played recently online, and it wasn't overly comfortable. Another option is 7. b3 c4 8. dxc4 and now black can play either 8.. dxc4 or 8.. Qa5 and both seem quite good for black. Any ideas?

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The e6 variation of this is covered in the Nc6 advanced section of part 3 anti-sicilian, and Ba6 is covered after e5 and O-O happen so that might be a good start for the investigation. Personally it should get a mention in part 2 that it's here and also some coverage of other moves to e6 as it's mentioned a better rossolimo, but there is no course on playing that as White. There are quite a few games in the rock-and-roll with white games, but allowing Bxc6 is such a common move in blitz it really needs more coverage. Nd4 etc is great for OTB when it is very common, but Bxc6 is seen a lot (most common) below 2000 chess.com blitz.

Sharing a game I just had in this line on chess.com: 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 e6 4. Bxc6 bxc6 5. f4 d5 6. d3 Ba6 7. b3 c4 8. dxc4 dxc4 9. Qxd8+ Rxd8 10. Nf3 Bb4 11. Bd2 Nf6 and this is already quite difficult to play for white, and I went on to lose this. Quite astounding opening play for a 1600-rated player in a blitz game, but I'm really getting this a lot.

Remembering your prep

When you start playing players above 1800 who appear in databases, when you've got some time before the round to see what they play, you often go to your database/chessmood to refresh the theory what to play against their pet line. Particularly under 2200 you get players who play the same thing again and again, so sometimes your prep is a hit and gets you a good position in something you're familiar with which can help win games. The problem is cramming too much and then starting to forget, or getting lines blurred. The thing to remember is that knowing every line is probably unrealistic particularly when you've got an hour or two to prepare. Select maybe 3 or 4 mainlines and leave it at that. Have a look through the others sure, but try to understand why they branch from the mainlines (bad move, gets punished etc). Part of chess is being able to recreate the theory or good games from knowledge of the theory and typical ideas. One way to remember mainlines (you need to remember them for a few hours, not for days on end) is to make simple mnemonics from the key moves. It doesn't have to be like a database, it should just be a memory jogger. The more ways you remember something, the move likely you're going to recall and this is just adding an extra dimension. So it doesn't need to be complete, or completely unambiguous. There is a danger that completely relying on systems can lead to confusion between the moves, so you should also be able to find the moves logically (i.e. remember the ideas and what you were trying to achieve / traps etc). Problems leaving the your line occur when two or more moves look reasonable (and may be), and this is to keep you on track with what you're familiar with. Let's take my prep yesterday, Nc6 sicilian. I'd identified two lines my opponent played, so there was a chance he'd follow them (not this time though a titled player is much more likely to diverge), so let's look at Nxb5 with 6... Nf6. So no need to remember the first few moves: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nf3 Nxb5 5. Nxb5 d6 6. d4 since I know that's what I've prepared. so here is the rest of the line: 6... Nf6 7. Qd3 a6 8. Nc3 cxd4 9. Nxd4 e5 10. Nf5 Bxf5 11. exf5 h6 12. f4 Ne7 13. Bd2 O-O 14. O-O-O Rc8 15. g4 Nxg4 16. Rhg1 The problem with remembering chess moves (and there are number of systems to convert squares and pieces to memorable things) is that pieces and squares repeat across lines so this makes peg and memory palace/journey systems less effective, although still possible given this is for short term. Simpler is just making phrases out of the pieces you need to remember using the first letter or sound to match words, and then remember a phrase. Without going into too much into mnemonics and what makes them effective (Use Your Memory, Tony Buzan is a good guide) making it personal, clever or emotionally charged makes something more memorable than just random words. I still remember the OSI network layer model (https://www.networkworld.com/article/3239677/the-osi-model-explained-and-how-to-easily-remember-its-7-layers.html) from 30 years ago with the phrase 'All Prime Sausages, Taste No Dairy Products!' with each first letter giving me just enough information to help recall the layer name which begins with the letter. So on to the line above. I have a friend called Anthony who loves [drives me mad with] his conspiracy theories. So picking the following moves / groups, I get: d6: Do Nf6: Not Qd3: Quote a6: Anthony cxd4: 'Cause e5: Every Nf5: Frickin' h6: Horrible f4: F(Th)eory Be7 Bd2: Betrays O-O O-O-O: Our Rc8: Relative g4: Growth Not every move is mentioned and I try to avoid obvious replies. It's a little weak in that Do Not can become Don't in your mind and you drop a move, as well getting the Fs mixed up is quite easy, but it does work pretty well, given if you leave the analysis room 5 minutes before the game, you've got to keep this in mind for about an hour at maximum. Longer term systems I'm working at.

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Thanks for the thoughts DF....Its good to keep in mind.

Mnemonic techniques for remembering opening theory do not appeal to me. I'd rather put more time into the following things which all help me remember my openings: - general opening study aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of the moves so that I can reconstruct them if necessary - playing more blitz and/or training games with my opening repertoire - writing good notes in my opening files

Thanks David, great tips. In blitz I mostly remember from CM repertoire the ideas, rarely the exact moves, but in classical when I have more time to prepare (usually about 2 hours, if longer you risk getting tired for the actual game) I look extensively through my pgns which I update often from learning something online, etc. I also try to base my prep on model games and ideas from chessbase. Also I noticed that preparing openings for classical even if opponent doesnt play into it, helps for future as an experience in that opening, usually in the next games of the tournament. The dilemma I have the most is usually before the preparation is what line to choose against specific opponent (cause my classical rep is quite wide), should I go for what I usually play or surprise with rarer line or prepare some crazy line directed against his repertoire, do you have more insights in this decision what to play process?

2023 Goals: Play more

Based on what I saw in the Christmas Meetup video, I'm making the same mistake as many other ChessMood members: I'm not playing enough. So in my 2023 chess goals I have several items related to simply playing more games! I'd like to share two of these: 1) Play 1000 focused online blitz games (a mix of 3+0 and 3+2 time controls) 2) Play 100 focused online rapid games (a mix of 10+5 and 15+10 time controls) All games to be downloaded and lightly annotated without the engine, then checked with engine. I like the simplicity of these goals. For starters, they are nice round numbers that are easy to remember :-). And it's simple to break down: about 20 blitz games and 2 rapid games each week on average. Very simple to track progress too. Has anyone else done something similar?

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Yeah same here. I'm without work for a bit and done a lot of study so time to get in the experience while I can.

Hi, well, for me (retired) I am trying to play more OTB long games in 2 clubs currently and "3" Tournaments 7 or 9 rounds (Easter, Summer and Fall) somewhere in "nice" places (to combine with biking or hiking) plus if found at the right time some 5 Rounds tournaments over Weekends. This makes roughly almost 50 long games (1/week) to analyse. For the Blitz and Rapid online .. well perhaps what I can do is to fix afternoons 10 games per week and quickly analyse them somehow. But .. combined with the 1/3 1/3 1/3 rule it is already a lot. Thus not sure what to cut?

tactics ninja

right now i am working with tactics ninja i have completed one time full course with using chess board and solving every position on chess board but not yet done the quiz. i had a idea in my mind that to finish this course 6 to 7 times with solving every position on chessboard and also quiz part later. do you think its too much or 2,3 times with quality is enough let me speak about my tactical goal i want my tactical skill like alireza firouzja so let me clear one thing i am not afraid to work hard i just want to know that if goal is like this and i am in my foundation years so 2,3 times is enough or 6,7 times is perfect with goal ?

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Why not 4 or 5 times? :) I also finished the course last year and am going through it for a second time from the beginning, one section per day, as Avetik suggests. I'm already feeling a lot of value in repeating the material and may do the course another time (though I'll repeat Mating Matador first). I think at some point, if you're getting 100% of the tactics quickly, there will be diminishing value in repeating the course again and again and again and probably more value in spending your time on new puzzles and/or courses.

I think it depends - if you can do all of the problems within about 10 seconds each are you're getting them 99% correct you're probably better to move on. Perhaps a good indicator would be if you can see the solution yourself between the time Avetik says who is to move and then Avetik giving the solution - and you can do so without pausing the video - you probably know that position well enough and don't need to look at it further. I'd only put the position on a board if I was having trouble with it. I wouldn't move the pieces though until I thought I'd solved it, or I'd given up trying to solve it

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