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Chess forum by Grandmasters
Tactic Ninja Course - Section 4 - Fork - Lesson 11. Fork with a Tempo
Hi guys, I don't understand Avetik's reasoning here on why white moving bishop to e3 is a blunder.
So after the white bishop move...
Black moved his pawn to d5, trying to get the c4 white bishop to move and then ultimately, move his black pawn forward to d4 - forking the white bishop at e3 and white knight at c3.
To stop the fork at d4...
I don't understand why white trading pawns and knights at e5 is a blunder. Avetik said black is up a piece here, but after the pawn and knight trades, both white and black have 14 pieces on the board.
Can someone please tell me why Avetik said black is up a piece here and therefore winning this exchange?
Looking forward to your reply,
Richard
Replies
Dear Richard,
After d5 White shoud take on d5. If White it goes e5 Black can just retreat the knight to e8, and the Bishop is still under attack.
Since the Bishop is under attack, when it moves, the d5 pawn will advance to d4 forking the Bishop and the Knight on e3 and c3.
😁The other option for White is to take exd5, but then Black plays exd5 attacking the Bishop again because White has a pawn supporting this central break and does not take with the Knight! Then again is the same thing: Since the Bishop is under attack, when it moves, the d5 pawn will advance to d4 forking the Bishop and the Knight on e3 and c3.💪
Opposite side castling
I never know what to do when myself and my opponent are castled on opposite sides of the board. I always end up blundering something because I don't know how to navigate. How to fix this and what to study?
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What's your level? Please tell us your ratings, age, etc. the more info the better, 😅to be able to recommend something…
solving puzzles in the chess ninja quiz
I already solved all the puzzles twice and most of them more than twice.
I measure time on a clock and finally I did the first 400 in less than an hour with one stupid mistake when I thought that I won the problem and thought about something else when moving the mouse so promoted to a queen instead of a rook(I did that problem correctly already in the previous tries and of course I memorized that I need to promote to a rook).
Note that I practically “cheat” in solving the puzzles in the quiz because not only that I did not calculate in advance the all lines that I need to calculate(and in problems that you need to underpromote then not considering promotion to queen and seeing the stalemate only because you remember that you need to underpromote is not the idea of the puzzle) but also in the fact that there are cases when I am sure about the first move and play it without calculating the full line before making the first move.
I wonder if it is a good idea to compose a pgn file that has all the solutions(that mean not only the line that people need to play but also the lines that people need to calculate because practically in a game there may be a similiar position when the same tactics does not work and you see it only if you calculate).
There are many problems in the quiz that I expect strong players to see the solution immediately but there are problems in the quiz with many moves that I do not believe even GM's can be sure about the solution in a few seconds assuming they do not memorize the exact position and in a similiar position when one piece is in a different square the solution may be correct or not correct and you practically need to calculate.
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New article: The Surrender Experiment: How I Raised 100 Points in Three Months
Would you like to raise 100 points in three months and have more fun than you usually do?
If you said “Yes” you will like today’s article.
Recently GM Avetik ran an experiment where there would be only one subject - him. He would surrender to his HEART, SOUL & BODY, and play chess ONLY and ONLY when his heart wanted to.
In three months, and only in four sessions, he raised 100 rating points.
How did he do that?
And how you can do it even better?
Here is the link ⤵️
https://chessmood.com/blog/surrender-experiment
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This is how I think motivation works. Your brain acts like many parts, each one shouting its demand. All you hear is your current thought train (or interruption to it) and how you feel. Ever tried to work through being hungry? That shouting starts to get louder and louder until it's hard to focus on anything. That's how we stay alive. Once we've eaten, it goes back to being quiet again. Or ever had that one thing was bothering you, you deal with it, then suddenly something else pops up you weren't aware of?
Being in-tune with yourself can help massively. I'm wondering whether I should even make my work days longer (which I control). When my mind is on chess, go ahead and ‘fill that need’ now, then go back to work with the ‘chess bug’ leaving me alone. Work a little later to get enough hours done of course, but it'll help on days where in the end I had to work longer anyway because I wasn't feeling work, despite having to do it and felt I needed to work longer to get what I'd planned done.
Also going for a walk can help down periods, but I guess the topic is about hacking chess motivation, not getting on with work :)
Interesting experiment. Maybe I can play a few games in the middle of work.
But I wonder how my teammates would respond. Especially my boss :)
Also the CM you crushed with chessmood openings is from the same city as me(see the last 4 letters of their username). Wasn't me though.
As always, great article.
It’s very interesting as usual ! I have an idea to try this and still keep playing regularly to improve . Having an account where I only play when the 3 conditions are present . And another account for the rest of the games I will play even if not perfect condition or for training purpose
Nice article and even better games GM Grigoryan!
Looking forward for part 2!! 💪💪💪
I doubt if I can do better.
In the last days I played many games and trained even more with courses of chess mood with no improvement in my lichess blitz rating that is now 2071 and was higher in the past(my best blitz lichess rating was 2225 and when I started training with the new openings it was slightly more than 2100).
In the last weeks I finished the following courses:
1)Opening principles
2)White mood opening
3)Black mood opening
4)Opening Avengers
5)Tactic Ninja
I also started other courses that I did not finish.
I also took the quiz in courses 2,3,5 and for 2,3 I took it again and again until I could finish the quiz with 100%
for the tactic Ninja course I also trained again and again in the first problems before deciding to solve all of them(in the last try I had only one mistake out of the first 400 problems that I repeat them and also solved the rest of the problems without many mistakes and of course when I had a mistake I thought in order to find the right move).
I played nine 5+3 games today after all of this training and my rating did not improve.
Noticing tactics in blitz games is clearly different than solving them in puzzles and practically I also miss tactics in my online blitz games but the problem is not only tactics but the fact that I do not understand some of the openings.
For example the pawn sacrifice in the line 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 h6 5.Bxf6 Qxf6 6.exd5 Bb4 7.dxe6 Bxe6
Here is the last game that I lost with this opening when I got nothing good from this opening.
https://lichess.org/4x6nj7r03S2b
when Bxc3+ was probably not good but the real mistake was 9…Nc6
Why I thought that the line with 9…Nc6 and trading queens is good?
Here is a different game I lost in the same opening
https://lichess.org/5KWByDzN/black#17
I needed to play 9…Qxe6+ based on the engine but I thought it is bad to trade queens when I am a pawn down so I played 9…fxe6
I learned from that game that the bad pawn structure of white is worth a pawn so I did not care about trading queens in the other game that I post.
Note that I analyze every game with a computer to understand at least part of my mistakes.
I've read the article, and I have a question. Isn't improving your rating in this scenario not the same as improving your chess? As Avetik said, your rating is the average of your good and bad sessions, and you raise it to be only the average of your good sessions. Your skill level stays the same, doesn't it? And where rating really counts, which is over the board, you can't choose to only play your good sessions, you have to play all "sessions"(tournaments) you sign up for, at the given date and time. So basically you're only making a number go up, right? You're not really getting any chess improvement just from playing online when you're in the right mood, or am I missing something? Love
Nice article.
Most of all because of this:
Should you start the experiment? If you want to improve your chess skills, no, you shouldn’t.
You need to study, practice, and analyze your games.
You need to detach yourself from your results and focus on growth. I mean, most of the time articles and interviews are about rating growth, but this clearly explain the difference between chess growth & chess rating. Thank you coach, as usual.
You need to detach yourself from your results and focus on growth.
I mean, most of the time articles and interviews are about rating growth, but this clearly explain the difference between chess growth & chess rating. Thank you coach, as usual.
Tactics Advice
Hi. I saw in the blog that “Many beginners make a mistake trying to solve puzzles without learning the patterns.” . I am loss. What pattern I am suppose to learn. ? currently, when I see a puzzle. I actually dun really know what to do and even if I solve it, I have to stare at it for a long time.
- what is the chain of thoughts should I have in my mind when solving puzzle so that I dun need to stare blindly at it and ultimately improve? all Advice are welcome. Thanks so much
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My main recommendation would be to just watch the Tactic Ninja Course:
https://chessmood.com/course/tactic-ninja You will have a very sharp tactical vision by the end of the course. 😃 If your level is under 1000, go until section 23. Lichess also has a very nice “practise” page: https://lichess.org/practice You can learn basic tactical patterns there. What Chess Donkey said. Tactic Ninja is a great course (well, I haven’t found anything here that”s NOT great, but that’s another conversation :) . Anyway, I wonder how long it takes people to finish! I try to make a rule for myself: every time I get on ChessMood I look at one section (minimum) of Tactic Ninja before I do anything else. Good luck!
I would advise you to watch the Tactics Ninga course and remember to find checks, captures, attacks and more to improve your pattern recognition p.s. Do a lot of puzzles and think about what the other side will play
Attachment
Hi, I've just noticed that in the Attachments of the SLP course, the slide with the main takeaways is wrong. The column ‘Complicating’ is correct, but ‘Creativity’ and ‘Psychology’ are just repeating the contents of the first column. It would be very helpful if this was fixed.
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Chessmood is a big site. Be patient and I am sure Avetik and others will get it fixed
Yes, we fixed it yesterday, just didn't reply sooner to this thread.
About opening repertoire
I do not think that most players with rating near fide rating 2000 remember more theory than what we have in starter courses white mood and black mood opening.
I would like opening repertoire for white and black for level below fide master level(that should help players to improve to fide rating 2100 or 2200) to have the following properties:
1)Relatively small numbers of lines(not more lines than what you have in the starter repertoire)
2)Not to have bad lines(I found by analysis with stockfish that starter course both for black and for white has some bad lines and with bad lines I do not mean something that is not the best move based on stockfish and I have no problem with something that stockfish evaluates as 0.2 pawns weaker than best move but can surprise the opponent but there are few cases when it is a lot worse than it)
3)If possible also to lead to better positions with black in most of the games against players with fide rating 1800-2100 in the first position I am out of my repertoire.
I see that the opening that you call the french attack has at least one bad line for black that is evaluated by stockfish as +1 for white(still did not learn all of it but 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Ng8 is a bad line for black based on stockfish).
I play with black 1…e6 against 1.e4 in the last years(not with the same lines that you suggest in the starter course and I may change my lines) but I never had the idea of getting an advantage in this opening after the opening.
Practically I think my opening was always a relative weakness of me relative to my rating(and it is not only about memorizing but also about finding good moves in the opening when both me and my opponent are out of book).
When I play against significantly weaker players than me then of course I can win most of the games but in many cases it is inspite of the fact that my opponent won the opening stage so I thought some basic course about the opening not with many lines can help me but I do not like to get bad positions based on my opening repertoire(with the hope to get a good position because my opponent does not find the best move).
Of course I understand that if the opponent know more than me in the lines that I play I may do a mistake and get a bad position out of the opening but I think that with a good opening small repertoire in big majority of the cases it is not going to happen against players below fide master level simply because they do not know enough theory(and even if they memorize more theory positions than me they will not know a lot against some not common but good lines in the small repertoire).
4)If you like so much e6 with black against everything then what is the reason to have 1.e4 in the white mood starter course and not 1.e3 when you can get what you call the french attack with one more tempo?
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I disagree, having an high rating doesn’t always mean having a better memory, I think the courses here aren’t too big and sometimes there are alternative options like in the French for white and the Scotch if you want something with low theory
French Defense Schlechter Variation - I never get the main line and never get an advantage
Among all Chessmood openings, the one I struggle with the most is the French Defense. Of course, it's very nice when black is kind and replies to 3. Bd3 with 3.. Nf6, but what happens most often is 3.. dxe4 4. Bxe4 Nf6 5. Bf3 and now, all kinds of things other than 5.. c5 are played. I get 5.. Nbd7/Be7/Bd6/Nc6 etc, and it seems to be easy equality for black and no obvious questions that white can ask. For example, below are few lines with 5..Bd6 that seem to give black an easy game. I know GM Gabuzyan advised to quickly play Nbd2-c4, but I don't quite see how this is such a great asset for white. 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Bd3 {C00 French Defense: Schlechter Variation} dxe4 4. Bxe4 Nf6 5. Bf3 Bd6 6. Ne2 (6. Nd2 c5 7. Nc4 cxd4 {and now what?}) 6... O-O 7. Nd2 (7. O-O c5 8. Be3 Qc7 {Holding off on Nc6 seems better for black, as they can now take on d4 while avoiding white pressure on the c6 knight.} 9. h3 cxd4 10. Nxd4 a6 11. Nd2 e5) 7... c5 8. Nc4 Be7 9. Be3 cxd4 10. Nxd4 e5 {and white can't take due to Qa5+.} This are just a few examples, but it's instructive for what I experience in this line in general. To summarize: it's easy life for black! I'd be happy to hear about the experience of others in the community.
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Hi, I must agree in Bd3 french lines I very much like when black goes for 5..c5 main or 3..Nf6, but I find 5..Bd6 or even 5..Be7 I often don't know how should I setup the pieces, of course Nd2-c4 vs Bd6 and Nbc3 with d5 vs Be7 all that jazz but often black just breaks with c5 or e5 bit later with good play. I've seen the updated videos as well in Be7 lines. Another line I'm a bit struggling esp in OTB games vs french is 3..c5 and cxd4 or even c4 sometimes, I get kinda equal play but nothing special. Maybe CM coaches can add more model games? So these look like sidelines, but I get them like 50percent of time, cause black usually dont know theory and just play normally. I even started experimenting with 3.Nc3 and 4.exd5 lines (vs both 3..Bb4 and 3..Nf6) cause it gives fast development with sometimes 0-0-0 esp in blitz and reminds me of CM french rep colors reversed. So that's my experience.
Most e4 approaches work for me from the CM repertoire except the French d3 and in particular the Caro . So I sympathise !! My particular ' bete noire' though with the d3 French is the d/e lines. Like today I got e4 e6: d4 d5 : Bd3 d/e ; Bx e4 Nf6 : Bf3 then c6 . OK I got a decent position playing stuff like Ne2 and c4 + Nc3 etc etc . But I was making it up !!! Black Be7 and wait is another. Personally above 2000 > I struggle with the Caro lines and whilst usually not worse never get any traction on a King side attack. 😠
Please post below this post all the lines that trouble you in this variation and we will try to do a webinar about them like we did with the benko. That would be cool, isn-t it?
😈Only on the Schlechter😈!!! Not other openings (I know you) 😁!!!!!
Hi, thanks for the post. I actually searched to post the same question. I am around 2100 blitz rating and I totally dislike the positions I am getting out of the French opening course. I played earlier Advanced variation with much bigger success. Similar to French, Caro-Kann exchange variation I find quite unambitious as well, although somewhat better than French. It might be that with accurate play one gets miniscule edge, but most of us are not GMs and will suffer to find correct moves in these kinds of positions. So any alternative to these two courses would be welcome from my side.
Just to add to the commentary, and find this with the old maroczy, ignored lines of the accelerated, chessmood london (which I don't play), English... It's also a question of how fast the game is and what the opponent's rating is (and sometimes where they are from). In 5 minute chess it all works, pretty much up to the top levels as seen on the streams. However I think sometimes long play is ignored and also underestimates our opponents, especially when breaking through the 1900-2000 barrier. That's not to say that 'perfect' play in other areas more than compensates and of course most of us need to do more work there, but when opponents know what to play or good looking moves do the job, it's a problem playing from a line where your opponent is solid or has it slightly better. Sometimes I find the courses focus more on when the opponent went wrong, and not so much on what they are trying to do and how to handle the balanced position. As much as people might think I'm all for more lines, I'd much rather see model games from GM praxis and discussions on how to handle the mopening, middlegame, endgame with the structures obtained especially when play is balanced. This can link into middlegame/endgame courses and model games as drop-off points for how to play discussions, rather than them being more background skills that we somehow have to apply to the lines we play.
not sure if be3 was said in the course but why not castle instead? so it would go Nc4 Be7 0-0 Nc6 dxc5 Bxc5 then go Bg5. looks more active and better for white
My experience in the first game that I played the 3.Bd3 line with white is that I won but not because of the opening but I can blame myself for not memorizing what Avatik suggested.
Here is the game
https://lichess.org/0Nfac4OQtFVU
I did not know what to play specifically against 5…c6 but Avetik suggested the following in
https://chessmood.com/course/whitemood-openings/episode/3788
"if they do not challange us we are going to be in a good shape
We can play Ne2 0-0 c4 or go with long castle Ne2 Nbc3 Be3(f4,g5) Qd2 0-0-0 both will be fine."
I played Ne2 and 0-0 but continued with Bg5 that was bad.
My logic was that my f3 bishop is my good bishop and Bg5 may help me maybe to trade the bishop at g5 by the bishop at e7 and if the opponent is going to play h6 then the black king is less safe but it seems that I was wrong because:
1)The computer is playing h6 against 8.Bg5 with equality so it seems a good move.
2)After my opponent move 8…Nbd7 the best for me was to admit Bg5 was bad by playing 9.Bf4 but I played 9.c4 that was good one move earlier but not now because I allowed my opponent to play 9…e5 when black get the advantage.
French attack 3.Nc3 and 6.Bg5?
Hello,
I started playing the French attack against my chess computer and after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Ng8 5.Nf3 c5 it played 6.Bg5. I wonder what the correct response to that it.
After Be7 Bxe7 the queen needs to take to protect the pawn on c5, but then she blocks e7 for the knight.
I found one game in the database (both players around 2,300 ELO) and 6….f6 was played, but after exf6 the pawn on e6 gets weak in my opinion.
Stockfish likes 6….Qc7 but after Nb5 it makes another move with the queen to b6.
Thank you!
Michael
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Hello,
After Bg5. SF reccomendation Qc7 is doable, however inhuman.
F6 does make quite some since, and either player could be outplayed there.
Really its your choice, if you prefer solid play, Qc7 is the move for you.
If you like more active play, and also more risk, then try f6.
Again its your choice.
Hope this helps.
How to offer chessmood
Hello,
Christmas is in 10 days. A nice present to offer to a chess lover would be an acces to chessmood.
Is it possible to generate chessmood gift cards? It seems to me I already saw something like that,;i do not recover it from the site.
Thank you for your help
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The 1 month free access gift is still available but it has to be activated before the 23 th of December .
Hi Olivier,
Is this the sort of gift that you are thinking of: https://chessmood.com/chess-gift
Im assuming you are looking for this page Change your chess buddy’s life (chessmood.com) Hope this helps!
SLP EXPERIMENTS
My rating online is around 2100 .Below are two slp games that I just played after learning the course .kindly see and rate them .
https://lichess.org/mNAur0VX/white
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Another one
https://lichess.org/IHoeNDuo/white#35 I forgot to mention my opponent is rated above 1850
Think faster
Hi guys, playing blitz and rapid chess in my training I've noticed that my time management in blitz is very poor. While playing rapid I can think, calculate and I never find myself in time trouble, however playing blitz I'm always low on time and I start panicking and playing moves that I wouldn't play if I had time to think. So my question is: how can I think faster in blitz?
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Let me ask you a question and I don't know your level in chess… Did you start to run before you learned to walk correctly? You asked the wrong question. You need to have more reflexes, more patterns, more knowledge of the positions to react instinctively, not to think. Blitz is not for thinking, is for fun many GMS use to say. The more you know and see, the faster and better you can play I believe.
I've always felt that blitz is much better at DEMONSTRATING already accumulated skills, while slower gameplay and other training methods actually IMPROVE chess ability.
I wonder if rating at 5+3 and 3+0 are equivalent
I noticed that GM Avetik played 3+0 in his experiment when he recommended to use 5+3 and I wonder if it is easier to get high rating at 3+0
https://chessmood.com/blog/surrender-experiment
The population who play 5+3 and the population who play 3+0 are not the same and in theory it is possible that most people can get higher rating if they stick to 3+0 and not to 5+3
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Hi Uri,
My opinion is the following, that 3+0 is a very quick time control. Assuming a person who tries to play it is a growing chess player who watches lot's of courses and acquires knowledge - in case of 3+0 it will be really hard to use the learned information, as the game from the very beginning is in time trouble conditions. 5+3 is much more flexible.
Secondly, I believe there is no need to rely on time control for the growth. If you increase you chess level through hard trainings anyways you will be stronger and automatically will start the rating gain.
Good luck!
New article: Don't break your chess back
Is your love for chess at its peak?
Or, like most chess players, have you lost part of your passion?
The problem is there is a hidden fun killer, about which most people are not aware…
Yesterday it killed Avetik’s fun when he was skiing.
And it injured his back…
And the same thing kills passions and loves.
With an injured back and from his bed, he wrote this short article to prevent you from losing your passion. And from repeating his mistake 👇
https://chessmood.com/blog/dont-break-your-chess-back
Stay safe, and don’t break your backs and your chess backs 😊
With love,
ChessMood team
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Holy Cow!!!... Glad you are alive and recovering now. Rest up.
Sorry to hear your news. I wish you a speedy recovery. One thought on the underlying "number" problem. Chess.com has an option of playing unrated games. It's a great way to experiment with new ideas and play just for the love of the game. Randy
Get well soon coach!
Mr. Avetik, sorry to read this, get well soon please! I almost also broke my chess back. Thank you for always motivating others with your articles even if you are in pain. Hope you will ski the next year with out considering numbers!
Dear Avetik, I am so sorry you got hurt. It sounds like you are going to be laid up for a while but hopefully you will be back on your feet soon. A bad back can haunt you for the rest of your life so please learn to be more careful! You are lucky to be alive and so is everyone in the ChessMood family! My kitty Poppy says "Get well soon!" Tim Gilbreth
Hope you will get 100 % soon . Listen to the doctors and take the time to heal . Younger , I did hurt myself quite often practicing differents sports . My main mistake was coming back too soon and / or finishing the game injured.. after over 30 differents incidents , I got my award for doing this , an ankle surgery at 29 yrs old which luckily for me solved a chronic problem . Everything was too slack around the ankle as I never took the time nor did all exercices to fully cure the problem . I got other injuries after that , but i was able to manage them better with experience ..
Dear GM Avetik, I'm sorry to hear of your injury, but glad you weren't more seriously hurt. And I'm not surprised that you are able to find a silver lining to this cloud and use it as a learning/teaching experience! Best wishes for a speedy recovery! Fortunately, chess can be played from a reclining position. Remember the student who played from his hospital bed! Randy Dixon
Dear GM Avetik, Sorry to hear of your injury. Hope you recover 100% and faster than expected. Great message in your post. Love the positivity of ChessMood and the great video lessons.
First, heal quickly and hope you don't do silly things again. Skiing has it's risks, do you remember Michael Schumacher? Learn the lesson. Second, I played chess as a youngster but then when we reach 18, the parents of my less talented team mates bought them cars and we changed the board for clubbing and long drinks. Well, I was not good at home so having fun with my friends was better than living with my family. I don't regret. What I regret? At 2010 I got a mental chronical disease called psychofrenia (spelling probably wrong), I had to cease working and I entered the peaceful life of a pensionist. I was watching TV serials and in YT basically music but once I stummbled with a chess game video and still I remember the game: Fischer-Geller, 0-1 (1967). So I began to watch chess videos too and I thought, "why don't play some friendly games online? At least you didn't do so bad when you were a youngster." And I started in FICS and then I found chessdotcom and I thought, what a nice interface, and here you can socialize and have chess friends online. So said and done, I was surprisingly playing good and I took off the dust of my Evans gambit, my favourite opening when I was a youngster (the fact is I began chess studying the games of Morphy and there are lots of Evans gambits and some other XIX popular gambits like the Kings gambit). The next step was, "why you don't play OTB? When you were a youngster there was no internet so we played OTB at school and at the club". Said and did. At the beginning of 2012 I sign for a club and already playing local tournaments. In 2013 I also played and from this two years (2012-13) are my best games ever. I didn't have fear to sacrifice and I played better with black, so my top game was a Sicilian Najdorf with black, #2 a Benko gambit with black and #3with white I don't remember the opening but vs. a +200 rated ahead of me, he lost quickly a pawn in a exchange of pieces and I won another in a nice tactic, so 2 pawns ahead he was resilent but I promote before and he had to resign. Then at the end of 2013 something horrible happened. My club was in the same neighbourhood than my apartment and they started a social tournament just to play, I mean there were no fees to pay, no prize funds, not ratings at stake, just a distraction for the members. And in Rd.1 I was paired with black to the #1seeded, a 2100 FIDE rated that I hadn't heared before and I didn't here after. Just one time he crossed in my life and left a deep sleuth of despair in my self-steem. The fact is he played 1.d3 and I said, what's that? A Pirc with white? And the rest of his opening I just remember he fianchetto on g2 and as he saw I didn't had any reasonable setup vs. this opening (as he expected) he 0-0-0 and pawn storm me. It was such a one way game that I resign on move 25 but I could have perfectly resign on move 20 or sooner. The worst had still to come. It was waiting me at home. I got my scoresheet, walk back to my apartment and as I always do, the first thing is to annotate the game in my software. Obviously it was full of bad moves but when I finished I stared to the final position and I entered in shock. My Ra8, Nb8 and Bc8 were in the initial position. Obviously he 0-0-0 and pawn storm me. My memory went backwards to the mids. 70s when I study Morphy games. I thought, "so much admiring Morphy and his dynamic play, developing faster than the opponent and now you play this shx+?" I entered in a big depression, left chess completely and go back to watch TV serials. So from 2014 to 2018 no chess at all. And as my mum had passed away recently I recall her childish brain and the weakness of her character, weakness I think I inherited because a single chess game lost was unbearable and I quit suffering a great depression. Well, this is getting too long, in 2019 I returned OTB but I wasn't prepared neither technically nor psychologically so I lost 220 pts. in 37 games played during 7 months and I told myself: "your 1780 rating was built in 2012-13. Now, after 5 years of inactivity you are another player and your strength is below 1550". So I left OTB and started studying, then I found this beautiful FB group or Endgame Studies and Compositions during the pandemic, then Chessmood appeared and now chess and me are happy together. For this, the most stupid thing I did and I regret is leaving chess at the end of 2013 for 5 years. Everytime I study I think, how many things I could have learned during the 2014-18 period. It was even not necessary going OTB. Just 5 years wasted from learning because of my weak character, like my mum. Now I am 60 and I am commited with chess, learn-practice-fix, until is time to logout. So my coloralium is: CHESS IS FOR THE TOUGH NOT THE WEAK. FISCHER CLAIMED HE WAS A TOUGH GUY AND AVETIK CONFIRMS IT. Don't care a lot about ratings. Just work on it restlessly and you will see that sooner or later your rating will follow you.
Dear GM Avetik, Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery to good health again! I hope your pain will be tolerable as you recover. And many thanks and blessings for turning your incident into a lesson of wisdom that all of us can benefit from. All of your articles, messages, and courses are inspiring, but this one particularly so! With gratitude and best wishes, Santo
Avetic, you seem like a very nice guy, and I wish you the best, but it seems like more than the numbers led to your accident. Especially as you get older, risky things, like high speed skiing, but also poor nutrition, etc., become serious risks. There are a lot of exciting, thrilling things that aren't serious health risks; as you know, this includes chess and poker.
Aah ... Dear Avetik, sounds like a very painful experience ... 😑 Wishing you a swift recovery! Thanks for the blog post. Just what I needed at this moment. I just decided to take chess back up again after a 15 year break (can you imagine?) during which I took up competitive ballroom dancing. Anyhow, after joining a chess club again and entering the local tournament I played this 90 min OTB game as black against a 2000 rated player. I was my third game after the long break. The first 2 games I won easily against lower rated opponents. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. c3 Bg7 4. d4 cxd4 5. cxd4 d5 6. exd5 Nf6 7. Nc3 Nxd5 8.Bb5+ Bd7 9. Bc4 Nb6 10. Bb3 O-O 11. O-O Bg4 12. h3 Bxf3 13. Qxf3 Nc6 14. Rd1 Qd7 15. Be3 Na5 {heading for the weak square c4} 16. Bc2 Nac4 17. Rab1 Rac8 18. Rd3? Rc6 {trying to double up on the c-file after I checked that I could get away with an immediate d5} 19. d5 Ne5 20. Qe2 Rd6 21.Bxb6?? Nxd3 22. Bxa7 Nf4 {I saw 22. ... Nxb2 was possible but didn't like 23. Nb5 in fact not realizing my N was still being protected by the B... This bad visualisation was bound to hit much harder soon enough...} 23. Qf3 Nxd5 24. Ne4 Ra6 25. Nc5 Qc6 26. Nxa6 Qxc2 27.Rd1 e6! {Keeping the centralized N and certainly not exchanging it for the bad N on a6. Now, I started to relax...} 28. Rxd5 exd5 29. Nb4 Qxb2 {I had enough time on the clock left to try to find the much better Qc1+ Kh7 Qc7+ g3 Qa5! Qa3 Qxa3 bxa3 and Ra8 but hey, who cares, right?} 30. Nxd5 Re8 31. Kh2 Qe5+ 32. g3 h5 33. Bc5 {disaster is about to happen...} Kh8?? {Afraid of N-checks... why... ooh why?} 34. Qxf7 {the position is still a bit better for black apparently but I was so shocked and above all so disappointed in myself I couldn't think straight... spent 14 out of 16 minutes remaining for the next move... really... } Rd8? 35. Nf4! Qxc5 36. Ne6 Qe5 37. Nxd8 Qe2?? 38. Ne6 Qe5 39. Qxg6 Qb2 40. Qxh5+ and resigns. Didn't play a game since... It broke my back I guess. Reading your blog post made me think again of why I play chess in the first place. The harmony of the pieces working together, the beauty of the combinations, the endless possibilities. My grandfather was an avid chess lover too and just adored to watch ballroom dancing on television. Sadly, I never met him because he died just weeks before I was born in 1980. When I was in my early twenties, I found his old chess books in his house when my grandmother passed away. Much to my surprise I found a letter in one of the books dating back to 1943! It was a letter he received for a correspondence chess game he played during the war. Waiting there ... for more than 60 years to be found. I never knew my grandfather but surely I realised I have a lot in common with him. Thanks Avetik for reminding me of the "why" and not the "what"! Next tournament I am back in... with Chessmood and my grandfather on my shoulder 😊.
I hope you are enjoying you down time. Take time to relax. I will be 77 in 2 months and believe me, I understand what happens when you make poor decisions. I've made my share. I started playing chess as an older adult about 6 years ago and play twice a week at local community centers. I have not been bitten by the rating bug and know at my age it doesn't make sense anyway. I just enjoy improving and winning once in a while. I enjoy ChessMood very much and I think it is the best online chess venue I have ever seen. Good luck with your recovery. Mike McElvany
Good evening GM Grigoryan, I wish you smooth recovery and I hope to see you soon! I will do my best to improve in chess and make you proud! I have to go and play blitz session, time is running fast! :D :D :D :D Petrosian64
hi mr avetik wish you to be better,and if you have time can you answer the message on chess.com and lichess,i really want to talk with you
Take your time to heal and rest. Your health is the top priority. How are you feeling now? I know I have commented on lichess forum xD but i want to share this small success story with the CM family ! I ranked #20 in a rapid tournament 10+0, I lost to opponents who are lower rated than me because of the time trouble, I usually play only 15+10 and when I played this tournament I did have +5 advantage in 2 games but I couldn't convert my advantage .... I wasn't unhappy, in fact, I laughed after each game I lost xD ... after the tournament I saw another one called "ChessNetwork Rapid Weekend" I said to myself "hey lets participate, what do I have to lose" even tho the top players are 400 points higher than me" ... did u know what happened ? I ranked first !! ... like how is that even possiible !! ... I'm 1800 in lichess and my performance of the 2nd tournament was 2430 ! This is the tournament link: https://lichess.org/swiss/m2xTk4Mw and this is the best game I played in my life against 2183: https://lichess.org/lTYu51QC oh man, I can't thank you enough u and everyone who is part of the team and the community as well, so I have a question ... I know 2400 is my top performance but its not my average (real) rating but is that mean I can be able to reach 2400 in few years if I put the time and effort in my chess ? : ) again, I believe in your strength and resilience, and I know you'll recover soon ... take care
Get well soon @Avetik! And what a motivation: first think done after the accident - a new article. Wow! Re. "number" - I totally agree and can give an example. Our son (11 years old) has been playing table tennis for about 1.5 year now. In a club and in a team taking part in league games. A lot of fun for him. But lately he and the other kids are getting more and more addicted to the "TTR" (table tennis rating - more or less the same has chess). Instead of focussing on improving (and having fun) they get so much distracted by the "TTR" which is published one day after the game (and of course they got a good feeling how much the rating is to change after each game). And unfortunately, there is no draw at table tennis. So if you had a really close and great game against an opponent of your strenght you would loose points. And get angree, disappointed ... not be happy about a good and close game ... And they constantly compare their own TTR with the one of the team mates. Not too good for the team spirit.
Get well soon Avetik!
Get well soon GM Avetik
Hi Avetik Sure hope you feel better soon! I'm sure you're already dreaming about your next adventure but one word of caution: we're (mostly) all getting older here and are not 18 and made of silicone! Guess I should have posted my well wishes on the main channel, not the Pro.😁
So sorry Avetik! Hope you get much better soon! This must be tough.
Good luck in your recovery Avetik. I'm a keen skier too and have had a couple of accidents on the piste - though thankfully nothing as painful as what you have now. Don't let it stop you skiing in the future - delete that app and just enjoy the mountains!
Extremely good article nice highlighting the problems of constant focusing on the rating, and good luck in your recovery.
I don't know what to do, I love chess so so much but I HATE my elo rating. I wish I never ever discovered elo rating because if it didn't exist I would feel like I am semi-decent at chess. But my elo reveals me to be horrible. And it makes me not want to play sometimes.. what do I do about this??
Hi Coach😀 Hope you have been recovering well. Thanks chessmood and team, for the articles and the courses. The rating boosters are especially helpful. Middlegame mastery is interesting as well (Wolf of the Chess street! Transformation! WOW😍 ) Soon, I will be participating in the Malaysian Chess Championship 2023 https://chess-results.com/tnr759011.aspx?lan=1 Constant Growth 😄 Best Regard, YEAP, Eng Chiam
Hopefully you are doing well master
I got a link for the thanksgiving gift. How do i access it?
Ok, so i got a thanksgiving gift link from IM_ShahinyanChessMood, and i at first thought i got a free membership (cuz in the message it said so) till 22 dec. or for a month. But i don't think i got any course or something. So how do i access my free gift?
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So you can go at your profile, click at “gifts” and then click "activate" at the one gift that will appear. When you do so, you have access to all the courses until 23 December.
If you can't find this, click the gift button on the right top of the page and you will be immediately redirected there(profile→ gifts) . Then just click "activate" as before.
New success story: Raising 500+ points against all odds and becoming FM
What would you do if you were stuck in the hospital with a terrible fever?
When one of our students was in this situation, he saw an opportunity to do more chess – so he opened an app and start playing online! 😁
Later the same day, he messaged his coach to continue their scheduled lesson. And they had a lesson when he was in the hospital!
There was something special about this kid, Prin Laohawirapap!
With this dedication, it wasn’t surprising when he raised over 500 elo points and became the youngest FM of Thailand! 💪
He knew how to fight when the odds were against him!
✅Even if Prin didn’t have a lot of chances to play in strong tournaments, he found a way to raise 500 elo!
✅Even if Prin spent more than half his day at school, he found a way to study chess!
✅Even when Prin was in the hospital, and most doctors would advise him to take a rest, he saw an opportunity to study chess!
There’s a lot you can learn from his approach to chess! Read his full story 👇
https://chessmood.com/feedback/prin-laohawirapap
And share your thoughts under this forum thread!
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Great story! Very inspiring! Composition 1: Qa8! Composition 2: Nxb5 Rxc1 Ba3!
Very inspiring! 1)Qd8! 2)Nxb5,RxR, intermediate move Ba3!
Great job Prin! Keep on👏👏👏👏 In 1st game Qa8 should save the position (I considered Qd8 but simply Rd8 and Qb7 but again... simply Qb7) In 2nd game Nb5, if Rc1 Nd6+ Ke7 Ba3! and # might follow... for example if Rc6 Nf5++ Ke8 Ng7#, so black needs to make a hole for his king and we take back Rc1. Again... congratulations Prin👏👏
Unfortunately I can't do any chess at my school:) My teacher watches me like a hawk.
If not mistaken, he will be able to get the IM title by being the champion of U18 Continental tournament:
https://chess-results.com/tnr801262.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=9&turdet=YES&flag=30
https://handbook.fide.com/chapter/B01DirectTitles2017
Maybe you can change the title (of the article and his) soon, congratulations =)
True!
We'll need to interview and change it.
But my guess is he'll be a Grandmaster in 2025.
So maybe we wait :)
about the new article of earning elo in lichess
I do not think it is so simple.
If you play when you are tired then it is simple but many players do not play when they are tired.
I could memorize the simplified opening repertoire for white and for black and solved the quiz again and again until I got no mistakes.
It does not mean that I am sure I memorized all of it(because maybe in a different order of the problem in the quiz I can fail in few positions) but usually I remember what to do even if there are some cases that I need to think a few seconds and the move is not the first move that comes to my mind.
For my rating in lichess I see no significant improvement so far and I do not see that I generally win the opening phase(and note that I analyze every game to see what went wrong with engines so do not play a game immediately after I finished a game.
Some comments about the first 5 games that I played today out of 9.
game 1:https://lichess.org/HwtWKrJI/white
relatively good game. I won from the opening(I am clearly better from move 11 and winning at move 15)
Note that I saw the tactics of 16.Rxf5 exf5 17.Nd5 and if it was the only way to win I would play it but thought 16.Rf4 also win and I prefer to win without sacrificing pieces if I can because I am afraid I may miss counter sacrifice.
game 2:https://lichess.org/d8bs8ycz/black
I won against a weaker player but I cannot say I won the opening phase.
12…e5 was a non accurate and allow white to get the advantage by 13.d4 or 13.Nxe5 that my opponent did not find(I thought during the opponent move about 13.Nxe5 and not in my time).
Ir was better to play 12…Qe8
18…Qg6 is another positional mistake and after 19.c5 my opponent got the advantage.
I am not going to mention every non accurate move but 25…Rb3 was a big mistake and I started to calculate 26.Rxa6 that my opponent did not play only when it was my opponent to move
I also blundered by 27…Rd3 instead of 27…Bd3 that could win the game.
Fortunately my opponent did the last mistake so I won the game.
game 3: draw against a player with almost 2200.
https://lichess.org/kf7p6CSB/black
I won the opening stage and could win a piece by 13…f6 14.Qxd5 Bxd5 15.Ng4 Bxf3 16.gxf3 h5 17.Ne3 g5 18.Bg3 h4 but I do not see these long
tactics in games.
Unfortunately I did not consider 13…f6 in the game because of thinking that I need to develop my pieces and f6 block the f6 square for the knight(13…Nf6 14.Qc2 is not better than Qxd1 and it is the main alternative that I considered).
Fortunately my opponent miss his chances in the endgame and it was a draw.
game 4:loss
https://lichess.org/kpooflB6XK86
I got a slighly better position from the opening.
My trouble started with 10…Ng4 and thanks to my poor positional understanding thought that after 11.h3 Nf6 white weakened the king safety but the engine say that I lost the advantage.
later my opponent also did positional mistakes and 19…Be6 was better.
I did not play 19…Be6 because I did not like 20.Rb5 with threats against both b7 and e5 but I did not see that I can play in this line 20…Bc4 21.Rxb7 Nd8 when the white rook is trapped.
29…b5 is a blunder that allow my opponent 30.Qd3(I suspect during the game that it may be a positional mistake but was in time trouble and did not have time to think about a better move).
my opponent also did not take advantage of it and my last blunder was 33…Qd6 I did not like a passed pawn that white get after Nxe6 and had to make a move not to lose on time. Nxe6 like e4 has evaluation of 0.00 but I did not have time to think.
game 5:
https://lichess.org/Ao7aUWIO/white
I won inspite of having a bad position.
I could get the advantage by 7.e5 based on the engine but I am not sure when to play 7.e5 and when to play 7.f5 that is the main idea that I saw in the course.
My mistake in the opening was 9.exd5 when I planned to win a pawn by 9…exd5 10.Nxd5 but understood only after I played it that it does not work because of the fork with the queen.
I could play 10.Bxd5 that was better than what I played but did not like this move and thought initially that Qc5+ is also win a piece in this case(I saw only in the time of the opponent move after playing 10.Re1 that 10.Bxd5 does not lose a piece but it was too late).
I saw during the game that 40…Bg1+ is winning but continued to play maybe my opponent does not see it and later won an endgame when I was a pawn down inspite of being in a serious time trouble.
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GM Avetik is the coach of the month on chess.com!
In this exclusive interview, you’ll understand his coaching philosophy in detail, which is exactly what
we follow here at ChessMood. Discover:
🟢 Why do chess improvers stagnate?
🟢 Why does almost everyone underperform at some point and how to overcome such challenges?
🟢 The responsibilities of a good student.
🟢 How chess helped him bond with his father.
🟢 The ‘success’ traps society places on you.
🟢 The ‘main game’ you should win in life and much more.
Read here👇
https://www.chess.com/article/view/coach-of-the-month-avetik-grigoryan
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Just a doubt! The recommendation page [suggested in chess.com] has books but I just wanted to know if it is based on chess.com, FIDE or lichess ratings. Thanks for the great insights in the article.
Thanks in advance!
Congratulations! It s well deserve . This is a big exposure for chessmood .
Congratulations Avetik, I also vote him coach of the year!
Hohvannes is GMC (Grandmastercoach) for 2024!
Huge Kudos! GM Avetik really deserved it!
Hovhannes sir will win it next year
something in the article seems wrong for me.
“A year later, at 7.5 years old, I got my first official national rating (equivalent to FIDE rating): 2000!”
I do not know a single 7.5 years old today with fide rating close to 2000 and I searched the fide rating list for players with year birth 2016 or earlier(2015 is already at least 7 years and 10 month old)
The leader has rating that is slightly less than 1700.
https://ratings.fide.com/profile/651088894
I know that young players have often fide rating that is lower than their real level but I also believe that today the top young players can get faster improvement thanks to the help of computers so I cannot believe that a 7.5 years old could be close to a level of fide rating 2000 many years ago so I guess something is wrong in the conversion of official national rating to fide rating(or maybe the national rating system in armenia gave initial rating that is too high).
There ought to be some way we could get Avetik something nice. A case of beer or whatever he wants.
I just finished the ‘annihilations’ section in Tactic Ninja and I managed to do a nice one on my opponent while playing blitz!
I hope everyone has heard of “Alexander The Great”.Has anyone heard of “Grigoryan The Great”?I have I have .😁😁
My game 1
Here, it's one of my chess.com rapid game. I played with the name Chisti123.
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/95977449681?tab=review
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Hello, you can upload it in the tread about the best games of this month so that more people see it and so that it is considered in the competition for the best games of this month.
Link here: https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/the-best-games-of-december-2023-and-the-prizes
Who were the 3 strongest player you have played against
Online games and OTB games count.
For me it was:
- Alireza Firouzja
- Vladislav Artemiev
- Alexey Serana
