Chess forum by Grandmasters

The French Attack..

In the advanced variation of the French variation 3. e5 bd7 4. nf3 a6 5. c4 dc4 6. bc4 bc6 7.nc3 nd7 what should we do against d5?

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For me, i would trade everything with Bxd5 and if the take, we take back with the queen to provoke them with a trade, then castle long if they do take. This really just covers a barebones variation of the line, but i recommend you to do your self analysis on this variation.

How to play when opponent takes you out of theory?

I've been studying the chessmood repertoire and model games with commentary, and the games that go in that direction I generally win (unless I blunder x)), but lately half my opponents don't play the moves taught here. And then I went from knowing exactly what to do to not sure what to do and then I get out-played. Do you guys have tips on how to navigate in waters that are unfamiliar? 

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Shouldn’t happen much but when it does -

Use the Opening Principles (https://chessmood.com/course/opening-principles). 

My only exception is if it happens really often, (like nc3 on the french exchange) Post them on the forums as they might spark a conversation to how to play and guide you through that position.

Why does Magnus Carlsen resign in this game?

Hi,

I am a total newbie to chess, please help me understand why Magnus Carlesn resigns the following game:

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

He can still try to take the black bishop, with the white queen, one square to the right, but he resigns.

If he will take the black bishop with the white queen it will end up, as much as i can see, with him being in disadvantage of 1 rook, in comparison to the black pieces, but is this the reason he resigns? 

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Yes, this is the reason. At the GM level, they just resign when they're a rook behind without compensation even in blitz.

Hello Roi!

Yes of course the reason is lack of material. On GM level player may even resign being 2 pawns down, but in this case its a rook and pawn. Especially in and endgame there is no chance.

At GM level being down one piece without compensation is like being down a queen at 1600 level

need a chess coach on spot during June 10-20, 2024 at Almaty

Anyone is interested? Qualification: you need to speak English relatively well, so my kids could understand you. Our coach cannot accompany them to Almaty, so we are considering hire a coach on spot to help. Price negotiable. Prefer CM, FM or above level, titled players, or experienced chess coach with juniors. Please PM me here and then we can get in touch to explore the possiblities. Thanks. 

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If you know someone might be interested, please help forward to them. My kids will go to Almaty, Kasakhstan to join the Asian Youth and it would be good if we can find a coach on spot. Thanks a lot!

How can you get courses using moodcoins?

Hi. I'm new to the chessmood platform and apparently there is something called moodcoins. It says you can use them to buy courses but I'm not really sure how exactly we can do that..

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Hi there,

Try this:

1. Go to the Courses page and pick your course
2. Select the option “Or get lifetime access”
3. Select the option “Buy the course”
4. In the right-hand section titled “Choose your payment method” the last option will be MoodCoin.

Remember that $1 = 1,000 MoodCoin.  So, if the course costs $300 that is 300,000 MoodCoin.

Need to earn some more?  Details are here: https://chessmood.com/moodcoin

My deadly dangerous bishop. Thanks Gabuzyan

I wouldn't have thought of this before the bishop pair course. I always saw bishops as simply projectiles

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/daily/646706395?tab=review

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Well played.  That light-square bishop was a real annoyance for black and difficult to remove from the fantastic square that you found for it.

The French Attack

Hello guys…

Till date I played e5 against 1.e4.. The French Attack has complex type of positions that are not usually found in 1.e5..Do you reccomend me coming out of my comfort zone and learning this new opening..Will it help me improve in chess?

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Yup! I recommend to play the french against e4, If you don't like it, you could always find another one that might suit you. (sicilian, pirc caro)
If you really wanna improve, you gotta get out of your comfort zone. You might fail at first but the important thing is to focus on growth and not the results. More about this on here: https://chessmood.com/blog/detachment

One of my favorite quotes:

”Comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing grows there.“

Since you're asking this on ChessMood forum, it would be to play French since it's part of the repertoire. Or you know, Sicilian if you're 2000+ elo :P

How to not think about songs when you play OTB games

Recently when I play songs get stuck in my head and it is very annoying. How do I get them out of my head?

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Press skip until you find one that you like, or just mute…😄

No, jokes aside, and I hope that you understand that it was a joke, you need to work more on concentration and calculate regularly much more than you are doing. When you start to calculate more seriously, you don't have time for music. I would also recommend not to listen to music while playing chess at home… 😊 I also had and some times still have this during my games, but calculating exercices a lot at home helped me overcome this. 

The Grand Prix

Recently when I was playing the Grand Prix Attack against a 2000+ rated opponent (I am around 1800) in an OTB tournament I faced a problem in the opening.. 
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bc4 e6 6. 0-0 Nge7 with the idea of d5..After d5 I did not get a chance to attack on the kingside… What should my plans be in the positions where e6-d5 is played later on in the game.. I face this idea from 80% of the opponents against whom I have used the Grand Prix Attack

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Exactly this is the reason, why ChessMood recommends 3.Bb5 after 2..Nc6.

Actually, Bc4 is not so convincing when Black has the opportunity to play …d5 in one

move. It's something different, when Black plays …d6 and only later tries d6-d5 (= loss of

one tempo!)

See here: https://chessmood.com/course/crushing-all-the-sidelines-of-sicilian/episode/2081

I do highly recommend checking out the advanced Nc6 course.

https://chessmood.com/course/sicilian-defence-part-2
It will become highly unpleasant for your opponents!

Opening Question

Hi, in the Scotch Game Course, I am confused with two different options. 

After 4…Qh4, the course tells you not to play Nc3, but then the PGN file gives 5.Nc3 an exclamation mark.

What should I play?

Thanks 😃

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If Qh4 I think the continuation is Nb5, attacking the c7 square. If Qxe4+, Be2…

The correct and best lien for White to play is indeed 5. Nc3. After Bb4 6. Be2 Qxe4 7. Nb5 now and we get a position. This just avoids some of Blacks annoying defen es.

Scotch Game with 4 ...Nf6, where to castle?

Hello,

 in the Scotch Game with 4….Nf6 it comes to the following position

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e4 Ne4 7.Nd2 Nxd2 8.Bxd2 Be7 9.Bd3 O-O

Why is Avo recommending short castle for White now?

Are there any downsides, when I develop the Queen to e2 or f3 and then long castle?

I think my king is safe on the queenside because I would then start to attack

f3, g4, h4 ….

Thank you for your advice.

Joachim

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Nothing wrong with short castling - It's just that long castling is way more beneficial as you have a space advantage on the center, and with long castling, the a1 rook is developed and the f3, g4 and h4 attack works flawlessly.

In this case, short castle is much better I believe. The black rook has the half open b-file, and can potentially stir something up with the a and c pawns. After short castle, you possess all of the advantages, and black has very little meaningful play (escpecially compared with long castle.).

PGN files

I'd like to ask if the pgn files offer all the lines explained in the opening videos or is it some blank file where your go add your own lines since it says homework and I'm kind of confused. 

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it’s an in between of those things. It has the main moves and some moves leading to variations where you’ll put the moves. not exactly a full analysis but also not a blank pgn.

In each opening course (excluding some, they are working on those courses and files.) there are the pin homework. The homework is a semi filled pgn, where you have to enter what you remember. This is to engage maximum attention.

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

NEW ARTICLE: To Succeed at Chess, Start with WHY

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Nice article on the dreaded (but ever so important) why question!

(Does size matter so much? How big is yours [your why] may not be as valid as the quality of intent of yours? Have you ever seen a "mustard" seed [or any seed] grow into a full size plant? Why does that happen? Does one seed have a greater burning desire than its other fellow seeds? We all want to reach our full potential, but conditions are not always right for some to do so unfortunately.)

Still, this why question, is the bane of all parents at some stage with young children.

When it comes with (or goes with) love though, it is indeed very powerful. Give them roots & give them wings & they will grow up to do great things! I can testify to & verify that to be true. It even applies to chess coaches and chess students!

I am not a good chess player, but as I change my mindset on this & play more I will improve (& my "why" is my own and special), but I was a good sportsman (especially at Squash rackets) in my youth. My son is a very good chess player,  as he learnt good chess by simply playing good chess as a junior (age 8-16yrs). I fondly remember one of my friends, who was a good squash payer, playing many games with me, as squash training & being competitive and encouraging to improve my play & we both had good fun with this and I improved. Later, I took professional coaching, but this was never the same and not as much fun, so even though it was useful, it was quite different.

It would be nice to replicate this "serious, yet fun" mode with some other good chess players for my chess training too, but so far I have found nothing as good, but this site helps! Maybe one day here I may find a kindred spirit to share chess play &  improvement with. I have just started enjoying interacting with one particular good chess player on his Twitch chess stream & I am learning to improve from this which is excellent!

Well, may we all aim for & reach the stars & fulfill our dreams & goals with our own unique special "why", but remember, chess is a game, which we are very blessed to play and study with these fine resources.

Right Mood, Right Move..

COGRO ChessMood family...best wishes and much love to you all  :-)

I started play chess when i am at grade 6. Nobody teach me how to play it..i just watch my grand father when playing..im not talented like other's but i felt fun playing it..one day there's a tournament in our town, i want to participate but my uncle wont allow me because he though im not good at it..that's the start i took a chalenge, i watch every game of some elite chess player in our town and study it before i sleep and after some weeks i defeated those some of the elite and also i defeat my uncle..im now 35 i want to be the number of my town but there is one that i cant defeat badly..it turns that were even or sometimes i have lost to him..when this pandemic come this chess mood appear in my wall, free for 7 days...i only watch some of the video because i dont have computer, i only rent in the computer shop..but in that little time i crush my opponents 10-0...im so happy but after that he study my moves with the computer and i cannot defeat him like the other day because some of the line i did not watch it...and i cant proceed to pro because i dont have any paypal or credit card... My goal is to become number 1 in the city and become a GM someday.. and i want to prove to my family that i will fulfill my dreams without there support.. for now i only solve those puzzle everyday but i cant solve it in the first attemp... Thank you chess mood...someday i will become pro member..thank you so much..sorry for my grammar..

A good teacher teaches and a great teacher inspires!

Thank you Avetik sir for this wonderful article.

Waiting for the next article:)

Amazing article! Start with why and find your why by Simon sinek best books I have ever read.

I liked this article and some of the other articles you have released on lichess and chessmood. I can't afford a coach so this for me helps to work on my chess psychology and just the way I view life in general

The link sends me to 404…

That was a great article! It helped me really understand the mindset I should have not only in chess improvement but in every goal I have in my life. Everyone must ask this question to himself in everything he tries to accomplish in his life.

I am new to this platform and I found it by luck, by a blog posted on lichess about the 10 days where all courses were unlocked. I said to give it a try for these ten days as I have not the money to afford any expenses about chess. It was one of my best decisions in my chess journey. I stayed even after the end of the offer. I have not watched many courses as I can't buy them at the moment but your articles keep me motivated and helped me understand not only the right way to study and improve my chess, but also the reason why I want to do this, the mindset I should have. I hope that one day I will manage to buy a course through mood coins. Thank you for all your help. Keep up the great work!! 

Was it ever said on who was the CFO who became a GM?
Recently one of my students had a goal to become a Grandmaster.
He was a CFO of a big company, had a full-time job and family. In other words, not much time to invest in chess. But he had a very strong WHY.
WHY should he become a Grandmaster?

His dad was very sick… He didn’t know how much time his father had. He wanted his dad to see him becoming a Grandmaster.

He had a very strong WHY and I believed in his WHY.
And we started working… I don’t know which one of us was happier, him, me, or his dad when he made it! He became a Grandmaster! (I’ll reveal his name later, as he asked).
I assume this was Kevin (https://chessmood.com/success-stories/kevin-goh-story), Since their stories are similar enough. But i might be wrong, who knows

Email change

My apologies for a non-chess query, but i want to change my profile's email address. How do i change it?

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Please contact the support team.

https://chessmood.com/contact

positional chess course

are you going to release positional chess course because i am waiting for it a very long time ago 

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Dear Jerome,

Thanks for your interest but we never provide any release date. We take a lot of time in selecting the best examples and this course is going to be very important. We always try to do our best and we expect to publish it this year, but we cannot say the date.
In the meanwhile you can watch the past webinar from Gabu on the same topic if you did not do it yet: 
https://chessmood.com/event/positional-chess-nuances

😄Also in the Classical Commented Games and the Daily lessons there are many, many positional tips and tactics explained all the time, check them out too. 💪
May the Chessmood Force be with You!😁

Course Request

Could there be a Q vs R course as part of the Endgame Mastery Section? It seems simple but I struggle to win 100% of these endings.

Thanks. 😄

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Me too me too me too

How to embed games?

How to embed games? I always see on best games thread, some games are embedded, without a link. How do you do this?

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You must create a .pgn file externally first.

Save it on your computer.

Then click on the symbol left next to the smiley and upload your file via this.

test

New article: Legal cheating and my top secret

Hey friends! 

I was afraid to talk about this. 
I’m still afraid. 
But I drank lion’s milk today. 

Many will not understand. 

Many will laugh. 
Hopefully, not you. 

This is my biggest secret of productivity, high focus and achievements.
I use this when I’m low. When I need creativity. When I need to win. 
When I need to perform my A-game.  

Whenever I’m stuck, I do this. 
I cheat.   

I cheat at GYM, at chess, I rob airlines. And I do it E.V.E.R.Y D.A.Y. 

LEGALLY! 

Call the police or click the link below: 
chessmood.com/blog/legal-cheating 

For your growth and fun life, 
Always honest with you, 
Avetik “cheater” Grigoryan 

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The art of visualizing an outcome or situation is excellent sports psychology. Back when I was running competitively at university, our coach would have us close our eyes and "run" the course in our brains before the race. We knew the turns, hills, straightaways, and more inside and out so that when we were "visualizing," we would dream/see ourselves performing with the best possible outcomes. The art of "visualizing" is way more than "fake it till you make it"... it is a tried and true method of preparing our mindsets for positive outcomes with confidence and focus.

Great read. I hear your voice alot when contemplating moves. I find the timing of this article ironic, just this morning I was thinking of your motto of constant growth and my own thoughts invaded with "If youre not improving youre regressing " I think this is true of alot of things, especially chess. Anyway I starting thinking of approaching and overcoming plateaus while working to improve and a Naval quote came mind. Something along the lines of success or improvement being related to scaling a mountain and getting 2/3 of the way up only to find youre on a dead end path and you must go back down and find a new path to the top. I thought Avetik would enjoy Navals thoughts, no surprise you talk to him regularly! Anyway thanks for the article and all you and your teams hardwork. Keep it up!

What a wonderful, creative use of imagination! This is very inspiring and I'll play with this in my own thinking. Thanks so much for writing this beautiful article, Coach Avetik!

Great article! It was rather an unexpected reading for me because, believe me or not, I do the same in chess, but with your voice. It doesn't matter whether I play on Lichess or OTB, I start commenting and thinking in English (even though it's my 3rd language) with your accent intonation and phrases. It's funny and helpful at the same time! I showed Chessmood to some of my friends, and now when I play against them and they make a mistake, I immediately start mocking them by saying "and this was a BLUNDER. Black's position is COLLAPSING now!" Also when they a bad piece (e. g. a knight in the corner of the board), I say (in English and with your intonation) "look at this knight! It is very UNHAPPY!" Or when I get a really strong bishop, I say "now the bishop on g7 is a MONSTER!" All of that irritates them so much and helps me to win 😀 (sorry, I'm a bad friend) And I also speak with Gabuzyan's voice in my head (in my 3rd language, once again) when I calculate complex lines, and it helps me as well! Or sometimes when I get tired of translating the thoughts in my head to English, I imagine I'm my favourite chess caster GM Sergey Shipov and just start calculating and estimating the position like he does I don't know how it works, I thought there's something wrong with me and I should visit a doctor, but now after reading this, I'm calm already 😀 Thank you for the article once again!

This is extremely powerful! You're literally giving away life secrets 😀

Respected GM It is true!. Once I read the book called" Art of Chess by Madison"', and felt as if he was teaching me the opening lines and won a territory Championship in 2008. Kudos R Raman

Hello GM Avetik . I found very interesting this article ( like all the others ) . I was doing an inferior version of it , a little bit unconsciously but now I will try it more seriously to see if I can use it to perform better . I did call the French bishop a monster after the c4 dxc4 variation recently in a post analysis online .. I will try with you and GM Gabuzyan as a start ! I have otb tournaments coming up and I m not fully prepared as learning new material take some time to digest but with my 2 new GM friends in my head , I can only do well ! 🤫

Awesome. Thanks for sharing Avetik, appreciate it!

Nice blog

I do this. I let the ‘reptile’ in me take over when playing blitz. I have learned the hard way that if the blue insularis viper in me doesn't want to play…there will be tilt.

Best Game Ending Ever

Hello!

I would like to share the ending to a recent online rapid game. The game link is https://www.chess.com/game/live/107040710937, but realize I was dominated most of the game. 

In the pictured position, completely winning for black, my opponent blundered with 40…bxa6??  I'll pose this as a puzzle for the reader: What is the best continuation for White, to save an otherwise lost game?

The next two moves were some of the happiest I have ever played on a computer in my life. These sort of ‘once in a lifetime' combinations makes one appreciate all of the stalemate themes in the CM daily puzzles.

Enjoy!
Jake

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Nice one, yes, this is a perfect position to appear in any book for endings. Congrats!😀

Just on my way out so will comment later but for anybody else trying to follow the link - remove the comma :-)

Coach for my child

Hi ChessMood fam!  

I'm looking for a coach for my 8-year-old son.  His Lichess rapid rating is 1437, his USCF is 725, and his chess.com puzzle rating is 4204 (thanks Tactics Ninja!)  Basically, he's all over the place!  We've had a ChessMood membership for him for quite some time, but now he's really gotten into it.  He's recently completed Tactics Ninja and Mating Matador and is halfway done with 7Qs.  He's even created his customized PGNs for the White and Blackmood openings.  He's decided to get behind your lessons 100% and I'd like to support his investment with a coach, if possible.  He will spend 15 hours per week on chess games and study (bulk of games and analysis, as you've recommended).

We've connected him with a not-so-great coach from a great coach's school (a coach even ChessMood holds in high regard), and that didn't work out – camera off, hard silent 30-min tactics without much interaction, etc.

We've read great things about coach Edo Tokyo in your improvement case studies – does he work with mature/disciplined kids?  If not, is there any other coaches that you recommend?  If there are several, it would be great to have a chance to meet them each to assess vibes.

Warm regards, and thank you!

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Thanks Joshua for reaching out, we understand your request and we will contact you privately to see if we can help you in this matter. :-)