Chess forum by Grandmasters

Trompowsky transposition into the Veresov

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

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Please can someone respond?

1.Nf3

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

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

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

Thank you!

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Hi Pranav,

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

I'm two different players!

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

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

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

Middlegame Help!

Hello Again!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Thanks in advance!

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

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Deal Joel,

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

Good luck 🙂

How do you guys study the courses here

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

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Hi DA QTPtwoT,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy trails.

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

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

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

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

Hello, dear chess friend,

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

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

Good luck 😎

Question on courses

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

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French attack

how do we play this as well as 

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

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Dear Chessfriend,

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

Good luck 🙂

Should I apply SLP to stronger opponents?

Hello chess friends,

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

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

Any thought would be helpful.

Thanks,

Xander

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

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

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

That's my two cents FWIW.

Hey there,

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

French exchange variation

how to play 

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

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Hello.

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

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

Following and bumping. I also want to know this.

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

Attacking Woes

Hello!

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

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

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

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

Thanks in advance!

In this game I was black.

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

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

Hi Joel,

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

Hi Joel

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

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

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

grand prix doubt

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 { B23 Sicilian Defense: Grand Prix Attack } g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bc4 e6 6. O-O Nge7 7. d3 d5 8. Bb3 O-O 9. Qe1 a6 10. a4 b6 11. Qh4 Nd4 12. Ng5 h6 13. Nh3 c4 14. dxc4 dxc4 15. f5 exf5 16. exf5 Bxf5 17. Bxc4 Nxc2 18. Bxh6 Bxh6 19. Qxh6 Bxh3 20. Bxf7+ Rxf7 21. Qxg6+ Rg7 22. Qxc2 Rxg2+ 23. Qxg2+ Bxg2 24. Kxg2 Qd2+ 25. Rf2 Qd7 26. Rg1 Ng6 27. Kh1 Kh7 28. Ne4 Qc6 29. Rg4 Re8 30. Re2 Qc1+ 31. Kg2 Nf4+ 32. Rxf4 Qxf4 33. Nf6+ Qxf6 34. Rxe8 Qg6+ 35. Kf2 Qxe8 36. Kg3 Qxa4 37. h3 Qb3+ 38. Kg4 Qxb2 39. h4 a5 { White resigns. } 0-1

here I did not know what to do after d5 can you please help me, and why is the computer saying that it is -0.5 for black in the opening

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After d5 playing 8.O-O was correct, but then a6 and b6 is too passive - put your knight in the center with 9…Nd4 and after 10.Qh4 play Nec6 or after 10.Nxd4, cxd4, Ne2, dxe, dxe, 12.b5 is the chessmood plan!

Hello Prayan,

This setup up doesn't occur very often U2000 level and that's why it's not included there, however if you face this often you can check the Grand Prix attack in the 2000 above openings where we have a deep strategy against this systems.

Good luck!

Welcome!

Dear PRO Members! Welcome to our new forum. "PRO Members" channel is only for PRO Members! Please, write all your questions, that you want to get answered from our GM team on this channel. With best wishes, GM Avetik

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

how to respond to this line in the Accelerated Dragon

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In the hyper-accelerated dragon with 2…g6 4.Qxd4! is a very good move (that is one of the reasons CM recommends the acc. dragon with 2…Nc6!). But here 6.Qd4 is not to fear and Black can equalize at least.

First you defend your attacked Rh8 with 6…Nf6, then 7.e5, Nd5 and either 8.c4, Qb6, Qxb6, Nxb6 or 8.e6 (again attacking Rh8), f6, exd7+, Bxd7 + e5 (driving away the b. Q and getting a good center) 

We have all this covered in the course, no?

SCOTCH GAME IN ACTION

https://www.chess.com/game/live/85094007835

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Does memorising master games make you better?

Hi Chessmood family, I was wondering if memorising master games makes you better at chess, such as the ones in the must know classical games courses?  I tried searching this up but it came up with mixed answers. Please let me know if it is useful or not? Thanks

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Hi.

In my view not at all. 

It is important to learn new patterns by going through master's games. And typical strategies

in different positions and how they are executed. 

That's why it is often good to see a master vs a weaker player game, because there you see the execution

in the clearest form (no big resistance by the opponent).

By repeating this process, you will recognize patterns, understand them and finally memorize them, 

which is in my view the only thing that counts.

Hi Chess Player,

There is no need to memorize the entire game. In each of them, there are strong ideas which will be good to understand. Overall the value of that game is to see the thinking process of the strong players. More you do that, much more chances you will have to implement strong ideas in your games.

Puzzle-Fixing

Today's puzzle is not working. Not able to move white pieces.

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Guys refresh the page, this happened to me too and after I refreshed the problem was solved.

It's fixed now. Probably more convenient (and likely to be noticed quicker) to ask in the puzzle fixing channel on discord.

do you agree that "best junior players all started at internationals"?

Suppose you can choose the first rated tournament for your kids. You will choose a local one or an international one? Any difference? Our regional chess federation staff indicated "our best junior players all started at internationals", but I didn't quite understand. I guess most people start with local rated tournaments, but please correct me if I am wrong. My understanding is that one should start with local rated tournaments first.

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Anyone can shed some insights here? Thanks!

Doesn't make any sense to me. The main thing is not how you start, it's that you start!

They will improve by facing strong opponents, not bad ones. By waiting one year to let them play competitive chess, you waste one year where they could have learned lots of things about them, how tournaments work & chess. Don't be scared of a number. No one cares if they start with an elo of 1200 or 1800. They will have many years to improve it and get a decent one if they are motivated & passionate about chess. 

Definitely not! Arguably the best junior player of our time would be Abhimanyu Mishra, the youngest grandmaster in all of chess history, and he played only at local quads for a long time before he had the rating to play nationally or internationally. If you're interested in knowing more about his journey, his autobiography is a nice read :)

New article: Rook vs two minor pieces - What's stronger?

Hello champions!

Rook vs 2 minor pieces – What’s stronger?🤔

This is one of the most interesting fights on the chessboard. Many players have a hard time evaluating such positions.
 

Today we have GM Boris Avrukh, known for his dynamic playing style, sharing his rules on this classic fight. He talks about:

✅The 7 rules to play Rook vs 2 minor piece positions.

✅What circumstances tilt the battle in one side’s favor?

✅A breakdown of Rook vs different minor piece combinations (R vs B+N; R vs B+B; R vs N+N)

And much more…
 

Read the full article here👇

https://chessmood.com/blog/rook-vs-two-minor-pieces

And share your thoughts with us under this forum thread!

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Awesome article. GM Avrukh is known for being an Openings expert but here also his explanations are brilliant. TYVM 🙂

Unless there is a concrete line which shows a big advantage, most of it is down to estimating probabilities - what is the probability that the exchange will be favourable and when in how the game might turn out - i.e. also which side of the exchange gets a serious chance first and whether that can be weathered until it's favourable. It's the same sort of discussion with taking a pawn vs initiative, and sometimes just being the stronger player you can get away with the weaker side objectively of the bargain all things being equal. In all the cases described it's about whether there is sufficient activity for the pieces, which in the middlegame is usually for the minor pieces, but as pieces trade and lines open it tends towards the rook, with the usual factor of co-ordination favouring bishop pair over bishop and knight over two knights, but depending on pawn structure which generally will be more open as the game goes on. So guide rules aside (which are the probabilities expected in the average game), it's all about knowing the positions you are playing, how they link from opening, to middlegame and endgame and where the chances are. This then gives odds to the gamble that an exchange will be favourable or not. Then there is perhaps some adjustment for style such as favouring a certain combination, which aside from opinion can be down to the skill of handling them, as well as of that of the opponent. For example voluntary going into a rook or bishop + rook vs rook ending against GM Arkell and you're asking for trouble.

articolo eccezionale, grazie!

Nice Article.

Reward daily puzzle

H🤔i. I just solved the Troitzky problem of today, Tuesday 1/8/23, and no reward of 500 mood coins. 

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Yeah, I didn't get the coins today either.

On a positive note, what a great puzzle!

Thank you.

Fixed.😀

Daily Puzzle Bug

I think there's something wrong with the daily puzzles. Today the puzzle is the same as yesterday and I noticed I didn't get any MoodCoins for solving it correctly on the first try yesterday and I also didn't get any when I put the solution again today.

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Thank you.

Fixed.