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Chess forum by Grandmasters

Celebrating Six Years of ChessMood🥳

Hello ChessMood students! 

A week ago, a potential investor looked at the presentation and asked, "I thought you were the founder, but it's written you're a Co-Founder. Who are the others?" I smiled and said, “ChessMood Family.”

From his confused smile and silence, I understood he wanted me to tell more, so I went on: "I founded ChessMood. I’m Daddy. But ChessMood has many other family members. My wife is his Mommy. My teammates and our students are his uncles, aunties, grandpas, and grandmas… And we all raise him together. ChessMood is OUR baby. It is NOT just mine."
 

I meant it. When I was talking to Kevin Roberts, author of my favorite business book “Lovemarks,” he said something profound to me: "If you build a Lovemark and not a standard brand, it shouldn’t belong to you. It should belong to everyone who uses it."


Today, ChessMood family, our baby turns 6! 
I want to thank each and every one of you! 
For every single contribution, for positive and negative feedback, for advice, care, for bringing more people to family, for love! 

ChessMood would be a very different kid without you. 

You all have played your roles in how he has been raised, and all of you will play your roles in how he will grow and who he will become.

Thank you for everything! 
And happy birthday to our baby ChessMood :) 

With best wishes, love and gratitude, 
Avo the ChessMood Daddy :) 

 

Replies

Thanks so much for the 6 unlocked days! I'm currently not in a position to financially invest in my chess, but someday I will be and chessmood will the first place I turn. Congrats on 6 years!

Hi Avo,

 

Happy 6th birthday for ChessMood!  

 

And thank you for the 6 days of access to the ChessMood courses.  

 

And finally, keep doing what you are doing!  ChessMood is a great online chess family and I'm happy to be a part of it. 

😀

Now in your 7th year! 

Keep up the good worl!

My chess improvement journey: week 7 (!!)

https://www.chess.com/game/live/101840189305

It is with this game and great pride that I announce that I crossed for the first time the 1400 milestone on chess.com rapid, after having touched it for a game in January, 17th.

Not only that, with the second game of my session, I consolidated it winning another game and reaching 1410!

 

Wow, I feel great! I know there are players here who are over 2000, but for me this is a great result anyway. I'm coming from a streak of 5 victories in a row, and I'm playing great chess, reaching 85 and 95 precision in 2 of those games (not sure the rest, didn't analyze with engine).

 

This week started great, I've been focusing on studying endgames, as I like them and I threw away too many rook ones:)

I'm keep on practicing tactics and tactical recognition, as well as better creating my thinking system.

 

I must say I'm very happy. One moth ago I was desperate trying to regain my elo, and blaming on myself for being a bad player. But now, I feel more relaxed and secure about myself, winning games while enjoying the process of learning and playing itself.

 

I always want to thank everyone who's reading those weekly recaps and supporting me, and in general the whole community and chessmood investors and workers for providing this beautiful place (I'm now taking advantage of the 6th anniversary to watch blunderproof course btw, thank you for unlocking the courses). 

 

Now I go take some rests, thank you for reading and see you next week!

Replies

Fantastic! The game to achieve a milestone is scary, but the next is almost more nerve-wracking. Congrats, your work is paying off!

Excellent!  What a great post to read - I'm very happy for you.  Well done 😎

Very good!!! Happy to read this!!!! 

😀Keep it up and may the Chessmood Force be with YOU!💪

How and where should course PGNs be opened

😀

Hi everyone! I have recently been attempting to open some of the PGNs in lichess and it says it cannot paste the full pgn. Where is the best place to open PGNs like the commented classical games and mating matador ones.

Thanks so much

Replies

Hi Zubin, 
There are many ways and many softs but lichess has a limit of games per file.
Please check the following thread for other ways to do it>

https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/pgn-files-3509

😅💪

Dutch Defence Advanced Course

Hi, is there Advanced Course for the Dutch Defence? This is a follow up on the Starter Blackmood openings which I will like to explore further.

Replies

Dear Mark,


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.

May the Chessmood Force be with You!😁

Looking for a Training Partner

Hello, I have a fide rating of 1700 and I am from India. I am looking for a training partner, with whom I can play training games and also study chess together. Thanks

Replies

I'm willing to bet you'll find more luck in the designated study parter forum, linked below.

 

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/studysparring-partner-1362

Hi!
Please post your message in the dedicated thread that we have in order to look fo sparring partners and study companions. 
https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/studysparring-partner-1362

Also check out the previous posts in the thread, maybe you can find a suitable partner.😄
I will delete this post in 2 days, please copy your message and post it in the above thread.😅

Narjdorf sicilian

Can you create a blackwood repository covering the najdorf sicilian because i think that's all what's lacking from the sicilian courses. 

Replies

Chessmood reccomnds the Accelerated Dragn against the open sicilian.

Learn the Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon from a GM (chessmood.com)

So instead of 2… d6, we play 2… Nc6.

Has the 6 day free period started yet?

Hello ChessMood and happy birthday! All the best for this amazing website! 

Has the 6 day free period started yet? I want to look at a new course and hasnt unlocked anything new yet. I dont have an active subscription.

 

All the best!

Replies

3pm GMT I believe.

 

Those who are with a partner (e.g. ECF will have a link already).

starter course-whitemood openings

Dear Coach,

 

The “starter course-whitemood openings” has 22 sections. Its downloadable pdf files contain 20 files (this is right), but its downloadable png file only has 10 chapters (some of the chapters are missing).  I ma afraid that my operation on lichess is not correct. Would you please share the correct png files for both “starter course-whitemood openings” and “starter course-blackmood openings” with me via lichess? My lichess ID is pokemonknight 

 

thanks a lot,

 

Tony 

Replies

Tony, I just checked the pgn file and it has 20 openings in it. 20 different games explaining every opening. Please download the file again and check it out with another software just in case.

We do not upload files to lichess or any other site normally. 

Below is attached a picture of the contents of the file for reference.😅

Would you please help recommend a private coach for us?

Dear Coach,

 

I need your help.

 

My 7-year-old son John has a USCF rating ~900, and my 9-year-old son Paul has a USCF rating ~1300. We just subscribed chessmood and started to study it and my kids love it. Every day they can spend 1.5-2 hours studying chess. Our target is to help them become a national master (NM, USCF rating>2200) in 4-6 years (4 years for Paul and 6 years for John). Do you think that this goal is feasible?  How to achieve it? Would you please help recommend a private coach for us? I am thinking about 1-hour lesson per week to go through progress, check openings, and analyze games. We prefer coaches who am passionate about coaching chess to kid, familiar with chessmood materials, have detailed, personalized plan for students and track their progress. 

 

I checked your online study plan for 1000-1500 rated players, which states that practice should occupy ~55% of their chess time. Is solving tactics puzzles considered practice or study? 

 

thanks a lot

 

tony 

Replies

Hi Tony,

 

We will look for one coach for you with this profile and get back to you privately via email (the email of this account). It can take a couple of days, but we already have someone in mind.

 

😃As for the practice, it should be playing, we would consider solving tactics as study… But what's important is to analyze all the games… and this is part of the practice you could say…  And at same time it's study too… Sometimes it can be complicated to put names to what we do… LOL.-.. 💪

Tony, hi again,

We already sent you a message, please check your inbox or maybe your spam folder if you can not find it… 😅

Tactic Ninja -- Data Discrepancies

Hey - Quick Question. I see the data for all my saved/completed quizzes is wiped out. Also, I see some weird discrepancies e.g. I was working on a Decoy section (Decoy and Mate) with 10 quiz problems and I see only 4 quiz problems for the same unit  this morning. Can someone please help ? Thanks.

 

Replies

Yes, I can see this too.

The tech team will take a look at this. Thanks for your patience.😅

Hello Subbu Sundaresan, thanks for noticing this will be fixed very soon.🚀

Any update on this ?

D4 openings

I see that chessmood clearly doesn't cover d4 too much in depth and rather e4 but if we are to play in a tournament our opponents most likely to respond with d4 to avoid any sicilians and all. I my self find that playing against d4 is my biggest weakness and maybe it would help if you could create a d4 opening section for black

Replies

If you're under 2000 (or 1800 IMO for longer play) the Blackmood coverage of the Dutch will be sufficient. Otherwise there is the Benko and d4 deviations. Personally the d4 deviations need a bit more to be complete and the Benko is awaiting the reboot, but they are great to get going with (more than adequate for blitz) and can be supplemented by other courses.

Puzzle progress gone...

After the new tactics ninja change, it shows I've done no puzzles, but watched all of the videos. Does anybody else think this is strange that puzzle progress was deleted, even if the puzzles are new?

Replies

It's a little unfortunate but not a big deal.  I'm treating it as an opportunity to do a speed run back through course puzzles plus the new puzzles 

Reviewing Quizes and Spaced Repetition

Hello,

What is the Chessmood take on spaced repetition? Is it something we will see on this platform? If not, how often should we be come back to redo the quizes? What is recommended by the Chessmood coaches? Maybe once a month or once every three months?

Replies

500 New Tactic Positions...Where are they?

Hi all, anyone know where the new 500 tactics positions are?

 

 I know the 777 tactics quiz has been available for a while, are these an addition that I cant find? 

 

Please help, I'm totally lost without the new tactics, I already feel my rating slipping away!

 

 

Replies

Hi the new tactic positions are in each section (pin, skewer etc). Just expand the section and you can find them at the bottom. I have just done the pin section and there are 2 sets of positions - level 1 and level 2 which is more challenging. 

We've uploaded 500 positions training "Tactic-Ninja"?!

I've received today a message saying “We've uploadied 500 positions training in Tactic-Ninja course” which I've alredy learned but I can't see anything new there! Can someone indicate me what am I missing?!

Thanks! 

Replies

If you go to the end of a section there are a number of training exercises in each.

Can Pasini Variation be use against Hippo?

Hi all

I saw amazing lesson on the Pasini variation in the Modern Pirc course. I was wondering if I can use this variation against the Hippo. Also can I use the same idea on the Queenside.  Against the Owen 1… b6 … Bb7, I can play b4 using the same ideas as the Pasini against the Modern Pirc

May your ChessMood be Happy

steve

Replies

Dear Steve, 

It would be more natural to take the center against b6-Bb7. 
In the WhiteMood course GM Avetik offers how to meet this setup, the Hippo setup, and other bad poor opening choices, which don't fight well for the center.

The Wolf of Chess Street, Sec. 6, Episode 6

Here is the full game Lasker - NN 1900 for those who are interested. It's all the more impressive as it was a Simul  game, and Lasker's play was incredibly accurate against a decent amateur player.

[Event "Lasker Emanuel sim tour"]
[Site "Great Britain"]
[Date "1900.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Lasker, Emanuel"]
[Black "NN"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C14"]
[Annotator "Jim"]
[PlyCount "69"]
[EventDate "1900.??.??"]
[EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"]
[EventCountry "ENG"]
[SourceTitle "EXT 1999"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "1998.11.10"]
[SourceVersion "1"]
[SourceVersionDate "1998.11.10"]
[SourceQuality "1"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. e5 Nfd7 6. Bxe7 Qxe7 7. Nb5 Nb6 8.
c3 a6 9. Na3 c5 10. f4 Nc6 11. Nf3 Nd7 12. Qd2 b5 13. Nc2 c4 14. Ne3 f6 15. Be2
O-O 16. O-O Nb6 17. b3 Na5 18. Rab1 f5 19. Kh1 Bd7 20. g4 fxg4 21. Nxg4 Be8 22.
b4 Nb7 23. Rg1 Bg6 24. Rbf1 Kh8 25. Rg3 Nd8 26. Bd1 $1 {Preparing to trade of
Black's best defender. You see the same plan in Nepo-Vacher Lagrave game.} (26.
Rh3 Bf5) 26... Nf7 27. Bc2 Bxc2 28. Qxc2 Rg8 29. Rh3 g6 30. Nf6 Rg7 31. Rg1 (
31. Qxg6 Nxe5 32. Nxe5 Rxg6 (32... Rf8) 33. Nxg6+ Kg7) 31... Nd7 32. Qxg6 Nfxe5
33. Rxh7+ Rxh7 34. Qg8+ Rxg8 35. Rxg8# 1-0

 

Replies

My chess improvement journey: week 6

It has been a while since I posted the last one, but here me are again! First of all, I want to thank every one for the support you gave me on my last post. This community is amazing! Anyway, let's jump right into what has been done this week.

 

First thing first, I started off by reorganizing my chess training plan. I've included a little bit more of study, and improved my tactical training method. I found a very dated book, which I'm using to improve my thinking system, and I have to say so far is great! I'm understanding all the concepts, and even though the part I'm interested in is in the last chapter, I'm enjoying even the other parts (which are helping me anyway). 

 

Playing has gone ok, I managed to reach 1367 rapid, but now I care less ;)

 

One last thing, my chess club is growing. we had 8 people yesterday playing, and soon will hold a chess day so everyone can enjoy a serene moments of chess or get into the game if not to yet.

 

Thank you for having gone so far in the reading, hope you'll have a nice day, see you next week!

Replies

but now I care less ;)

^

^

^

I think that this is a huge step forward.  If we become too obsessed with a particular score I think it can weaken our focus and spoil our enjoyment of the game. (it's OK to have targets for our improvement but we shouldn't be slaves to them).

 

What is the book that you are reading?

My favourite GM Avetik's quote

“Call arbiter!"

 

everytime he gives the solution to some exercize, i am like “is he going to do it this time?"

Replies

I like: “Please pause the video and think.”  

I use that advice while playing sometimes.

(It even works when i’m speaking with my wife! :)

OK, one more … and a challenge.

1) I also like:

“Your chess rating is the shadow of your level in chess.”

It’s not GM Avetik's quote exactly (I believe it was his father's) but it is very appropriate.

2) A challenge: I think there a bunch of pretty good quotes lurking around here.  I’d like to see one of your favourites.

:)

Colorado / Latvian Gambits

Hi all

Why is it not wise to have White Queen on h8 in the Colorado Gambit but White Queen on h8 is active in the Latvian Gambit?

May Your Chessmood Always be Happy

Steve

 

 

 

 

Replies

Dear Steve, 


Can you put positions from both openings you are asking, as the question feels little unclear for me to answer.

Thank you!

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