Chess forum by Grandmasters

Question on Grand Prix

Hi there

In this game, I tried to play in the spirit of Whitemood Grand Prix opening, but got confused.  I faced early a6 and e6 from Black, so elected to route my Bishop to g2 and try the pawn storm.  💪

https://lichess.org/study/30xuWe3D/XucuQmvs

I did win the game, but I don't think I handled it right.  I have two questions:

1. Should I have done something faster to open the game up given how long Black took to castle.  In the game my kingside attack started before he had castled, giving him queenside castling options 🤔
2. Was I correct to open the h-file when I had the chance?  This file haunted me later. 👻👻

I'd be very interested to know how this opening should have been handled in the spirit of Whitemood!  Many thanks for any thoughts!  🙏

Replies

Hi Ben! 

We don't usually comment on particular games since there would never be an ending to it if every promember asks, we handle more concrete questions on positons from our openings. Still, in this case and since you commented your game with so much detail, I will tell you my personal opinion.
 
As I see it, you should wait a bit more for the opponent to castle in order to initiate a "pawn storm". We can initiate them without much worries when the king is castled in the other side. In your case, the pawns that march forward, to war, are the same ones that are supposed to protect your king! If they go forward but the opponent's king is not there it makes not much sense, isnt'it? You just sent your defenders to some wild expedition… 😱

So instead of 10.g4, I would play some waiting moves like c3, protecting d4, or Be3, and wait for Black to castle. Then the pawn storm would be correct.😝
As for the other important point to learn from this game was to play Qe1 or Qe2 instead of Re1. The logic is this; The Q did not develop yet and the Rook is already attacking on the f file! By moving it you lose control of the f file and at the same time you don't develop the Queen, your most powerful piece… 

💪Regarding gxh5, I don't see any problem with it as you did in the game, you won a tempo with the knight attacking the rook.😁

3... d6 versus the scotch

Hello,

Some players play 3… d6 versus me when I play the scotch. According to you, is it good to play 4. d5 Nce7 or 4. d5 Nb4 5. a3 Na6 ? Which plan should I play versus 3… d6 ?

Thank you for your answers.

Replies

3…d6?! is a bad move, as it locks in Bf8, just play 4.d5! and wherever the N on c6 retreats it will be badly placed!

Chessmood recomends playing 4. Bc5 and not d5, check it out in the philidor section of the simplified whitemood openings course for the full variations(section 3)

https://chessmood.com/course/whitemood-openings 

Hi LPDJ! Welcome to the forum! 😁
It seems that it is the first time writing in the forum but since you are not part of the Chessmood staff, could you be so kind to remove Chessmood from your name?😇
Otherwise it can be confusing for the users. 
😀Thanks a lot in advance. 😅

Can anyone help me?

Hello!
I have a question, is it possible to improve in chess with chess engines?
Because the computer engines recommend us the best move and this is how we understand why this move came and what was the reason for it.

Replies

I would definitively discourage you trying to get better by just looking at the moves recommended by an engine!

The engine will certainly recommend you a very good, maybe “the best” move, but the engine does not talk to you explaining the “WHY” this is a very good or the best move!

Blackmood Openings, French with 2.Qe2

Has anyone experienced 1 e4 e6 2 Qe2 e5!? 3 f4 ?

This seems like a souped up King's Gambit to me and looks utterly, utterly terrifying.

I think Black has to take the pawn or risk looking like a spineless weasel.

Any thoughts please?

Replies

Do not give White the chance to play in King's Gambit style by taking on f4 - just defend your e5 pawn with d6 when play most likely will continue with 4.Nf3, Nc6 (again defending e5), when Black has complety equalized after only 4 moves!

As coach Avetik explains in the video course, neither 5.Bc4 nor 5.Bb5 nor 5.d4 is possible for White similar to 1.e4 e5 openings due to the awkward position of the Q on e2

NInja Tactics Small Bugs

Greatly appreciate the new tactics on each Tactic  Ninja course!

I discovered a few small issues: Some of the newly added tactics I correctly solve do not get the green “done ok" check even if I resolve them correctly several times. The “after each video” tactics I solve shows solved (green) till next time I access the video then the puzzle shows unsolved.

Would like to keep a track which ones I solved correctly, can you please fix this?

Replies

Thanks Ovi, it was in our to do list! 😀We'll fix it as soon as possible.😅

French Defence Advance Variation - defence of queen

Hi there,

OK, I'm playing as black in this game and using the French Defence (Advance Variation).  After my Bd7 and a6 moves, looking to trade-off the weak bishop as suggested in the BlackMood opening course, I'm faced with white's Bd5 move attacking my queen.

At the time I considered:

1. Be7. Blocks the attack on the queen and also threatens a counter-attack (although white's bishop is defended by the knight on f3).
2. Ne7.  The knight blocks the attack on the queen but is no threat to white.
3. f6. I failed to consider this fully at the time, just looking at the pawn exchanges.  However, once those are done, if white's bishop takes the final pawn it is then unprotected and vulnerable to attack by either my g8 knight or my queen.  In hindsight, this was probably a better option as we are up in material and have opened-up the position in our favour.  (That said, would need to look at casting queenside as king now exposed)
4. Qc8. Remove the target!

What move would you make here (and why)?

If it helps with visualisation the game is here:

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/102768650251?tab=analysis&move=8

Replies

Hi! 😃I believe Ne7 is the best move in the position, here is why, in our French Attack we do many King side pawn storms when allowed. 
Ne7 should go to f5 in most cases since it's the best square. If White exchanges the Bishop for our Knight then we will have a very good Bishop on e7. If is not exchanged, we can go h6, g5 push the Bishop back and place our knight on f5… We then castle Queen side as in the typical French Attack games.🤠

I, of course, can not explain better than Odysseus, but I will offer my input on why I see …Be7 as inferior to …Ne7. Your plan of ...a6 and …Bb5 is intended to trade off your “bad French bishop” for White's good bishop, agreed? But by inviting the trade of the dark squared bishops with …Be7, you are instead helping your opponent get better pieces than your own! At least, this move to me would seem to be very contradictory to standard French opening play.

Najdorf course

Hello,

Will there be a Najdorf course to complement the accelerated dragon one for Black?

Many thanks 

Replies

CM once had offered the Najdorf repertoire, but then decided to drop it, as it is such a big opening that it will make it very difficult to keep it up with. They chose the Accelerated dragon as the best weapon instead which is much easier to play!

There are no plans to re-introduce the Najdorf again as a course - please see chessmood odysseus explaining this in a previous thread a couple of years ago: https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/najdorf

3.Bc4 Interesting line

Hi Chessmood team!

Recently I was playing some training games with my friends and one of our games continued in the following manner :

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. e5 Ng4 5. Qe2 Qc7 6. Bxf7+ Kxf7 7. Qc4+ Ke8 8. Qxg4 Nxe5 9. Qh5+ Nf7 and here coach only covered d3 to show typical plans and give us a clear idea on how to continue. 

But my friend played Nc3 with a quick d4 and with the king in the centre it was hard for me to play and while analysing the game I couldn't find a clear way to continue…

So I wanted to seek guidance from the Chessmood team on how to continue after Nc3!? . 

Thanks for the response

Regards

Vedant

Replies

No reply?

Sorry Vedant! I thought that I asked Gabu about it but i didn't! My bad! 😇
I asked him now and hopefully he will reply soon after he's recovered. 😅

Hi Vedant, 

In the given position after Nc3, I recommend the development with b6-Bb7 followed by some g6-Bg7. If white replies with 11. d4 cxd4 12.Nxd4 Qe5 + leads to an endgame.

As an extra option instead of 8… Nxe5 you can also play with 8…g6.

lol an amusing update from my night

I'm drilling annihilation tactics while listening to Annihilator. 

Anyone sense a theme tonight? 

Replies

That's a good way to drill the exercices for sure, at least for the annihilation concept! LOL😁

Tactic Ninja - Double Attack

In section 12 Training: level 2, there is an error with problem 19. I think Black can defend the double attack with …Qb2.

Replies

Very good idea!

But after Qb2 there is c3 and you have to play Ne5 to prevent mate on g7. Then White has two pieces for the Rook.

Moodcoins spend

How can i spend moodcoins i cant see price of courses in moodcoins?

Replies

No monthly access to courses? Only yearly? It's not good, sorry.

Hello, some courses can be bought by using moodcoins. Go to the course page and click ‘’get a lifetime access''. Then in the window that will appear click buy the course and then choose “moodcoins". You can see then the price of the course and if you have enough moodcoins you can purchase it. Hope this helps.

My chess improvement journey: week 8

2 months in! (actually, a couple more weeks, but I'm counting studying weeks)

These 2 months have been great. I'm so happy I've decided to study this beautiful game, as this is brining me a lot of little satisfactions and smiles.

24/12 I was rated 1354. Now I'm 1424, with far more experience and knowledge, while also having more fun.

70 points are not that much in 60 days, but the lessons I've learned as far are much more valuable. I'm looking forward to learn even more.

As for this week, I actually haven't done much. I was very busy and I hardly played (in fact, I played just 2 game, but won both of them.). Fixing my weaknesses is always my number one priority, and I'm constantly finding way to improve on that side. 

Writing these recaps is keeping me motivated, so I want to thank once again who's reading them. I hope I'll bring some other good news next weeks. As for now, that is it. you can watch my rating progression here (https://www.chess.com/stats/live/rapid/cengia), if you want to see how it has gone. 

Thanks again for reading, see you next week and keep studying!

Replies

Keep up the great work - it's encouraging to see other players making progress.

Anti sicilian part 3 section 2 de

e4 c5 Nc3 e6 f4 d5 Nf3 de4 Nd4 Nc6 Bb5 Bd7 Qe2 Nh6 b3 Nf5 Bb2 a6 Bc6 Bc6 d3 Be7 000 Nd4 Qf2 is offered and after Nf3 Qf3… but now doesn't black play f5? Don't we lose a Knight? (It's on 7'20" of Nh6)

Thank you in advance

Replies

After …13..Nxf3 14.Qxf3 f5 15.Bxg7 is winning for White. Additionally- and probably even better- White can play 14.gxf3 opening

the g- file.

what to do if you can create a crushing attack but cannot finish off the game

I always create a crushing attack , but cannot find a way to finish off the game and think too much , get in time trouble and lose. Need some advice

Replies

There are two reasons an attack is ineffective:

1.Your attack is simply not strong enough. Perhaps not enough pieces are involved, too many trades have occurred, or your opponent has too much counterplay. Timing of an attack is also important, as king safety and strong development are necessary preconditions. Remember that the ideal attack has many involved pieces with open lines, with pawns acting as battling rams out in front. I'm sure chessmood has many courses that can help you in this regard.

2.Your attack is strong enough, but you are unable to find the decisive blow. This is the aspect that I struggle with the most. Sometimes your pieces seems perfectly placed, but the final win is too elusive. The only solution is to practice tactics. Familiarizing yourself with puzzle themes and mating patterns will help you spot the invisible wins.

Hope this helps!  - Jake

Maroczy with g3, section 8

Dear CM coach and members, is really Ne4 not possible? 

1. c4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. g3 g6 5. Bg2 Bg7 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 O-O 8. O-O Qa5 9. Nb3 Qh5 10. Nd5 d6 11. Nf4 Qf5 12. Bd2 Ne4 13. g4 Qe5 *

Replies

Hello,

After 12…Ne4 13.g4? is not a good move, as that just weakens the Kingside. White can play Be3 as a pawn on b2 and can't be captured because of Qc2 or Qb1 for white.

Good luck!

Pasini variation against Modern Pirc

Hi Chessmood,

I recently played a game against a friend and he played 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Be3 a6 5.g4!? Nd7 6.h4 c5. How should I have responded against this setup with …Nd7 and …c5?

Replies

Hello,

In the given position I like the development with Qd2 followed by 0-0-0 and playing on the Kingside.

Good luck!

Focusing on only 1 game or not?

I just started reading “Learning how to Learn” by Barbara Oakley, and at the very start of the second chapter (the first one being an introduction), she talks about 13 year-old Magnus getting up from the board during his match against Kasparov (Reykjavik Rapid, 2004) which ended up being a draw. Oakley uses this story as a way to explain sometimes you focus too hard on, eg a math problem, and end up missing the big picture and therefore you don’t get the solution. Similarly, Oakley describes that Magnus needed a little break so he can focus better, the moral being sometimes you need to focus less to be a better learner.

However, Avetik recommends in his Blunderproof course to only focus on your game so that you blunder less and don’t think about other games. Since the event Magnus - Kasparov played was called the Reykjavik Rapid, I would assume it wasn‘t too long a game but I could be wrong. So now I am very curious: do you think we should take mini “breaks”, or should we listen to Avetik because trying to not blunder is much more important to us than Magnus?

Replies

What I got from it was not to spend time looking at others' games. Walking away for a break (especially after a lot of analysis) or because you have the position in your head and are still thinking is fine. Some juniors also can't concentrate for too long (and much to the annoyance of everyone else constantly walk about when the floor is squeaky).

The only good exception I can think of is a team event when you need to know if a draw will be sufficient to win the match, and usually I just do a simple evaluation like in the scale course. (Well in one case I had to keep an eye on how another game was progressing to not spend too long in order to get a lift home).

New success story: Over 500 points in 1 year - The adult chess improver looking to do the improbable!

Hello champions!?

Recently, we interviewed an adult chess improver from our family who raised 500 points in 1 year!

He’s one of our earliest Pro members and you might have heard of him. His name – Jay Garrison.
During our conversation, Jay generously shared the approach and strategies that helped him raise over 500 rating points!
He talks about:

✅The different parts of the game he focussed on to build his core chess strength.

✅A secret hack he uses to keep the right mood!

✅An advice he would give to someone who has limited time to study.

As a bonus, we also threw some rapid-fire questions at Jay and got some interesting answers…?? 

Hopefully through his story, you’ll pick up some useful ideas to implement in your chess improvement journey!

You can check out the complete interview here ?

https://chessmood.com/feedback/jay-garrison-adult-chess-improver

Here on this forum thread, you can drop your questions and congraluatory messages to Jay!

Replies

Congratulations Jay.

Hi from Italy, conratulation Jay, it's amazing! I must ask you a couple of questions. 1) Why you new account started from 1641 and not from 1500? 2) You was 1641 Blitz Lichess sept 30 2020 and only 16 day after (Oct 16 2020) you reached 1905! Great! That is the bigger part of your growth, since now you are 1955. From october 2020 to april 2021 you remained about at 1900 and from feb to april 2021 you made another growth (to 2033). In the third period (from April 2021 to in september 2021) your rating arised not so fast but constantly and you reached your maximum, 2088 (sept 24 2021). May you tell us anything about your training during this 3 periods of your amazing growth? Thank you! Giulio pet 24 2021)

Hi Jay, I'm Alessio. Congratulations for your success! I would ask you a couple of questions because I'm following the road of improvement and I would know your perspective about some topic. 1-How many hours spend on chess weekly? Because I spend 8 hours of chess weekly and I feel that the improvement is very slow..but I think it's normal relate to my chess programme. (I'm following the instructions of chessmood coach so the quality is very good) 2-how do you manage breaks from chess? Do you feel sometimes tired because you work a lot during a week? What do you do? This is my main problem because in my job I use always my mind and Sometimes I don't have energy to manage a chess workout! I need to divide the hours and set priorities. Thank for your future feedbacks!!

Good stuff Jay! I'm glad your hard work is paying off. One thing I was wondering is how often are you having sessions with your coach? cheers, Peter

Wow Jay, you really are a dedicated adult improver! I am humbled by your single minded dedication to achieving your chess aims , and I wish you good luck. Can you let us know how you use the chessmood materials (apart from creating your opening pgn files). For instance do you join the events, repeat study materials such as classic games/tactics etc? Or are you now concentrating more on homework from your coach?

Great job Jay???

Jay, Congrats on your progress/success so far. Keep up the consistent effective work!!! I will be following your journey. What are you doing non-chess? Especially books. Bret

Hi Jay, Yours is a very inspirational success story for us adult improvers just starting out on a serious path of chess improvement! Please let me pick your brain a bit about the details of your pgn mangement: what tools do you use to create/edit them, how do you review/drill the openings (personal chessable course made from your pgns, chess tempo opening trainer, flashcards, something else?), how do you organize the pgns themselves (one massive file for white & one for black, or per opening? Do you use pgn tools to merge/split them in order to create chessable courses?) If you could give an overview of all the tools you're found the most helpful, that would be great!

Some of the advice is gold:

 ‘You just got to get 1% better every day. Trust the process.’

 Thanks for the interview!

Training partner

is anyone here from Philippines? reply here i want someone to be my trainin partner 

Replies

New article: How to Use ChatGPT to Improve Your Chess

Hello champions,

Can you use ChatGPT to improve your chess?
From where does ChatGPT get its information?
What are the dangers and how can it lead you in the wrong direction?

Discover the answers and enjoy some amusing stories in today's article⤵️

https://chessmood.com/blog/ChatGPT-chess

Feel free to share your thoughts on this topic under this forum thread.

Replies

Hi Avo,

What an excellent article!

I'm a blogger and I know only too well the power of ChatGPT and its impact on internet articles.  It is brilliant … at regurgitating what others have already written.  There are no original thoughts, no shared wisdom from experience gained over the years, no humour, no emotion, just an ‘average’ article produced very, very quickly and cheaply.  

Sadly, for many websites that is exactly what they want - it is good enough for Google and good enough to attract customers to the website.  And that is how they make their money.

I'm glad that there are still people who write based on their own skills and experiences - keep producing great content Avo!

Dear GM Avetik, 

Nice article! 

ChatGPT is not intelligent, it is a plagiarism/BS machine. “Artificial intelligence” may be a good aspiration, but we are far from it. 

I asked ChatGPT a basic physics question a few months ago: 

“A boat is floating in a bath tub. A stone is in the boat. The stone is gently transferred from the boat to the bottom of the bath tub. Does the water level in the bath tub go up, go down, or stay the same? Explain.”

ChatGPT gave a correct answer, with a very poor explanation. I told it that its answer was incorrect and to try again. It said sorry, here is a correct answer now, and changed its answer from a correct one to an incorrect one. I said OK, now your answer is correct but your explanation can be improved. It replied with a different incorrect explanation. 

So yes, there is no intelligence there, just a BS machine that plagiarizes from all over the internet. There are documented examples of it getting even basic, factual information incorrect, so I don't think it should be trusted even for basic facts. Because it just trawls the internet for the most common phrases, in topics for which disinformation or misinformation is common, incorrect facts are likely to be returned in ChatGPT queries. The potential consequences are frightening.

Simple proof is ask the moves of a well known opening, often you'll get something else. It's not just consuming untrustworthy data, there isn't enough reinforcement in the amount of chess information freely available on the net. If it could consume all the books by grandmasters I suspect it would be more accurate and right more often.

Excellent article Avo, sure sounds like it wasn't written by a machine…

The poem is a primitive attempt to mash together some Asimov and some rhymes.

This is still infant AI. If it starts learning at a exponential pace, it could become dangerous in a decade or less. Consciousness awakening might be in the mix also!

This is fun article. Clearly ChatGPT is not a chess master. Take it from a literature teacher, it's not a poet either. :)