Chess forum by Grandmasters

5.e3 e6 in the Benko Gambit

I just played a classical game and game went: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.e3 e6 6.dxe6 fxe6 7.Nc3 d5 8.Nf3 Bd6 and after a 17 mins think, my opponent played 9.e4.
This took me totally by surprise and I couldn't find a good continuation. I played 9...dxe4 10.Ng5 0-0 and lost the game.
At home I gave the position after 9.e4 to the engine and every line is +/-.  

What are your thoughts about this?  Is this 9.e4 the refutation of this 5...e6 line?

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I don’t like 8…Bd6?! too much because of 9.e4! (threatening e5), as you mention (then Black should go back to e7 rather than playing 9…dxe4?!). Therefore, to me 8…Be7 seems a little better, but still W is more than okay.
The 5.e3 variation looks innocent, but it is a tough nut to crack for Black!

How to read my great predesscors part 2

Hi I have my great predecessors part 2 how to read the book and how to understand the games and how to extract the ideas from it I also have python strategy book by Tigran Petrosian How to read this book also

It could be very nice if i get some help

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A nice finish!

Not sure I played well here, but ended with a nice attack!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/3698034736

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ignore this mesg pls... checking image upload

test

Tactics Ninja course - pin feedback

Having reviewed the pin section, I have the following feedback.

Missing aspects of the pin which probably should have been discussed:
Functional motives rather than solely geometic ones - 'a pinned piece is a paralysed piece' that is it loses it power to defend. There is one example where a forking square is no longer protected because of a pin
Breaking the pin
Which pieces can be pinned - when looking for pins (and skewers and forks) it's worth noting that rooks are vulnerable from the diagonals, bishops from the files/ranks, knights from all directions, pawns all directions except diagonally 1 square forward where they capture (and of course kings can't be pinned since they are the most valuable).
Also to note that the pinning exceptions to the above queen, rooks on the file/rank, bishops on the diagonal, pawns diagonally one square forward can be 'pinned' this way, if it means that capturing the pinning piece would give some other compensation. This may be covered in other sections though since decoy/deflection may be the final motive.

A diagram based handout would be useful, such as the 5x5 boards in Blokh's book, where the themes can be quickly drilled, perhaps as a warm-up exercise.

The examples and test are too easy, except for those unfamiliar with the material. There should be a test with harder examples, as well as a number of examples where the tactic doesn't work, in that case to say why - real chess is also about correctly discarding tactics which do not work.

Also examples from a few model games where it's not all so simple, but the pin plays a part, should be included. This also would help understand how the tactic forms rather than just looking for it puzzle fashion. That would add value for the higher rated player. It's possible to make these sections optional for the lower rated.

Based on this one section alone, I would say the course is for below 1200 Elo. Certainly I was aware of all of this below that rating due to one or two beginners books: the white Faber one's name I can't remember, but the Seirawan Winning Chess Tactics should be appropriate as well. Also Farnsworth's Predator at the Chessboard 1 and 2 is very accessible.  It's true that higher rated players do miss tactics especially in blitz, but this is not down to not knowing the themes.

I would suggest the books Chess Tactics for Advanced Players and Understanding Chess Tactics are more the template needed for the above 1200 category. Perhaps it would be better to focus on this as a lower level course and have a more advanced one bringing in calculation, attack, the link with strategy, formation of tactics, model games, endgame tactical themes, ... aimed at the 1500-2000+ category.

On the positive side, the explanations were really good and clear.

Let's see how it goes.

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I agree that the first sections are easy however, I do think it will be getting harder and harder and that is outlined in the introduction.

I have just finished section 3 and in part 7. The puzzle there is already, a considerable increase in diffculty. I probably spent way too long looking at it before I found the correct idea (about 10 mins or so) but then tactically I am on the weaker side. However, overall I hover around 2000-2100 rating so not like I am total patzer (just a little bit).

I think the course needs a base and also some appeal to players of all levels. No point just having 1800+ level info because the level of players at chessmood will vary a lot (though I expect it to be a little higher than the average say chess.com person).

This course is very well thought with a lot of work behind. It is not expected to be difficult for a 2100+ like you David, it is meant for everyone from 800 to 2000. What it is difficult is to explain everything in a easy way like Avetik does, this is why this course will be the favourite one of our promembers. We all keep blundering, we all miss tactical chances... 

With this course we are strenghtening the tactical awareness for everyone, we will make sure that all the concepts are learnt and understood in the best way possible. Then from here, we will COntinue GROwing...  We are always trying to do the best for all of our dear promembers, as the song says: You are always on OUR mind...

And remember: One section per day with full concentration, otherwise it will defeat the learning process!

The skewer section was better - I think pins are so important and can be quite subtle in tactics that more could have been made of it. Nice to see some interlinking of the ideas here. Maybe a pin 2 section later. The skewers were a little bit more challenging - maybe 1400 level (it's very difficult to put ratings on anything, but seeing forcing moves and consequences of actions on the next move would be sufficient), this is coming on nicely.

I do however do take exception that the more challenging puzzle would be difficult to some IMs (even with 10 seconds on the clock), given the forced nature. Any chance you could disclose the handles of these IMs as I'd be happy to hoover up all their rating points :-) Maybe in a real game if they were being lazy or the clock was a real factor, but say it's a puzzle and I'd expect quick solutions. It was a very pretty study though and a good reminder that a piece is only as strong/safe as the environment it operates in.

Perhaps it could have again mentioned more on getting out of a skewer (it did at one point mention a rook move which could defend if only the square wasn't guarded). Perhaps the more important one is the skewer of the two knights, that they can co-defend if there are two diagonal squares between, or if adjacent (unless they are in the corner of the long diagonal), along the rank and file it's a little bit more obvious that 1 or 3 squares in between allow a defence. One thing with pattern recognition is that you still have to check the tactic works, and there is a huge temptation (because of how our brains work) to associate patterns of pieces with winning material without considering the wider picture. Also the skewer of the two bishops as they cannot co-defend is also a common theme and once that must be looked out for.
 
Onwards to the next section.

It seems our senior programmer Jor left his computer.

Hi tech team,

I tried to upload 2 pgn's to the thread named "f4 move in benko" and now I'm getting that annoying error message that reads "It seems our senior programmer Jor left his computer...." etc etc. It wasn't my intention to break the thread, I thought the issues with uploading pgn files had been resolved. :) 

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I suggest we chain him to it... the only way to be sure.

I see. I believe that there is only one pgn allowed per post. Maybe that is the reason of the crash. (That should not happen in the first place, no matter how many pgns do you upload) That said I will tell Jor and Liana about this and hopefully we will recover the thread.

test image

Any recomendations action?

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Bd3 dxe4 4. Bxe4 Nf6 5. Bf3 c5 6. Ne2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Nbc3 Nc6 9. Be3 Qa5 

How to do with White against this move.  I can not find any videos about this? Can you help me please.

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Ok, I reached this kind of position with Avetik on March. In this variation, we do not castle king side so fast. We try to play a timed d5 right away wenever we can. For example, after 5...Be7 6.Ne2 c5, we play Nbc3. If then Black castles we play d5 right away! We can reach this via 5...Be7 6.Ne2 0-0, we play Nbc3 and then with c5 we get the same position and we play d5!. I reached this exact position a couple of times too after analysing it with him.

With 8.d5 exd5 and 9. Nxd5, now we have the d5 square and c5 can be a weakness while our pawn structure is very good.

I hope this helps!

French defense / Bd3 : best response to Bb4 + Bd7 move in main line

Hi,

I am studying the Bd3 variation in the French. In the main line, 3 .. de, after 9. .. Bb4 and 10. Ndb5, there is the move 10. .. Bd7.

The video course mentions that this move will be covered in the advanced section, but I did not see it there.

In my game I played 11. a3 but after some exchanges Black's light-coloured bishop went to c6 and created a lot of unpleasant pressure on the main diagonal.

I looked at alternatives such as 11. Qd4 but they did not look entirely convincing either.

Any ideas?

thanks!

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11.Qd4! seems to be the better move compared to 11.a3, as it develops another piece and also kind of forces Black to play Bxc3+.
By the way, chessmood also gives 11.Qd4 in the draft pgn-file

New Chessmood Office

Saw the Chessbase India interview showcasing the new office. Very nice. I guess a relief not being in the centre and hearing the trams passing and the hospital admissions in the background of the videos (not that it was a problem for the viewer anyway).

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Thank you David! It is indeed a nice play to work at... Hopefully one day you will come and visit us!

Best tournament performance so far

Scored 3/5 at the Hull 4NCL International Open with a 2194 rating performance

https://chess-results.com/tnr585619.aspx?lan=1&art=9&fed=ENG&snr=46

Definitely a large portion of that is down to Chessmood. Thanks guys.

* although also a notable shout out to ChesssCoach Andras' Amateurs Mind series on YouTube (Decision making and assessment, Exploring Calculation Techniques, and How to Get Better at Chess rating series) - certainly a course suggestion for Chessmood 'How to get better for x rating level' course where each section is a different rating band displaying and fixing the typical problems at that level.

Takeaways from my performance (for players around the 1900 level):

Opening study and a good/complete repertoire for your rating helps a lot - the game I lost in round 3 was where I forgot our response to Nc2 in the Maroczy - a5 and chasing the knight with Nb4 didn't work out.
Think during the opponent's time - not just what you'd like to do (which often ends in daydreaming and waiting), but if you were them, what would you play
Always be looking to improve the position of pieces - round 2 game
When out of the book, play on chess principals above thematic opening moves - i.e. don't neglect the centre, development, king safety etc just because you've 'remembered' some other line in the opening that does just that (unless you can concretely justify it)
Avoid 'diagnostic' thinking (I didn't play that because he would have got something I didn't like the look of) - justify it with analysis or at least a holistic look of the whole position to see if that 'advantage' really is all that.
Can you go one move deeper, change the order, or add something? If some idea doesn't work out is there a counter, intermediate move, or a move order which does make it work, and then keep going (can your opponent stop it).

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Very nice @David_Flynn! Very good to hear this, it makes all of us happy! Next time 4/5 and tournament performance of 2250, COGRO! Nice one!!!

Thank you Chessmood!

I really am happy with my membership to Chessmood!  I am watching the Tactics Ninja Course.  The section on the Upcoming Defender is very interesting and it was framed in a new way that I had not heard before.  There is such a positive vibe in the whole course— it really is something fun. 

I have to admit that I did not really know a whole lot about ChessMood before becoming a Pro member— but the value is in the weekly gatherings (solving tactics with GM Gabyzyan and his other group activities—rating ladder climb etc) as well as the online videos.  

Just thought I would start my day with a bit of gratitude here.  I am on Chessable and Chess.com as well.   I really do think all three have something to offer.   I used the PGN files from here to make a private Chessable course for myself.  

After the last few weeks— it really is clear that you get a whole lot of value for the membership here.  

Thanks.  Peter 

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Many thanks @Peter_Gee for your encouraging words and feedback!

We try to provide the best content for growing and becoming a better player, if you have doubts there is a forum.

The only thing that we cannot do for you (yet) is to insert directly our courses to your brain... :-) In the meanwhile we are trying to find the best way to explain them, until a "Matrix" related solution can be found and we will be able to upload them to our promembers brains , Keanu Reaves style... -"I know kung fu (I know chess)"

Keep learning, keep growing and keep working with us... COGRO (Continuous growth) and your rating will keep raising...

@Peter_Gee By the way, could you be so kind to paste this nice post as a review in the Tactic Ninja course? That would help us a lot.

You just need to copy the text and paste it in the review box in https://chessmood.com/course/tactic-ninja

Thanks in advance!

Thanks, Peter! 
You made my day! :) 

The commented games are excellent!

I would like to let GMs Grigoryan and Gabuzyan, as well as the entire Chessmood team, know that the commented games are outstanding! I recently finished the 100 classical games as well as I have been through all of the commented attacking games and commented endgames. The detail and explanation of complex middlegame positions have improved my chess, there is no doubt about it, I am looking at positions differently and it is because of you guys! You really have an excellent high quality product, please keep up the amazing work. 

I appreciate that you continue to add games, please never end this!  I usually start my morning off with one of the commented games while I enjoy a cup of coffee, it is a great way to start the day, I am immediately brought into the right kind of chess mood that sets the stage for further studies. I am looking forward to soon starting my second review of the games. Thank you Chessmood!

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Thanks a lot @Leslie_Smith for your kind and mood lifting words!!!!

This is the second post today where our promembers congratulate us for our job, we are all blushing a bit... Thank you!

Do not worry, we will continue with the games. In fact, every game is checked after the first recording by 4 different people with different chess ratings, from GMs to beginners, and we all add our feedback, then we do a meeting to evaluate what is really adding value to the game explanation or if it is just non essential and re record again the parts needed or sometimes the whole game... This last month we started checking and working on our English more than ever with a professional and hopefully you will feel it from now on...

We do care about providing the best explanations for learning the concepts needed to grow as a chess player, and I would highly recommend to follow the streams, specially the Calculation workhsop with Gabuzyan on Saturday will help a lot to improve tactics awareness...

Chessmood Classical Games are awesome, big thanks to the team! I'm around game 62 atm, watching 1 per day and trying to absorb the ideas. The other courses which I found great is Gabuzyan's mind (finished) and also happy pieces, which I'm studying atm. 

Wow :) 
It's so cool to get such feedback! 
Thank you very much! 
Yeah, of course, we'll never stop these :) 
Also, guys, would appreciate very much, if you write reviews under courses.  

About streams, we've prepared something cool, which we'll launch soon. 
We'll notify you through email :) 

Right Mood - Right Move 
CoGro! 

Purchase from Store

Hi,

Can We purchase Store Products using Chess Mood Coins.

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Dear @Shlok_Mali,

At the moment it is not possible to purchase from the store. Mood coins are meant to provide courses to the people that cannot afford them but not for buying products.

Thanks,

Last weekend local OTB tourney u1600 joint winner

Last weekend was a special chess time for me as I played in my local chess OTB tournament (u1600 section) & scored 4/5 points with 2 draws & 3 wins to finish as joint winner (3 winners in all on 4/5).

The first OTB chess tournament I have ever won (although my son won the junior prize in this competition many years ago-probably 15 years ago). It was last held in 2019 when it was in a large venue in Town, when GM Eric Hansen visited & I enjoyed meeting & chatting with him. However, due to CoVid & finances, this year it was at my local chess club premises (I do not play there any longer, but often run into club members in online games) & there were restricted numbers due to CoVid & the smaller venue & I was on the reserve list until midday Friday when I got in due to a cancellation. The main Open section was won by IM Alan Merry, a local player who was with my son as a junior in the junior chess club here (& I may add my son, Chris, never lost to Alan & I have the game notation when he beat Alan to win the Junior chess club annual tournament (30/06/2006)!).

In terms of game detail I played 1.e4 as White and as Black faced down 1.e4  twice with 1.e4 e5 with one game an Italian opening & the other a Ruy Lopez Berlin defence (both wins).  I know 1.e4 e5 is not a ChessMood opening course sadly, but it is my personal favourite chess opening of all time. The other win for me was as White with the Italian opening & I had one draw as White in the Alekhine defence and another draw as White in the Italian opening. So now I plan to study the ChessMood Alekhine course closely (in depth) now & maybe next year I can bust out the the Scotch opening a la ChessMood, as it is a pretty decent opening (not as good as the Italian or Ruy Lopez clearly, but I do like both the Scotch opening & a drop of Scotch whisky now & again!). If I get the ChessMood openings down, maybe next year I can enter the Major section & do well with these! Onwards & upwards.....(btw thanks GM Avetik for Facebook love to my FB post on this!) ;-)

For results & tournament information:

https://www.bsecongress.org.uk/

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Nice work!

Nice post @Richard_Dickinson!!!

This is very nice to read. Congratulations on your performance, I am sure that you felt very good going back to play OTB!

Regarding the Scotch, without mixing the whisky, yes, you should give it a try one of these days. I also played mainly the Spanish opening in the past,  but the Scotch it is very fun and not difficult to learn and understand the main ideas.

Even if you do not play the Scotch (yet), we are very happy to have you with us! :-) Keep up the good mood, the good work and the good spirits!!!

Today's chessmood puzzle

Apropo the new tactics course, today's chessmood puzzle solution rates a bit lower than a stockfish engine solution on the first move (which I also{luckily} thought of) was the b3 pawn push...

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Thanks for letting us know!

Scotch: Romanishin Variation

I can't see this variation is covered in Scotch course? Has anyone got any idea of best plans for White?

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Counter with the Rublevsky  Variation.

In this position we play 6.c3 Be7 as stated in the pgn. I do not know remember the rest of the variation and I will ask the team. We will be back to you.

Hi Thomas,

I would recommend putting the bishop on d3 , castling, playing f4 and try to bring the  knight on b1 to the f3 square.

Looks like an easy game for white in the center with an attack plan on the Black kingside.

How do you study all this chess mood information?

Hello all I was just curious how everyone studied all of this information. I was thinking about watching all the videos and putting the moves into my own chessable course. However there is a lot of videos to watch and moves to put into a chessable course. I was wondering what your study techniques  were? Thanks for your answers. I apologies if this has been asked before.

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What do you mean by your own chessable course?

I'm creating a Lichess study and adding moves there.

The more complex lines I add to my private chessable course and practice it regularly.

There's a lot to study, I agree.

Me personally, I put chessmood openings in their respective pgns (it takes a lot of time but you learn better) and add on top my researched lines (from forums as well), practice from online, novelties etc.

Now about middlegame courses/daily lessons from youtube (also various books on strategy) I have my own excel sheet with various strategic patterns/ideas grouped with sources, game examples attached, so I can quickly access and repeat the idea in my mind if necessary.

About endgames, I dont know I just watch them and try understanding the concepts, also 100 endgames you should know is a must imo for players willing to improve. Maybe someone can suggest how to systemize endgames, txs

I recommend you to take a look at

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

Here Avetik explained everything that you need to know to work in an effective way on the courses... And let me remind you that the word "work" is unavoidable if you want to truly improve... But with Good mood is always better... Happy learning!

Chess Mood Tournaments Time⏰

In my country chess mood tournaments start 8:30 pm (SriLankan time) team battles even worse 11:30pm at that I'm really sleepy.So I can't participate in in the tournaments I do join but rarely...But not to the team battles. 

How about you?*****I need answers.

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Hopefully in the future we will be able to do tournaments in different time zones when we have more students.

It is a dream of mine too, in the meanwhile let's keep learning!! Best regards @sasmi_sithumsa

Thank you ChessMood!

I'm very happy because of my performance in the tournament (Majors) and the reason is I followed all the Chess Mood openings properly and my opponents got confused a lot and were like "What is this opening?" and I had a very good advantage in the opening...

Thank you  Chess Mood for providing us these openings and explaining them very clearly step by step.

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@sasmi_sithumsa

Thanks for your kind and encouraging words! We are very happy to hear this!

By the way, did you already start watching the Tactic Ninja course? I recommend it to you! You will just love it!

Happy learning Sasmi!

Elephant Gambit 3... Qe7?! 4... f6 model game

This isn't covered in the course and I've faced it once. Found this model game in Plan Like a Grandmaster which might be worth including in the course as an example of Qe7 being bad.

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Thanks a lot for showing us this game. To be frank David, the move 6...Qf7 is not good at all, other moves like Bf5, Nc6 or f5 come to mind and should be better. That said, you are right, f6 is not covered specifically, but as it happens to all repertoires, we cannot include all the possible moves. 

I would try to remember the manouver Nd3 to f4 and then healthy development without complications if this position ever happens again. Also the g4 idea is nice to have it in mind.

Small center defense 1 e4 e6 2 d4 (we are ready for the french but..)d6

1 e4 e6 2 d4 (we are ready for the french but..)d6

My opponent choose to play this openings and following the OP principles we are the centre and more space..but what set up is it the best to play against this structure? 

Thank for the help and possible idea!!

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Basically this will transpo to some kind of hippo, so I would play either

* with Nc3,f4,Nf3 austrian attack stuff (it's known that hippo doesnt go well if white can play c4 or f4 against it)

* or Nf3, Bc4-b3, 0-0, Nc3-e2-g3,c3 like spanish is also very annoying for black - can tell from my experience from hippo blackside

There is a good daily video about this when opponent plays some kind of random move like small centre