Chess forum by Grandmasters

Grivas Sicilian

Any thoughts on the reputation of the Grivas Sicilian for under 2300 FIDE? e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Qb6 Could be an interesting alternative to the accelerated and maroczy.

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I don't know much about the Grivas Sicilian but if I was learning another Sicilian I would strongly consider the Classical. It's well thought of in terms of soundness but isn't as popular as the biggies like the Najdorf and Sveshnikov. Also, it can be played using either 2...Nc6 or 2...d6 which provides some nice flexibility. For example you might want to have the option of avoiding the Rossolimo. I guess the down side is that the Classical is more theoretical than the Grivas.

Why parroting chessable style shouldn't be the only method to learn

Interesting article: https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2022/10/26/variable-mastery/ The summary is that by using multiple methods to reach the solution we're more likely to be more effective. (It's also known for a long while that if you have multiple ways of recalling something, if one of them fails you can use another approach.) Related to chess: learning opening lines (only) chessable style rather than also using other strategies to work out the move that is good or leads to known positions is a good idea. Ideas might be remembering the target position, reasons we play or don't play moves (elimination is important particularly if the move looks reasonable), to find some way of adding emotion to a particularly surprising move which we wouldn't choose, understanding why we would chose other moves before the one we want to remember, understanding the position, linking related positions links, experience (especially losses), the classics, different ways to attempt to train or recall the information, not getting hung up over remembering one line and neglecting the rest, different information sources,... It also suggests mixing up problems which I think is something ChessMood should do so the method isn't obvious. For example in Endgame Roadmap, the quiz seems to go in chapter order, so the first few puzzles are all about doing the same thing. Puzzles are easier when the theme is known, so it would be better mixed up so that you're having to work out what the idea is, not remembering roughly the order of material or it likely being a similar idea to the previous puzzle.

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I own a few Chessable opening courses, OK more than a few :-), but just use them as reference material. I don't use Chessable spaced repetition for trying to memorise openings at all. To me it felt too mechanical with not enough emphasis on understanding. I much prefer putting my entire opening repertoire into my own database files, with lots of different comments that are meaningful (and memorable) to me. I review the lines from time to time, particularly before a tournament or club game. And of course I use the ChessMood technique of reviewing the openings from blitz games at the end of an online session. I think it's helpful to sometimes review lines using a physical board too.

SLP: Avoiding exchanges exceptions

In exceptions the case where you do want to exchange pieces not pawns isn't covered and that is where it's a theoretically drawn endgame, especially fortresses. The most common one which appears even in beginners' games is B+wrong rook-pawn.

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Maroczy bind with 10.h3

Is this variation covered? I watched almost all the very good Maroczy series but couldn't find it. I am referring to: 1. e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 d6 7. Be2 Bg7 8.Be3 O-O 9. O-O Bd7 10. h3!? Nxd4 11. Bxd4 Bc6 12. Qc2 a5 13. Rad1 Nd7 14. Bxg7 Kxg7 15. Bg4! Ne5 16. c5! with huge pressure on the d6 pawn This variation has been considered almost a refutation of the Bd7-c6 approach in some courses (ie. David Martinez on chess24). And 10. h3 is the first line of my engine. I've seen more recently Duda going for 6... Nxd4 and then pushing a5-a4 before committing the bishop to d7 or e6... I thought this was the reaction to avoid the new 10. "h3" line. But I would highly appreciate your opinion and advice. Thanks Andrea

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6...Nxd4 is the Modern Maroczy, which has its own course and is generally recommended over the Maroczy. (6...d6 followed by 7...Nxd4 may be more precise.)

Dear Andrea,

If you are feeling uncomfortable with this variation, you choose the Modern Maroczy which have covered as well 🙂
Additionally, please check out our forum policies through this link  https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/forum-new-policies

That might be helpful for future questions as well 😁

All the best!
GM Gabuzyan.

I just wanted to add, that after reading Gabu's reply, it may look a bit harsh, but no bad intention was meant in the reply.😀

English is not our main language and when written it may be subject to different interpretations.😅

Regarding the link to the policies, we do not recommend to use the engine much and we do not see much sense in debating engine lines, we are convinced that it is not good for your chess development unless you are 2300 FIDE more or more. There are better ways to spend the learning time to be more effective. 🙂

Regarding this line, yes, it is one of the problematic lines on the Maroczy Bind introduced lately but we are not trying to do a theoretical competition with every course or book published, we are aware that is difficult to play for Black. That is why we introduce to course to learn the basics and get a feel of the position, but we recommend the Modern Maroczy for Advanced Players. 

If you are an advanced player, by all means learn the Modern Maroczy and use the normal Maroczy as a base for ideas.

On the team, we all love the Modern Maroczy, lots of lines are similar and it is easy to learn, normally you will be in the driving seat with a lot of time on your clock compared to your opponent.

Try it and let us know what do you think, by the way, if it is not too much to ask, what's your rating?🙂

Chess Journeys Podcast

I was this week's return guest on the Chess Journeys Podcast! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-69-jay-1850-uscf/id1577673957?i=1000584889710

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Interesting stuff thanks Jay.

Thanks Jay And congratulations on your progress.

Also, your thoughts about rewiring your brain using large scale repetition of the fundamentals are quite similar to my own. For my approach, I have over 5000 tactical puzzles on rotation in Chessable. A range of difficulties, but quite a lot of easy stuff that's aimed at players many hundreds of points below my rating. I even include the 600 mate in 1s from this fun course https://www.chessable.com/the-unexpected-mate-in-1/course/19247/.

Buy video with moodcoins

Hello, I am new and discover this website recently. Before buying a membership i wonder if i can buy video with moodcoins. I don't see the moodcoins price for the videos. If someone could help me it will be nice. Thanks for your reply.

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On the page of a video, you should find an option in the top right that says "Get lifetime access". If you click on it, there should be several options regarding your payment method, one of which should be using moodcoins.

Jobava line with 5. Be2, delaying Nf3

After: 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nc3 d5 3. Bf4 g6 4. e3 Bg7 5. Be2, I see a few options: a. We can go 5.. 0-0, but aren't we then giving white possibilities for initiative with 6. f3 and a king's side attack? b. On the other hand, 5.. c5 is not good here due to 6. Nb5. c. We could go 5.. c6, but then white could play 6. Nf3 and we would have wanted our pawn on c5 instead of c6. What is the recommendation?

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5...0-0 followed by ..c5 is good. 6.f3 is premature and makes Ng1 unhappy. Black strikes first with 6...c5 followed by ..Nc6 and ..Qb6. I also play 6...0-0 after 5.h4 h5 6.Nf3 and like it better than what's given in the course (see previous discussions). Delaying castling is possible but not mandatory in this line.

Hello Yair,

Black can play with castle and after f3 ideas quickly prepare central break through Nbd7-Re8-e5!

Chess Variations...Useful?

Hi all, what do you think of chess variations such as chess360 that assigns different positions to pieces? It seems counterintuitive to me when learning lines here at Chessmood and nuances that are already hard to remember. Yet they're still popular even with higher rated players.... Cheers!

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I think 960 is *more* popular among professionals. That's because they are tired of standard openings and the resulting positions, which they've been studying their entire life. While I think that playing some 960 could also be beneficial for amateurs, I find standard chess challenging enough and like the optimal placement of pieces in the standard starting position.

Scandinavian Video course

Hi, I have been watching the Scandinavian video course and it was very interesting 🙂. I learnt a lot from the videos and I really appreciate the work. However, near the 50-second mark of the Section 5 (3...Nf6) 6...Qf5 video, there seems to be a small mistake? The course recommended 8.0-0 after 7.Nbd2 Nb4, claiming that a knight on c2 wouldn't do anything, but here 8.Qa4+ instead seems to win a piece immediately 🙂.

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Sorry about making so many posts lately 😅. The database seems to suggest that after 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nf3, 3...g6 is the third most played move from Black, and the fianchetto positions seem to independent from any other variation covered in the course. I wonder if GM Grigoryan could kindly recommend an approach against this setup? 🙂

Moodcoins for solving daily puzzles

Hi, I purchased the essential membership several days ago, and I notice that I didn't get moodcoins for solving the daily puzzles since then. I'm wondering if this is a bug? Thank you very much.

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Hi Lemmimgs player,

We tested with your account the daily problems and we could not find anything wrong.

You must solve the puzzle right on the first attempt. Otherwise you will get no coins if you failed once. 

Do your homework?

For those going though the Whitemood/Blackmood courses....Avetik keeps mentioning at the end of each course to : " download the PGN files and do your homework". I am solving the associated quizzes...Is there something more I should do? Any help on this is, as always , appreciated!

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How to open the attachments?

Hi all. I cannot open any attachments to do the homework because they are RAR files. I am trying to use chessbase to open the files. Am I missing something obvious? Thanks in advance.

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They are compressed files, you can use the free software 7-zip to “unrar” them among others.

https://www.7-zip.org/

This one is free and works with all of the compressed files.

Sorry for this, next time I will tell the team to upload zip files instead.😅 
 

New video bar pause issue

Maybe outside of Chessmood's control, but on Android the control bar sometimes lingers after pause obscuring the board. Useful additions with the new bar to adjust the resolution and speed are appreciated.

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Not getting moodcoin after solving puzzles

I am not getting moodcoin after solving a puzzle correctly.Is it a bug?

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I'm also still seeing this problem from time to time.

I see,thanks.Never know making an error will not count as solving the puzzle correctly.

TemTemp omet,

We tested with your account the daily problems and we could not find anything wrong.

You must solve the puzzle right on the first attempt. Otherwise you will get no coins if you failed once. 

Try to solve all the puzzle before moving.

Trompowsky

How to play in Trompowsky if white chooses to go to long castle?

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Hi Reyan,
😀Please provide some line otherwise you can only get an ambiguous reply like: try to attack the long castle king fast while keeping your king safe… It is very difficult to reply without specific moves--- 😅

Missing advanced sections of Anti-Sicilian part 3?

While looking through the videos for the Anti-Sicilian part 3 I noticed there are a couple of lines in the 4...d4 and 4...dxe4 sections that GM Avetik mentions will be covered more in depth in the advanced section, but in the advanced section I can only see 4...Nc6 covered. I was wondering if anyone could help me find these bits if they exist or let me know if they're still being worked on.

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Yes, there are some line that will be added in the advanced section but still we haven't since they are not appearing very often. We will update it in the near future once we finish the courses that we are recording on the middlegame.

Thanks for your understanding.💪

Italian game

Any recommendations on how to play Italian game

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Well, we have an opening repertoire based on the Scotch, why don't you test it a bit and see if you like it?
The italian game is very positional, with the Scotch you get more open positions faster with clear plans of attack in many lines…
What do you say?😜

If you want to learn the Slow Italian I would recommend Anish's course on chessable

Hello Robert, before switching to the chessmood repertoire, I used to play Guiocco Piano and Evans Gambit with 4. b4 and then building a classical c3-d4-e4 pawn chain. If you want to watch these variations in practice, just go to Zhigalko Sergei's (2600+ fide belarussian GM) streams on youtube.

I would recommend the Evans gambit if you are looking to play something in the italian. 1.e4, e5, nf3, nc6, bc4, bc5, b4 it is a very romantic and aggressive approach and can get you many wins. You should be able to find free resources but if you are looking to spend money on high quality stuff, The Dynamic Italian Game on chessable is a great course based on the Evans gambit 

Rossolimo question

Hello, Show to develop in the position Alter 1.e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.0-0 Bg7 5.Re1 Nf6 6.c3 0-0 7.d4 d5 8.e5 Ne4 9.Bc6: bc6: 10. Be3 instand of 10 Nbd2. In the german rapidchesschampionship last week my opponent plays like this. It Teams some strong GM Plans it as well. White is a little better? Christoph

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10.Be3 has become quite popular over the last few years. I've encountered it several times in online games and would like to see it covered.

Hi Cristoph!
This has been discussed in the past, the move is Qb6 transposing to the course lines.
Please check the thread: ?

https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/9-be3-rossolimo
 

This is a question for very advanced players, and most of our students will never get here. 
We'll cover it in the advanced sections. 
One hint: Analyze  10…c4 rare move, and then f5! 

Anti Benko early 3. dc5:

Hello, what to play after 1.d4 Sf6 2.c4 c5 3.dc5: Na6 4.a3 Nc5: 5.b4: 5...Ne6? Seems easy play for White?

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You can just play 3...e6.

Maybe "easy play" for white, but likewise for black. White clearly has given up all their opening advantage in that line.

Yep! 3…Na6 gives easy play. 
If you're advanced player and very much care about engine evaluations, you can go with 3…e6 

Tricked by moveorder Benkostyle

Hello, what to play after 1.d4 Nf6 2,. Nf3 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 0-0 5. 0-0 c5 and now not 6. c4 cd4: 7.Nd4: Nc6 8.Nc3 which is discussed in Benkosection, but 6.dc5: recommenation by IM Sielecki in his KIS (Keep It Simple) 1.d4 repertoire? 6...Na6 7.Be3...

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Why not 4...c5. With the white King still on e1 you don't have to worry about dxc5 because you have Qa5+. If they play 5.d5 then you can take advantage of them not playing c4 with 5...b5!? Having said that, this sort of thing is one reason why I think it's handy to pair the Benko with either the Kings Indian or Grunfeld. So after 5.O-O a Grunfeld player could play d5 and a Kings Indian player could play d6. If you're just learning the Benko then I wouldn't recommend rushing to learn another defence to d4, but as a long term plan I think it makes sense to have openings that work well together.

Hey! 
Yeah it's a tricky variation. 
The correct way is 3…c5! 

There are many nuances, that in the future we'll add in the advanced courses. 
Key thing to remember. Whenever you see g3 - c5 immediately!