Chess forum by Grandmasters

Report from the Warwickshire Rapidplay 4th Sept

This is my second tournament since Covid and part of the slow preparation to take me up to Hastings at the end of the year. The format was 7 rounds of 15 10, I entered the open (no 'easier' sections for me) which had the range of under-rated juniors at 1800 up to serious and well seasoned players at 2250, then a 2350 and a GM (note in the UK it's very difficult to get above 2200 unless you play a lot of tournaments and much of the club scene is below 2000). Aside from the top two players, anyone could have a shot, especially given grades (for what they are worth) are still out of alignment with reality and not everyone had rapidplay grades so there was bound to be some variation in strength from tournament grade to rapidplay 'strength'. I was entered with my OTB long play rating of ~1900 which itself is around 100 points+ undergraded because league games are rarely against anyone higher so I have to try to win them them all which in itself isn't practical. I'm also back at 2200 on lichess at this time control which suits me - it's not playing against off-beat stuff or running out of time like 5 0, but nor is it deep calculation. The key components to a strong performance here are tactics (including mating patterns), openings and plans when you get out of the opening as well as healthy slightly aggressive chess. I felt that my openings were good enough, tactics slightly rusty but again good enough. Also at this level in the Chessmood repertoire you'd expect more advanced options (typically e5 going into the Mieses line with h4, Sicilian going into Nc6 lines especially, caro kann, modern, pirc as White, and Rossolimo, Maroczy, Benko mainlines and English as Black with some variations from the advanced sections). I warmed up for about 20 mins with some tactics as suggested in Blunderproof before the first round. Round 1 (Black) Rossolimo Nc3 d3 lines with early castling. I forgot about Bd7 to stop e5, but my opponent didn't know that. I opened the g file for an aggressive attack after f5 and recapturing gxf5. Unfortunately I'd probed with Rb8 earlier and my king was on h8, so I fell for Nxe5 with Qxe5 threatened with a fork. Luckily my opponent then was careless given I had Rg8 lined up against the king and took Bxh3 getting the pawn back. Unfortunately my opponent's initiative was too much and I lost the first round. 0/1 Round 2 (White) was Sicilian Nc6 with Nxb5. I had a great ending knight ending a pawn up. The final position to avoid getting checking (low time for both sides) I allowed my passed pawn on the 7th to be captured by the king, but only at the cost of the knight my king was attacking. 1/2 Round 3 (Black) was another Rossolimo, this time Bxc6 where White had omitted h3 and played a4. Possibly the lack of h3 could have been punished. The opponent got in d4 and opened the d-file and then tried an aggressive sac of Nb5 cxb5 Nxb5, but I fought it off successfully 2/3 Round 4 (White) was another Nc6 Sicilian, this time I went for c4 Nc3 d5 set-up but in the particular line Black got in a6 b5 and broke the bind, the rest was easy 2/4 Round 5 (Black) was against the Maroczy with White playing a4 against a5. I captured on d5 with the bishop. White managed to get a pawn up in a heavy piece 2R+Q ending, but I manged to keep active and it ended in the Philidor position. 2.5/5 Round 6 (White) was against the French 5... Be7 without c5 and Black was developing steady but a little bit passive. However I allowed a swap of queens which put me about a tempo behind with some pawns on the same colour of my bishop and lost the endgame 2.5/6 Round 7 (Black) was against the Smith-Morra going into the c3 sicilian. White tried a3 with the idea of Bd3 without annoying Nb4, but this doesn't work if I can reply Bf5 which I did before e6. Getting tired I messed up with a weakening pawn move not seeing that after the attacked piece moved my own piece would be pinned on the c-file (tiredness last round was mentioned in Blunderproof). My opponent had a number of chances to win as it was very hard to co-ordinate my pieces against his 2B, but I manged to win a R ending. Final score 3.5/7 joint 6th 2059 performance http://chess-results.com/tnr671799.aspx?lan=1&art=1&rd=7&flag=30 So things to take away - need to find time to work a little bit more on getting tactics on top form again. Need to restudy advanced sections of Nc6 sicilian. Maroczy and Rossolimo still need work. However 3.5/7 isn't a bad result by any means.

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Sounds like a good solid result. Got to be happy any time you can gain some rating points. Rossolimo is very popular these days isn't it. Random question/suggestion: have you thought about pairing the Accelerated Dragon with something like the Hyper-accelerated Dragon to keep your opponents guessing?

Looking for a playing patner

Hi there guys. Am 19 years old. I got into chess pretty recently and i recently became 800 rated on chess.com. looking for someone of similar rating range to play with regularly, exchange ideas with and in general improve with. If interested:https://instagram.com/d.o.l.a.r.z_1?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

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Question to anyone who can answer.

So guys theres this stage as soon as the opening is done and both sides have Castled. If there are no weakness for the opponent, what should I do? I randomly move pawns because I don't know what to do ?

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Hello! In my opinion you should find your worst placed piece and look to improve it. You should take space without overextending. Provoke weaknesses and target them. Damage your opponent pawn structure, a damaged pawn structure is a liability in the endgame. When the course middlegame road map is out, you could study it. Hope you improve!

Hello, The stage after the opening is the middlegame (or the mopening like Chessmood members like to call it sometimes ? ) As you mentioned in your other thread, you are rated around 700. For this reason, I would recommend to learn the fundamentals for now. First you need to learn to walk if you want to run one day ? You could check: Chess Fundamentals by John Bartholomew on Youtube Build Chess Habits by Chessbrah Beginner to Chess Master by ChessNetwork I'm sure those playlists will help you to learn something and improve a little! Once you are above 800 (as GM Avetik told you in his answer in the previous thread), you should come back to Chessmood courses :) The next step will be to watch the courses in the Rating Booster section (Tactic Ninja, Mating Matador, BlunderProof, Spartahn Shield) - Openings Principles & Simplified Openings With all those courses, you will improve your chess tremendously! Once it's done, you will be ready for all the other middlegame courses which will help you to understand how to plan in the opening. But before learning how to make a plan in the middlegame, you need to build solid foundations (fundamentals + tactics). PS: It's always cool to watch videos/resources but don't forget to PLAY A LOT for now! It is the most important when you are a beginner ?

And here is one of the main problems of chess, that you're suddenly confronted with possibility and you end up moving the pieces aimless and it gets boring. This is how a lot of people see the game. I'm hoping the middlegame course will shed some light on this, but it's really not easy to guide someone what to do in the middlegame, except teach them the skills used during the middlegame and getting them to look at many example games in order to get a feeling of what to aim for in their opening of choice. A game between novices usually goes one of two ways, moving the pieces and pawns, sometimes quite unhealthily until one of them drops some material, the other one maybe notices and captures it, and gradually it gets reduced to a queen or a rook and they cobble together a mate. The other way is they know some trappy (possibly unsound) line and one of the players falls into it and loses the game. In a typical middlegame, the aim is now to co-ordinate the pieces that you've developed to target weak spots in your opponent's position while ensuring they don't do the same. To do this you'll need to open files and diagonals for your long pieces, find places in the opponent's camp for your knights and keep out the opponent's pieces or push them away with your pawns. Either one side's position becomes compromised and gradually weakens allowing a decisive positional advantage, or an attack on the king. Pretty much most games between equal rated players (tactical mistakes and blunders aside) end with a pawn promoting to a queen first and that's it. Now I say typical because there are both exceptions and to the degree you can attack, defend and counterattack depends often on how quickly you developed in the opening, how sound the development and placement was, and sometimes the style of the players and what the position calls for. It is something you need to get a feel for as much of it is too complicated and even if it wasn't not understood to give any hard rules of what to do beyond a set of often true guidelines. For middlegame skills, typically they fall into tactical motives, positional play and attack and defence with all needing calculation and strategic planning. For a beginner you should be targetting learning tactical motives and checkmate patterns as well as avoiding and detecting blunders since this both brings the most results, but it's also the easiest to learn (not saying all tactics are easy to see). Positional play should be limited to playing healthy moves which don't make unnecessary weaknesses (there needs to be a course on this IMO), as true positional play is harder to grasp and the best play in the world can be undermined by tactical mistakes. Thus usually serious positional play is only studied by those 1800 FIDE or so and above. Attack and defence are also difficult at this point, since an attack usually comes from positional superiority (or sometimes not!) and in weaker player's games this is very hit and miss and usually down to big material inequality. As mentioned before, I would study the tactical and checkmate courses (and practice puzzles) and watch streams of GMs beat opponents of the level and slightly above using sound openings (none of the beating opponents with unsound gambits or bongcloud!). A lot of what to do you'll pick up just by watching and copying. And when you do have some idea of what you are doing, it then becomes easier to formalise the study. Think of learning chess like going to school. We study subjects that improve our ability and knowledge often (which and) to what level depending on where we are. The aim (other than producing well rounded citizens) is to put the student in a place where they could embark on a career or detailed study, but they need to have a broad base first. Learning chess is much the same, you need the basic skills first before you can appreciate the fine points of a top GM's play and replicate it yourself.

Study the course 100 Classical games, reviewing complete games critically is a useful way to learn ideas and techniques. Also make time to go through your own games and look for the areas that can be improved. Experience is the best teacher, so playing a lot rather than just studying in a vacuum should also prove very beneficial.

I need some help

Hi guys. Am relatively new to chess. Been playing for a few months and not improving at all. Can you guys suggest for me a way in which I can study chessmood courses suited to My level (700 rated ? I know am shit) . Any advice is appreciated.

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Everyone was 700 rated once, so think of it as a base level rather than being a bit s**t. The good news is you'll rapidly increase that with the right study. 700 honestly is a little low for chessmood (it's the level you know how to move the pieces, but not a lot else), but that's not to say you won't get something out of it. At this level I would focus on the following things: Playing a lot of games, certainly minimum 5 3 speed, but maybe as you progress 10 0, 15 0 or 15 10 so you have more time to think. After opponent's move ask what were they trying to do, did they make a mistake. Try not to overthink, just look for threats, and keep an eye on checks, captures and threats as well as king safety. In the opening try to move each piece once, and the minimum number of pawn moves to control the centre. Work on avoiding putting pieces and pawns on squares where they can be taken or are under defended (count attackers and defenders and check that you don't give away more valuable pieces during the exchange). Be able to quickly see when the opponent is leaving material on en-prise. Work on noticing the actions of the long pieces (bishops, rooks, queens) so that you don't miss what they are attacking at the end of the their line of attack. Work on noticing that there are multiple directions pieces can attack and not to miss attacks because you didn't consider all the options (a lot of this becomes automatic quite quickly). Work on simple tactics and checkmates - the two courses tactic ninja and mating matador are great for this (try to get the gist, many of the puzzles will be too hard for you right now). The openings 101 course and pawn endings (just enough to play K + P vs K from any position), plus start to look at the simplified whitemood and blackmood openings. After you play check against the course to learn if you were doing the right thing. Finally watch the streams, particularly the ones that start from 800 or so and up. Look at what the opponents do wrong and listen to the commentary. Also see how the GM's development, placing of pieces and speed of development compare and try to absorb this. Also outside of chessmood, I would recommend on YouTube Ginger GM's Speedruns which start from about 800. Even though the openings will be different there is a lot of information there on what players of those ratings do wrong (which you can the avoid and punish opponents for). Also if you're a pro-member posting in the pro channel will mean that GMs will be aware of the post and answer. The main channel while open to all is a little hit and miss for replies. Good luck as you start your journey!

Hi friend, 
Once you know how to play chess, you can benefit from the sections "Rating Booster" and "Simplified ChessMood openings," especially the opening principles course. 
However, while we believe that ChessMood is the best solution for 800-2700 level, for below 800 level ChessMood isn't the best...yet! 
We're preparing now step-by-step courses for below 800 players. 
If you have purchased a membership, I would even recommend canceling your membership, and waiting for the email from us, once we upload the courses for beginners. 
If you're in the 30-day period, you can ask money-back too. 
We're not here for making money, but serving and helping the chess players. 
Right Mood - Right Move! 
CoGro (Constant Growth)

Hello fellow Chessmood user. 700 is a pretty good rating for someone who is new to chess, when I started chess I was 400, when I discovered Chessmood I was 1100. Chessmood (in my opinion) is more suited for 800+ because below that level, most of the content may be to advanced. Most beginners will not follow theory (no offense to beginners who do follow theory). So most of the opening courses will be pretty ineffective at beginner level. However, Blunderproof and Tactics Ninja can suffice for your needs. Try to think as your opponent, think about what they want, then try to sabotage their plan. After they have no counterplay, then you should start thinking about what you want. In the opening, if you don't know theory, follow these four rules and you will be fine. 1. Control the centre 2. Develop your minor pieces 3. Keep your King safe 4. Take space without overextending I hope you improve and when you get better, you can rejoin the Chessmood community!

Benko 3rd move deviations: 3. Nf3

Hi guys! Is 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 covered? I get this in my games and would like to spice it up... but White does not cooperate!!! Thanks Andrea

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Well I meant 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nf3 I still needed to take my coffee!!! :D

Hi Andrea,

As our members mentioned 3…cxd4 is what we play, and either transpose to Maroczy bind, or positions with Fianchetto setups.

Good luck!

Chessboard awareness

What are some good exercises for better board awareness? Something that will build up brain muscles to spot them quickly, instead of going over the opponent's last move (and other pieces).

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I worked with the book Cognitive Chess: Improving Visualization and Calculation Skills by GM Konstantin Chernyshov and it was very helpful! (Maybe best if you already are 1700/1800+ at least)

Was recommended by GM Shankland - choose some simple to solve tactics, find some way to have the location of the pieces read out to you. Solve the problem in your mind.

The obvious one is to solve a lot of puzzles including studies.

Hi Faik,
 

First of all, you need to be at the top of your concentration. Of course, it's tough always to be 100% focused but keeping numbers like 80+ is real. Once you are in a great focus I believe tactical vision is very important. You need to know some common patterns and as well be able to see the ideas. Our courses Tactic Ninja and Mating Matador will help you in a tactical sense, and blunderproof course can be useful as well.

Rossolimo question

Hi guys! I've a question what is the best reply against 1.e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4 Bxc6 bxc6 5 d4 ? Today i start the open championship of my province(state) of Quebec. I am in excellent chessmood and i will have fun. My goal is to get 6/9 its a strong open so we will see. Tx guys have a great day!

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5.d4 is a strategic mistake. The idea of 4.Bxc6 is to compromise Black's pawn structure and play against Bc8 at the expense of handing them the bishop pair. 5.d4 enables Black to repair their pawn structure with 5...cxd4. It also opens the position, which only helps Black's bishop pair. After 6.Qxd4 Qxd4 7.Nxd4 Bg7, Black is already slightly better and can easily finish their development. Good luck with your tournament!

Hi Jonathan,

Peter N provided a very clear explanation. Bishops feel better when a position is opened, and d4 only favors black.

New article: How Quiet Moves can Turn Around a Game

Hello champions! Hello ChessMood family!?
 

Today’s article is written by super GM Pavel Eljanov! 

It’s a super interesting read for players above 2000 rating where Eljanov talks about: 
 

✅The most important skill in chess in his opinion.

✅When should you look for quiet moves.

✅Why it’s hard to notice quiet moves with 2 specific pieces.

…and more. 
 

Check it out here?

https://chessmood.com/blog/quiet-moves-in-chess

After reading, you can share your thoughts under this forum thread.

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Game 2: did I miss the explanation of kh8?

When I think of quiet moves with the King, I'm immediately reminded of Kasparov's Kh2 vs Karpov in the Lyon match way back in 1990. One of my favourite Kasparov games. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty-16QZubRA

Whitemood Opening Games

Hi, Can we please have a Whitemood Openings Games section (simplified version), just like the Blackmood Openings? Rgds, Debasish

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I am sure that in the near future we will do it but it is not a priority in our agenda right now.?

We have other courses in the making but in the meanwhile you can check the games of the streams played by Avetik with the Whitemood and Blackmood repertoires. Also, since almost 90% of the openings are the same as in the advanced White repertoire of the course Rock and Rolling with White were you will find many, many instructive games. 

https://chessmood.com/course/rock-n-rolling-with-white

The Blackmood games was a different case since the repertoire offered in the more advanced course is different.?

chessmood is sufficient ?

if i study all material of chess mood in next 12 to 15 months i will it all definetely right now i am doing the opening course and coureses from rating booster section so my question if finish all material of chessmood and i will play 16 to 20 tournament in next 2 years so can achive 2000 elo from 1403 ?

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Well, that will depend on how well you play. Certainly with the material that we offer, if you study it and understand it, anyone can improve a lot. The rest is up to you, you have to play and win a lot of games in the tournaments that you will play. To learn and deeply understand all the material is not easy but many people have done it with the right studying attitude. 

As for the question if with the Chessmood material is enough, yes the material that we offer will help you to get there, you do not need more sources, we are sure of this but the most important thing is YOU.

You have to study, play, analyze your games, etc… We can provide the best material in the world for you to improve in one site but the rest is up to you.

As an exemple of this fast improvement please check this interview with one promember of Chessmood who went from From 1933 elo to 2400+ in 1 year! only studying Chessmood courses and playing well of course:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRQIvD4agNM

Happy learning and happy improvement Punit!?

Coming Soon "Defense"

Hello, About 2 weeks ago there was "Defense" course in "Rating Booster" section and it was "Coming Soon Aug 17". But suddenly it disappeared. Is there any publish schedule?

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Hello Pan Tsi, ?

The first sections have been published on time.

“Defense” was just a temporary name. The definitive one is Spartan Shield - 7 Key Concepts to Shield your King
 https://chessmood.com/course/spartan-shield

Check it out and happy learning! ?

How to complete 'all' video courses in a year

Hi Y'all Just study them for 60 minutes a day. Minimum. I took out my trusty Excel and with a series of copy -pastes and search-replace, I just discovered that (as of 27/8/22) there is currently: - a total of 61 video courses - with a grand total of 315 hours 40 mins of video learning content. So doing the math of 315.67 divided by 365 gives 52 minutes a day (rounded up to 1 hour) to cover all the content produced so far. Hope this helps someone. Frankie "Durian Defense" Kam Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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Haha interesting statistics Frankie,

However, we are on the way to upload a lot of content and new courses )) For example I strongly believe soon it will be a different number at all ??

Good luck!

But why the focus on completion. It should be on getting the most out of it which might take several rewatches, notes, asking questions, testing stuff out. Continuous improvement not quantity of material.

Introduce yourself

ChessMood Family! 
Let's introduce ourselves so we know each other and keep growing together! 

1. About yourself
2. Your chess level
3. Your goal  

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I am Pascal age 61 from France

My Fide elo rating is 2216

My goal is to win 100 points every 100 games : so first step (Fide master)

Hello ChessMood family!

1. My name is Jay Garrison and I am 46 years old.

2. My current rating is 1724 USCF (1816 peak) and I am unrated with FIDE.

3. I will be the first amatuer over 40 to become a GM. Check out my facebook page @thechessambassador for the full story and to follow my progress! and throw me a like to the page while you are there :)

Brad Pevehouse from Texas USA

My online Elo ranges differently from site to site. I guess I'm about 1366 but it fluctuates wildly. So I really don't know. My goal is to reach 1600 standard rating by the end of this year and move toward my ultimate goal of 2000 and keep it there consistently. When I reach 2000 I will set a new goal. Hopefully I can do this in 2 yrs.

I am Guenter from Austria, 55 years, FIDE Rating 1959
Goal --> to develop from a good to a very good trainer ;-) 
and to look towards 2000 Elo

Hi This is Bhabatosh Chowdhury , I am originally from India and lives in Chicago. 

My last known chess rating in USCF is 2016 ( 12 years ago ) , I dont have FIDE rating . 

I have very little tournament experience but make no mistake I am better than my rating , My goal is to improve my chess, I am not worried about Titles and rating . I love this game and want to improve as much as I could and this is my new start @41 . I strongly believe that success always follows hardwork , so rating/titles will come when it has to come.

Hello ChessMood Family ! I'm glad I found you. 

 I'm  from Athens Greece, age 20. 
My FIDE rating is around 1850 - online I am usually between 2000 -2100 . 
My goal is to one day acquire a FIDE title - I'm sure the stuff here will help me :)

1. Hello all, my name is Faik (35y old) from Bosnia. I started playing chess during 2020 2. My rapid rating on chess.com is ~1750 3. Get (any) FIDE title in next 3 years

Taking the upcoming e3 Benko for a spin

Some interesting things from this line looking at the analysis. First we can ignore ?! on 5... g6 - computers don't understand the Benko Perhaps 9... Ng4? was too soon. The computer wants to play Qa5 which isn't our line, so maybe 9... Bxa6 is better here. Move 14 is interesting. While Bxa6?! must be okay here, I completely missed the idea of e5 and if fxe5 then Qh4 is coming. So after e5 Be3 exf4 Bxf4 Qh4+ g3 Qe7 - there is some nice play on the e-file. Finally the prophylactic 18... Nc7 - the knight doesn't do a lot here right now, so the computer offers c4 and doesn't mind losing the c pawn if White attacks it e.g. Qe2 Nc5 Qxc4 Qb4 Qxb4 Rxb4 getting back the pawn.

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9…Qa5 is very interesting and it would be my first choice too trying to wait a bit more. The idea is to develop and try to exchange Queens or exchange on a6 on the right time, there is some Karpov game in the course with the same idea, if White captures with Bxa6 with Qxa6 we stop White castling. Ng4 is too fast since the QS is still undeveloped. Nice game by the way David!?

Nice one, thanks for posting.

Using affiliate link on existing account

I would like to purchase an annual subscription through this link https://chessmood.com/?r=ElCapa. However, as soon as I log in, the 20% discount is no longer available. How can I take advantage of the 20% offer on my current account?

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Dear Manuel,

Please for this kind of technical questions contact our client support directly. They will gladly help you. Here is the link for contacting them: https://chessmood.com/contact

Thanks a lot!?

Stafford gambit

Dear members, I got into a stafford gambit as follow 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4. Nxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bc5 6. Be2 h5 7. h3 Qd4. Here i went 8. 0-0 and got crushed after 8.. Ng4 I saw that 8. Rf1, is GM Avetik recommendation. But what do you recommend after 8.. Ng4 in my game? Thanks and have a good day.

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8.0-0 is a strong but also risky move. White is winning but needs to defend very accurately - a single mistake can cost the game. I'd recommend to analyze with an engine to familiarize yourself with the concrete attacking and defensive ideas. To answer your question, until now I thought that 9.c3 is the best continuation (I've won many online games with 9...Qd6 10.e5!), but apparently 9.hxg4 followed by g3 and Kg2 is even stronger.

The most important thing to learn is to remember always to play Rf1 and to “never” castle on the king side in the Stafford. That is 8.Rf1 in this move order, next time you will get them!! ??

Anti Sicilian 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Nf3 Nge7

Hello, 

I have a question on the best way to play the following position. I've tried 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Nxd4 7. Qxd4 Nc6 8. Qf2 or even Qd2. 

In the stream today 12/7 and in Gabuzyan's webinar back in April (see link below) 

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Hello Vishnu,

I would say that you are right in the first part. Wait for g6 and then often d4 is a good choice.

And my opinion is no need to be worried about 6...d4.

Up to me, you can go 7.Na4. Now, c5 is under attack. Not really clear how to protect it. And after you can play b3-Nb2 bringing the Knight into the game. 
Overall d3 is not that scary, loses too much time. 
I belive Na4 is one of the best options to react.

mating matador quiz, proposal

Dear coaches, the course is nice. I would propose to add some words about the positions where it occurs (from which opening the mate position arose), could be interesting sometimes.

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Dear Marius,

I believe for some part of our auditory this kind of details may be interesting, however, it will not add any learning part and will be very time-consuming. 
Recently all of our time is going on producing new content and as you have seen we added and continue adding more courses.

Thanks for the idea!
Best Wishes ?

Mating Matador Quiz - 56/242

Dear members, the official solution, Qxh6 and Be5# is show-off but Qg6 also does the job, doesn't it ?

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Yes, Qg6 is fine too. I think I've hit a couple cases where only one solution is accepted. PS: I wasn't even aware of the quiz until reading this post. Should be displayed more prominently!

How did you insert/embed an image? Oh never mind. I answered my own question.

Hi Marius. Yes, Qg6 also does the job. The difference between Qxh6+ and Qg6 is that if you play Qg6, it is not a forcing move and Black can play Queen move with check (for example Qf1+) which in this position just delays the mate by one move. Let me put it another way: The Qg6 move is a 'torture my opponent' move. The Qxh6+ move is an 'execute my opponent quickly' move. After Qxh6+ is played, it is FORCED MATE in 1 move - Black has absolutely no chance whatsoever to play another move ,as any other move would be illegal. So the moral of the story is when you see a forced mate sequence, go for it. In another position, if you played a Qg6 non-check move, Black may have a trick up his/her sleeve. Sometimes we miss our opponent's saving trick move, and our smile turns into a frown. It just so happens that in this position, after you play Qg6, Black has no good moves. But why take chances? Just Check! And Mate next move! Regards Frankie Kam

92 doesn't make sense. The trap ..Qe7 could easily be defended against.

Benko - Italian?

Good day chessmoodians! ? I've seen newsletter about the benko improvements coming up and watched the video - great news, looking forward to it. ? I just remember hearing somewhere that there is this variation 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nc3 a6!? It's kinda like delayed benko? or benoni? ? I heard the term italian defense used as well. This variation looks very cool as a surprise weapon btw. Do you guys know any sources for this opening (I didnt find any books) and will chessmood release something about this in the future? Thanks

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Hey Paulius! 
The idea belongs to our students and our friend Nicolo Pasini. That's why we called it Italian :) 
There are no are sources. 
It's mainly Nicolo, his friends, and Armenians developed it further. 
We might record something about it for 2400+ players. But definitely not now. It is very-very-very advanced.