Question in Rossolimo Variation

Hello I played a game vs a FM a few hours ago and he played our Rossolimo Variation and on move 6 I think the FM didn't play a move that was in the chessmood repertoire. The moves the FM played were: 1.e4, c5 2.Nf3, Nc6 3.Bb5, g6 4.0-0, Bg7 5.Re1, Nf6 6.c3.

Can you please help us find a variation?

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It should transpose I believe to our normal variations. Just castle and you are in our repertoire. c3 is analyzed in move 5 and in move 6 should just transpose, being the main moves covered in the videos.

I think it is good for white to take on c6 after g6

Crossed 2100 on Chess.com

Hello Chessmood Family,

Yesterday I crossed 2100 on Chess.com during a playing session. Originally I tried to follow Coach Avetik's rule of 9 games, but when I won 7 in a row I decided to keep going. I ended up playing 12 games, 10 of which were wins. In one of them, I beat an IM using SLP! 

I couldn't have done all this without watching the Daily Lessons on Youtube, and the Classical Games! They do wonders for your middlegame and I highly recommend both of them. 

Thank You Chessmood Coaches and Family!

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Great! Congratulations. And do not forget to reward yourself ☺️ I have just bought 4 T-Shirts after completing the first iteration of the repertoire videos. Right now I am also fighting for the 2.100 on lichess. The reward will be a blunder hoodie (or was it called differently?).

Well done mate. No easy feat I am stuck just below 2100 on lichess and can't seem to break through. Deffo need to spend more time on middle game course tbh myself

Don’t sleep on the . . .

Happy Pieces, Middle game and Endgame courses.  They are a lot of fun, better for your chess than studying openings for hundreds of hours.  I thought they were for beginners and lower rated players.  Uh, WRONG! ????

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Yes you are right.

So true. In any tournament, chances to play any opening line that you remember until move 20 are close to zero.

Anti sicilian

Hello 

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Welcome to the family Vinay!

I checked your move order and also the section that you mentioned and they are different. What is the exact move order that you are asking for? Because if it is the move order that you wrote, we play differently with d3 instead of d4. If it is the move order of the section that you mention, please update the post and write the correct move order and we will get back to it...

Hi, I found a game, which leads to forced draw, so you could have it as a backup in case your opponent chooses this move order.

Hello Vinay,

This is a bit rare set up for black, but in case of facing it I think white has a good game after 11.f5 e5 12.Nf3

As a Sicilian player, I can tell it's harder to play for black, white pieces are very active. Engine may be doing something, but from human perspective I would always choose white in this spot :-)

Issue in Grand Prix

Coach recently I was playing online and faced this line. Now I do not see any advantage for white side here. Can you kindly share long term plans for white to gain something. According to database black scores decent in this line.

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I also checked my files. This line is not covered. But if I missed something kindly let me know.

This line has already been discussed in the forums. Grand Prix 2...d6 lines - Giri's Chessable course on the Sicilian - ChessMood

It doesn't give any advantage to White, on a contrary Black could be slightly better.

As it has been recommended by Anish the likelihood of facing this line for sure increases.

French 3.Bd3 b6

Question about this position: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Bd3 b6 - looks weird move but french idea to exchange bishop via a6. Here's example game I played https://lichess.org/d5wIinOFZStM , but I dont think i got much from the opening.

I think should have played 3.Nf3 and now 3..Ba6 doesnt quite work 4.Bxa6 Nxa6 5.exd5 gives white substantial edge according to stockfish 12, because of the weakened squares and lack of dev for black.

Any ideas about this, guys?

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I think after b6 white can try to play exchanged line with exd5, while Bd3 is staying very strong pawn on b6 looks like a big-time waste for the black side.

I faced this 3...b6 at the National Open a few weeks ago. I didnt handle the opening very well, but was somehow able to pull a win out. I probably (Definitely heh) got lucky. I will try GM Gabuzyan's exchange idea next time.

I am attaching the game I played for reference.

Taking on d5 and then Bf4 looks interesting to me.  Exchanging on a6 is really slow.

Dragon Question

Hi family, I have been looking at positions in the dragon and looking to get some feedback in this one: 

r1bqr1k1/pp3pbp/2nppnp1/8/3NPP2/1BN1BQ2/PPP3PP/R3K2R b KQ - 1 11

Sorry it's an FEN, I am at work and can't upload a board or anything.  

My notes say "Very sharp position. Next we will aim for Na5, b6 and Bb7 or Ba6. Our c8 bishop is a lot stronger on b7 now because the pawn is on f4 and not f3" 

However, when I am playing it often I will play Na5, white plays 0-0 and then I capture on b3 and I can't ever get the b6/Bb7 plan to work, and it seems Bd7 is more natural to my eye.  Does anyone have any experience with this or can offer any feedback? 

Thank you!

Matt

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No need to rush with capturing on b3 the Bishop isn't running away. After .....Na5 you could follow up with b6 and Bb7 before capturing on b3 or sometimes you can dispense with capturing altogether and go ....Rac8 intending ...Nc4.  You should be able to find Model Games played by Chris Ward and Sergei Tiviakov with this setup.

Thank you Kevin, you always have such great answers. I will look into these players! 

anti-sicillian move order Q

Hi everyone! Just played a game which started:

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bc4 e6

Was wondering why the 5...e6 is inaccurate here? Does anyone know? Engines suggest you play a d4 rather than d3 in response, but again I can't see a clear reason why.

Grateful for any thoughts.

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It is understood that anytime black develops e6 and g6 (in this system or any similar setups) white should rush for d4, resulting in an immediate exposure of the d6 weakness, which white will keep asking questions about by means of something like Bf4, Qd2 and Rd1 or 0-0-0. 

The Bc4 is now blunted so the f5 fxg6 plan isn't as strong since there is no need to open the h-file as the pin is broken. d3 is a bit passive aiming to hold e4 while a kingside attack takes place (not so easy now) and doesn't fit well with e5. Thus d4 opens a front against the centre.

How to find the right coach recent article

GM Avetik

Thanks for your comprehensive article on finding the right chess coach with lots of good points.

Interestingly, just today I was thinking of my own chess coaches (& chess study & training) & thought I would add a timely comment in the light of your article.

I have been "lucky" to have had two good chess coaches, but even they have serious limitations, that I shall briefly mention!

I will also add that I am a qualified Squash Rackets Association coach (level one for beginners, but I ceased actual practical squash play & coaching a few years ago) & I have had teacher training experience (though I never completed my teaching qualification exams, I did a lot of work toward that). As an amateur (lowly rated) chess player, I have even coached beginner junior chess players (in the main, an enjoyable activity!). Right now, I am creating my own beginner chess course (based off a beginner chess course I made about 6 years ago).

So, one of my main points, is that I believe all coaches should have had at leat some teacher training experience or undertaken a recognised qualification for coaching. Many turn to coaching with no idea of teaching, learning & educational  practices, which, imho, is not good. In squash, I myself, took coaching from some fine international squash players, who only coached to fill their time & make money & were not even good coaches & this happens in chess too, as you know & state! Very sad.

I also believe it is important that a coach has experience of actual play at & above the level they coach at, but high rated players certainly do not necessarily make good coaches. Now back to my chess coaches.

My first chess coach, taught me the openings he played as a very good experienced chess club player (& secretary of the local adult chess club & organiser of the junior chess club). I learnt lots, but when my learning progress slowed down, he told me it was because I was not doing what he told me!! Well, need I say more? A nice guy, but not a good, supportive, helpful coach....

My next coach was an online coach (via FB Messenger calls), a WIM Olympiad chess player. She taught me her specialised openings (1.b3 as White & Grivas Sicilian as Black), which was very enjoyable, but she had played these almost exclusively her whole chess career & I found I kept running into new lines all the time when I played these, especially as I had no previous experience of these. Lastly, I have to say that neither of these coaches, gave me a defined structured customised (for me), training plan & schedule, which, imho, is a basic essential requirement for good coaching. I can go on & on about this point & many more, but I will leave it here for now.

Now on to Chess Mood coaching. Is it good? Well, it might be for some, but, so far, since I have been here, I am not yet convinced it is for me! I paid my next subscription here recently & I told myself, I would spend more time & effort with the resources here, but the weeks go by & I still find it hard to do this! Well, this should give me a prompt to do better. Briefly, I have had little success with a training partner or coach here & I feel all alone & yet (strangely?!), that it is simply up to & down to me to get any improvement & that is actually fine for me! I like challenges!

Alright, onwards & upwards, COGRO, right mood, right move, no hoodie blunders!

Best coaching & play y'all! :-)

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Alas, the two links are not connecting for me.  It is as if the website disappeared.  Perhaps some data limit was reached?

@Richard_Dickinson  Some difficulties I think with Chessmood which you might be experiencing.

1> It takes a lot of time and effort - it's not just here are some resources and you'll be great as you dip in and out. I know you know this of course. I feel there is a little bit of overexcitment in the marketing, what is here is extremely good but only if you can put in the time. I think once you get past the 'Crush your opponent with this opening' excitement (which sometimes happens of course), it's very honest and down to Earth and there feels like genuine interest in your improvement. Chess takes a lot of time and regular work to get better once you cross over the 1800 boundary.

2> I think there is sometimes a bit of a divide on the type of member who can spend 5+ hours every day on their study, and those that are only able to get in 5 hours a week. While the first category are the budding champions of tomorrow, there has to be the recognition that many players cannot put that sort of time into chess. Chessmood has both sorts, but listening to the interview on Sunday, it was all very well mentioning Anand spending 8+ hours a day to encourage the student to put a lot of time in, but that's completely impractical for most (particularly as anyone living in a high cost country will on average be scraping the pennies from a chess career unless they get really really lucky to get into the top 20/30 compared to studying and putting that time into say IT, law, medicine or some other career. Add in already got a job, a family, and getting 5 hours in a week can be a task (I'm lucky to have a very understanding and patient (just about) wife, but once we have kids, spending a couple of hours each evening on chess simply won't wash). So I think there needs to be a little bit of thought (and to be fair this is something across chess) in how best to help those that have limited time - so short cuts, study optimisations and prioritising material - they might not end up a strong GM, but many of us would settle for master. Unfortunately much of the education and advice around chess is for those who have a lot of time coming from those who spent a lot of time (to be fair this is one of the purposes of the chessmood openings not being highly theoretical choices, and the call with a GM to tailor study plans). Hopefully in the interview series there will be some examples of coaches who took a late (18+) starter in chess and got them to FM/IM despite a full time job - that would be interesting to see the differing approach from the young budding next-WC coaching. I think chess in general though needs to serve those amateur players better as so many end in the 1500-2000 bracket with no hope or help getting off that plateau.

3> Community interaction is a little limited which why you feel on your own unless you reach out. I still think official discord, etc would help a lot here. Sometimes having a quick conversation with a fellow student can spur you on. I would say to take part in the Saturday tournaments as there is a fair bit of camaraderie between the regulars.

Richard, in this many years we have many-many big success stories, people who've raised 200, 300, 500 and 600 points in a few months. 
ChessMood is just a source to help everyone who wants to improve. 
The rest is personal effort. 

When I see these huge successes, I still think, ChessMood role is just maybe 50%. 
It was their determination, action quality of their training and how they spend time on training. 

We started "chess growth hacking" interviews series, and I'm going to interview everyone who succeed. So everyone who don't, will see how many things they do differently. 

Also there are cases, when hard work payoff a little later. 
And I truly hope, this will be in your case. 

@Richard_Dickinson

From observation many students are obsessed with rapid improvement and memorising Opening lines. The role of understanding Openings and ' Chess understanding' in general is often minimised but it is vital, in my experience if you cannot properly articulate what you are doing or trying to do in the Opening or Middle Game then it points to a training need. Take the following position:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.h4: Many of our members are having big problems coming to grips with this line, and understandably so as the position is strategically and tactically very complex.

My challenge to you is in addition to memorising the chessmood lines move by move, take a step back and articulate your thoughts on the position after 8.h4, be as specific and detailed as you like and post them here for feedback. This exercise is similar to annotating and analysing your own games and will help you fix such problems as getting move orders right etc. 

Thank you!

Dear ChessMood, I am glad to report that with help of your expert support and positive chess philosophy I succeeded to become a Vice Champion of my country in Rapid chess! It happened quite unexpectedly for me right after the end of the COVID tournament fasting, for I have left behind me almost 200 players, many of them experienced masters or young, fast improving players with all together 6 wins, 3 draws and without single loss. Thank you, coach Avetik, coach Hovhannes and all others for giving me the chance of reaching the best individual success of my entire chess life:  https://chess-results.com/tnr556748.aspx?lan=13&art=1&rd=9&fed=CRO&fbclid=IwAR24GUyfbNhqqgIKaWRel-cs49lBKn5_uj11x53Lm2HgtbcA0wKmZnfNtZ8

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Martin, this is indeed a great feat! Very impressive! We are very happy to hear about your 2nd place! If you have the time it would be great if you can post some games with some comment. I suppose that you analyze your games anyways... 

Congrats!!!!

Congrats Martin!

Proud of you and very happy to hear about your success. Good luck in the future and let us know about your next victory since we are really excited to know about your chess growth!

Wow Martin! 
You've left many IMs behind you. Congraultions! 
Such posts are like fuel that adds to our motivation to make ChessMood even a better place. 
Thank you! 

Well done martin, I'm envious. :)

Congratulations!!

Congratulations Martin! It is a great feat, I know Croatia has some strong titled players you have left behind!

Matter of Taste!

Lets imagine a situation. You were kidnapped. The kidnapper gives you a time machine and ask you to do one of the things-

a) To meet Karpov in 1983 and show him the Berlin Defense in order to withstand Kasparov                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    b) To meet Kasparov in 1999 and show him the Scotch opening in order to withstand Kramnik.                 Note that-                                                                                                                                                                                           You cannot call the police in the past as he doesn't know what you are saying.                                                    If you don't do anything, kidnapper will kill you

I just want to know the likes of your

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Well in my case, this is easy, I will go and teach the Scotch to Kasparov, I am from Chessmood, Scotch is my weapon and my pride!

Kasparov was a top exponent of the scotch already i think at this point.

I do not mind playing scotch but only line which I dislike is h4 one. I do not like to play super messy chess like in h4.

It will be wonderful if chessmood coaches can provide a second weapon  instead of h4 line. Any other line which is simple to understand

But, it is practically very nice. I have lost only 2 games out of the 12 games I got to play.

I would teach Kasparov the Scoth game, and especially the Mieses variation. 4. ... Nf6 !

I would tell Karpov about the Berlin

Being Anthony Miles

Now Sethu's e4 courses has been released its creating a lot of headache just to see the short and sweet only don't you guys have any problem? if i know that my opponent has his courses then probably i have to be anthony miles (you understood probably)  Specially against such mainlines like Taimanov how one can find such g4 move, against the najdorf i saw a queen sac i was not aware of from black side and against acc dragon the Na4 move and lots more. How you people gonna deal against these

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Article: Rook vs Pawn Endgames: 8 Must-Know Concepts

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"Out of all chess endgames, which is the most frustrating one for you? 

If you’re like most chess players, you’d probably say “Rook endgames!”"

for me, the most frustrating endgames is same-colored bishop endgames (bishop + pawn vs. bishop). The problem is it is a little hard to remember when you can promote the pawn (assuming the pawn is quite advanced). The annoying part is that sometimes when you get really excited like "Wow! I'm in a winning bishop endgame because of blah blah blah", and then you notice that you just missed a free diagonal for your opponent. :( 

Rook endgames, (at least for me) are not that difficult. You just have to remember the basic rook endgames, and then try to get to one of them even if you are in a different type of position. 

Any thoughts about what I said? 

Na4!? in Modern Maroczy

I was recently checking Sethu's Repo against accelerated dragon and he recommended this line. I do not know how to respond against it and I also did not saw any video on it in chessmood course.

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Look at the scoring of white here. more than 67%. The main plan of a4 follow by Qa5 is stopped here. and black can't get his pawn breaks also. Any suggestion will be useful.

Hi Abhi,

If I am not mistaken when white plays with f3 instead of Be2 aren't we going for the regular Maroczy already without playing a5?

But when white has played f3 (not Be2) the move in the course is 10....Be6 not 10...a5

Modern Maroczy video 37

Very interesting discussions. 
First of all 6...Nd4 is the wrong move order, which was explained in the course. 
We play 6...d6. 
After 7.f3 we have options, and after gaining more and more experience, I recommend switching to Classical Maroczy Bind, where White's early f3 move isn't the best move. 

Positions to solve after studying the endgame course

Chessmood team,good afternoon,hope u guys r doing well,i was wondering it would be much better if u guys provide pgn study material of endgame positions after viewers study the endgame course,or else u can also suggest an endgame excercise book,but i think first option will be awesome

Thank u

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For Endgames I have some suggestions for you. You can pick one which suits you.

1. 100 Endgames You Must Know by   Jesús de la Villa. 

2. Silman's Complete Endgame Course by Jeremy Silman. 

3. The 100 Endgames You Must Know Workbook: Practical Endgame Exercises for Every Chess Player by   Jesús de la Villa. 

4. Fundamental Chess Endings  Book by Frank Lamprecht and Karsten Müller

5. Secrets of Pawn Endings Book by Frank Lamprecht and Karsten Müller

Personally I love these books. I only read two books in this series but my endgame knowledge improved tremendously. The amazing thing about this series is that author combined the theoretical knowledge with so much practical examples. The presentation of book make it so easier to understand. Author goes from very basics to intermediate and advanced things. So I highly recommend checking these series. 

https://www.newinchess.com/the-modern-endgame-manual-vol-1-8

I only did these two.

• Queen and pawn endgames.
• Rook Endgames Basics Concepts. 

If you want to improve your practical Endgame knowledge then I highly recommend going through 

Capablanca's Best Chess Endings: 60 Complete Games but for that also try to find a nice mate. Because I finished this book with teammate and I do everything with my teammates.

Reason behind not recommending Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual

I know a lot GMs and IMs and other players may suggest to go through it and it's very famous book also. I admit it's one of the best Endgame book ever written but I do not think it's designed for below 2000 players. You know it's good to complete those books in which our grasping power can be above 80% but in this endgame manual yes you can understand concepts but the examples which are given in the book for application are quite complex so somewhere you will miss some resources or miscalculate and a lot more. That's why I suggested the above books which are sufficient for you to become 2200+ 

I would suggest looking at all the books recommended by Abhi as well as Dvoretsky's Endgame Manual. Even coach Gabuzyan recommended it by saying if you find it too hard then you come back to it later.

Hello Ritvik,

here is how I (FIDE ELO around 2.000, adult-improver with a study time of 8 hours per week) combine the ChessMood Courses with other material:

1) Theoretical endgames (e. g. Knight vs. pawns):

I use the app "Total Chess Endgames (1600-2400)" by Chess King on my phone. The app has the same user interface like the more known "CT-Art" for tactics.

My experience is that the puzzles have the right level of difficulty. From my point of view, it makes a lot of sense, to challenge your knowledge form the ChessMood courses through these puzzles. And I would suggest to do in the "Woodpecker" way meaning in around 7 iterations. 

Right now, I am practicing my Knight vs. Pawn knowledge in that way. The app includes the following puzzles for that topic:

ChessKing 12.1. Knight against pawns
12.1.1. Knight against pawn (21)
12.1.2. Knight against two pawns (49)
12.1.3. Knight against three pawns (3)
12.1.4. King, knight and pawn against king (6)
12.1.5. Knight and pawn against pawn (28)
12.1.6. Knight and pawn against two or mare pawns (21)
12.1.7. Endings with a large number of pawns (21)

To good thing is that I have my phone always with so that I can easily practice while being on the metro, having a short break at work or while waiting for someone.

2) General endgame play

I started with ChessMood's Instructional Classical Endgames and later with Capablanca's best chess endings by Chernev (a ChessMood recommendation) because I was a bit tired of siting in front of the screen and there wanted to work with a book and board.

However, I felt that I was lacking some more structured background. So a started with the very classical "Endgame Strategy" by Shereshevsky. I think the principles given and illustrated in that book help to get more out of Instructional Endgames.

And one more thing I can highly recommend: Do watch the webinars that cover the closed tournaments on endgames (and even better - take part in these closed tournaments).

Good look,

Nils

Rate Your Endgame is a good test book (also with instruction), and it's based on actual endgames, not theoretical ones.

Hey Ritvik! 
We're now working on a feature, that after each course will test your knowledge! 
Hopefully it'll help more than just having a PGN file. 

2nd OTB Tournament Report

I have just finished my second Over The Board tournament after eight months of COVID pause. I have entered with a rating around 1780 and played 7 games in the section A >= 1700. All my seven opponents were stronger, ranging from 2012 to 2311. 

In the months leading to this tournament I mostly worked on my Chess Mood Openings. Now I realize, this was a mistake, as either main lines were avoided or in two cases where main lines were played I didn’t guessed them ahead of the match and was reviewing other openings.

Interestingly, all games were played with 1.e4 while recently (last two months) I was working intensively on my black 1.d4 repertoire :(

There are also some good news. My result was 5 points out of 7, which will give me about 150 ELO points raise as I stil have 40 coefficient.

I have spotted a few weaknesses in my game: calculation, endgame and concentration. For this reason I am canceling my next tournament due in three weeks in order to work exclusively on my middle and endgame. 

My plan is to play >= 1900 tournament in September and to be successful I need to step up. 

Now in order for you to understand my decision related to the openings I will post next screenshots from each round.

I would also like to hear, what do you think about my preparation for the next tournament. 

And finally I might call the coach Avetik to use my yet unclaimed consultation hour for pro members. 

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I think opening prep done correctly is important, but it's not a magic bullet.

I'm improving and the opening study has helped me, but I'm starting to get to the point where other factors are becoming the limitation (rather than choosing the wrong plan).

Start with analysis of your games, what were the main factors that caused you to not get better results (including those that went unpunished) and start to work on those.

Also to say 5/7 is excellent against much higher rated competition.

This is the 1st round. I am playing with White. There was no time to prepare for the opponent as pairing were published 15 minutes before the start of the round.

My opponent is playing Pirc Defense with black and quickly goes off the theory in the 4th move.

I played 5.Be2 Bg7 6.g4?! h5! 7.g5?! and ended up in not so good position out of the opening.

Stockfish suggest: 5.Qe2 c6 6.Nf3 Bg7 7.O-O-O O-O 8.Kb1 b5 9.e5 It looks like the main idea against such plan is to break in the centre with e5.

Later on I won the game mainly due to better calculation. Opponent went for some short tactics I was able to defend against, while slowly improving my pieces.

There is an interesting side story to this game. We have played with the wrong colours. The reason for that was that they used an unusual way to display the pairings in alphabetical order instead of by boards. The mistake was spotted by the arbiter when we delivered results. It was too late for my opponent, the results was confirmed :)

This is 2nd round. I am playing as Black I had time to prepare for the opponent. I expected him to play Veresov Attack. No luck, opponent went for Accelerated Dragon, choosing a non-critical line.

Here my opponent went for a very interesting setup: f4, Bf3, Rf2, Rd2, Qe2 and Rad1.

On my side I haven't activated the pieces and got into a depressing position. At one point of time I could sacrifice a pawn, to get a counter-play. Unfortunately I haven't done it and lost miserably without a fight.

This was a big lesson for the future and I promised myself never to go down like that again.

In the 3rd round I played as White against an opponent that is playing mostly Caro Kann and Sicilian with g6. As I have quite good results in the Caro Kann I reviewed the Closed Sicilian lines with g6. Finally this didn't help much, as my opponent played Caro Kann :(

Unfortunately (my fault) I didn't remember ChessMood recommendation 12.Qc2 Bg6 13.Bxg6 hxg6 14.Qd3. Instead I played 12.Ne5 Nxe5 13.Bxe5 Bg6 14.Bxg6 hxg6 15.h3

The resulting position is still a bit better for White. Further on I got a protected passed pawn and control of the only open file with my Rooks. But since I didn't watch the course on open-files I rushed too quickly instead of first improving the position of my King.

So the Rook and pawns ending  become drawish.

But this is not the end of the story. My opponent was not aware that after 40 moves there is no 30 minutes added. The only addition was 30 seconds after each move. So he run out of his time. When pointed out to the fact he become quite upset as it was made clear by the judge that he lost. He even stopped playing for a couple of rounds afterwards.

I believe all this issues are more like rookie mistakes. However as my opponent was quite old  I attribute this to not playing OTB chess for so long.

In the 4th round as White again I was out of theory on the 4th move. 

The game continued rather calmly 5.b3 Bg7 6.Bb2 Nf6 7.d3 O-O 8.Nf3 d6 9.O-O, nothing to worry about you may think.

However then Black come out with quite an interesting setup e5, Ne8, Nc7 and Ne6 and as I haven't progressed much I ended up in a worse and quite depressing position without activity.

But I learned the lesson from the second game and I sacrificed my Knight for two pawns and some activity. 

There was not enough compensation to warrant the sacrifice. However, the pressure got under the skin of my opponent and in the time pressure she blundered. I won and was very happy with my play.

In the 5th round I played with Black. My oponent plays all kinds of sicilians and anti-sicilians so there was too much so I skipped the preparation.

After 7th move in Rossolimo I am already out of preparation.

After the game I checked the mega database and actually White scores pretty well after 7.a4. The line is played by top grandmasters, so it is a bit pity that it is not covered in the CM course.

I played unusual, disruptive but valid move 7...c4 with the idea to sacrifice the pawn after 8.e5 Nd5 9.dxc4 Nb4 10.Qe2 Bf5.

There is another way to play 8.e5 Nd7 9.e6  Ne5 10.exf7+ Nxf7 11.O-O cxd3 12.cxd3 Bf5, which gives Black at least equal chances.

As in the previous game I was happy to give a pawn for the activity. Again the opponent bended under pressure and I was able to win in the endgame.

In the 6th penultimate round I faced the strongest opponent with Black in Modern Maroczy Bind.

Quickly, by the move eleven I was  already out preparation. On top, h-pawn push for sure looked dangerous over the board.

We continued 11...Be6 12.Bh6 a4 13.Bxg7 Kxg7 14.h5 Qa5 and ended up in a very sharp position.

In the last round I was playing with White. Again I didn't guessed correctly in my pre-game preparation what my opponent will play. I was expecting Scotch and we ended up in French.

He went out of the main theory with the 10...Be7 and and after 11...Nfd7? he was basically lost. White has advantage in development and more space. 

I managed to gain material in a few moves. This was my easiest win of the tournament.

@Robert_J.

Thanks a lot for this post! Very nice of you to share your OTB experience with us. I particularly enjoyed it a lot and I only regret not having all the full games. What can I say, I like the whole story always, and your battles were very interesting... Looking forward to next installment of your adventures! And We are looking forward to your one on one call finally.

Robert congratulations and thank you for kind words!!! 
I would highly recommend you now, to spend more time on middlegame and endgame courses. 
1 classical game each day, spend time on must-know endgames and other middlegame courses. 
Soon we're also launching tactical mastery course, which is gonna be a game-changer! 

Made 2200 in lichess rapid

Finally made 2200 in rapid on lichess.

Don't know if that would translate into breaking 2000 or 2100 FIDE when I can finally play over the board (safely) again. It does feel that even 2000s blunder quite badly which is rare for players 1800 and above over the board, as well as a lot of the points gained by 'eeking' (becoming a big fish by eating lots of small ones). On the other hand, I've had one or two games against 2300s where I was losing throughout the game and didn't even realise it was so one-sided until the end (I guess that's a whole new level to get to).

Current schedule is 2-3 15 0 games a day (+- 200 points) which I'm finding is excellent training, however I imagine at some point it's going to be hard to find opponents or those I do find I bunched up into a small area at the top (getting an opponent anything from 2000 to master).

Once again thanks to the Chessmood team and members.

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This is fantastic David!! Very good to hear that! CONGRATULATIONS!! Now the level will increase a bit more, keep on training and studying as you are doing! I hope to reply soon to your message when you reach 2300!!!

Hi David!

Perfect, well done! Congratulations! Keep growing and let us know about your further achievements!

Hey David! Congratulations!!! 
Man, we believe, that if you spend less time on forum on writing very big posts, you would be 2400! 
Seriously! 
Congratulations, keep pushing forward and thanks for the nice words! 

Rossolimo - 6. Nbd2?

Hi everyone,

Last night I played an OTB classical game at my local chess club as Black.  After 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7, my opponent played 6. Nbd2.   CM explores the main line 6. h3 and explains why 6. Nc3 is a mistake but I could not figure out during the game the downsides of 6. Nbd2.  It seems like a good move as the knight was better posted on c4 eventually than c3 (he eventually anchored the knight with a4, preventing ....b5 kicking the knight.   I will annotate the whole game and check some games in my database later today, but thought I would share this experience with others.   - Sarathi   

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Sarathi - Classical Games (lichess.org)

fyi - I have annotated the Rossolimo game I referred to above with 6. Nbd2.  

Hi Sarathi. 
When you see some knew moves like Nbd2, or a4, our general plan is 0-0, Ne8, Nc7. 
Then whether Ne6,Nd4, or e5 then Ne6. 
Also at some point you can play b5 and start aggression in the queenside, using the B on g7. This you can do when you played without e5.  

HAPPY GURU POURNNAMI CHESSMOOD TEAM

This message is for the chessmood team of teachers,today in india we remember our Guru's(teachers) for all their hardwork,and time they give to their students,i thank each and every chessmood teacher,hope u guys are safe and fine,Avetik is one of my best inspirations,thank you avetik and GM Gabuzyan for helping me undrestand myself in the1 to 1 call,Have a great day and year ahead guys

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Guidance For Chess Improvement

My Name is Shlok Mali. Birth Year is 2012. 

Daily How Many Hours I have to Do practice ? Which Types of Study I have to do ?

Guide me to Improve my Chess Games.

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Hi Shlok,
Based on my experience, everyone has different things they need to work on depending on the time that they can devote to chess. 
There's no one sure shot answer. 

I think for the reasons stated you should arrange to talk to with a coach with your parents present. I'm sure the GMs here have had that conversation many times before and could advise you better than I can.

As much as I don't want to dampen any dreams of being a top player, there are so many up and coming talented players, and only a few will make it. Thus unless exceptional talent is displayed you will need to balance it properly with your education. That way if the chess doesn't work out, you still have a career to fall back on.