Chess forum by Grandmasters

Black Lion

I have a question about whites play against the Black lion. As far as I understood from the white opening repertoire, we play 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3…This sequence does not match the recommendation against the black lion which is Nge2, g3, Bg2 b/ the knight already moved to f3 in move 2. Pls. help me find the right sequence, where am I wrong? Best Regards, Kurt

Replies

How does black enter the Lion after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 ?  If 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nd7 we delay Nc3 and play the sharp 4.Bc4! and it's not so easy for black.

Hi Kurt,

💪😀Can you please write the exact move order that you are referring to? Because without further details, we believe that Peter is right…😀 (As he usually is…💪)

A brilliant move

Why this is a brilliant move? Can smb help me with this question?

Replies

😀Because White will have a massive lead in development even after losing the rook. In the best line the King side pieces will be undeveloped and White should be able to attack at least if he is a very good player. That should be the position resulting: (See the pic)😀

About french Attack

Dear sir!

after 1.e4 e6 d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.E5 Ng8 white plays 4.Be3 how we should continue here

in blackmood opening this was not mentioned and often players are playing this line.

thankyou so much sir 

Replies

Seems to be a rare move played only about 2% of the time.  The computer says Nd7 which makes sense because Be3 temporarily stops the typical freeing move c5, and Nd7 allows us to play c5.

Scotch Advanced - 14. Qc2 (22.b4)

Dear GM Avetik,

thank you for this wonderful idea (22.b4) and the brilliant analysis. 

I learned so much more than "just" a variant and got a deeper understanding of opposite-colored bishop endgames.

Recommendation!

Heartfelt

Matthias 

Replies

😍🤩Lovely comment Matthias!! 😍😊

Super! 
Thank you very much :) 

Indeed, through our courses, including openings, I tried to teach chess overall. Not just opening moves or novelties. 
And I was very happy to see this post. 

Thanks, Matthias! 

Search for key words

How can I search e.g. for key words e.g. for black lion? 

Replies

Hi Kurt! You can just write the word in the search box on top of the forum. Then you will find the word if it is on the subject of the post.

In this case if you write "lion", you will get no hits. I do not recall any post on the Black Lion, but in the Philidor course it is dully covered.

One of the things that is very useful is when people write the move order in the subject because you can find the post writing a concrete move in the variation.

😀Good luck in your search!😀

How to increase my Rating?

How to increase my Rating?

Replies

Your rating will only increase once you start improving your chess. So a better question should be "How to improve my chess". You'll find lots of articles about chess improvement here: https://chessmood.com/blog Check Chessmood's Study Plan and work seriously on what is important at your current level and you'll improve tremendously your chess (and also your rating as a consequence of your hard work 👍)

There are many ways to improve your rating, here are a few that I found helpful. 

1.  Relax. I was studying all the time, and I wasn't playing chess, I was taking a test. It hindered my ability to be flexible. I wasn't playing the best move because I was trying too hard to remember the “right” move. 
2.  Take breaks when losing. It is easy to want to end on a win, but losses bring about more losses. If you lose a few games in a row it might be time to take a break.
3.  Play at the right time. If you are playing at 3 in the morning, then you will likely not be playing at your best. If you are playing while you are distracted, you might lose games you should have won.
4.  Tactics. I know that this is one you will see in many videos/articles on this topic, but tactics are highly important. A lack of tactic knowledge might be the reason that you are blundering. Also, the way that you study tactics matters. I suggest studying puzzles by topic, rather than random puzzles such as on Lichess. 
5.  Accept that it might take a little while to get better. Many people claim to have rapidly gotten a ridiculously high rating, but it might not be that way for you depending on how much time you have to study, and various other factors. 
6.  Focus on getting better at chess and not rating. This one is easier said than done but know that if you are studying the right way, you will get better, and eventually you will see results. 
7.  Remember that your value is not connected to your chess rating. I have heard many podcasts about people who quit chess for a while because they evaluated themselves based on their chess rating. 

   I hope that this helps, and if you need a sparring partner, my chess.com name is TheCheckmateDragon. 

The best games of April, 2023, and the prizes

Hello ChessMood family, hello champions and future champions! 
Welcome to the "Best games of April, 2023" competition.
Under this post, we invite you to post the best games that you will play this month. 

The Prize fund is 350K MoodCoins which is equal to 350$.  

The 1st prize  - 150K
The 2nd prize - 100K
The 3rd prize-  50K
The 4th prize- 30k
The 5th prize- 20k

Good luck with your games and keep the Right Mood! 
#ChessMood
#Right Mood - Right Move 

P. S.
Here are the winners of March, 2023:

A.D.
Vladimir Bugayev
Francesco Brighenti
Shaun Pinto
Marius Cornee

Replies

A game in the Scotch, you may notice that I went for a repetition, because I was on tilt, and lost 6 games and won only 1 in my session, losing the last game in horrible fasion - up a queen. But, I managed to pull myself in and won very nicely - https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/74184902759?tab=review This is the Game Review

Sicilian Canal blitz win with sweet finish with pawn mate 1-0 (030423) in 22 moves.

Next game...Win in Giuoco Piano Hungarian defence 1-0 8 move mate 100% game accuracy (5 min blitz) I literally cannot do more to win a prize or a mention here, but I know I won't get one even though I regularly show great sparkling games of chess :-) Alright, I clearly acknowledge there are many other fine games here, mais chaque un a son gout & I am perhaps a little biased....still Right Mood Right Move...right! :-) Happy chess all!

An attack swiftly executed with a bishop sac on an FM https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/74358246631?tab=analysis

Some random ~2500 caught in my opening prep! https://www.chess.com/game/live/74359356911

My best games of April here: Trying out the bishop opening https://www.chess.com/game/live/74278246223 Caro slaughter with Bd3 https://www.chess.com/game/live/74280794415 Crazy attack in french Bd3 https://lichess.org/9YINx9fQ0nbR From classical OTB https://chess-results.com/PartieSuche.aspx?art=36&id=4700605 Another OTB this one I won rather cleanly in the endgame https://www.chess.com/a/QsPteFcSZT2S?tab=analysis Endgame grind after weird opening https://www.chess.com/game/live/76341270761 Crushing in GP vs a6 https://www.chess.com/game/live/76345857089

https://www.chess.com/game/live/74092222129 One of my best games

Good game against the Owen defense. https://lichess.org/spptT8Sv

A nice win in scotch game: https://lichess.org/IE7d1YTNJ9eN & accelerated dragon: https://lichess.org/cpFl5b3Yyftg

Nice win in bird opening https://lichess.org/w1SqXLN2O5Ce

https://lichess.org/dAdgttEWUsj0

French advance https://www.chess.com/live/game/74688185971

One of my best win !! https://lichess.org/9iTTafRVAkSx

Power to the pieces! https://www.chess.com/live/game/74802178599

https://lichess.org/tlLAmyeV/black I played complex positional game and won against higher rated opponent.

https://lichess.org/e5OsvNvm Brilliant comeback in endgame with pawn down in endgame one of my good games

French exchange with Bxh3 idea https://www.chess.com/live/game/74889065493

https://lichess.org/IgyrgMns

https://lichess.org/PC6j87nk/white#47 A combinative and brave game against Sicilian Najdorf!

I had the chance to play the McCutcheon gambit in the final round of a big otb tournament last WE ! I got into the prize zone with this win ! Thanks a lot ChessMood ! After 5 weeks here , I have won prizes in every tournaments I participated in the last 3 weeks ! My record otb is 11 wins 3 draws and 2 losses only in my last 16 games ! The blunders courses is the one that helped me the most followed by the speed boat course and of course the blackmood opening as I started playing the French . I was already a Dutch player but classical . https://lichess.org/study/Te0yYvsg/eQ3uTqEG. I was travelling with 3 IM from Canada and I showed them my game . They said h6 was dubious but that I played a great game after that! It s French attack I answered ! My coach being one of them did not argue with me this time as usually he s saying , no French is defense not attack ! 😁

https://www.chess.com/game/live/75034469333 attacking chess, i need to work, still okay game

I think this was a good game, except for the fact that on move 16, I blundered 16...Bg5+! Which gives him a winning position, but except for that, nice game defeating the Scandinavian with our line - 3. Nf3! I have used this, and got a winning position out of the opening every single time! This is the game - https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/75084799843?tab=analysis

It was a Trompowsky main line: 2... Ne4. It was a pretty good game there were no blunders and I held my advantage throughout the Middlegame and Endgame. It was winning won positions, however, sadly, since it was a blitz game, I lost on time. However in the position where I lost on time, I had a winning endgame with a strong passed pawn. Even though I didn't play the "Crushing the d4 sidelines" recommended line or the Dutch defence. I used some concepts in the winning won positions course. It was a good game. https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/75099751117?tab=review 

A good game with our 6.b4! against the 5...g6 line in the Nc6 Sicilian - https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/75169901329?tab=review (Preformed at 3050!)

https://lichess.org/xNZafPFEkOpx SLP - I was down a piece and under a heavy attack but sac'ed a bishop to grab 2x pawns and open the center, the resulting attack was overwhelming.

found Nge2!! brilliancy thanks to chessmood tactic course. pretty good game (at least for me 🙃)

https://lichess.org/HCI9LHwGeJfO Yes, I played the Scholar's Mate against a 1900 level player and it worked!!! He resigned in 4 moves! I spent about 40 seconds before playing my Queen because I couldn't believe the opportunity was really there.

This is a fun game, where after a mistake from my opponent, he switched to SLP mode with pawn storms and got me into trouble. Then I also switched to SLP mode and did the same to him. https://lichess.org/7LYXUdAy83XU

was played OTB in the Suisse team championship R1 (13.4.23). French exchange Variation. Winning quickly an exchange after "poisoned pawn was taken on b7". The conversion plan into the winning endgame worked nicely with the mate threat not seen by the opponent ..

https://lichess.org/nTqCw4H5/black One of my best games against highest rated opponent I ever faced it was great game.

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/75370788331?tab=review Not really a prize contender, i just wanted to say: "Life is fun/ it feels like heaven/ when you play a knight on f7/ against the Caro-Kann"

https://lichess.org/lrAkHBSu (I played as white)

https://lichess.org/j7ROs78ToPy0

https://lichess.org/cEWVhDLb Nice tactic at the end.

https://lichess.org/iZG97wNa/white#38 Checkmate is unavoidable!

CM French for white https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/75763827307?tab=review

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/75819772115?tab=analysis

Not the chessmood recommendation for carokhan but since I play this way , I have surprising result especially against stronger opponents! This was a 3 min+2 sec against a 1927 on chesscom. Maybe my best win in this short time control .https://lichess.org/study/BEZ4GkGS/XmZ3KU9S

CM antisicilian for white and mating motif in the end https://lichess.org/zhi4mRXW/white#55

99% accuracy attack in CM Antisicilian https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/75876699217?tab=review

And another perfect attack with white from CM repertoire https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/75874878141?tab=review

Played against Caro-Cann where Black played Bg4 and attack our Qd1. As per GM recommendation I played with Qb3 and nice game. https://lichess.org/k8RHl8WG

A very nice win in sicilian defense-closed https://lichess.org/bUt7DL3OPFDs

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/75990233623?tab=review

A game with 2(!) Brilliant moves on my other account - https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/76011661065?tab=details-tab

Unexpected mate...i think my opponent didn't see the mate till the very end... https://lichess.org/YK1VmZzvtjwE

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/76034382051?tab=review My first Stafford gambit ! I learned it last week ! I almost forgot about Qc2 . I waited to play a4 but as he took it , it was not possible anymore ! 😁

All the credits for this endgame to the endgame roadmap and the classic endgame courses! https://lichess.org/QbjsYwItdQ2r

Nice win for me today (Wed 260423) in the Italian as Black (nice mate!) 5 min blitz

Cool win as white against 2100 rating Alekhine Defense :-). Surpricing suggestion that 3.f4 line but it poses indeed some problems for black. I looove the chessmood suggestions :-) https://lichess.org/hpuEDMcN

https://lichess.org/XsOPhn29sg1g Blackmood op

A nice game in French Adv. Variation against white playing 1.e4 and 2.f4 line. https://lichess.org/yDGyoEtz/black

A philidor that I will have to revised but I m very glad of the mating idea that I found (which take more time for me usually ) https://www.chess.com/game/live/76390250515

Let's continue with perfect CM Antisicilian games

CM Antisicilian ...almost perfect play. Just couldn't resist to sacrifice a queen in GM Gabyzyan style

https://www.chess.com/game/live/76439050089 I lost on time in completely winning game against FM rated 2900 even my accuracy was better one of my best game

Against Pirc defense, I use the same Grand Prix attack as explained our GM team and managed to trap the Opponent Bishop g6 sq. Nice game https://lichess.org/yL1SuYjW

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/daily/508012741?tab=review French exchange variation , a daily game but I dont use any help during the game even if access to anything except engine is legal . I try to avoid moving piece on a side board also as my main goal is to improve otb . I got a ?? for my best move but the idea was good (I could have prepared it better ) and I was able to convert the win . I really like my final move but the engine showed another equivalent one that would have been more spectacular ! Can you find it ?

A nice win in SLP mode: https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/75135215111?tab=review

https://www.chess.com/game/live/74979101765

https://lichess.org/Khc4JjcC#40 Wild wild west!

Here is my favourite game of April 2023 (I played Black & lost-5/0 blitz & is my most prized game this month!). The opening was the Queen's Gambit Declined Modern variation & my opponent, none other than GM H Gabuzyhan! At analysis, chessDOTcom gave estimated ratings 2400-1750 & the rating difference is clear. Also, I highly enjoyed playing a classic opening (while I like ChessMood openings, I also like other classic openings) & I can learn from this defeat! BTW-the game was NOT lost in the opening, as the analysis gave White 97.5% opening accuracy & Black 96.5% accuracy & as we all know games normally, have a mid & endgame that follows & it was lost in the midgame, with 87.8% accuracy vs 69.1% but I will fix that! ;-) Happy chess all....

A very Nice Win : https://www.chess.com/game/live/76439412453

Hello champions! 

How are you all doing today? 

Thank you for sharing your games! We enjoyed going through them and seeing you score some nice wins. Keep it up! 

Moving on to the prizes for the best games of April 2023 now:

The best game of this month is played by Ashwin in the Grand Prix Closed Sicilian, where White builds an attack and calmly finishes off the game without giving the opponent any chances. It’s like a model game! Well done Ashwin!

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/76011661065?tab=analysis

The 2nd prize goes to Valerio Carnicelli for their game where they sacrificed a Queen sacrifice and mated the opponent King with a double check! The way White makes something of their initiative after 19.Nxe6 is brilliant! Great job!

https://lichess.org/j7ROs78T#37

Vladimir Bugayev takes the 3rd prize for their miniature game in the Grand Prix Attack. Nice build-up; the killing blow with 19.Bg7!! and 20.Qh8 was extremely pleasing to see! Great game!

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=7KrqXsnSdl1r+H17G/aDfn+IKJO3jQ6zvASIXNk6TMDth9l53SsN13kpqR4sCoAj

The fourth prize goes to Regis H for their classic victory in the Dutch attack! It’s great to see how Black conducts the attack with simple moves, without any flashy sacrifices. Good job!

https://www.chess.com/game/live/74802178599

The fifth prize goes to Amit Mishra for their 16-move victory with the White pieces, which finished with the awesome Greek gift sacrifice! The game is a great example of how to punish the opponent if they ignore development or don’t fight for the center. 

https://www.chess.com/game/live/74979101765

Congratulations to all of you. And thanks once again to everyone for sharing your games.

It’s been a pleasure to go through them. Celebrate the wins, and let’s keep doing our best!

Keep the mood, keep the CoGro!

See you in the next month’s contest.

Here is another in the spirit of 2 out of 3..(see my last game post. This game win followed directly from my last one…The old story of waiting ages for  good games & then 2 turn up one after the other!).

In this win I play White in the French Marshall opening.(1-0) analysed as 93.3% game accuracy for White (77.3% Black)

Caro Kann with early e6

In the course it is said that Caro Kann with black's early e6 is too passive. But in practice I am not able to get advantage if black are playing it in the following way:

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 e6 6. f4 Bd6 7. Nf3 Nge7 (not Nf6)

And later black are playing f6. 

Let us say 8.0-0 0-0 and now Ne5 is not good because of f6. 

Replies

Why are you playing f4 on move 6?  Doesn't it restrict our bishop on c1?

6.Bf4 looks like a good move.

6.Nf3 is also possible because we no longer have to worry about Bg4.

There are severa😀l good moves but after, 6 f4 Avetik says Nf3, Qe2 and maybe longcastle. We do not castle so fast, we don't show our cards so soon. Try it and see how it goes 😄

In the mentioned position in my opinion white has a good practical chances, however since e6 is a strategically very bad move, Bf4 idea instead of f4 also leads to quite pleasant positions. You can choose that development option.

Good luck :-)