Chess forum by Grandmasters

Why did my chess skill suddenly drop?

I was playing chess normally. And yesterday, I suddenly started playing terribly. I went to sleep thinking it was just a coincidence or being tired. But today when I started playing, I noticed I play just as terribly as yesterday if not even worse. Does this happen often? What can I do about it?

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https://chessmood.com/blog/risks-of-playing-chess-when-you-dont-want Maybe this is the problem?

Grand Prix attack 8...a6

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bc4 Nc6 6.0-0 e6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nb5 a6. If we play Nbxd4 Nxd4 Nxd4 Nf6 f5 gxf5 e5 it feels like black has a comfortable position. Can white play something different or is my evaluation incorrect?

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I think your line given is the best for both sides (you probably meant to say f5, gxf5, exf5, e5 at the end of your line) - the position objectively is probably about equal (as often in the Grand Prix Attack, if Black plays well), but I would always prefer White due to the bad pawn structure of Black and the black King in the center that looks unsafe wherever he goes!

Hello! Just replying to this old comment since I also had a doubt. Hope to see some answers from our wonderful GMs!

Dutch vs Benko

Am I right that the overall recommendation is Benko, but for quickstart or U2000 it is Dutch?

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I think so. The same with French for U2000 and Accelerated Dragon for advanced players. But we will have French and Dutch advanced courses in the (hopefully near🙃) future, so players over 2000 (and of course anyone else) have two options.

I am collapsing OTB

Hi, I joined an OTB tournament (Open Tupinamba) in March. After playing 4 games my score is 0/4. Well, officially is 1/5 because they gave a bye that comes with a point and any rating change. The truth is that instead of improving, like a crab, I go backwards. Game 1 vs. a strong player was a 94 mover and the taste of defeat was sweet because I thought, if I can give this guy who is +200 pts. higher than me, as the tournament advances and I warm up I'll do better. Game 2 was against a veteran, +`70, and 1719 rating. I told a friend that with aging and ratings evident deflation we are suffering at all levels, the 1719 over 70 y.o. probably decades ago was a +2000. And yes, in fact in 1996 he reached his peak that was a bout 2100. It was a 50 mover and here he tricked me offering a Queen swap and as I was a little tired I made the mistake to accept his offer. SF showed me that with Qs OTB it was quite balanced but without Queens the ending was clearly winning for black (I was white :) ). Game 3 and 4 were cut by the same scheme. Good out of the opening and then when the middlegame advances I went for sharp positions and they just outplayed me punishing my mistakes (this doesn't mean their play was free of bad moves, but they just played stronger moves and well, almost two miniatures, a 25 mover followed by a 26 one). Still there are 4 rounds to go but I am really depressed and well, until now is the worst tournament I played in my life. (in 2013 I played a tournament where I scored 1/6 games and I quit, that was the worst till now). 🤒

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Hi Llorenc With 4 games to go , you can still finish with a 50% result ! You could also see the next game apart from the tournament and just concentrate on it to remove the negative pression of a bad start . There is many good articles in the blog that could be helpful to you . Personally the one on blunders ( and the course related to it ) really helped me to have a better attitude at the board and it showed in my 3 last otb tournaments . I also had a middle game problem which I m focusing my studies on since joining chessmood . I hope you find the good mood which will help you make the right moves !👍 And you can show your games and ask for advice of stronger players ( probably not me .. ) to point out your weaknesses. 🙂 Good luck and have fun playing chess ( whatever the result )

This is game 2, played Austrian Attack vs. the Pirc and out of the opening I had a big advantage in development that it slipped between my fingers. When he played Qc7 offering a Queen trade I accepted, Qxc7?? heading for a lost endgame. Qc7, Qa7! was the right answer.

This is round 3. I am a Benoni player but many 1.d4 players don't know about it and instead of meeting c5 with d4-d5 thet just play safe e3 and then you have to play cxd4 and it turns in an opening that is a type of old Kings Indian or something, but black is not worse out of the opening. Here when he played Qe2?! I had too go Nf-d7 challenging the e5 Knight but I missed it. Then my sense of danger was completely absent when I played Bc6?? instead of Nd5, not allowing the deadly Bxf6, gxf6, Qg4+ and black is busted.

Ok, somebody said that gif was bad to post games and I tried to paste a pgn but it say in English please. So at the end I went to lichess.org and open an Study where I paste my LlorencOTB files. The games of this Open are obviously the last ones. So games 16,17,18 and 19. The link: https://lichess.org/study/uoPmDEhv/1F8T5BWx

I noticed you are playing quite sharp and complex opening systems. I think these require a lot of work/study to play well. I would call playing the Najdorf a "lifestyle choice" :-) And we all have the occasional bad tournament. It makes the good ones sweeter.

I have played the Tupinamba/Memorials/Open Tres Opens for years (group A in my case, even I think they are only group now). The level is high, so you will expecting some loses. My advice is prepare your game searching what your foe plays, not only repertoire but how GM continues this type of continues (where bishops belongs, which file you will put your yours rooks, etc...). Use this +300 elo games against better people as a training, and try to analyse with them, usually they agree to analyse with you. And the type of player +70yo, more experienced in endgames typical from clubmates in TresPeons you will enconter (at least in 3 or 4 rounds)... you will have to kill them right now in the opening. First because you can (especially with White using ChessMood openings), and second because your understand of endgames your edge is for him. So the main you have you develop is kill the game (gain a piece, gain exchange...) and this is done doing tactics. A lot. Only blitz/rapid is another game than OTB 1h30min slow games. So don't treat them equally because you encounter differents type of players and you have to be psychological prepared to the up/down such long games.

COLLAPSING OTB BUT NOT COMPLETELY Yesterday I score my 1st. win in Open Tupinamba. So now my numbers are 1/5 games played, or what is the same, an impressive 20% score. 😀 I have just added yesterdays game in my lichess OTB Llorenc study. The link is: https://lichess.org/study/uoPmDEhv

Time zone for the events

Hello all, The time zone for events is confusing. Could you please tell me what time zone events follow? I am from the United States, New York Eastern Standard Time. Thanks in advance

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When you go to events https://chessmood.com/events , you should see the time of the event in your local time. The website automatically adjust the time to your time zone... Don't you see it like this? 😅 Usually they are held at 7 PM Armenian time, which means Yerevan, Armenia time is 8:00 hours ahead New York, United States. That said it is 11:00 am on New York.

Grand Prix vs Sicilian Help

I played an online game where I played a sort of a grand prix setup against the Sicilian. I am sure the moves I played were not correct. Could you please review my game and suggest an alternative. 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 a6 3. f4 b5 4. a3 Bb7 5. d3 e6 6. Be2 Nf6 7. Nf3 d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Nxd5 Qxd5 10. O-O Nc6 11. c4 Qd6 12. cxb5 axb5 13. Be3 Be7 14. d4 c4 15. Rb1 O-O 16. Ne5 Bf6 17. Nxc6 Bxc6 18. Bf3 Rfd8 19. Bxc6 Qxc6 20. Rf3 Qe4 21. Rh3 Bxd4 22. Bxd4 Rxd4 23. Qh5 Qxb1+ 24. Kf2 Rd2+ 25. Kg3 Qe1+ 26. Kg4 Rxg2+ 27. Kf3 Qe2# 0-1 Thanks in advance

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You will find how to play against 2...a6 in: https://chessmood.com/course/4-anti-sicilian-with-nc3-part-4

Scotch simplified White 3..Nf6 line

hi, what do we do and what is our plan when black does not play ..Ne4 but instead goes ..Ng4, as in: 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 Nf6 4 dxe5 Ng4 ? I decided to play 5 Bc4 Nxe5 6 Bb3 to be flexible and have moves like Nc3 or Qd5 available but not sure if this is the correct idea, Any help? thanks Paul

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I took a look at this with Stockfish which likes 5.Qd5 but it looks a bit messy. A couple of simpler approaches that are still quite good are: 5.Bg5 Be7 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.Nc3 and look to play Qd2 and O-O-O soon. 5.h3 Ngxe5 6.Nxe5 Nxe5 7.Nc3 and look to play something like Be3, Qd2 and O-O-O soon. The h3 pawn is handy because it stops Ng4 harassing a bishop on e3, and we can potentially expand with f4.

Everything is explained in the Additional section 1 of the Scotch complete repertoire, check it out: https://chessmood.com/course/scotch-game/episode/1992

Missing theme on Tactic Ninja?

I think it would be nice to add a section about trapping a piece

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I agree but ChessMood does not. Perhaps they will add a trapped pieces course which would also be nice. https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/trapped-pieces

I agree, I strongly suggest this.

Black Openings

Hi, I am "new" to chessmood because I only dealt to the openings... I am going to get the full potential (tactics, endgames, etc...) of the page right now. I am 1800 Fide rated player. But I have to comment that being used the White repertoire (both basic and detailed) it's superb, impressive... I think the Black repertoires (the detailed, and especially the basic) are some levels (in quality) inferior compared to the White ones. Even the basic rep for White may give to me an edge because they are very very good. Thanks for that! I don't the perception you have about 1700-1900 fide OTB players, but they know how to deal with Maroczy, Rossolimo or Benko. They fail in other espects of the game (myself included) but they usually well prepared in the openings (al least tournament people I play with). I was happy to see you (chessmood team) working in a "serious" repertoire on the French (the opening I play looking other sources outside chessmood). And curious to see what you suggest as a replacement/uptade for the Dutch. For now I'd stick with QGD vs 1...d4. Thx,

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I agree, and therefore take the ratings bands with a healthy pinch of salt. The ratings refer to chess.com blitz as more people will have a rating there, and there are 'approx' conversions from lichess. However playing on chess.com blitz is very different from OTB. And yes I agree, in countries where there is wealth and so buying books and courses is easy (or being naughty where there isn't the funds) often means opponents know their openings well, but when it gets to the middlegame and especially endgame fall down in that rating range. The other problem being there is a difficult plateau around the 2000 level (in both terms of skill and finding opponents to beat to get you across it), so you get 1800s that have been playing the same stuff for 40 years. Thus something that is a little bit blase to completeness because it works at blitz and inexperienced players falls flat. Sure if you're a few hundred points above them, then other experience kicks in and you fill the gaps, but if you're only slightly higher rated it is a flaw. The benko though (with filling a few gaps) works well with that level of strength, but at the moment I find it's a bit random, pieces move about trying to get an advantage out of theory, and I can beat a 2100 as much as get beaten by an 1800 in it. However it's fully playable and a lot less theory to worry about than alternatives. Am interested to see what they come up with in the Dutch though.

Hi, despite not being as high rated as you, I have experience with this. Though I am not the best in classical, My OTB rapid rating is quite high. As you get higher rated, some openings become obsolete. Sometimes, you'll have to adapt to the new circumstances. I'll believe the is an article in the blog describing about accepting change. For example, I have changed my opening repertoire a lot. First, I was playing 1. e4 e5. Now I play the Sicilian. You also can enhance your Benko studies. Go very, very deep into the intricacies of the position. Spend a lot of time on sidelines, as a well prepared opponent, would throw you off with an engine backed sideline. Please, adapt, or enhance. Best wishes, Pengcheng

i have a doubt for white mood openings simplified version for the french defence

Hi Good evening Avetik and Gabuzyan. I have a doubt for the white mood opening french defence simplified variation. I think u havent covered this variation or could u please tell me how should white play in this variation. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Bd3 dxe4 4. Bxe4 Nf6 5. Bf3 c5 6. Ne2 cxd4 7. Qxd4 Nc6. This Nc6 variation is not covered I guess. Could u Please help me how should white play and get advantage.

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This is covered in the section 3 of the https://chessmood.com/course/french-defence Check it out Sreenath....

FRENCH ATTACK white plays Bg5

If in the model games of French attack white plays early Bg5 but in the continuation instead of castling on the king side white play Qd2 and castles on queen side them how should we play

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Can you give a position? e.g. 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bxf6 Qxf6 6. exd5 Bb4 7. dxe6 Bxe6 8. Qd2 Nc6 (the d4-pawn is very weak) 9. O-O-O O-O-O 10. Nf3 Bxa2! 11. b3??? Ba3# but that's probably not what you mean.

Sorry, 😅DR, we did not realize about your question somehow, our apologies! 

That said, since you are a Promember, please when you create a thread, do it in the “Promembers” channel, not in the “Main Channel” since Promembers always get priority.😀

In the position that you refer to: 

I would just play g4 kicking the knight away, removing the defender of e5, depending on where the knight goes  to e1 or h2, (not many places) you can reinforce g4 and then capture the e5 pawn, or play Qc7 too to attack e5. Then long castle and you have a pretty good position I would say. Don't you agree?😀

Bug report/Technical support

Im still having trouble dragging my pieces when Im doing my puzzles. Is been 3 days. Help please !!

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Having multiple posts on the same subject by the same person is not necessary. If you add a comment on your first post , it will bring it back on top of the latest post anyway . I have the same problem as you but as they already said they are working on it , you have to be patient ! I m not an expert in coding but any bugs may look simple tu users like us , but it does not mean it is easily and quickly fixable ! 🙂 and the mini quiz in the courses are still ok , so its not like you have nothing to work with ! 😉. And I found a way around which is not perfect but it s working . Im on iPad thou.. when I touch the piece it sort of freezes and stays like a double image . Then I simply try again to drag the piece and I manage to move it but its not as smooth as it is usually but if you really want to do those main quizzes, it s possible that way ( for me at least ) . I hope it can work for you too and it will help you wait till its Completly fix ! 👍

Yes, thanks for your concern. Our technical team knows about it and is working to fix this tricky bug… 😅

Also, the next time, please use the thread for Bug reports, this is much faster and will not fill the forum with messages. Plus the technical team automatically gets notified there> https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/bug-report

Maybe this video will help you a bit… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Tw1iNDfas&t=435s

Normally top players, just read the book without any board though… Everything happens in their mind…