Chess forum by Grandmasters

Proportionality and effect of training

How much difference is there between working on chess for say one hour a day or two hours a day? Of course I know there is a difference but is it proportional with the time invested or is the first hour the most effective?

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How to be more stable in performance

Hi, I have this problem of being unstable in my performance, for example I could beat 1800, 1900 in classical chess, but next tournament I could lost to 1400, 1500, what is your suggestion to tackle this issue?

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In the event seminar from yesterday:

https://chessmood.com/event/webinar-ask-me-anything-2

At min 2:09:30 he replies to you.

Also at :

min 2:03:00 Avetik talks about this regarding how to play against lower rated players. 

Maybe the 1400, 1500 may be very underrated, this happens a lot nowadays. 

Also, your mood, how tired you are when going to the tournaments may play a big role… 😀

If you could expand a bit more, explain the playing conditions, your age, physical shape, etc. can be helpful to reply…

 Personally, I think that most of the answers are already in the Blunderproof course… 😀

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/studysparring-partner-1362

Also in discord we have another sections for promembers to get in touch with other promembers that you should check too!😀

Hey Champions! 
On March 21, we'll have a Questions & Answers event! 

https://chessmood.com/event/webinar-ask-me-anything-2 

I'll have lots of coffee beforehand, and try to serve you for a few hours. I'll be answering all your questions, and will try to help you to kick your challenges asses. 

Please leave your questions in the comments. 

See you soon! 

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I'm looking for a good book of Morphy's games annotated with algebraic notation. They all seem to have the descriptive which eventually gets me lost! One mistake and everything gets messed up! Know of any? Oh by the way I hope you are doing much better since your skiing accident!

Could do with more elaboration on the fix stage (see my post in can we fix it) for advanced ~2000 players. Other than tactical blunders and opening moves how to identify flaws in one's game and find the best way to go about fixing them.

I want to become GM in next three years. My Fide rating is 1467, After working on chessmood course with lots of efforts. How much rating can be pumped up? After that point will you train me in personally and recommend same openings with more depth or another. And can you help me to achieve my aim? Also some technical challenges are How much budget I should be ready with? How much time I need to practice or topics to complete? Do I need to participate in closed tournaments or normal? You can also add to it what to do in order become GM in 3 years. This will really make my life please guide me on this.

Dear Avetik, here are some of my questions: 1) How to fight FOMO in chess ? I think the best way would be to have a 2) Study plan (in my case for 2100+ but in general 2001- xxx) My goal is as well reaching 2300 Fide (within the next two years) longer term: IM. 3) I am turning 44 soon, do you think, such goals are ridiculous ? I hope not, I am willing to work hard and I LOVE chess. 4) Do you even recommend a private trainer (I am a very proud Pro member) ? 5) Any news about the coaching program with chessmood certified trainers? (Who are the trainers ?) I know we already had a mail conversation about that, but some questions are still open ;-) 6) How many hours per week of training do you suggest? (Probably this question is too general) 7) Any chance to get my 1:1 call at another time? Here in Germany it is always at 4 a.m. 🥱 8) Any news about middlegame roadmap, advanced French, advanced Dutch ? !!! Please do not feel put under pressure. Please keep your normal pace and continue delivering very high quality material !!! I am so much looking forward to spending some time with you on Tuesday. I even shifted my working hours 😃 See you in two days, all the best Thomas H.

Hi GM Avetik , I hope your back is getting better ! I have private session with a coach 1-2 hrs /week who is IM . I showed him French attack with games I played lately and he told me when he was younger ,having no coach , he played sides lines and he suffers from it now as he is aiming for GM title . His thinking is if you learn an opening , study the main lines to understand the fundamentals of it . Then after you can play side lines . For him , French is an extremely solid defense played by the best , playing side lines first with the idea of attacking is wrong . After showing him games with the Bd7 - a6 - Bb5 , and the Ng8 variation after e5 , and another line against tarrash. He insisted on studying main line first as it will hurt my understanding of the opening in the long run . I m 1700 fide and was playing Sicilian against e4 . Already a dutch player so 1..e6 is a good fit . What is your answer to him and/or me ? So far my plan was to keep playing what I learned here for French in the last 3 weeks ) as starting again with main lines will take too much time for it and I have many other areas where I need to improve putting more time on opening. I have a very good relation with him and I like working with him privately . We plan to participate in tournaments together . I m sure you understand my dilemma. If you answer in the webinar , I will check it the recording later as I work during the first hour . Thank you very much Denis

Our overall course is amazing but one thing need to be added into it. That's Calculation and imagination technique. The proper way how GMs thinking in various positions and while playing game in step by step method which will help us to consume our course knowledge and apply effectively as we can see way ahead of opponents. Can you add calculation and imagination technique in our course?

What is your prematch routine please ? Eating beforehand and what. Does it depend on whethe you are playing one game or two games a day ? Do you go for a walk ? Do you do stretches ? Do you listen to music ? I love classical music and listen to Ludovico Einaudi or Alberto Giurioli. I also recite the Desiderata.

Sir, I often play weaker against lower rated players than I do against higher rated players. Sir, I think I need to change my mindset. Sir, can you suggest me some changes?

Hi, I have this problem of being unstable in my performance, for example I could beat 1800, 1900 in classical chess, but next tournament I could lost to 1400, 1500, what is your suggestion to tackle this issue?

Will you create course on tactical.positional, strategical , courses on positions which comes after our openings?

Need sources in Sicilian GP Nc6-d4-c6, d6 line

Recently more and more players online and OTB rapid play this line against me. I even used this as black against coach GM Gabuzyan in simul and got promising position. I'm wondering how you guys play against this and what plan do you use to throw black off this botvinnik setup? Thanks Btw this is the video of chessmood discussing briefly the d6 line at around 10:45 https://chessmood.com/course/sicilian-defence-part-2/episode/312 I would go probably with open sicilian line, but would like more info about this or some recommended sources, thanks

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Hi Paulius,

Sorry it took a while, but we are all busy here at Chessmood lately!

Regarding these lines, Avetik offers 3 options on move 7, Bc4, b3 and a3 also as an interesting option Benko style. They all work well and we don't usually lose because of the opening.

As additional sources, I would recommend 2. I will tell you that in Chessable course Butcher the Sicilian they offer Re1 first Nf6 and Nd5 with a follow up idea of c3, Bc2 and d4.

The other source that I like the most and that you should have, is the book by Gawayn Jones “Coffehouse Repertoire” part 1, where he also goes for the line  7.Bc4!? 

He says in the book: 
7.Bc4!? Continuing the odd little dance. White tactically defends against ...Bg4 and prepares to play d2-
d4. I think this is objectively the best move but you have to be comfortable playing an odd form of
the Sozin set-up in the Open Sicilian structure.

If you want to continue in a more closed position, you can also consider: 7.Nd5!? An idea borrowed
from the main line. The knight is destined for e3, which is a slight improvement on c3 – but more
importantly, White can then continue with c2-c3 and Bc2. 7...g6 (I think Black should play 7...Bg4!N
8.h3 Bxf3 9.Qxf3 e6 10.Ne3 g6= with a better version of the game.) 8.c3 Bg7 9.Bc2 Bg4 10.h3 Bxf3
11.Qxf3 Nf6 12.Nxf6† Bxf6 13.d3² White had a pleasant, safe edge in Rendle – Tarun, Daventry
2020. 
Black has two main options: B21) 7...e6 and B22) 7...Nf6. The two moves lead to similar positions
and may transpose, but there are some nuances.

7...b5 Gaining the tempo on the bishop doesn’t work so well here. 8.Bd5 Bb7 9.d4 Nf6 (9...e6
10.Bxc6† Bxc6 11.d5±) 10.Bxc6† Bxc6 In Beach – Hewitt, Littlethorpe 2005, White could have
posed serious problems with: 11.e5!N 11...dxe5 (11...Nd5 12.e6! fxe6 13.Re1 g6 14.Ng5±) 12.Nxe5
Bb7 13.dxc5 Qc7 14.Qd4± 

And then he goes and analyzes B21) 7...e6 and B22) 7...Nf6.

I will not write here all the analysis, but I think that this book is a very good companion to our course and you will benefit from it.

Good luck on deciding the line that you like the best! 😀

Chessmood openings for black

I used to play 1...e5 against 1.e4 until i realized it was probably too hard for me. When you play 1...e5 you have to be able to respond to a lot of staff your opponents might have prepared. I'm not comfortable against the Ruy Lopez and even less against the King's Gambit. Also, as a 1.e4 player, i am more comfortable when my opponent plays 1...e5 because that is what i know best. French, Caro-Kann, Scandinavian... etc. players are all specialized in their weapon, while as a 1.e4 player i have to be prepared against all of them. So a few months ago i came out with this idea: why not learning the Modern Defense? In that way i have a repertoire against both 1.e4 and 1.d4. Then i realized that at my level, the Modern is not easy at all: white can have a lot of different approaches against it and it's very hard to play with less space if you don't learn a huge amount of theory and combine it with advanced positional mastery. It was a pleasant surprise when i discovered the "Starter Course - BlackMood Openings" which sort of implemented my idea, but with the experience of a grandmaster. Instead of 1...g6 against everything, the course recommends 1...e6 against everything, but at the same time, that repertoire looks very solid and with good attacking chances. The step-by-step repertoire for black looks less clear. There is a lot against 1.e4 but very little against 1.d4 Are "Benko Gambit" and "Countering d4 sidelines" courses enough to build a repertoire against 1.d4?

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Massimo, what is your rating? OTB, lichess, chess.com…  Age, hours available to study and chess goal… Please let us know because I believe that Blackmood should be perfect for you.

Against d4 with the main (more advanced repertoire) apart from Benko and d4 sidelines you also must study the English, Maroczy, etc. which you sidestep playing the Dutch. 

Endgame worksheets

Hi can you develop endgame worksheet and or pgn so we can practice the endgame postion that was taught in the endgame coarses?

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Hi Steve,

To practice the contents we developed the quizzes. We are uploading them to all the courses and most of them have a lot of them already. Did you tried them already?😀

dutch attack - Normal developpement 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. Qb3

Dear CMcommunity, Dear CM coaches, have you ever experienced 1. d4 e6 2. c4 f5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Bb4 5. Qb3 ? should we tack on c3 ?

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No, we never faced this move in the streams or live. You can take and follow our usual plan with fianchetto of the LSB. You can also play c5 Nimzo indian style, but to make it simpler, maybe taking is the easiest way.

Opening Query

Hello everyone, I am preparing the BlackMood step by step repertoire, I am working on Benko Gambit, and I have a question: In many games my Opponents play 12.a4 against my ChessMood prep, here's an example: This is a game I played against an FM in rapid on Lichess and I was Black: The game started: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 Bxa6 6.Nc3 g6 7.e4 Bxf1 8.Kxf1 d6 9.Nf3 Bg7 10.g3 Nbd7 11.Kg2 0-0 and here he played 12.a4!? and I did not know how to respond and lost the game. Thanks!

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This is easy, all is covered in the course perfectly:😀

https://chessmood.com/course/benko-gambit/episode/343

and

https://chessmood.com/course/benko-gambit/episode/344

Good luck next time!