Chess forum by Grandmasters

Bug in Wolf of the wall street course?

Hello guys, I am facing an issue in the course wolf of the wall street. Before the course had 1h+ of material and 3 sections but when I see it now it's material is only 24 mins and 1 section. Is this a bug or has chessmood removed the sections?

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They are re-recording some of the course to make it better so some stuff has been temporarily taken down. I think it was mentioned in a recent email.

New course: BlackMood Openings Model Games!

Champions,

Today is 16-July-2022. And as per our schedule, we’ve released the BlackMood Openings Model Games course!

Here, GM Gabuzyan has recorded real and instructive model games played with the BlackMood opening repertoire to help you:

• Deepen your knowledge of BlackMood openings.
• Discover the typical plans and middlegame positions arising from these openings.
• Learn how to punish your opponent when they ‘forget’ theory and make dubious moves.
• Remember the BlackMood opening variations better and so much more!

Start watching it now by clicking the link below

https://chessmood.com/course/blackmood-openings-model-games

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I went through the following game which was excellent! https://chessmood.com/course/blackmood-openings-model-games/episode/4601 An instructive attack. The Qxe5 followed by Qh8 was very cool. I'm going to have to remember that one!

Tired of the Benko, I decided to try the BlackMood openings and just finished the model games. I'm amazed by the spectacular games. How many training games did it take to produce these masterpieces?

Hello, In this 2nd game from the best game series of dutch attack against the london, At time 4.07, h5 schould win the bishop.

French Attack: Rozman-Rubinstein Attack playable?

hi, I just finished the French Attack part of t. BlackMood Openings &I love it yet I wonder, why not play always like in t. 4.Bb5 line shown? (vs tarrasch) avoiding - early e5 , which you don't always play (e.g. 4. Bb5 line) - early f6, which you don't always play (e.g. 4. Bb5 line) - early Nf6, which you don't always play (e.g. 4. c3 line) Levy Rozman always plays the same moves: 1) e4. e6 2) d4. d5 3) Nd2. dxE 4) NxE is forced. Nf6 5) Nx F6+ is best, it seems. gx F6 6) almost any move. NC6 7) almost any move. B6 8). any move. (RG8, BD6, QD7(QD5,QD6), 0-0-0, NE7, NF5..) so it kind of is an exchange variation with crippled pawns &good light bishop is it playable/advisable to play for an amateur? setup after 6. gx F6

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I don't really believe in this diagram for black, to be honest. I think black has trouble proving anything against simple development, e.g. 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nd2 dxe4 4 Nxe4 Nf6 5 Nxf6+ gxf6 6 Nf3 Nc6 7 c3 b6 8 g3 (not only countering the bishop, but also closing the g-file) Bb7 9 Bg2 Qd7 10 O-O O-O-O 11 a4 h5 12 a5! Nxa5 13 b4 and white is first with a huge initiative, while ..h4 isn't even an actual threat (the broken structure kinda tells here) So, I assume that ChessMood wants to recommend better lines :D

😀We like this variation because it gives the chance to play unusual positions for White and has a big surprise value, and think that is a great choice and you will play different positions too. Of course, you can play any other variation that you like and go along the other line. We do not like to oversimplify either. In this case in particular I love the look in the face of a Tarrasch variation player when I go Nc6, I cannot refrain myself from having a very nice feeling at the moment… 😅

Also Aelya just proposed a very good reason to not play this Youtube line… 😀

Visualisation - For People Who Cant Visualise?

Hi there, This is something I thought maybe would make a good blog post (apologies if already covered, I did a search but couldn't bring anything directly relevant up). You hear often how important visualisation is as part of calculation. By that I mean the ability to see the board in your minds eye, as part of calculating potential moves and responses by the opponent. The above is a major issue for me. Reason being, I struggle to visualise. I have heard that certain people fall into particular types; those that are visual and think/talk in terms of pictures (and are often strong visualisers), those that are auditory (thinking/learning best by sound/spoken word), and those that are kinaesthetic (process thinkings mostly internally i.e. through felt or associated feelins/sensations). Of course, most do not fall entirely into just one of the above, but for most people one of the above is strongest. I myself fall into the kinaesthetic category. These types typically struggle to visualise pictures in their minds eye. I certainly find that the be the case myself. While I might be able to get a flash of an image in my mind, I find it very difficult to sustain. This makes visualising a sequence of moves very difficult. While I do my best to calculate, I tend to rely more on intuition, or my intuitive sense of a particular position in chess. Nonetheless, I cant help but think this is a pretty big weakness for me. As teachers of students, have you coached people with this challenge and if so are there any strategies you might recommend? Thanks a lot, Rich.

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Episode 82, with guest Aiden, on the Chess Journeys Podcast is well worth listening to. One of the points that Aiden makes is that visualisation is somewhat misnamed and might be better named conceptualisation. Apparently there a lot of variation regarding how people "visualise" a position, but most people certainly don't have a clear picture of the board in their mind. At least, not a picture in the traditional sense. A lot of it seems to come down to our mental model of the chess position, the relationships between the pieces, and the geometry of the board. The richer and more accurate our mental model is, the easier it is to "visualise" and calculate. That dude Aiden has a chess startup that is focused on visualisation. I sampled the free trial and it's fairly interesting stuff but I didn't join. It's actually quite similar to some of the stuff that GM Jonathan Tisdall talks about in his underrated book "Improve Your Chess Now".

As someone who struggles with this (I'm able to audiotorily hear music though), I think a fair bit of the problem is other parts of the brain being more dominant. When being tired I can visualise better. Some of it I think is turning off in the internal monologue and just doing the best you can. I don't think the real aim is to be able to visualise the position Queen's Gambit style, but to be able to understand where the pieces are and their relationships enough to judge the position or feel for tactics or danger, and then be able to start from that position and work on. Much of this will depend on how much changes in the position, how familiar you are with it, and the complications and branching factor. Also the better you are with the other skills, judgement/intuition, tactics, positional themes etc being ingrained the less you'll need to take up your conscious capacity with them affecting your visualisation capability.

One thing to try, if you haven't already, is playing out a simple endgame blindfold, for example KR vs K. Just use any mental technique that you can think of to get through it. It's fairly easy to try on lichess.

A couple of things that might help you that have helped me before: 1. Try playing a blindfold opening-say, a blindfold game for 10 moves. 2. When playing out a game in game analysis always try to visualize 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 moves ahead, and then move the pieces. Start with what works, and then move to more and more moves ahead. 3. Solve puzzles by setting it up on the board but not moving the pieces. Try to calculate all the variations you need and then check it after you have decided it in your head. In my opinion, you can train your visualization. One interesting psychological idea is to when solving puzzles chewing your favorite brand of gum (or something similar) and then when playing an OTB tourney chewing the same type of gum. This can help because you say that you think through association with feelings/sensations, and research has shown before that this can help. Just my ideas, hope that helps! :)

Hi all, Its been a busy week at work, didn't expect so many helpful responses - very much appreciated. I must admit I've never seriously tried blindfold chess, other than trying to visualse some opening variations I know - but certainly not games. I've had a look at the startup mentioned and signed up for the free introductory course. It sounds an like something that could be quite helpful, as does the book. Its good to know that I'm not the only one that finds this area challenging! On the topic of chess geometry, there's a course on another website I've had my eyes on for a while. Intuitively, it makes sense to me that improving my understanding of the geometric aspects of chess would help with visualisation. I have a tendency to bite off more than I can chew when it comes to chess studies, so I'll stick with the 5 day free course and see how that goes, but working on geometry is on the list. No doubt aspects of the skill are inter-related anyway. Thanks again for the useful thoughts and pointers, especially Peter and David :)

ChessMood for iOS

Is there a version of ChessMood as an app for Apple devices? Or, any plan to create one?

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Currently there is no ChessMood app for iOS or Android. Just use the web browser.

No plans to create an app in the short future. It takes a lot of time and resources and it will not be reflected in a faster improvement for our students. 

Chesscom and lichess have app for iOS but I strongly suggest avoiding them depending on what your doing as they dont have as many features compare to using them through the web . Chesscom app for example is limited with max time setting . I play 90 min +30 sec games over there and you can only set 60 max with the app . Lichess studies are easier to manage for me with the web browser and the learning tab is more convenient also .

Opening fork tricks and "The Greatest Blitz Game Every Played in Chicago"

Here are a couple of fun fork-related traps in the openings. First, 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bf4 c5 3.Nf3? cxd4 4.Nxd4?? e5! wins a piece. I have played this three or so times in blitz. Second, 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 a6 Now almost any developing move is playable for White. Except one. 5.Bf4?? e5! NN-Pandolfini, New York 1967.https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1250868 Just like the other one. In 1977, I won a really great blitz game. I gave odds of 3 minutes to my opponent's 5 minutes. Decades later, I put it on chessgames.com. Years later, I was surprised to learn that Mato Jelic did a video about it, in which he called it "The Greatest Blitz Game Every Played in Chicago." That is probably an exaggeration, but it IS a very cool game. Check it out. It's only 4 1/2 minutes long. Trust me, you won't regret it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wl8s7rwsmSw It even has theoretical significance. The engines will tell you that 7...Bxc5!!, which I played in a blitz game the year before Boris Avrukh was born, is a big improvement on 7...Bg6, the move he recommends in his book "Beating 1.d4 Sidelines" (2012).

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Wow, beautiful game! Congratulations! I was thinking what if Qa4 instead of Queen takes knight but this was the nicer and better move. Nice!

opening

Dear sir, in the black mood opening you did not mention how to play against 1.c4 and 1.Nf3, not mention any single model game and opening theory please guide.

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If you play the blackmood opening lines you can answer 1.c4 or 1.Nf3 with 1...e6 and follow it up with 2...f5 (or you can play 1...c5 with various transpositions, e.g. into the Sicilian main CM-repertoire, if White plays 2.e4, or into the English CM-repertoire by Gabuzyan, if White plays c4)

Best Wishes To Avetik For A Speedy Recovery!

Just wanted to wish Chessmood founder Avetik best wishes and good energy to recover fast and completely after his unfortunate ski accident!☺️☺️ Hope CM players who read this will also send him well wishes!

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Dear Ovi,

Many thanks for your kind words!!😀

If you paste it here https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/new-article-dont-break-your-chess-back

he will read your message for sure, creating new threads will maybe take a while form him to read them…😅

Really sorry Avetik, I hope you recover quickly!

Good luck in your recovery Avetik. I'm a keen skier too and have had a couple of accidents on the piste - though thankfully nothing as painful as what you have now. Don't let it stop you skiing in the future - delete that app and just enjoy the mountains!

Dutch against London with NBd2

Hello, Does anyone have advice/ideas how to play Dutch attack against London system with Nbd2? I'm always in situation where opponent exchange that Knight with my Knight on e4 and then I'm having issues. thanks

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I think this is a really good question as it looks like Be7 or Bd6 are our options as a developing move is required if white gets Nbd2 in early ? Would be great for a steer on this variation from an expert which I am not!

I like Bd6 in many of these positions, this is my personal liking, but the Nbd2 if Ne4 is not played yet is nothing to be afraid of. There is not need to go Ne4 and change the plan, Avetik provided 3 different plans on the London line.
If Ne4 is played and your position will become worse after White exchanges your knight, then exchange it, and bring the other one to f6. 👍

It all depends on the exact position and move order. The Dutch is a very strategic opening and you need to adjust to the positions, the KS attack is not the only plan. 😀 Check this video again too> https://chessmood.com/course/blackmood-openings/episode/4386

Depends on the variation of the dutch you're playing. Dutch attack general idea is to prevent white from playing e4, so black occupies it with the knight. another less desired option is occupying it with a well-protected pawn . playing with the setup of b6,Bb7 would exert proper pressure on the long light squares diagonal to support that purpose. another way to counter the london is via c6-Qb6 and you shall have a comfortable game with more or less equal-ish chances

Dear Matan,

I was trying to figure out exactly which positions are you asking about, can you please clarify posting move by move, or preferably with the image, so I can answer your question.

Thank you!

Accerated Dragon Section 3 9. Nc6

Hi, I was entering the opening moves into my repertoire with SF following along and to my surprise the recommended 9. Nc6 dc6 10. f3 Qc7 11. 0-0 Nh5? alters the assessment from -0.5 to +1.1 after the move 12. f4!! 11... b5 is the recommended move with the standard Q-side play.

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11...b5 does appear to be the best move, with as you said standard queenside play, but f4 only shows up as +0.51 compared to 0 for 11...b5. There should probably be explanation for the move in the course. This was on stockfish 15.1, i think lichess runs on 14 so thats why it shows +1.5

It makes sense that 12.f4 is a good response to Nh5, as black's ideas involve Be5 and/or Nf4 and pressure on the dark squares, and f4 counters all of that quite nicely. Black is not well placed to exploit the drawbacks of f4 (e.g. pressure on the e4-pawn or some sort of Ng4) So, it seems to me that it's fair to say that f4 refutes the Nh5 concept. Still a good course, but the general life advice applies - trust, but verify...

Hello Zee,

Thanks for the right note. Lots of updates are going on our website ( courses/recording) and we have planned to redo the accelerated dragon course with improved mistakes. ( Can't mention the exact days, as I said lots of new projects are in progress)

Have a great day!

Quiz issues and improvements

In the endgame roadmap course there are a number of positions that are repeated with opposite colours. I'm not sure that's useful, particularly in the same quiz, you just repeat the sequence previously you don't see anything else. There is at least one quiz (weak squares quiz 2) with multiple answers and move-orders even with the colours swapped it's not consistent. It's very frustrating to have to find the right move if your choice is a good one, and worse to learn the sequence and then have to find a different one with reverse colours. A suggestion there is to allow multiple soft moves (which I assume is possible already), but where there are clearly many moves or it's a move in a sequence which isn't force to either auto-play it with suitable pause or to instruct the user to play a move. In addition I think sometimes a textual problem would be better than just assume it's find the best move. This can give hints as well as give a little background on the puzzle. As mentioned elsewhere, hints and give-up should be possible after say 3 tries. Otherwise it ends up in guessing moves and getting frustrated.

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My biggest problem with quizzes is that they still don't work properly on mobile and tablets. It's why I don't use them at all.

I agree that some implementations you re suggesting could be an improvement . I do a lot of quizzes of my iPad Pro and I dont have problems usually . I did encountered some freezing the past 2 days thou when I tried the longer quiz before some section. Should the quiz improvement be a priority over adding new content , that I m not sure as I really appreciate everything I was able to discover so far !

Hey everyone! 
Thanks for all the suggestions, feedback and kind words. 

1. Flip board 

This is a technique that we used and will use it. 
You can learn more about it here: 
https://chessmood.com/blog/how-grandmasters-memorize-opening-variations 

We want our students to understand the ideas, and not blindly solve quizzes because of the short-term memory. 

It's especially useful for not advanced players. 
And advanced players should use this especially for their openings. Blindly memorizing moves and understanding are very different things. 

2. Multiple answers 

We try to keep our puzzles with only 1 answer. And whenever there are multiple ones, all correct moves should work. 
If there are ones, that doesn't go with this, please send us links. It'll be highly appreciated. 

Daily, our chess team creates about 500 quizzes. 
There is human factor. So help is highly appreciated. 

Also, in the Discord, where we will start soon, there will be a separate channel for puzzle fixing. 

3. Hints, 2 move clicks and other tech things. We'll make it. It will take time. 

4. Peter N, we get 100s of suggestions every day. 
We make our lists. Priority lists and go ahead. 
I didn't get positive emotions from your "nice" comments. 
You have no idea on whats going on here behind the scenes. 
How many hours our developers work. How many days off they have. How many fixes are happening every day. 
And to call it “uncompetence”, it wasn't the best comment on our forum. 

Yeah, there are many websites that our technically better than ours. 
But we do our best with our small team.  

I feel you're one of the few students who are always dissatisfied, I just can't understand why don't you cancel your membership? 
Just say “Oh, right,” and I'll personally ask our support team to cancel your membership, so you spend time only typing “Oh right.” 

5. Mobile and Laptop issues 

Daily at x our developers we push them. Which comes with lots of fixes. 
Can anyone confirm that they also have issues with tablet and mobile?  

Any screenshots, screen recordings will be highly-highly appreciated! 

6. 
Denis, thanks a lot! 
People like you are the ones, who gives us smile and helps us push forward. 
It's tough to push and push forward every day! Such words and positive feedback is what gives us mental fuel, energy and motivation to keep going forward. Thanks a lot, friend! 
Looking forward to our 1-1 call soon. I'll jump on it myself. 

7. Behind the scenes 

There are lots of things going on here. From 6 AM to 10 PM. Almost every day. 
Many technical improvements. Working on new features. Adding more courses, quizzes etc… 

99% of the things are behind the scenes. 

I want to assure everyone, that we all, want to do our best, to serve you in the most effective way. 
Not everything is perfect. I know. But we try to do our best. 

We don't need to satisfy our investors, like many companies. We don't need to push bullshit courses and hire copywriters in order to sell them. 

We have to satisfy our students and help you to grow in the most efficient way. 

I send surveys. Read them personally, one by one. Take notes. Have 1-1 calls.
Everything with 1 reason. To make ChessMood a better place and help you better. 

Thanks again! 

Right Mood! 
CoGro!  

🔔NEW COURSE: The Wolf of the Chess Street: Art of Piece Trading!🐺

Trading pieces in chess is like trading stocks on Wall Street!

It happens all the time. Yet, despite it happening ALL the time, very few have studied ‘Trading in chess’ separately. 
 

The knowledge many have about it is far too obvious. Like: 

‘Exchange bad pieces, keep good pieces’. 

Or ‘Buy low, sell high’ on the Wall Street, which even a 6-year-old knows. 

The wolves, the ones with the most expensive cars on Wall Street, know a lot more than just the basics of stock trading. 
 

And so do the wolves on the chess street when it comes to exchanging!

Today, we’ve launched a course where GM Gabuzyan teach you how to become a wolf on the chess street by making smarter trades. You’ll learn:
 

✅1 easy question to evaluate any trade.

✅3 important strategies around exchanging in the opening.

✅The common and hidden mistakes even strong players make while trading and what to do instead.

✅The rules of exchanging in lost positions and winning positions.

✅When to make anti-positional trades to gain an advantage.

✅When you can break all the exchange-related rules and more!
 

And because exchanges happens all the time, what you learn here will help you in EVERY game you play! Watch the full course 👇
https://chessmood.com/course/chess-exchanges

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Love the name and the graphics. The ChessMood team is producing an amazing amount of great looking content! I hope you still are finding some time to practice table tennis :-)

Awesome course, will deepen the knowledge for sure!

Is there an issue with the course videos? It looks like a bunch of sections that were previously available were taken away. As of yesterday (March 7th), videos were available through the Winning Won Positions section (first 8 sections). And now, only section 1 is available and everything else says "Coming Soon".

A Maroczy Bind variation, built on your given theory.

Hello! I tried to play a game according to the theory given by you in course Maroczy Bind. I got tempo up as he moved Queen d1 so after his Qd2 I understood we were on given theory so I moved h5, here is game if you would like to look at it, friendly regards Per; https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/72062528369?tab=review

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Very nice game! It is nice when the plan works perfectly! 😜 

I have one favor to asky you: Could you be so kind to post it in the thread specified for the best games>

 https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/the-best-games-of-march-2023-and-the-prizes

Otherwise we will have hundreds of posts with games. 😅

I will delete this thread after you do it, or if you do not do it in a few days, I will delete it anyways.😈

French Attack - Exchange Variation Model Game?

Can we get a model game for the exchange variation? The course mentions one, but there aren't any games in the model-game section in this variation.

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I'm sure they'll add it to model games and to stream section how to play for black in that line. Currently you can check streams in events this year, I saw many french exchange being played. Also searching through database of strong GMs playing the black side you can find some interesting games like this one https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1020851

Okay. They just added a ton of stuff to the model games, including some exchange-variation games. Terrific.

Middlegame

Hello again, I was wondering If there are any good courses for the middlegame. Thanks! 😃😃

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Did you check the Middlegame Mastery section in the courses? 😜

Also the commented games offer plenty of advice on the middlegame….👍

Tactics Ninja - Section 10.13

Here, why cant White pay Qh8 directly instead of first playing Be5 first?

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When you start with Qh8, black does not have to take your queen...

French and Dutch attacks?

I recently saw some posts on French and Dutch attacks. I had no idea what that is. I studied nearly all ChessMood openings for black. After some search I realized that these are hidden behind BlackMood openings. I saw WhiteMood openings are shorter version of white repertoire, but BlackMood openings are these two totally new openings. Anyone has idea why is that? Second, what is your experience with French and Dutch ''attacks''? Did anyone switched from Sicilian and started playing French. I never played French in my life, it looks too passive to me... Dutch I would really consider as d4 openings I find a nightmare.

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They are to make it easier for weaker players not to have to study hours to play a tricky Black repertoire. The attack isn't passive, and activity is stressed throughout when demonstrated.

My Chess back blog

I just got done reading the latest blog about skiing fast by Avetik. That was me. That is me. I want so much to raise my rating so I can be proud of myself as a chess player. I am not a high rated player. Around 1000. But lately I was close to 1100 but have had a bad time recently. Very frustrated and being a perfectionist it was hard to deal with. I was contacted by a advanced player on this board who has offered to help me. He has reviewed my games and pointed out my mistakes and what changes to do. It has been extremely helpful. But my point is this, he has helped me change my mindset from caring what is my rating is to how can I play my best with each game. So two comments. One, thank you for the help you are giving me. I am not mentioning his name because I do not know if he wants to be known. Second, I am enjoying chess more again because I am appreciating learning both from my wins and my losses. And ultimately my goal of a higher rating will follow. Allen

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Show a bad game , and analyse why you played it

Hi chess mood family After reading and replying to the article of GM Avetik on objectivity , I decided to create this post . Its a place to use to vent out bad performance and analyse it to be able to improve . Have fun ! Here is my last and probably worse one in tournament ! 🤭 I m over 1700 otb Classic . Last month , I had a nice game with a 1400 + , probably 15 yrs older than me ( im 56 yrs ) he play a carokhan exactly like I wanted so I was very ( too ) confidant. I had a superior position out the the opening but he managed to equalized by outplaying me with his knights which is a strong point for me usually ( I took advantage with it it the opening) . I was not able to assess correctly his skills with it and I went all in to get a winning endgame . My plan was correct besides some approximate calculations but when he counter attacked , I stopped my plan to slow his plan . I lost precious tempi and he got a completly winning ending .. I fought back and was able to find a way to force the draw.. I was playing on the 30 sec increment and he had 50 min.. as he showed me some weaknesses in the ending , I felt that maybe I could tricked him and finally get back in front again .. with few seconds on the clock , being able to sacrifice my last knight on his c4 passed pawn and after , if he takes my knight , I m close to his g3 passed pawn and its draw . I have a pawn on a2 , his knight is on the a file , my king is on e2 ( just took another passed pawn there, lifting my spirit even if I m still losing ) and what did I do ? Brought my knight closer to my king instead of the sac for the pawn , hoping absurdly to fork the remaining g pawn with the king ( like I did with the e2 pawn ) . With his huge time advantage , he easily avoided the trap I imagined in my 30 sec thought process . Forced me to sac the knight on the g pawn few moves later and calmly came back to queen the c pawn which I could not approach tx to his knight ! This game hurted me deeply and it was not my first sin of this sort but maybe still the worse as since I came back to chess, I tried to improve my attitude and this game was the sum of so many flaws I have.. 😝 but I m not a bad loser , and those painful experiences only reinforce my will to improve despite my age ! I could try to add the game later on or at least a diagram of the last critical position and a link to the article .

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New article: Objectivity - the key ingredient for your growth

Hello champions!

It’s 2023. So first of wishing you a very very happy new year!! ✨

You would have set up new goals for this year! And you’ll find a lot of value from the 1st ‘Traditional Tuesday’ article of 2023! 

In their Chess Growth Hacking interviews, GM Sokolov and then GM Vishnu Prasanna (GM Gukesh’s coach) mentioned the same thing in their top 3 list for fast chess improvement.

 
That was… Objectivity! 

And that’s absolutely true! Developing this skill will bring you the biggest difference in the quality of your life and the speed of your chess improvement. 
 

In today’s article you’ll learn:

📌The story of a young girl who from 0 got to the top of her country in 1 year and stopped playing chess 

📌The hidden reason behind it 

📌3 dangers of not being objective 

📌The 2 causes of losing objectivity 

📌The solution 

📌And the irony about objectivity 
 

Read the full article here 👇

https://chessmood.com/blog/objectivity
 

We hope this helps you set ambitious and objective goals for 2023! Wishing you a lot of energy ⚡ to crush your goals this year! 

Share your thoughts about the article below!

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Hi Avetik, I have been following your posts regularly & what you have written is absolutely true. Thanks for all the motivation you provide through your articles.

Well GM Avetik. Already you help me a lot with the article of Kobe Bryant quote:"focus on growth as an athlete, don't focus in results (ratings)". The truth is that the very few coaches I tried were disappointing. So now I coach myself and I am backed by this wonderful chess platform called Chessmood. BTW., about Gukesh success and the interview with his coach, (another indian GM) I remember saying in a post that the guy was very near his plateau since I have been following the indian chess prodigies who attempt to beat Karjakin record of youngest GM ever, and I sead that the guy, Gukesh was playing all type of tournaments, like the turkish league, the polish leag, the spanish team championship, etc. GM Pragg is the reverse of the coin. With his famous coach R.B.Ramesh he has the calm to choose only hand-pick competitions with care. For this, being 1 year older than Gukesh and still U2700, he works on his growth and his plateau is far ahead since he is playing only selected events even this online no FIDE ratings tournament, because his coach wants him to grow interacting with the best, even if it's rapid 15+10 or 20+15. Finally last week I read this Gukesh coach you interviewed saying: "Gukesh is now resting since the results of his last tournaments were not satisfactory". So even at the top levels, and in India with the support of Anand himself, the government, sponsors and all, the fool of this GM you interviewed has burnt out the poor 16y.o. Gukesh.. 🤒

Hello GM Avetik, Thank you for this article and all of the others you post weekly. I appreciate your sense of motivation and its role in chess improvement. This article really resonated with me. I just looked and my rating has been stagnant for a year and I was feeling a little discouraged. Your articles remind me it is a marathon not a sprint. I believe I am improving but my rating doesn't show it yet. I am also a sucker for Michael Jordan Quotes! My favorite is: "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed." Thanks as always!

😀Hi GM, Happy New Year, Read your article on objectivity. It is extremely hard because it is easy to fool oneself into believing that we are being objective at the board or in any other activity in life. I played a game last year where I thought I was completely winning, a pawn sac allowing all of my pieces to enter the fray. The computer assessed it as zero zero and I only won because of a blunder. Recently I upset a guy on a Parkrun (2000 globally each week, not reached Armenia yet) 5K race who was going on about his wife at being good if you compare age grading performances but with a best time of 20:18 puts her a long way behind the world record of 12:35. Have you read Jonathan Rowson ? 7 Deadly Chess Sins , Chess for Zebras. He deals with these and other issues that get in the way of chess improvement. That quote about being satisfied enough to be happy but not enough to want to improve is key. I have had a bad year results wise but feel I have improved and try to cling to good moments such as not losing with White playing e4 and winning game of the month for June.

Wonderfully written GM Avetik. All the best for you and your growing Chessmood family.

Supre sir, really an eye opener!!!

nice article, I really like and appreciate your articles - keep up good work. Jan

Love it!!!

Great article and honesty. A fair bit to unpack there. I don't think it's just me that writes a lot :) It wasn't clear (to me) initially what was meant by 'being objective' here. By objectivity I tend to think about the opposite of subjectivity (own view of the world filtered through our beliefs, experience etc) vs objectivity (how it really is). However it's (in the article) having your own map of the world and following it blindly when you're not getting the results you want, then not wanting to see how it really is - the it'll be just as easy as K+Q mate, or that ease of rating gains is linear. I think possibly we're wired to have our own view of the World and stick to it, even if it was completely fabricated from the start and changing that view by others isn't easy. Through school we learn to listen to authority, but then we learn that blindly when authority isn't always right, and not everyone who claims to be is an authority even if they hold the position. When I first went to school at the age of 4 (whole issue about sending kids to school in September disadvantaging the younger ones, but that's another topic), I somehow believed that you move up a class when you're 5. So much so I went to the next class on my birthday and was quite upset when that wasn't how it worked: 'But I'm 5!'. Obviously a very naive view, but some people don't grow out it, or perhaps are so distrusting or hurt that they go into their own World with their own rules and delusions. Many are there to escape a World they can no longer handle. Not to say having your own ideas is a bad thing. I'm certainly one who has my own ways of doing some things and much of the time its of great benefit as I'll adopt, try, discard/improve, but I try not to stick to what isn't working. I certainly don't follow the crowd, as I've learned that it's the way to be average. However I'm happy to learn from someone who knows the path or has some interesting ideas. That doesn't mean I'll change, but I will integrate and experiment, and if that brings me closer to my goal, I'll take a little more and so on. Causes/reasons of losing objectivity also include: not wanting to be told / finding one's own way / focusing only on only what you want to hear / focusing on yourself not learning from anyone else (best mistakes to learn from are those that someone else made) wanting it to be a dream (which you touch on) / homeruns vs long term effort ('Next year Rodney we'll be millionaires!' / Jordan's video) getting emotional (angry/upset/dejected/depressed at below 'self-expected' results rather than seeing failure as steps to success) the perfectionist / moving the goal posts unreasonably (also touched upon with the GM/IM norms) trying to be a guru / know-it-all (thus you can't admit being wrong/grow because it might undermine your authority) overwork - you don't get a chance to step back and see the wood for the trees and when you're tired and emotionally charged you can't see it Indeed a lot of people don't want to be told the truth, or receive advice, so people who could help often don't give it, and those that are willing to give it are then those with hidden agendas. Conversely some people feel that on hearing an opinion, that they must treat it as the truth and follow it, rather than just take it onboard. It's also that some can't handle the truth, since they would feel a failure. Actually the defence mechanism protecting egos is a explainer of much irrationality (sometimes we blame ourselves for when it is the other person). Even then people ask for feedback and then get upset at the person that gave it to them. Similarly if you give advice you should be able to handle being disagreed or called out on it. That too can be a learning opportunity even though it can hurt. Chessmood dream: It's not just marketing. Chess players are known (not all!) for being tight with money. It were free they'd be many users, but no doubt that it wouldn't be appreciated as much (every had so many games for example you only ever play a few). It's more than marketing in that people are also irrational. There is no website offering training out there which says prominently 'Yeah it's good, but you need to put lots of hard work in and even then...' - they're all extolling the results and the marketing, so much so that people approach any claims with a huge pinch of salt. It's hard to pick out which are any good, and which are just giving you a load of lines (not just the openings!) and the usual hackneyed examples without adding anything extra. That is why in the past I said I think Chessmood over-markets itself on the website, and some people smell a rat that isn't there because of trying too hard to persuade value. The real backing up will be testimonials backed with showing rating rises which are independently verifiable but that takes time. Plus word of mouth (I did mention Chessmood to one guy who was playing his first tournament and had clearly done really well on his own so had the desire to put in the effort). The marketing of all the features should really just be a tour. In the end the question boils down to given where I am, where can I get to, how long, how much effort. Everyone has Google after all so as long as you appear on the first page, much of the old style marketing can be secondary, but writing articles, free bits and so on that are picked up on other popular sites helps (as does occur now). I used to run and program FICS. It was free and as good as the commercial alternatives (back then, but dated and awkward now), but so many went to the pay servers because of word of mouth (often from those with vested interests because they were titled and paid for example) and irrational things (GMs being there who'd never play them without being paid, so what?). You can be the best, cheapest, fastest, but the best isn't what wins. However in the industry of chess tuition it needs to be born in mind that a large part of the population doesn't want to get better (beyond the easy to learn basics), doesn't want to pay for it, and doesn't want to put all the (years of) effort in to take advantage of it. They want quick, easy fixes. Which is why when and if they do buy (not rip off) books, often they don't read them, because it's a lot of work (not that many authors make it easy). However to have the ambition of getting by and making a real difference to many chess players and using that to eventually pivot into something that does make money is very realistic if making money is a secondary goal. Even Chessable I bet if we saw the accounts it will be not making a fortune because once you pay for the courses and hosting them, wages etc there isn't a lot left over. Popular doesn't equate to making money or people being happy. They are pivoting into live coaching events which is something certainly which could be a fit for Chessmood, offering master classes / group coaching with guest Grandmasters and advertising it to the whole Internet where Chessmood members get it for free (and in turn Chessmood gets advertised as part of the deal). 'caring what they think' - it was Feynman's wife who said 'Why do you care what others think?'. And 'Thinking that they care' - they don't it just gives them something to talk about to other like(lack)-minded people. My wife works with people like that who badmouth others behind their back, but do they really care, unlikely (unless jealous). I once did speed-dating and some girl (who had no hobbies or life whatsoever) rolled her eyes because I played chess! I mean it was a classic moment and a huge next! The other thing to note on getting trapped/gurus is how many self-help books (including best sellers) are written by fakes, fake-it-til-you-make-its, don't walk their talk, blind-leading-the-blind, passing on others' advice.... And many of the ones who do have something good to say have a few pages of good advice and the rest is just filler of heart-warming stories... (I mean if you want that instead of getting help, watch reality TV). That's not to say there isn't some good stuff out there, but taking it with a pinch of salt and healthy scepticism is the key.

Amazing article GM Avetik! 

I think this was a big problem for me in the past. Despite making a lot of progress, I never really stopped to appreciate my journey. It was always about chasing unrealistic goals, which did lead to burnout at some point. Now I know what I have to do differently.

Thank you for sharing this perspective! 

Ciao Avetik While reading this article I sensed that you put a lot of emotion into it and the examples I'm sure elicited some emotional thoughts from some readers! Objectivity is a subject that is not talked about much but vital to one's goals! Thank you for always sharing knowledge and wisdom that take years to acquire....for free many times. Hopefully members realize and appreciate this. An unwritten rule says that wisdom that comes easy is unappreciated almost all the time. I'm a student of the 95% effort, 4.9% know-how-to -learn and .1% talent school. Over the last 3 years with Chessmood, my rating did not go through the roof like some other spectacular Chessmood students'. In fact it rose just modestly. Ratings, in my opinion , are not always an accurate measure of knowledge. My deeper understanding of the game, however, has risen substantially and I feel comfortable playing much higher rated players with the confidence that I can give them a tough game. This is one reason why I'm motivated to work hard every day with joy. I would also like to recommend you for GM in coaching if there was such a qualification (Gabuzyan deserves it also). I hope that the Chessmood journey continues for many years with it's unique, unrivaled character! Ovi

Impressive. Very well written by GM Avetik I'll try be more objective :)

Hey GM Avetik I became a pro subscriber maybe about a week ago. I haven't started playing and studying chess until about 2 weeks ago. I'm 21 now, so there definitely is no GM at 13 kind of craze for me. Took me a bit later in life, but now I'm pursuing this passion of mine, with 6+ hours a day studying/learning/practicing chess. I'm a college student with a job so my average is only 6 hours a day, but if I can get more on certain days I do. My biggest chess goal for my life is to become a GM, of course the sooner it happens, I won't complain. But I understand it won't be light speed. Only 6+ now, but when I graduate college, I plan 8-11 hours a day. Thank you for this article, and I look forward to the months and years coming with my chess and learning here on Chess Mood.

Hello GM Avetik! I recently read this article and am considering becoming a pro member, with a future ambition to become my country's first GrandMaster. Your articles really help me a lot and am around 16 years old, and my dream takes a lot of ambition, which I hope to put in (just like you did yours). Thanks to this article, I will try to look at things with more objectivity. Btw, do you know how I could contact you further? Need to take your own words into consideration and take some advice from you, as well as your GM Team! Hassan Naz (Your average 1500+ elo)

Thank You Avetik, Great article for inspiring and motivating everyone! 🙂

Hi Avetik . Thanks again for this very interesting article . As a new member , I m discovering your exceptional work and I feel in harmony with your mood and what you re trying to achieve here . The problem is I want to read , listen , and do everything I can but I need to take the appropriate time to absorb most of it . After reading this article last night , I wanted to reply but it was already too late for me and I was not able to synthesize my thought . My sleep was agitated as my passion for chess is sometimes overwhelming.. But this morning , i knew where my lack of objectivity was hurting me the most .. its during a game ! Especially classic otb . Before and after any game , my expectation are correct and I accept any result even if I prefer to win. In reality, I tend too much to play for a win against any player weaker than me and accept way more easily to draw against stronger opponent and the 2 approaches get influenced by the margin of elo.. I m trying to improve that .. Accept to draw if the opponent played well enough to get there and merit it . And looking if I can improve a position without taking too many risks even if my opponent want to draw.. when I refuse draw offer , my record is negative.. it almost a winning strategy to offer me draw! 😅 In otb , I lost too many games by the past because I always played for a win in endgames and taken unsound risks to achieved it . Thats where my lack of objectivity is evident to me . Beside my winning obsession ,I DO NOT EVALUATE THE POSITION CORRECTLY AND SEEM WAY MORE TOO OPTIMISTIC WHILE I M PLAYING. If I m low on time or feel stress , which happens too often , my objectivity is worse . I did a lot of tactics and endgames problems where there is always a solution and maybe it transpose into my games where I m trying to build a position that I will transform into a wining problem ! So I often think there is something hidden that I can use to turn the table , even in a totally lost game which I usually play almost till checkmate . In my career , i did pulled out some miraculous draws or some beautiful last minute wins but they were not worth all the losses that prevented me from achieving my goals ! But when you do pull a rabbit out of a hat in a chess game , it momentarily gives you high satisfaction but if you dont get back to reality quick enough , you wont improve in the end . Adding knowledge is probably a good way to help me improve that but , managing my emotions during a game should be another key . Denis ( otb 1700+ ) Here are my best and worse example I was able to draw a 2308 ( FQE ) NM in 2007 in a classic game otb that lasted over 5 hrs ( he tried everything he could ) . I had white , and played the French exchange variation with c4 without having study it and played aggressively from the start . Last fall , i was able to draw another master in a senior classic event ( 2185 FQE ) . I had white and played a closed sicilian . He pushed d5 early and I played aggressively . After some exchanges , I infiltrated the back rank with my queen on the kind side and as the position was almost blocked he offered me the draw which I happily accept . Last month , I had a nice game with a 1400 + , probably 15 yrs older than me ( im 56 yrs ) he play a carokhan exactly like I wanted so I was very ( too ) confidant. I had a superior position out the the opening but he managed to equalized by outplaying me with his knights which is a strong point for me usually ( I took advantage with it it the opening) . I was not able to assess correctly his skills with it and I went all in to get a winning endgame . My plan was correct besides some approximate calculations but when he counter attacked , I stopped my plan to slow his plan . I lost precious tempi and he got a completly winning ending .. I fought back and was able to find a way to force the draw.. I was playing on the 30 sec increment and he had 50 min.. as he showed me some weaknesses in the ending , I felt that maybe I could tricked him and finally get back in front again .. with few seconds on the clock , being able to sacrifice my last knight on his c4 passed pawn and after , if he takes my knight , I m close to his g3 passed pawn and its draw . I have a pawn on a2 , his knight is on the a file , my king is on e2 ( just took another passed pawn there, lifting my spirit even if I m still losing ) and did I do ? Brought my knight closer to my king instead of the sac for the pawn , hoping absurdly to fork the remaining g pawn with the king ( like I did with the e2 pawn ) . With his huge time advantage , he easily avoided the trap I imagined in my 30 sec thought process . Forced me to sac the knight on the g pawn few moves later and calmly came back to queen the c pawn which I could not approach tx to his knight ! This game hurted me deeply and it was not my first sin of this sort but maybe still the worse as since I came back to chess, I tried to improve my attitude and this was game was the sum of so many flaws I have.. 😝 but I m not a bad loser , and those painful experiences only reinforce my will to improve despite my age ! I know this reply was way too long.. 😂 and many did not got to the end but I used it to get it out of my system and to help me understand better what I m doing wrong and how I can exfiltrate only the positive side of it and bring it with me in my next game ! It gaves me an idea of starting a new subject in the forum , describe a bad chess game you played and explain why you did it and how you can use that to improve !