Chess forum by Grandmasters

My draw vs GM in CM GP gambit line

Good day chessmoodians! Over the weekend I played in Lithuania chess league (team event) 3 classical games and I like to present you the draw I made vs GM in sicilian grand prix gambit line everyone likes :) Would like opinion of our coaches, members about how I could have played better in this line, thanks 👍

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OH wow! Nice!!👍

I'm so glad for you, congrats! Next time you will crush him :D

Witcher, you played well and solid IMO. Shows that you overcame being mentally down a few months ago. You didnt lose any of your ability, just made another step up! Best wishes Ovi

Well done Paulius. I noticed you played in Titled Tuesday once or twice recently. Do you think that experience was a confidence booster for facing these strong players OTB?

French Exchange 4.Qe2+

Hi everyone! Im curious whats recommended when playing as French Attack as black and face 4.Qe2+. Ive faced it several times and would like to learn the best response and setup afterwards. Thanks!

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It looks pretty harmless to me since it voluntarily blocks in the bishop and also puts the queen on an open file where it will eventually be misplaced when we put a rook on e8. I'd play the natural 4...Be7 after which white's only consistent move is 5.Bg5. Against anything other 5th move we play Nf6 followed by a quick O-O and look to open up the position and/or harass white's queen. After 5.Bg5 there are lots of reasonable options just don't go 5...Nf6 allowing 6.Bxf6 ruining your pawn structure. If white captures on e7 don't recapture with your queen as that would let white off the hook by allowing a queen swap.

Why Does Chess.com Keep Crashing?

Interesting video by Gotham Chess creator Levy Rozman that shows the astonishing worldwide growth of chess in the last 3 months. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt8Y0vvDRYI

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New with french attack

Hi! I just started playing french attack after looking blacks opening course. After advance variation 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 Bd7 4 Nf3 a6 5 Bd5 Bb5 After the bishops change I got really good positions and won a lot and get better and better to understand what the plan is. To my question: After 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Bd3 Bd7 4 c3 Bb5 5 Bc2 Whats the plan after white not want to change the whitesquare bishop? Regards Niklas

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Hi Niklas!
 

The thing is at that point your light-squared bishop will no longer be a bad piece. You can put the pawn on a5 and get the a6 square for the Bishop if white plays pawn a4. After that fighting for the center and pressuring on d4 square with c5-Nc6-Qb6 with French-style ideas.

Good luck!

Happy Pieces

I'm watching the Happy Pieces course but i feel like i'm not learning. I am never able to find the plan and I think i need the thought process to be explained more in detail.

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Interesting. So far it's one of my favourite ChessMood courses. I hope they add more sections soon.

What's your rating? If you're not at least 1600, if not more you probably won't get that much out of it.

Error in Endgame Roadmap Quiz

In the endgame roadmap course, there's an error in Section 2's first quiz. The third quiz is Black to play and White will ultimately win the Bishop after 1... Nf5 2. a6 bxa6 3. bxa6 Nd5 4. a7 Nc6 5. Bd7! But the puzzles solution is 1... c6?! This leaves Black 1 tempo behind if White continues in the same way 2. a6 bxa6 3. bxa6 Nf5 and so on. Based on the topic (outside passed pawns), I think that White should be the side to move? With White to move, the a-pawn will be unstoppable.

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Moodcoins

Hi. I have a question can you spend moodcoins even when your a basic member? Thanks🙂

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Yes, this is possible - you can buy a course, just select "or get lifetime access" on the right side of the page, then click buy the course and among others there is the option of making the purchase with MoodCoins

Tactics Ninja Course, Deflection and Distraction

Many of the examples in the Distraction section of the course seem as if they could just as well go in the Deflection section. What is the difference between distraction and deflection? Are they essentially the same?

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https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/deflection-vs-distraction

happy queen

is Qb8 Qa7 maneuver good for this type of position?

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I think the idea itself is fine, but for the moment there are probably more important things to do in the position. I'd probably be thinking about some sort of Bg7-f5 and/or c6, and if c6 is played then we can just activate by Qc7/Qb6 as well...

Courses

I feel like I finished a lot of Chessmood's courses already, but I do not feel any changes to my chess abilities. I feel all most stuffs are very easy to me and easy to understand. But doing the quiz on the main course page with like 100+ questions are somewhat difficult to me. Someone help me and tell me how to improve please. (GMs please)

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Please, tell us more about you, age, online and otb rating,, goal, etc. Openings that you play…. Which courses did you watch, which quizz exactly are you referring too? Nicks of you online accounts to see your games, when did you join and started to watch the courses, etc… the more info provided the better, how many hours do you study, how do you study, etc … 

Also how long did it take to finish the courses, for example Tactic Ninja….

I have been using chessmood for many months now and I have improved my game a lot by using the courses and I improved my rating from 1236 to 1679. I think that you are not able to improve your game because you are not following the study plan and the secret sauce . I sincerely request you to read the study plan for your given rating and do read the secret sauce too. If you follow this plan I assure you will improve your game and your rating . Thank you 😊

Course recommendation

When will the course Win Won Position come out? I have been eagerly waiting for that.😀😀

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Book recommendations

After my very nice and relaxing 1 on 1 chat, Avik recommended a few books to me. Thank you again. It felt like we know eachother for a long time already, such a natural conversation.🤍 (Which makes me wonder, do we get another call next year?) Reading the back of the books and online reviews I have ordered them all :-) Ego is the enemy Obstacle is the way Discipline is the destiny Stillness is the key These should arrive on monday but I don't know which one to read first 🙈 I feel I should read them all at the same time. 😂

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simplified chessmood or step by step ?

Hi, I have a FIDE Elo rating of 1620 (1800 Elo in blitz on chess.com and approximately 1950 Elo in blitz on lichess.org). I'm wondering if it would be useful for me to learn the step-by-step repertoire, which is designed for players with Elo ratings between 1800-2600, rather than the simplified ChessMood opening, which is designed for players with Elo ratings between 800-2000. I've noticed that my mistakes in both long FIDE games and blitz games are mainly due to missed tactics rather than mistakes in the opening. So my questions are: Should I focus more on training tactics rather than opening? Is the simplified ChessMood opening sufficient for my rating? Why is the black simplified ChessMood opening different from the step-by-step black opening? Is it because the latter is inferior? Thank you for your response.

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From the Black side (step by step / advanced) there is a lot of theory, and also the courses IMO don't do enough, at least as well as the White side ones. For that reason there is the plan to update the Benko and maybe the accelerated, there are missing d4 sidelines that need covering, there is f4. Playing Black is usually tough under 1800 at least unless the players walk into your pet line you know everything 20 moves deep... The idea was (I believe) to give a simpler alternative that players under 2000 chess.com (1700 OTB IMO) could work with so that they are not spending all their time learning openings and can concentrate on tactics and the other rating booster courses which will help their development. To get the numbers through the doors to keep the lights on, much focus has been there in the last couple of years, somewhat at the expense of the more advanced stuff. There are plans to add additional advanced material for the simplified openings which might appeal more than the step by step ones, or alternatively add a second option for Black which is useful going above 2200 at least since prep becomes a bigger thing. 'Should I focus more on training tactics rather than opening?' you said yourself you are losing games due to missed tactics, so I think you know the answer. A second question to ask is whether you are missing tactics because you need to work on tactics, or you are just overwhelmed that you don't understand the position or are under pressure so you lose focus. The second one may be a reason to look at openings where you have trouble. How do you do on the quizzes, or playing puzzle rush for example, do you miss much then when someone says there is a tactic to find. What about when you are comfortable with the position you're playing (not when taking it too easy). 'Is the simplified ChessMood opening sufficient for my rating?' 1620 FIDE (assuming it's not one of those who are really 2000+ but not played much FIDE so so undergraded and that's roughly your national rating level, then I'd say probably. Many league players I face below 1750 have not great openings (more a problem of not being ambitious and setting problems than the actual choice), but it's not their opening that loses them the game. Usually it's a missed tactic or endgame skill (that includes when I'd getting the worse of it to force a draw). Perhaps try them out and see if you like it or not. If nothing else you learn some different positions which will help your chess and the commitment is much lower than the step-by-step ones.

"Should I focus more on training tactics rather than opening?" I would study tactics and calculation in tandem with openings for best results :) Especially at our level, tactics decide games. "Is the simplified ChessMood opening sufficient for my rating?" I've gotten to 2100 Rapid on Lichess from purely ChessMood Simplified Openings for both White and Black. Hope that helps answer your question. "Why is the black simplified ChessMood opening different from the step-by-step black opening? Is it because the latter is inferior?" Quite the opposite, actually! The Step-by-step openings are much more in-depth and advanced and are probably suited for players going for titles such as CM/NM/FM and beyond. Seeing as I'm not ready to explore those options of titles yet, I'm sticking with the simplified openings for White and Black and they're working pretty great! Here are a couple model games of mine from the last month if this will help with your decision: https://lichess.org/zAVSA23U/black (Black against 2147) https://lichess.org/KNE1KEyf (White against 2146)

Hi Mate, just as example i tried simplified chessmood repertoire in OTB games. My opponent rated 1850 at the time and me 2013. (see below) In my experience i get with any opening prep one chance at least in a game to have huge advantage. You can only use it if you study also tactics and so on. Just train continously all parts of your game and you will progress. Dont give too much at engine evaluation in the opening. If you have a plan it's more valueable than have no plan but a good engine position. (My experience) [pgn][Event "OTB Tournament"] [Site "?"] [Date "????.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Opponent"] [Black "Me"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "C02"] [WhiteElo "1850"] [BlackElo "2000"] [PlyCount "86"] [EventDate "????.??.??"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bd7 4. Nf3 a6 5. Be3 Bb5 6. Nbd2 Ne7 7. b3 Bxf1 8. Nxf1 Nf5 9. c3 c5 10. Ng3 Nxg3 11. hxg3 cxd4 12. Nxd4 Qc7 13. O-O Qxe5 14. Re1 Be7 15. Nf3 Qc7 16. Bf4 Qb6 17. Ne5 Nc6 18. Qg4 Nxe5 19. Bxe5 Rg8 20. c4 dxc4 21. Qxc4 Bc5 22. Qa4+ Ke7 23. Qf4 Rac8 24. Rad1 f6 25. Bxf6+ gxf6 26. Qh6 Bxf2+ 27. Kh1 Bd4 28. Re4 e5 29. Rdxd4 Qxd4 30. Rxd4 exd4 31. Qxh7+ Kd6 32. Kg1 Rgd8 33. Qxb7 d3 34. Qxa6+ Ke7 35. Qb7+ Kf8 36. Qb6 Kg7 37. Qb7+ Kh6 38. Qf3 Kg6 39. Qe4+ Kf7 40. Qh7+ Ke8 41. Qg6+ Ke7 42. Qe4+ Kf8 43. Qe6 Kg7 1/2-1/2[/pgn]

New with french attack

Hi! I just started playing french attack after looking blacks opening course. After advance variation 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 e5 Bd7 4 Nf3 a6 5 Bd5 Bb5 After the bishops change I got really good positions and won a lot and get better and better to understand what the plan is. To my question: After 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Bd3 Bd7 4 c3 Bb5 5 Bc2 Whats the plan after white not want to change the whitesquare bishop? Regards Niklas

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C'mon Theme in game

Hi Mates, found a great game in a League called Lichess Lonewolf. It's 30+30 time control and there was an incredible C'mon tactic involved. Sadly not found by player: https://lichess.org/TEJTt9WY#42 Move 21 black played a4 but he had with Nb4 great C'mon forced mate in 10 Stockfish found after axb4 axb4 Kb3 bxc4 Kxc4 d5 Kxd5 Be6 Kc6 Ra6 Kc5 Ra5 Kc6 Bd5 Kd7 Qe8 Kxc7 Qd8. Hope you enjoy :) Kind regards, Fred

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Crossing the 2000 barrier chess.com blitz

Don't congratulate me yet, this is not something I've achieved. Noting from hanging in the 1900 range for a bit, then getting some bad games (or good opponents), it's fell back into the 1800 range. Getting back to 1900 is hard work. The magic number is 1750. Why? Because that's often a point where new players are rated to make a rating difference against their first opponent. Thus many players land in there, and although chess.com doesn't display a mean distribution, I imagine there is a big bump there, if you remove the skew of newbies sub 800 from the rating set. Thus if you (at 1850) set your rating range +-200 getting a 1700-1800 player is much more likely than a 1900-200 player. Thus you need to win more games to get back to 1900, or to 2000, and losses cost you dearly compared to a player above your rating. Setting rating ranges also runs into a couple of problems. You can inflate your rating by 'eeking' which means becoming a big fish by eating lots of small ones. That is your play players you'll definitely beat, hope you don't get draws and use the +1 points to gradually build your way up. The other problem is players might get wise to playing weaker players and make it less likely you'll get to challenge them by filtering your request. A side note is because how chess.com is set up, 0 inc gets a lot more prominence than 3 inc which means 5 3 games are hard to find, so without a fast set up (phones don't do the job), it means a high proportion of games lost due to running out of time in promising positions. Add that to the 1700 problem and it shows why getting to 2000 is hard work at least for me. So perhaps I should up my lower rating range to eventually get to 2000, or if not get experience of better players at blitz. Also would prove or disprove my point.

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Whenever I play a game on my phone it feels like a non-trivial handicap. I much prefer using computer + mouse. FWIW, one thing I'm coming to conclude about blitz is that a small amount of prophylaxis can have a big positive impact on results.

New players on chess.com have a high rating deviation or RD which means if you lose to them you will lose less rating points. If you take some time out your RD will increase which means when you start playing again on the server your rating will rise quicker if you win and fall faster if you lose. https://www.chess.com/article/view/chess-ratings---how-they-work

One thing that has helped me tremendously was taking my coach's advice and setting it to +250 only. This has allowed me to skyrocket from 1600-2100 pretty rapidly (roughly 3 months). I'm pretty much exclusively only playing players either right at my rating or higher. Hope this helps!

"Your rating is the shadow of your level in chess. Become better and the rating will follow you" - Avetik's Dad.

Can we fix it? How?

The fix it stage is mentioned in several blog articles but I feel it never gets to the heart of the problem enough to give enough guidance. It's also probably why improvement plateaus as detecting and fixing stuff gets harder. The first problem is at what level? E.g. Sub 1800 look for tactical blunders - shows up usually well on engine analysis Check the first 2 moves after an opening tabia or any on the way to one, what should you have played vs a course or database and was your move inferior (why?) Endgame were you active enough, did you mess up a well known theoretical transposition. The fix it is reasonably easy at this level, do some puzzles on the theme, look at the opening/ endgame course. Going from 2000+ it's a lot harder to fix mistakes because the engine deviations are usually smaller and the bigger blunders often happen in difficult positions that the problem was moves earlier. Even if you nail it like giving away space, often it's not as simple as train 20 positions on the theme (assuming you can even find such a resource). It's often not so easy to isolate from what else was going on, so giving away the space might have been right or wrong depending on what else was going on. What to look for, and how to fix it a more comprehensive guide would be useful. Very little work exists in this area and often the study phase picks up the slack (or frustration leads to more play without analysis beyond the superficial).

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So to more thought, what does it mean to fix one's game/mistakes? Prevent / lessen a mistake happening a second time in a similar situation. The mistake (psychological and time aside): Bad calculation (couldn't / missed a future move, stopped too early) Candidate selection (didn't see a valid candidate in the current or future position, missing tactical shots, well known ideas) Evaluation (missed features or overall impression was wrong or lacking intuition) Strategic plan (wrong exchange, wrong pawn structure / play, wrong squares, overplaying/underplaying a feature) Knowledge (opening, plans, middlegame, endgame) or ease of access to that knowledge / recognising it Overlooking opponent (resource, ideas, last move, tactics...) Above one's competence (a line, opening, complications that becomes more luck than skill until skill level greatly rises). The fix will likely be different for each scenario, and possibly each instance of it Also the fix will be weighted against rating since the fix might be to calculate the variation 20 moves deep, but for players less than 3000... so a compromise might be to find a simpler idea somewhere in the calculation, or something the opponent will have more trouble with And the questions to ask: What was the mistake? Why did I make the mistake (my state of mind, what else was being focused on)? Given hindsight, would I be able to calculate the right move here? What material to look at to cover this weak area, how to study it, how to remember it. What practice can be done?

Yes we can! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtgA9w5vHp8&t=26s

Tactic Ninja Quiz 348

Just a small observation from one of my students: In the last move only promoting to knight is correct, but it accepts everything as correct solution. 😀

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The Power of the Bishop Pair, section 3, chapter 8

very good example where you also show the endgame trick of the wrong color bishop with rook pawn against a lone king. Nice combo.

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French Attack line

Hi I am playing a correspondence game and it has gone ; 1e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Nf6 4 Bg5 h6 5 BxN QxB 6 e d5 Bb4 7 Bb5+ How do I play against this? I can only see 7...c6 and my pawn structure gets ruined after 8 dxc6 bxc6 9 Be2 for example, then white gets to play Nf3 and 0-0, his position looks good compared to mine. Am I missing something? Thanks Paul

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Is it within the rules to get outside help during the game? I know it's against the chess.com Daily Chess rules.

Any thoughts? Thanks

Sorry, I thought it was against the rules of correspondence and I did not check it out. 

What is wrong with Bd7 developing the piece? You are playing a gambit line where we give up one pawn for development. If they play Nf3 you can recapture and not allow dxe6 anymore. I would go Bd7 if taken Nxd7, if necessary you can also spoing White-s structure after castling, nothing wrong with this I think.😅