Chess forum by Grandmasters

Looking for a Coach

Hello! My name is Jules Carter, I'm 36 years old from the USA and looking for a coach to help me reach my goals. I'm currently rated 1579 USCF and would like to reach 2000 and perhaps even 2200 eventually. I just signed up for ChessMood a couple weeks ago and I'm really enjoying the courses so far and would like a coach that is knowledgeable with the material taught in these courses and wouldn't try to sway me one way or another. I work from home and have a lot of free time on my hands to dedicate to study and practice. I hope someone from the community can help guide me in the right direction! Jules

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Hi Jules,  
Thanks for your message! We checked your uscf stats and we may have someone very nice for you that works with adults with similar profile. We will provide him your email and he will contact you to your email. 🤠

😀Stand by and keep working and enjoying the courses Jules…  

Forcing move Checks

I have a question that persistently bugs me. What should we look for first? King safety, or ensuring we have a proper grasp of what material is on the board? Intuitively I want to go straight for looking at king safety, but that reeks of not reading the question properly before starting to solve it. Equally, I don't want to overcomplicate things and break the natural flow of thought and intuition. I've been spending a lot of time breaking these guidelines down into thoughts that I can use effectively to build good method habits, but naturally there's stuff I'm getting stuck on too. If anyone is so kind as to give me helpful advice, you have my thanks! P.s. Just to clarify, I am talking about the Checks-Captures-Threats mnemonic, which seems to be a pretty good concise checklist for what to look for, but doesn't really teach you how to sort your thoughts all that well.

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It's not clear what you're trying to do - can you clarify? It looks like you're solving puzzles rather than playing, tactical puzzles or daily puzzle (mostly getting stalemates)?

Shouldn't you start by scanning the position and trying to get a feel for what the most important features are? Going through that process should suggest some candidate moves which you can start thinking about.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts guys.

Daily puzzle moodcoin problem

Hello, I solved puzzles from previous days. One of them was a success without any error but i didnt get any moodcoins? Is this a bug or a known issue? Thanks

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I am having this issue as well.

We're still testing it.
We solve them every day waiting for a day when it fails to give us MoodCoins.
But haven't come across the issue yet.
As soon as we figure out why and how the system fails, we'll fix it! Thank you so much for reporting the issue😅!

New Alapin course

I think this is a good call to separate this from the anti-sicilians given its size and its frequency as a good alternative to the open variations. A few things to note: . In the original course, early Nc3 options were not covered (I did mention this a while ago but didn't provide lines - my bad. This would be on move 7 or 8 for example once c3 is free instead of moving the bishop / after exd6 Qxd6). While I understand you don't want to cover every move, this is quite common and also reasonably dangerous if you're not prepared and a potential favourite of the disgruntled Smith Morra player even though it can be reached by both systems. . The Kopec system (Nf3 c3 Bd3 Bc2 with/without h3) ideas while rare might need a reconsider just to mention it as it was recommended as a system (and had a foxy openings video course) by the late Danny Kopec and attracts the occasional question in the forum. It's not so dangerous against our setups and pretty rare, so understandable not to cover it though. . When I'm playing I often find it hard to remember whether I should be playing for d6, e6 or g6 or something else. Having some positional guide, especially where to develop the bishops depending on what the opponent's setup is would be useful. Thanks for the improvement.

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I've finally had some time to go through this course. I think all my issues above were answered. The tricky Nc3 options were covered, a good system against the Kopec and more consistency with the choice of pawn moves making remembering lines much easier. I certainly liked the discussion of the earlier deviations and then the longer lines in the advanced which I thought help consolidate the material much better, especially as White tries a lot of deviation trickery to avoid the mainlines which can be drawish. That said a few things were lost. The 4. g3 variation which was touted as an alternative to d4, Nf3 without d4 and Bc4 as ways for White to explore without going into well known drawish lines. Perhaps that could come back as an advanced section. Also the old 3 d3 is lost (4... e5 is a nice idea), though I feel it was more a relative of the King's Indian Attack and would like to see that covered in the sicilian sidelines course as quite a few players use the KIA against everything and not always with the lines (2. g3 etc) covered. The d3 line originally covered with g6 in the old course looks like a transposition to one of the lines. A couple of other losses include the c4 idea against early Bc4, Bb3 and f5 against Qxd4 lines instead of d6 which perhaps could be lifted and added into the advanced section. Overall a better course and most welcome to break it out as it's one of White's main anti-open options with a lot more concrete variations than the closed.

Find a partner

I just read the latest email from Chessmood. In it GM Avetik talked about how to grow as a chess player. His recommendation is: Study -> Practice -> Fix -> Repeat. I totally agree. But my issue is all my playing is on Chess.com. So I learn something but whether or not I get an opponent that will play in a way I can use what I learned is very hit and miss. So my question is: how do I find a partner with similar goals. I'm 62, mostly retired and I have the time to invest in learning more. My goal is to reach 1200 (at this time I'm around 900). Thank you Allen

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You can ask in the study/sparring partner pinned topic. Most of getting to 1200 (1500 is a quite reasonable short term goal) is getting tactics and checkmates, basic endgames and simple openings worked on, plus avoiding and taking advantage of blunders and most of that can be done without a partner to get to that level reasonably easy. Much of what sub 1200s play will be trappy or home-brew chess with maybe a little theory, so playing good healthy opening play (openings 101) using tactics and attack (tactic ninja/fearless warrior) to punish opponents who don't play healthy chess, avoiding blunders (lots of them in sub1200 games) and noticing your opponent's mistakes (blunderproof) and being able to finish off basic pawn endings (endgame theory you must know / endgame roadmap) will take you beyond 1200. The danger of using a sparring partner of that level is it's the blind leading the blind and while some things can be good to practice (simple endings which if dead won theoretical can be done with an engine anyway) and the shared journey, I'm not sure how much it'll get you. Study, play, puzzles (simple puzzle rush survival first 20 or so problem, checkmates in 1/2 on lichess and a few others) are probably enough at that level. Most of the opening theory you need will only be a few moves long as just playing simple developing rules will be enough in most cases, which should be easily rememberable if you take notes, and provide a base for learning more detail as you move up. Good luck!

Hi Allen,

Welcome to the family and I hope that you find a chess partner soon, but please your partner request post it here:

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/studysparring-partner-1362
Also, check out the posts of other users, maybe your partner is already waiting for you! 😜

Good luck!!!!

Hi Allen, At the 800 (chess.com) level your biggest issue is reducing the frequency at which you gift your opponent material. Conversely, you'll want to increase the rate at which you accept material gifts from your opponent! I've helped a couple of players at this level and I see similar issues in your games. As you start reducing the number of times you give away pieces you'll get much more benefit from the ChessMood openings that you're learning and also from any more advanced concepts that you study. The question is, how to make such improvements. In theory studying tactics should help, but sometimes it doesn't for varying reasons. The most reliable method would be to review your lost games with a coach. If you can't manage a coach, then it is essential to learn from your lost games. Perhaps try collecting the positions where you have made a clear mistake/blunder that gifts your opponent material. I'm not sure how computer savvy you are but you could put them into a chess database, a lichess study, or even just paste them into a Microsoft Word document. The idea is to review the positions a few times, so that you are learning the patterns and how to avoid such mistakes in future. Good luck! cheers, Peter

2 Bishops course_section 6_video number 7. The power of monsters

Good afternoon! I just want to point out one inaccuracy in this video in time 2:55. Comentator is showing line after 23... Qh8 and is saying that 24. Qg5+ Kf7 Rde1 and Nh6+ next move is checkmate, but there is forced mate in 2 after 23...Qh8 24.Nh6+ Kg7 and 25.Qg5++ This time I checked only like 6 times before posting it here! 😀😀😀 With best regards Petrosian64

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Thanks Petrosian,

Dully noted. 😀

Suggestion for Improving

I am stuck at the FIDE Rating of 1300 and nowadays I am not improving. I need some sugggestions and training plans for my improvement.

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Have you seen chessmoods latest article? I think you might be able to get some help from that(https://chessmood.com/blog/how-to-get-better-at-chess). Make sure not to study too much, but also not to play too much. Keep a balance. Also remember to fix your mistakes(ideally by yourself first, then you can check with an engine.) There will always be long stretches of time where your rating won't improve, or even go down, however, at least for me, you will always eventually end up having a massive improvement of hundreds of rating points within a short time span after a few tournaments.

CBV into PGN

Hi guys, I want to ask if anyone knows how to change cbv into pgn files. I have a book in CBV format and want to convert it so that I can play some endgame positions against the engine...

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https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/6442/how-to-convert-chessbase-format-files-to-pgn

Daily puzzle alternative puzzle 12/12/2022

On today's daily puzzle, after 1.Nf6 f8=Q 2. e5 cd 3. Ke2 Kb4, 4. Na2 was marked wrong, even though it is an alternative answer to Nd5. (After Na2 Ka3 Nc1 d2 Ra8 Kb2 Nd3 Kc2 Nf2)

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That problem has at least 3 solutions. By the way your notation is incorrect, it should read: 1.Nc3 c1=Q 2.d4+ cxd3 3.Kd7+ (3.Kb7 also wins in the same way as the mainline) Kb4 4.Na2 winning. The notation is given on the side of the board in the puzzles to guide you.

Puzzle of the day Dec 12

Hi, In today's puzzle, the best continuation has been given as 1. Ng7 which is correct of course. Is it possible that there is another continuation in the form of 1. Nf6, as one possible line will be 1.. Qg6 2. Re8+ Kg7 3. Rg8+ Kxf6 4. Rxg6 fxg6 5. a4 and this is also winning. Is my line of thinking correct? Rgds, Debasish

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Correction: 5. a5

I thought that but it's very clever why it's not the right move. Try to work out a clever defence which itself is a puzzle.

NEW ARTICLE: Don't be a Fish

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What you say is true,

But, being a GM or IM does not guarantee anything...

I have tons of videos, courses, and books written by GM and IM cheaters who intentionally skip critical lines to sell their products. Now, I know them!!

On the other hand, some GMs really LOVE what they are doing: Dvoretsky, Mikhalchishin, Sokolov, Shereshevsky ... never sacrifice the quality. And... I know them as well!

The cheaters will cheat... and they will disappear

Just Keep Moving Forward... People will see and judge.

Keep Moving Forward :)

I didn't know that such people were fishing on google. I learn only from Trustworthy sources, Chessmood, chess with Suren, watch fide games, and streams of the GMs playing on lichess and chess.com . I mean, known GMs, such as Grishuk, Nakamura, or even Zhigalko and Zubov, Firouzha and others as well.

True I faced this issue too. I met an IM online on chesss.com and he gave me account of his gf then i sent him 100 usd and he never showed up and blocked me. I texted all chess webs and they said show us legal court proof and they will ban him. Issue for me was I had no idea about how to file a case because he was from abroad but not India.  I was also misguided a lot by many YouTube channels. I don't wanna mention their names but still sad for money they made a huge channel for tricks and traps and a lot people who are new in chess are falling into their trap. Even when I talk to beginners it take a lot time for to convince them that chess is a game of strategy not tricks and  in real world tricks wont work and after i show them basic books name they feel not attracted to study chess because those channel ruined their mindset.  

Yeah not only online but also offline world is super dangerous. I heard from my friend that people in New Delhi are taking more than 3000 usd to train a beginner and they promise their parents that they can make their kid's level to 1600 from beginner. But see money. 3000 usd and getting only 1600 level. This is rubbish. And worse thing is they are reputed coaches in New Delhi. Even in past when I started making small contents from kids then the Secretary of my state called me and asked me to promote chess in my town. I said I tried a lot but people are not into chess in my city and then he said it's useless to make blogs for kids or anyone. Focus on earning and I said ok. I was so irritated by his words and I felt like what the hell.  He said he is 1600 and takes 10 usd per hr and seriously by hearing his words I knew he only sucks time of student and get money but he never helped anyone to improve because all he talked about promotion and money.  I know promotion matters in chess but it's the task of state secretory to promote chess in my town and then we can do more help because he is known to all not me. Anyways in the end I left the call and I  felt irritated. 

I am glad finally I found chessmood where mentors are not marketers and they care for their student's game level instead of filling their pockets.  This is best mindset of a true mentor or in India we call them guru. Even ancient gurus in india were same. They cared for student but not money but modern world people are selling their useless products and mis guiding a lot people.

This article should be read by all the new chess players to prevent them from destroying their carrier.

Great article!

Thanks coach not only i am learning about technical chess but also things which are super important and nobody is talking about because most of them are fisherman and others are victims of it who doesnt know what to do ? but that days are gone now i have right mindset, chessmood and its just matter of time to reach where i belong!

Great article

👍

Puzzle of the day, 11 december 2022

Dear CM community, seems that there is a bug with the puzzle today. Nevertheless, have a good day.

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I just solved it. What bug did you see?

Opening Questions

Hello everyone! Against 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.Nf3 followed by d4, what is the Chessmood recommendation? Is it the Najdorf? Is the nadjorf course's other sections gonna be added?

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Hello Sidharth!

Our Chessmood recommedation at the moment is the Accelerated Dragon.

https://chessmood.com/course/sicilian-defence-accelerated-dragon

We may include the Najdorf again in the future, we started the course but we thought that it would be better to put all the effort in in the AD. We do not play 2.d6 but 2.Nc6...

it's okay to watch more than 4-5 hours of courses per day

hello chessmood family I start to watch courses on 2022/12/01 I did finish tactic ninja courses and I did solve 100 quiz I almost finish SLP courses I did watch 13 sections from mating matador courses is it okay to keep watching like this or should I take a break?

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Crazy variation in the 8.h4 f6 Scotch

I am watching the advanced section videos on 8.h4 f6 9.c4 Ba6 10.Rh3 0-0-0 11.Qe4 Nb6 12.c5 Bxf1 13.cxb6 right now, and the lines after 13...Ba6 14.bxa7 are indeed crazy and very interesting. 🙂 However, I would like to suggest an interesting (to me at least 😅) idea from Black: 13...Bb5, to block the b-file so that it is more difficult for White to carry out Rb3 ideas. If White plays 14.a4 to kick Black's bishop away, Black goes 14...Ba6, and compared to the lines in the videos the a4 square is occupied and White no longer has Ra3 or Qa4 ideas. I understand that GM Avetik and other members of the ChessMood team are probably very busy, but I'd be grateful if a response to this idea could be suggested. 🙂

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Hi lemmings Player,

This was already commented here: https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/scotch-3332

Please take a look.

Course notes

Hey Chessmood fam, I'm loving the video courses, but you know what I love even more? The notes provided ! (the starter courses). The way I study is more by myself and I like reading more than watching videos (or actually doing both for best learning experience). I was wondering if I could ask the GMs to include notes in their master courses as well? Especially since the videos are supppperrr long 😅 If possible, thanks in advance!

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Tactical level required to make 2300 FIDE

I think there are a few members trying to reach 2300 FIDE, and I'm wondering if you've considered what level of tactical mastery is required to get there. Obviously tactical mastery covers many things. The ability to find deep combinations is part of it, but not the most important part. I would say that being able to reliably see short to medium range tactical sequences is even more important. Most games are not won with 15 move combinations. There is the other side of the coin too. Avoiding blunders, defending tenaciously, and simply navigating sharp positions all require a keen tactical eye. And of course it must all be done with great consistency and speed. It's tempting to think that in a classical game we will very disciplined/organised/rational and thus will be able to calmly crunch through whatever tactics come our way. The reality is that we're going to get tired, distracted, short of time, perhaps all at once, such that we're not playing our best. In these situations it's incredibly helpful if we can rely solid tactical/calculation abilities. A couple of ways to measure tactical ability are blitz rating and (timed) Puzzle Rush score. Obviously blitz skill depends on many things, but it's very hard to be strong at blitz if you can't see tactics quickly. On the other hand, Timed Puzzle Rush only measures tactical skill but it doesn't test the full range of tactical skills. I believe it tests enough to be useful though. I decided to look at some actual data to get a feeling for the levels required. Here is a sampling of players around 2300 from the (currently running) 2022 US Masters. I excluded players under the age of 25, because their FIDE ratings likely lag their actual ability. See the attachment for the data. Overall, my conclusion is that one should be aiming for 2450+ chess.com blitz rating and 44+ score in 5 minute Puzzle Rush if your goal is 2300 FIDE. Please share your thoughts.

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Not sure it's quite as easy as 2450 blitz and puzzle rush score, but I would say recognition and intuition is developed to the level where such scores are possible. Also puzzle rush and blitz ability isn't quite the same thing, you have to recognise what's going on in a position in puzzle rush, in blitz you already know and just need to take account of the opponent's move.

Hey everyone, I'm currently 2120 smth classical elo, dropped the rating very much this year (from 2170s), not mentioning even rapid/blitz that's just horrible - barelly 2000s. My rating peak was 2260. What I noticed is when I was at that level, I actually knew much less than now with chessmood (The saying "improve and the rating will follow you" certainly doesnt apply to me) but back then I made more draws in classical OTB with higher rated players (IMs, GMs), some games I even won compared to now (I mostly lose to them), won most games usually vs lower rated most of the time and maybe not made such stupid blunders back then as now. So that's from my perspective. I personally believe my chess knowledge is about FM level, (just not the playing practical strength) especially in openings I often surprise IMs with preparation, etc. Also I know much more about strategy, classical games, all the good chessmood stuff. But the big no 1 thing is calculation and energy during the classical OTB game nowadays. I often get good positions out of opening, but later in the second part of the game usually I often lose that gained pressure and even get worse positions with some stupid move or blunder even. Seems my age and worsening memory perhaps plays a part in this. Also I train much more than before, but my results get worse. So that's the paradoxical situation I'm in atm. I believe to get FM, calculation and late middlegame/practical endgames is key, I'm trying to improve it with various hard puzzles, tactical workbooks and so on. On the playing side I mostly play blitz 3+2 online or rapid OTB nowadays, classical is like 50 games per year for me. Please advise.

This week's Perpetual Chess Podcast seems quite relevant to the topics discussed here. Some interesting discussion about training tactics every day, puzzle rush, and the challenges of faster classical time controls. Also related topics like underrated juniors and rating deflation, the importance of 100% focus in OTB games, the importance of playing regular tournaments to stay sharp, and ageing in chess. https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2022/12/6/ep-307-im-dean-ippolito-a-longtime-trainer-author-and-champion-competitor-on-the-adjustments-one-should-make-for-the-modern-tournament-landscape

New course and new article: Must-know theoretical endgames

Many often struggle to win theoretically winning endgames. Or they find it hard to defend positions that are simple theoretical draws.

This is where knowledge of the most important endgame positions and concepts helps.

For example, just by knowing the concept of opposition and the square rule, you can accurately predict the outcome of almost every King and pawn vs King endgame. 

Similarly, knowing some important positions and concepts in the Rook endgame, like the Lucena position, Philidor position, will make it easier to play this type of ending. 

Today, we’ve launched a course, Must-know theoretical endgames, where you’ll learn the most important positions and concepts from the pawn endings, Rook endings, Queen vs pawn endings, and others.

This course is aimed at players below 2000 level. It focuses only on the essential positions and concepts without going into more depth as the specific endings under the Step-by-step Endgame Mastery section.

You can watch the course from here 👇 
https://chessmood.com/course/endgames-you-must-know

Also, GM Gabuzyan has written an article where he shares the must-know positions from the King and pawn endgames. Read it here 👇 
https://chessmood.com/blog/theoretical-king-and-pawn-endgames

Share your thoughts under this forum thread.

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Dear GM, I have watched and digested this course. A long time ago I was shown a simple way of mating with bishop and knight and was wondering if you were aware of this. Just set up say Bb3 and Nd3 and use the king to shoulder. By extension a Bb5 and Nd5 forms a barrier and you use the king to shepherd the other king into the corner. This I had worked out for myself and was pleasantly surprised to find recently in Dvoretsky. I know this is only for the 2000 range but I would love you to explain R and B v R sometime. I have spent days and still am unable to grasp it even though I managed to win over the board as my opponent had even less understanding ! Thx Mike

Proposal: Titled Tuesday stream with CM openings

I feel the 2200-2800 stream needs a change. How about replacing it with a Titled Tuesday stream? Pros: * strong opponents * competitive * increment (3+1) * time between games can be spent on analysis Cons: * may need to use your main account * CM openings may end up in databases What do you think?

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That's a cool idea. Maybe not every week, but I would like to see it at least once!

Interesting idea, but GM mentioned on streams that still there are many suspiction (smart cheaters) playing in TT. Games of course land on TWIC on weekly basis and then to chessbase..

Would very much like to see this also ?

Thanks for playing TT today! I enjoyed watching the stream and hope to see more of this. Instead of watching other players' games, could perhaps quickly analyze the opening phase of the previous game (can use chess.com opening explorer/engine if necessary). This would also nicely compensate for speaking less during the game.

Caro-Kann - black's Rc8 & Nb4 or Nxd4 idea

In various different variations when the white queen goes to c2, typically after black plays Bg4-h5, black puts a rook on c8 and threatens to play either Nxd4 or Nb4, exchanging white's strong bishop. How should we generally approach this? Retreating the queen to b1, or playing Nd2-b3, allowing Nb4? Example variation below: 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Bg4 7. Qb3 Qd7 8. Nd2 e6 9. Ngf3 Bd6 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. O-O O-O 12. Rae1 Rab8 13. Ne5 Bh5 14. Qc2 Rfc8 15. Nb3 Nb4

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14 a3 is given in Squeezing the Caro-Kann with Bg6 15. Bxg6 hxg6 16. Re3 b5 17. f4 a5 18. Rh3 b4 19. axb4 axb4 20. Qd1 attacking the kingside etc 14... Rfc8 15. Qa2 a5 16. a4 14... b5 15. Qc2 Na5 with 16. f4 Nc4 17. Nb3 a6 18. Nc5 or 16. b4 Nc4 17. a4

Hi,

In general, I wouldn't recommend allowing Nb4, usually Black goes Bg6 and the Bishops get exchanged so Queen steps on d3. Or if Bishop doesn't go to g6 often we go to Ne5 the other Knight f3 with Qe2 or other options.

To summarize Nb4 and exchanging light squared bishop isn't good.