Chess forum by Grandmasters

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 !

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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