Chess forum by Grandmasters

Smart chess board

Champions, hello! 
Do you have any of these chess boards? 

https://playchessup.com/ 
https://squareoffnow.com/ 

I'm thinking of buying a gift for a friend. Not sure which one is better. 
Any thoughts? 

 

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I'd say the square-off chessboard is better. However it is ultimately your choice. I personally like the square-off board, (don't forget the pieces😀). Whatever decision you make Coach Avetik, I wish you good luck with your present. Sincerely, Pengcheng

I suggest getting the DGT Centaur: https://dgtcentaur.com Or DGT Pegasus for online play: https://digitalgametechnology.com/products/home-use-e-boards/dgt-pegasus Either one of them with their respective carrying bags for easy storage and transportation :)

Thanks a lot! 
Decided to go with Square Off :) 

Hi, I had the square off foldable and was very disappointment with it and returned it after a few weeks. During online games, it would not recognize piece that I had moved and I lost many games moving peice back and forth from original and desired position trying to get board to recognize new position. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. The flow of the game gets destroyed and in some cases time runs out if we are at end of game. It does not have absolute piece position detection either. I have been awaiting chessone development in hopes of an electronic board that actually works. On an aside, loving your approach to teaching openings. The amount of variations, how you explain things and the length of videos really makes it easy to absorb and remember the idea's and lines. My coach recommended the site (I can message you privately- you know him) and I am very satisfied with the content. Just wanted to let you know. -Mitch

This question took me on a journey into smart chess boards in YouTube. If budget is not an issue, the best atm is Chessnut Pro. https://www.chessnutech.com/products/pre-order-for-chessnut-pro

SLP in Open Tupinamba

Hi. As some of you know I am having a hard time OTB in the Barcelona Open Tupinamba. After winning for 1st.time in rd.6 Wenesday 3, that's few hours ago I had the most tragicomic OTB in my life. I blunder the exchange in a hand slip, because I wanted to play Rf-d8 followed by Nf-d7 just to kick out his unpleasent Ne5. And when I was going to play the move I found that I was holding the Nf6 instead of the Rf8. So Nh5 was forced and this cost me the exchange. I say I am going to play some more moves because resigning now would be a miniature. and then I had an idea looking at the position. I calculate a little and so that my idea was a complete bluff but he didn't looked as a tactician but positional senior so I bluffed, and bluffed and bluffed and at the end he went for it missing the repetition checks that gav e me the draw. He expected Qg3+ and he covered with the greedy Be4 to Bg2 but the saving check was not on g3 but on e3 checking through the diagonal and his greedy Be4 couldn't cover anything. If he played something simple like Qd2 I could resign but he didn't. If somebody interested you can go over the game in this link: https://lichess.org/study/uoPmDEhv

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GG! This is the illustration of why it's important to keep fighting 👊! Good luck with the remaining games 👍 PS: I would recommend making another account / hiding your real name as your lichess account violated the TOS. This could go against you when opponents are preparing against you for a game and discover that.

Accelerated Dragon: exchange

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 Is this covered someqhere? (white will move Qd4)

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Yes, it's covered extensively.

It is in "Rock 'n' Rolling with Black" -> Accelerated Dragon -> games 1 and 2. In both games however white did not continue with 6.Qd4.

Rossolimo Knight Sacrifice Line has a refutation according to my analysis and Stockfish 13

This Ba3 move looks very dangerous.

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Without knowing anything about the line or about engine evaluation, i can see that we get the pawn on e5 and have a massive pawn center with 3 extra pawns for the given piece..

Looks for me like a big fight for one point for both sides

Hello Sidhart,

First of all my biggest recommendation, in such a deep line not to go for engine moves. At the level you are playing now this can never be used I think, I would recommend spending time and effort on more necessary training. Like typical games, structure and learning simple common theory.

In addition from a human perspective, I would prefer playing as black after capturing on e5 with a massive center and nice practical chances.

Was looking at this myself. The comment 'even if the engine says about equal' made me question it, as the engine was displaying about +1 (not equal at all). The key line seems to be Ba3 Re8 Bd6 with Bxe5 Bxe5 Rxe5 to follow. I agree the 'oh it's so simple' plan is to blockade and try to wither the pawns down, but it doesn't seem so simple as that if you try it. I'm not entirely convinced I'm going to be okay vs a 2000 long play in it, but the computer evaluation of +1 I think is over optimistic and the other engines scores in the screenshot might be more reasonable. A few moves playing White against the engine I can get it to +2 (not entirely blindfold to the analysis but mostly my moves), even then I'm not convinced with a 2000 on either side this is so simple, and like any winning position, you can't see the problems where 'obvious' moves suddenly reduce the engine score to nearer 0. In that case Black would be winning (given the already optimistic score). Certainly given it's got 'simple' strategic themes for both sides it's a good one to play out with a partner (something I might do). All I want to know here (not more theory) is whether I'm going to be getting a much harder time than my opponent, which I think is far more important than any engine score. Blitz I don't think it'll matters, but long play with 20 minutes thought on a couple of critical junctures can White find a winning plan?

question about comparing different moves with an engine

i am using a bot on chess.com and it says Nxd4 -2.14, exd4 -1.89, and a5 -1.52. What does all of this mean ?

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Those are number of pawns advantage. Negative means advantage to Black. It says nothing about how a human would cope in the position, not is it an absolute value of truth.

Platform / website for interactive lesson?

Perhaps I missed that ... I would like to know on which platform / website the interactive lessons are played (so I can probably challenge a GM :-) Best Regards, Kurt

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In the events page you can find all the details. This is the next lesson: https://chessmood.com/event/games-of-chessmood-champions-9 This is the next simul: https://chessmood.com/event/simul-game-grandmaster-vs-pro-members-05-13 Check it out and be ready to fight!!!😀

Lookign for sparring partner to play 10+5 or 15+10 on chess.com

Hello everyone. I'm Yogesh from Mumbai,India I have OTB classical rating of 1295 and chess.com 1700+. Looking for sparring partner to practice and learn chessmood courses together. preferably indian time.

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Hi Babudi, Please post your message in the following thread and check out other possible sparring partners like you> https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/studysparring-partner-1362

NEW ARTICLE: When to Change Your Opening Repertoire

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Thank you sir. Very nice article

Wow!! That was a fantastic article sensei. 

Interesting. I was playing e4 for 15 years until a coach told me to switch for d4...life changing.

Well I agree with your article coach. I love cm repo and I am getting good results also but I am still learn one new opening as white as 2 new openings as black against d4 and e4. The new openings suits my playing style also. I am very positional and working on positional more to the next level with my teammates so all my teammates thinks I do well in quiet positions than wild ones. So, I decided to add these 3 openings. But I do focus on plans and playing them well.

Few years ago I decided to revisit what I thought were my best games. And I noticed the majority I was playing black. How strange, I didn´t had the sense that I was doing so bad as white. Then I ask myself, why?

And I recall I am a gambiteer and with white I tried to play fast and attack, while with black I played sound openings like the Najdorf or the Volga gambit. Now I decided to change the latter and play the Modern Benoni. Let see how it goes.

Thanks GM Avetik for another great artocle.

Thanks for interesting & insightful post.

Thank you sir! I had this issue but because of Chessmood - not. I was learning the najdorf when I was beginner. I am now rated 1194 and I have lot of time to work on chess. I am a 10 year old kid. Sir, is learning najdorf good for me. And my style is attacking but I still like endgames. Also, I have doubt if I should learn the King's Indian Defence for Black. I definitely like the ChessMood Openings and I have good results with them.

I have avoided e4 openings for years, b/ there is a lot of theory to study. I mainly played d4 and c4. So, when I want to enlarge my repertoire with e4, there is a lot of work to do - how many hours will it take to build up a 2000 repertoire (in hours)?

Against Colle setup

Is it covered how to play against Colle setup? If we start with Benko setup (d4 Nf6), but then 2.Nf3 follows. Is it 2... c5? I assume Colle player would play 4.e3 Are there model games?

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The recommendation of the Chessmood-team is to play 2...g6, often transposing into some variations we play anyway (e.g. some Benko- or Maroczy lines)

NEW: ChessBase Magazine #213

Hello ChessMood ! Just a quick note because I just saw that in the latest ChessBase Magazine there is an article about a variation of the French Attack that you discuss in the "Starter Course - BlackMood Openings". https://en.chessbase.com/post/new-chessbase-magazine-213 "French Gambit a la Carlsen: Sergey Grigoriants examines 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 h6!?" There is even a screenshot showing the beginning of the article. I didn't buy it, but this variant may become famous... a la Carlsen! :))

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Why did my chess skill suddenly drop?

I was playing chess normally. And yesterday, I suddenly started playing terribly. I went to sleep thinking it was just a coincidence or being tired. But today when I started playing, I noticed I play just as terribly as yesterday if not even worse. Does this happen often? What can I do about it?

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https://chessmood.com/blog/risks-of-playing-chess-when-you-dont-want Maybe this is the problem?

Grand Prix attack 8...a6

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bc4 Nc6 6.0-0 e6 7.d4 cxd4 8.Nb5 a6. If we play Nbxd4 Nxd4 Nxd4 Nf6 f5 gxf5 e5 it feels like black has a comfortable position. Can white play something different or is my evaluation incorrect?

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I think your line given is the best for both sides (you probably meant to say f5, gxf5, exf5, e5 at the end of your line) - the position objectively is probably about equal (as often in the Grand Prix Attack, if Black plays well), but I would always prefer White due to the bad pawn structure of Black and the black King in the center that looks unsafe wherever he goes!

Hello! Just replying to this old comment since I also had a doubt. Hope to see some answers from our wonderful GMs!

Dutch vs Benko

Am I right that the overall recommendation is Benko, but for quickstart or U2000 it is Dutch?

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I think so. The same with French for U2000 and Accelerated Dragon for advanced players. But we will have French and Dutch advanced courses in the (hopefully near🙃) future, so players over 2000 (and of course anyone else) have two options.

I am collapsing OTB

Hi, I joined an OTB tournament (Open Tupinamba) in March. After playing 4 games my score is 0/4. Well, officially is 1/5 because they gave a bye that comes with a point and any rating change. The truth is that instead of improving, like a crab, I go backwards. Game 1 vs. a strong player was a 94 mover and the taste of defeat was sweet because I thought, if I can give this guy who is +200 pts. higher than me, as the tournament advances and I warm up I'll do better. Game 2 was against a veteran, +`70, and 1719 rating. I told a friend that with aging and ratings evident deflation we are suffering at all levels, the 1719 over 70 y.o. probably decades ago was a +2000. And yes, in fact in 1996 he reached his peak that was a bout 2100. It was a 50 mover and here he tricked me offering a Queen swap and as I was a little tired I made the mistake to accept his offer. SF showed me that with Qs OTB it was quite balanced but without Queens the ending was clearly winning for black (I was white :) ). Game 3 and 4 were cut by the same scheme. Good out of the opening and then when the middlegame advances I went for sharp positions and they just outplayed me punishing my mistakes (this doesn't mean their play was free of bad moves, but they just played stronger moves and well, almost two miniatures, a 25 mover followed by a 26 one). Still there are 4 rounds to go but I am really depressed and well, until now is the worst tournament I played in my life. (in 2013 I played a tournament where I scored 1/6 games and I quit, that was the worst till now). 🤒

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Hi Llorenc With 4 games to go , you can still finish with a 50% result ! You could also see the next game apart from the tournament and just concentrate on it to remove the negative pression of a bad start . There is many good articles in the blog that could be helpful to you . Personally the one on blunders ( and the course related to it ) really helped me to have a better attitude at the board and it showed in my 3 last otb tournaments . I also had a middle game problem which I m focusing my studies on since joining chessmood . I hope you find the good mood which will help you make the right moves !👍 And you can show your games and ask for advice of stronger players ( probably not me .. ) to point out your weaknesses. 🙂 Good luck and have fun playing chess ( whatever the result )

This is game 2, played Austrian Attack vs. the Pirc and out of the opening I had a big advantage in development that it slipped between my fingers. When he played Qc7 offering a Queen trade I accepted, Qxc7?? heading for a lost endgame. Qc7, Qa7! was the right answer.

This is round 3. I am a Benoni player but many 1.d4 players don't know about it and instead of meeting c5 with d4-d5 thet just play safe e3 and then you have to play cxd4 and it turns in an opening that is a type of old Kings Indian or something, but black is not worse out of the opening. Here when he played Qe2?! I had too go Nf-d7 challenging the e5 Knight but I missed it. Then my sense of danger was completely absent when I played Bc6?? instead of Nd5, not allowing the deadly Bxf6, gxf6, Qg4+ and black is busted.

Ok, somebody said that gif was bad to post games and I tried to paste a pgn but it say in English please. So at the end I went to lichess.org and open an Study where I paste my LlorencOTB files. The games of this Open are obviously the last ones. So games 16,17,18 and 19. The link: https://lichess.org/study/uoPmDEhv/1F8T5BWx

I noticed you are playing quite sharp and complex opening systems. I think these require a lot of work/study to play well. I would call playing the Najdorf a "lifestyle choice" :-) And we all have the occasional bad tournament. It makes the good ones sweeter.

I have played the Tupinamba/Memorials/Open Tres Opens for years (group A in my case, even I think they are only group now). The level is high, so you will expecting some loses. My advice is prepare your game searching what your foe plays, not only repertoire but how GM continues this type of continues (where bishops belongs, which file you will put your yours rooks, etc...). Use this +300 elo games against better people as a training, and try to analyse with them, usually they agree to analyse with you. And the type of player +70yo, more experienced in endgames typical from clubmates in TresPeons you will enconter (at least in 3 or 4 rounds)... you will have to kill them right now in the opening. First because you can (especially with White using ChessMood openings), and second because your understand of endgames your edge is for him. So the main you have you develop is kill the game (gain a piece, gain exchange...) and this is done doing tactics. A lot. Only blitz/rapid is another game than OTB 1h30min slow games. So don't treat them equally because you encounter differents type of players and you have to be psychological prepared to the up/down such long games.

COLLAPSING OTB BUT NOT COMPLETELY Yesterday I score my 1st. win in Open Tupinamba. So now my numbers are 1/5 games played, or what is the same, an impressive 20% score. 😀 I have just added yesterdays game in my lichess OTB Llorenc study. The link is: https://lichess.org/study/uoPmDEhv

Time zone for the events

Hello all, The time zone for events is confusing. Could you please tell me what time zone events follow? I am from the United States, New York Eastern Standard Time. Thanks in advance

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When you go to events https://chessmood.com/events , you should see the time of the event in your local time. The website automatically adjust the time to your time zone... Don't you see it like this? 😅 Usually they are held at 7 PM Armenian time, which means Yerevan, Armenia time is 8:00 hours ahead New York, United States. That said it is 11:00 am on New York.

Grand Prix vs Sicilian Help

I played an online game where I played a sort of a grand prix setup against the Sicilian. I am sure the moves I played were not correct. Could you please review my game and suggest an alternative. 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 a6 3. f4 b5 4. a3 Bb7 5. d3 e6 6. Be2 Nf6 7. Nf3 d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Nxd5 Qxd5 10. O-O Nc6 11. c4 Qd6 12. cxb5 axb5 13. Be3 Be7 14. d4 c4 15. Rb1 O-O 16. Ne5 Bf6 17. Nxc6 Bxc6 18. Bf3 Rfd8 19. Bxc6 Qxc6 20. Rf3 Qe4 21. Rh3 Bxd4 22. Bxd4 Rxd4 23. Qh5 Qxb1+ 24. Kf2 Rd2+ 25. Kg3 Qe1+ 26. Kg4 Rxg2+ 27. Kf3 Qe2# 0-1 Thanks in advance

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You will find how to play against 2...a6 in: https://chessmood.com/course/4-anti-sicilian-with-nc3-part-4

Scotch simplified White 3..Nf6 line

hi, what do we do and what is our plan when black does not play ..Ne4 but instead goes ..Ng4, as in: 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 Nf6 4 dxe5 Ng4 ? I decided to play 5 Bc4 Nxe5 6 Bb3 to be flexible and have moves like Nc3 or Qd5 available but not sure if this is the correct idea, Any help? thanks Paul

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I took a look at this with Stockfish which likes 5.Qd5 but it looks a bit messy. A couple of simpler approaches that are still quite good are: 5.Bg5 Be7 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.Nc3 and look to play Qd2 and O-O-O soon. 5.h3 Ngxe5 6.Nxe5 Nxe5 7.Nc3 and look to play something like Be3, Qd2 and O-O-O soon. The h3 pawn is handy because it stops Ng4 harassing a bishop on e3, and we can potentially expand with f4.

Everything is explained in the Additional section 1 of the Scotch complete repertoire, check it out: https://chessmood.com/course/scotch-game/episode/1992

Missing theme on Tactic Ninja?

I think it would be nice to add a section about trapping a piece

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I agree but ChessMood does not. Perhaps they will add a trapped pieces course which would also be nice. https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/trapped-pieces

I agree, I strongly suggest this.

Black Openings

Hi, I am "new" to chessmood because I only dealt to the openings... I am going to get the full potential (tactics, endgames, etc...) of the page right now. I am 1800 Fide rated player. But I have to comment that being used the White repertoire (both basic and detailed) it's superb, impressive... I think the Black repertoires (the detailed, and especially the basic) are some levels (in quality) inferior compared to the White ones. Even the basic rep for White may give to me an edge because they are very very good. Thanks for that! I don't the perception you have about 1700-1900 fide OTB players, but they know how to deal with Maroczy, Rossolimo or Benko. They fail in other espects of the game (myself included) but they usually well prepared in the openings (al least tournament people I play with). I was happy to see you (chessmood team) working in a "serious" repertoire on the French (the opening I play looking other sources outside chessmood). And curious to see what you suggest as a replacement/uptade for the Dutch. For now I'd stick with QGD vs 1...d4. Thx,

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I agree, and therefore take the ratings bands with a healthy pinch of salt. The ratings refer to chess.com blitz as more people will have a rating there, and there are 'approx' conversions from lichess. However playing on chess.com blitz is very different from OTB. And yes I agree, in countries where there is wealth and so buying books and courses is easy (or being naughty where there isn't the funds) often means opponents know their openings well, but when it gets to the middlegame and especially endgame fall down in that rating range. The other problem being there is a difficult plateau around the 2000 level (in both terms of skill and finding opponents to beat to get you across it), so you get 1800s that have been playing the same stuff for 40 years. Thus something that is a little bit blase to completeness because it works at blitz and inexperienced players falls flat. Sure if you're a few hundred points above them, then other experience kicks in and you fill the gaps, but if you're only slightly higher rated it is a flaw. The benko though (with filling a few gaps) works well with that level of strength, but at the moment I find it's a bit random, pieces move about trying to get an advantage out of theory, and I can beat a 2100 as much as get beaten by an 1800 in it. However it's fully playable and a lot less theory to worry about than alternatives. Am interested to see what they come up with in the Dutch though.

Hi, despite not being as high rated as you, I have experience with this. Though I am not the best in classical, My OTB rapid rating is quite high. As you get higher rated, some openings become obsolete. Sometimes, you'll have to adapt to the new circumstances. I'll believe the is an article in the blog describing about accepting change. For example, I have changed my opening repertoire a lot. First, I was playing 1. e4 e5. Now I play the Sicilian. You also can enhance your Benko studies. Go very, very deep into the intricacies of the position. Spend a lot of time on sidelines, as a well prepared opponent, would throw you off with an engine backed sideline. Please, adapt, or enhance. Best wishes, Pengcheng

i have a doubt for white mood openings simplified version for the french defence

Hi Good evening Avetik and Gabuzyan. I have a doubt for the white mood opening french defence simplified variation. I think u havent covered this variation or could u please tell me how should white play in this variation. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Bd3 dxe4 4. Bxe4 Nf6 5. Bf3 c5 6. Ne2 cxd4 7. Qxd4 Nc6. This Nc6 variation is not covered I guess. Could u Please help me how should white play and get advantage.

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This is covered in the section 3 of the https://chessmood.com/course/french-defence Check it out Sreenath....