Chess forum by Grandmasters

opponent plays 3..Nf6 Sicilian

I've played this person before and want to be prepared if I get a similar line to what he's/we've played before.  I've attached the study (gamelink - https://lichess.org/uFFcw1Wh/white) and have a few questions:

1. Is it correct to play 4.Nf3 and hope it transposes back to the ChessMood line?
2. Was 5.Bb5 better than 5.Bc4?  My thoughts are that the B can't help attack on the king-side from there, but can take the N on c6.
3. Was 7.d4 forgiveable?  I don't think so, but the engine's analysis isn't horrible if I had recaptured with the Q.

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I think Bb5 is correct and the line went like Bd7 but if  any other move then Bxc6 stops all black's queenside counterplay and we are better positionally. Bxc6 is move. There is no g6 in this line so bishop is not gonna go to c4. You did okay with Bb5 but just missed Bxc6 

Jim, Nf3 is correct! 

Bb5 is an interesting option. But you can play just Bc4 transposing to our variations. 

Old Opening Repertoires vs Chessmood repertoire

Hi. I am just curious how the more experienced members  manage the differences between their old opening repertoires and the chessmood repertoires.

For instance as Black I play the Leningrad  Dutch and the Slav against 1 d4 and against 1e4 I play the French and the Sveshnikov. With White I play 1 e4 but the only place where my old repertoire  and the chessmood repertoire meet is against the Philidor and the Petroff.

I don't feel like giving up my old repertoire but learning a completely new repertoire at my age while also being busy with things like family and work is a bit difficult.

I do like the thematic tournaments but one week preparation is a bit too short for me. I try to watch the videos at higher speed (1.5x or 1.75x) once before the tournament but that is most of what I can manage. 

So here are my questions:

1) For chessmood staff. Would it be possible to learn the thematic tournament schedule a bit earlier. Then I could prepare properly for fewer tournaments rather than the haphazard preparation I do now.

2) For the experienced (older) pro members. How do you mange your old repertoire and the chessmood repertoire. 

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Hey Till! 
We didn't have 1-1 call right, do I remember correctly? 

If so, please reserve a seat. 
Personalized study plan - is what all about are the 1-1 welcome calls.

You can reserve a seat here: chessmood.com/events

Skype for phone works well 

Also how do you watch videos on 1.5x speed its soemthing I have been dying to do when doing a rewatch of the videos.

Growth_Hacking

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Play longer than 3 min games?

Time: for example he was playing in the evenings but he started to win in the mornings :D

probably making him change his openings towards "chessmood openings"  :-)

Only play when he is not tired and have the time to be properly concentrated. (When I try to play at home with my wife or kids, they always come in between the moves. even if I only play one game, they will need something at that moment for sure... )

Play a fixed number of games? For example, 10 games and stop, whatever the result so he/she is more focused

Getting in the zone

In the stream yesterday I asked GM Gabuzyan about how to avoid blunders (particularly thinking about my game in the thread below when I played the dreadful c3 and should have considered what I would do as the opponent, but rushed it: I thought it was a move that needed to be played and my time was getting low). The response was about having heightened concentration and feeling part of the board/game etc (hope I got that right). What seemed to be described was what sports players refer to being 'in the zone' or psychologists refer as being in a flow state. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

Obviously experience and practice contribute to this a lot, but how should one look at developing that state and enter/maintain it as one starts to play?

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Entering the zone, seems interconnected with understanding the position. If you have enough time, look at the nuances. Small details matter in the long run. Eventually, you'll subconsciously drift into focus mode. 

As long as the character of the position remains roughly the same, you can remain in this state with little effort. Unfortunately, a sharp change in the position like a blunder (either from you or the opponent) usually jolts you out of it. You need to constantly ask yourself what changed or risk getting lulled into a false sense of security.

Check out this article as well, you'll find lots of useful tips.
https://chessmood.com/blog/7-tips-how-to-keep-concentration-during-a-chess-game

Playing the GrandPrix against Philidor Video

1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 d6 3.Bc4 was mentioned in the philidor video course by GM Grigoryan (https://chessmood.com/course/philidor-defense/episode/1168 time 0:49s) but i couldn't find the section where a full analysis was given  . All the analysis looks to be for 3.d4 followed by 4.Nge2. I would like to play the 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 d6 3.Bc4 line, can anyone help point me to the correct section? i've seen its in the pirc course but that's different as g6 is played.

Thank you chess friends

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Kayode, do you watch the streams? 
There we had a few times this. 
White gets a very easy game. Just 3.d3, then 4.f4 , Nf3, 0-0... 

Question about a move in Caro-Kann course

I believe it was recommended that after 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.ed cd 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3, if 5...e6, 6.f4 first, and after 6...Nf6, 7.Qe2 to prevent the ...Ne4, ...f5 idea.

However if Black instead plays 4...Nf6 5.c3 e6, it seems our plan doesn't work if we continue 6.f4 Ne4, as 7...f5 is coming next and we don't have time for Qe2 to pressure e4. 

So what do we do here? 

(Admittedly, it does seem a little strange for Black to move a piece twice in the opening, but still...)

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How about 6. Qe2 stopping Ne4 and then if Nc6 7.f4

Inguh, minimum you can play Bf4 transposing to the course. 

And if Black instead plays 4...Nf6 5.c3 Bg4, what are the recommended moves and plans?

This was recently played by Tari vs. Firouzja in Norway Chess (10/2020), the game continued 6.Qb3, Qc7, h3, Bd7, Nf3, Nc6, O-O, e6, Re1, Bd6, Bg5N ... and Black won

Online chess vs OTB

Do you like to play online or OTB? and why?

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both. I wanna elo so I wanna play now rl so bad because I know how well I am prepared now. In past I never had confidence like that but now I feel like I will crush a lot players like melon so I am super interested to play rl. Once I will play rl my online elo will improve too so I wanna play rl

MY concentration level is so high in rl games so I wanna play rl

I prefer OTB. I like to look at the opponent and experience the visceral feelings of winning or losing.

OTB for sure

OTB by far.

I love feeling the pieces, the real board, look at the eyes of my opponent, notice if he/she is nervous, happy, sad, shaking hands at the start and at the end, pressing the clock... It is a much more real experience.

Also I am much more focused in OTB games.

Guess I am in the minority I hate OTB and like online.

Travelling to some dingy playing venue to play in person versus playing from comfort of home.

Only advantage is you can be fairly sure there is no cheating going on.

OTB.

Net chess is more for fun, and harder to concentrate and usually faster. Often used as a test bed for openings.

Much prefer longer time controls.

Yes the travelling and staying away is often a pain.

I much prefer to play OTB. I feel more connected to my game when playing in person. 

Playing online at home, there are far too many distractions. TVs, spouses, kids, phones, dogs, etc. And as much as I try to isolate myself from all of these things while playing, they still sometimes distract me. While at a tournament, these interruptions to concentration are far less likely to happen.

I also like the travel and meeting of new people. To me this is like a vacation as well. I look forward to traveling to many places in the world to play and meet many wonderful people!

Decision-Making: The 40/70 Rule

 I was reading the thoughts of Colin Powell and I'm thinking how we can implement this idea in chess.

 "One of the greatest barriers to quick decision-making is the ever-present feeling that we don’t have enough information to make the “right” decision. Colin Powell, former secretary of the USA, addresses this with his 40/70 rule.6 His rule is to never make a decision with less than 40 percent of the information you are likely to get, and to gather no more than 70 percent of the information available. According to Powell, anything less than 40 percent and you’re just guessing. Anything more than 70 percent and you’re stalling over making the decision. Of course, this means you need to be comfortable with the possibility that you’re going to be wrong, which is necessary in any case."

I have my own thoughts but would love to hear yours first.

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IMO There is the danger of overthinking and thought paralysis by trying to calculate everything (especially imperfectly). Pressure can also aggravate that (I've seen players have long thinks in low time when there is only one obvious move, supposedly they are looking ahead at their fate). In chess one has to ask how critical the position is, the type of position (positional, sharp) and balance it against how much time is available and one's skill. 100% information is not available in many positions and the skill is knowing when to cut loose and when enough has been covered. Or avoiding positions too much above your skill level where it's blind luck whether you survive depending on what you saw vs what your opponent did.

Also similar to the pareto principle (80/20).

I have a question :)

Would you want your child to play chess professionally? 

I have not children, but I don't know why this question comes to my mind very often :D 

I know many strong chess players who don't want to hear about that, but I don't know why.

Maybe because they should be a coach without a salary? :D

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Chess in a lot of countries is a hard way to scrape a living due to the cost of living and little sponsorship money being in chess compared to other sports and games. Only the top 10 or so make serious money in chess and the rest are reliant on coaching and training materials. Many chess players also have a poor relationship with alcohol as staying in hotels for weeks on end there is little to do except socialise with other chess players. Having a family is a difficult balance as a professional player. The attributes that make a good chess player also make a good programmer or banker and those pay a lot better and the income is more stable which is also why a number of GMs get involved in finance for example.

It's not for me to say what my (one day) children should do for a living, but my advice is hobbies such as chess should take a back seat to education and career advancement  unless there are some serious results achieved, and even then to have a back-up option. You might lose your chance to become a strong GM, but you'll have the funds to play and study chess when and where you want without having to worry that a bad tournament might be the difference between being able to afford the rent or not.

Well, I never thought of marrying. I am single and I am ok with it. I am ridiculous if I love anyone. So better stay alone. My dream is to adopt a kid one day and then I will teach him or her chess only if they wants to. Even though I will be super happy if they will love chess so I can improve their skills so fast because I know basics well. Also I wanna make them spiritual I know people don't believe in spiritual things. I have only one thing to say. Talk to me and I will prove God exists. 

I think it is important to support your children in their passion (as long as it is legal LOL). If my children wish to be professional chess players, then I say to them, follow your dream! At the same time I will remind them that the world will not give them a living, so then need to find a way to support themselves as they pursue their dream. 

I do not think i will be a GM because of my age and current rating. I really want my child to play chess and become GM. Hopefully they will love the game like me.

This is interesting to consider. I don't have children either, but I think a parent should expose their children to a variety of things in life (science, math, sports, art, music, language arts etc) and let their children gravitate towards the things they enjoy most. Then, support them the best you can.  

12. Nd5 better for white?

1. d4 Nf6

2.c4 c5

3.Nf3 g6

4. g3 Lg7

5.Lg2 0-0

6.0-0 cd4:

7. Nd4: Nc6

8.Nc3 Qa5

9.e3 Ne5

10.Qe2 d6

and now 12. Nd5.

Gives this move an advantage for white?

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Sorry!

I mixed things up.

Clearly better for black.

Book- Grünfeld Defence

I am interested to know if there is any book which covers Grunfeld pawn formations in depth then I wanna know about it. I am working on new pawn formations and that's grunfeld one. So deep ideas of pawn formations will be useful for improvement. Thanks

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Problem with the Grunfeld is there are multiple plans, so which one?

You have the exchange lines with e4 d4 c3, you have e4 d4 in the Russian system, then various systems with the f2,e3,d4 pawn chain, there are g3 systems with a fianchetto...

There is positional chess there, there is dynamic chess, it's a complex opening with difficulties for both sides.

The only non-repertoire book which talks more about the plans and structures rather than the moves is IM Rowson's Understanding the Grunfeld

I used to play Grunfeld, but unfortunately didn't read any book about it, I saw once, if I find I'll write the name.

Avrukh's book(s) on Grunfeld seem to be good, a lot of content in there. Although if you want to focus solely on the structures...

I've heard Zherebukh has a good book about it. 

Hey Abhi, check out Mikhail Marin's Positional Grunfeld Repertoire. He has intro sections discussing the pawn structures and model games if I recall correctly. Also Rowson's classic booking the Grunfeld deals with a lot of Grunfeld themes like the passed d pawn etc.

Hi Abhi, you might try Chess Structures by Mauricio Flores Rios (Quality Chess) since it covers some of our ChessMood Openings (and Benoni), too. An excerpt including the content is here:

https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/Flores_Rios_Chess_Structures-excerpt.pdf

Pirc Defense with 3...e5

On Lichess, my opponents often choose a setup: 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5

It prevents 4.Bf4 variation suggested in the course. I have tried 4.dxe5 dxe5 5.Qxd8+ Kxd8 with limited success.

Looking at the games in my chessbase mega database the more common way of playing is: 4.Nf3 Nbd7 5.Bc4 Be7 6. O-O O-O 7. a4.

However this is not at all described in the course. What are your suggestion?

Of course, one of the possibilities is to play Grand-Prix setup against the Pirc.

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I just noticed that this has been covered in the Philidor Defense as a side-line where Black play 1...d6 instead of 1...e5. Suggested continuation is: 4.Nge2 c6 5.a4

I need to watch the Section 6 Modern Philidor or Modern Hanham Variation of the Philidor Defense course.

Share your Chess Playing Style?

We all wanna become Universal in chess in order to play overall chess positions well. But still we have our own love about different styles. So in this post share what kind of positions you like the most and what's your strengths and where you feel most comf even against strong players?

For me I like positional play a lot. My love for positional play came when I first saw llessons on Carlsbad Structure. I saw many Karpov games which inspired me to work on positional play and I felt more happy when positional positions come on the board.

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I haven't discovered my playing style yet :D 

Can´t find the Course - which existed

I can´t find the Course - which existed.

The Position starts from:

1. d4 Nf6

2.c4 c5

3.Nf3 g6

4. g3 Lg7

5.Lg2 0-0

6.0-0 cd4:

7. Nd4: Nc6

8.Nc3 Qa5

Maybe a different move order. It was a great analysis - but I can´t find it anymore.

Christoph

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It's from "Maroczy Bind" course. https://chessmood.com/course/maroczy-bind

NEW ARTICLE: Crossing the Plateau and Reaching 3.000 on Chess.com

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Wonderful article. I believe it 100%. 

Congratulations!

It would be interesting now to see how the openings stack up against masters at longer play time controls. Would 30 minute game streams be interesting enough to try out - although the game takes a lot longer, there is a lot of time to do a fair bit of teaching particularly on middlegame and endgame options and plans.

Congrats again! Thanks for the article. And this was very funny:

"I can’t wait to play chess with real pieces, with a real clock, seeing my opponent’s faces and their reaction when GM Gabuzyan plays now not only 1.Nf3 but he takes his hand and touches the e2 pawn on the 1st move. "

Amazing article I felt really inspired to work harder than I am now. Also I like your picture!

Here are the best games played during the journey. 

https://www.chess.com/live/game/5719528936

https://www.chess.com/live/game/5643930219

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/5680453613 

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/5680221449

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/5643708395

https://www.chess.com/live/game/5578067821

https://www.chess.com/live/game/5259862211

https://www.chess.com/live/game/5068825071

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4974786829

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4717023164

The new course - My Best Games

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I've just realized that in the picture is your face :D

Nice, thank you.

Nice course, really informative I can  see how you think and I can use that way of thinking in my games your annotation was really good to follow along with. Thanks

Anti-sicilian vs Nc6 - first try out in long play

https://lichess.org/QYVvrkeh/white

Interesting game, but was worse for a fair bit of it and blundered at the end as time got low.

I remembered the theory and plan to get to play d4 and Qxd4 at the cost of B for N.

Opponent deviated by playing the dubious 5... Nf6, which 6. e5 is the only move that makes sense.

At move 8, considered c4, overlooking that after Nf4 d4 Ng2 Kf1 the knight is trapped, wasn't so happy with Nc3.

9. bxc3 was wrong, but at that point it's hard to see it. The aim was to either use the open b-file or a4 Ba3. The pawns resembles the Winawer French, but Black has the two bishops, so trying to keep one of them bad. The computer notes dxc3 is better, and while that does give better chances to the bishop, I was worried that Black's two bishops would find that position easier. Any suggestions here on the right way of thinking here?

11. a4 was an attempt to keep the light-squared bishop out of the game, and maybe give Ba3. The computer seems to want to play exd6 and dxc5 and swap queens, but I thought the pawns being on an
open file and the two bishops would be far better for Black.

13. Qc1 was trying to get rid of the bishop, but it wasn't going to work because Bg5 f6 would favour Black. 16. f4 makes the Bishop worse, but what is the alternative. Nd3 (computer suggestion just look s bad here).

21. Nd3 would have equalised,  but I thought the N was needed to defend c2.

28... Bh3 should have cost the opponent the game. I was lucky (didn't see it beforehand that I had Ng2 as a resource).

31. c3 was an outright blunder in low time which loses the game. I need help to arrange my thinking so blunders like this don't happen. With more time I would have consider plans for my opponent. I think the thought process that goes wrong is thinking c3 will have to played without considering what options it gives the opponent (in this case a forced win). 31. Rb1 wins, but I had though Qc7 was okay for Black. However, it now gives Nf4 and Rxf4 is no longer playable.


So to recap, I played the opening well given inexperience, but didn't look further after Nxg2 in the c4 line else I would have played it. Should have played dxc3 rather than bxc3 but didn't see the reasoning behind it at that stage. Finally I need to be able to think in a way that avoids blunders under pressure.

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Chess titled crush?

We all feel attracted to some chess players in our life and we wish that I wish I were married to him or her or make them besties. Do you have any chess crush?

For me, Yes I have but I am super young hehehe. When I was new in chess the first game which I saw was Judit Polgar's and I showed that video to my mom and I said may be one day I will play like her and meet her and we can be great friends and I felt loved. But soon I realized oops she is old. But yeah still my hope is to meet Judit one day because I really love one thing about her. She crushed every top player and proved that if girls want then they can also become strong and beat elites. I wish she will be my future friend!

This was the video which I saw and I felt loved!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ_7UZriJrw

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Ok... How old are you? if you are above 16 then its quite appropriate... But hey, I'm 10 so... Not as of Now!

Chess Meme :)

This is my favorite meme about chess :D I can't get enough every time watching this, it's so funny :D 

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I like it too a lot :D 

Chuck Norris checkmates with only one pawn :)

I just found this :D

Chess memes related to current affairs...

Caro Kann course on Chessbase

For those of you who have Chessbase premium account, there is video on Caro Kann by English GM Nigel Davis. It covers the same exchange variation with 4.Bd3. Each line is described via model games.

https://videos.chessbase.com/Video/nb:cid:UUID:2981b442-1515-4261-aa19-578ff1408b12

This can be a good compliment to your ChessMood Caro Kann course study.

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Thank you.

Thank you.

Yes, I remembered it. I started working on it before chessmood and got amazing results. Once I joined chessmood I got almost winning positions against caro kann.

Right now I need revision because I feel like I forgot a lot attaCKING ideas.