Chess forum by Grandmasters

Searching for positions in openings on chessmood

Is there a way to search for positions in the chessmood openings? I am finding it difficult to review games by having to search through all of the videos to find a a specific position. Is there an easy way to do this? Or do I have to download the PGN files and search through it using a database manager?

Thanks. 

Replies

This is a very possible feature, as there are already several free apps that do this for YouTube chess videos.  I recommend this be something that is offered at CM in the future as part of the new AI development.  It would be wonderful to copy/paste a FEN and find all positions from CM videos where the same position exists!  So cool!

Hey there,

At the moment, I think we don't have that option, but the idea is interesting, and we might consider having that.
Thanks for the suggestion.

French Attack Model Games with this line:

Hi, I've been going through so many videos, but I can't find model games of what's recommended to follow in this line of the advanced variation.  Not much. mentioned on it in the course that I noticed either after  8. Bg5.  

1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. e5 Bd7 4. d4 a6 5. Bd3 Bb5 6. O-O Bxd3 7. Qxd3 Ne7 8. Bg5.   

I've played h6 here, but still would like to see what the ideas and plans are to consider in this line if there are any games to follow.  

Thank you.  

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Dear Garry,

Bg5 I also faced it sometimes.
Let me mention, though, that instead of 7…Ne7 - c5-Nc6 can also be played. And then decide on the Kingisde.
However, against a move like Bg5, out of my experience, h5-bh5-g5-Bg3-Nf5 is super decent for Black.
Or if they take on e7, we recapture Bxe7, followed by c5-Nc6.

Adding an image of position so we can all follow easily.

Today (march 18th) daily puzzle

Why does it use the same idea as the one posted on march 17th? In my opinion they are too similar, the puzzle is no doubt pretty but till now they were all made in such a manner that you must “pause the video and think”, not just using the same idea as a scheme. Nevertheless guys keep doing what you're doing you're great and if you need help I suggest making some sort of channel/blog/email address where we can send some nice puzzles from which you can pick daily puzzle.

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Najdorf As a Chessmood Student

Hi Sir I am Going to play a tournament after few days i have a dcent level prep in najdorf so do u suggest me to change the repertoire to accalarated dragon

As u said me that more importantly i should focus on middle and endgames

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Hey there,

If you have a decent prep in another opening, it's not a great idea to change the opening before the tournament, as you won't have enough experience cuz you need to practice it.

Caro-Kann 12. ...Rab8 move

I recently finished watching Section 2 Video #6 on 12. …Rab8 move. While many of the variations seemed logical and I liked them a lot. I have a question on one of the variations

There is this long variation after:

14. Qc2 Rfc8 15. Nb3 Nb4 16. Bxh7+ Nxh7 17. Qd2 Bf5 18. cxb4 Rc2 19. Qe3 Rxb2 20. Nc5 Rxa2 21. Ra1 Rxa1 22. Rxa1 Ra8 23. g4, and White gets the position attached below

In the video, GM Avetik mentions 23. …Bg6, which allows White to ruin the pawn structure and infiltrate after 24. Nxg6 fxg6 25. Ra6 and White wins the e6-pawn

However, it is also possible for Black to play 23. …Bc2, and that is no longer possible. 

What would be the next plans after Black plays 23. …Bc2. Does White put pressure on the a7 pawn, start an attack on the king, or do something else?

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Dear Teddy,

I checked the position, and White has an advantage in many ways - check the image.
If worried about this, you can go a little deeper for a few moves, but as you can see, it's all great for White.

 

Caro Kann, when black play 5...Qc7, followed by 6...e5 ?!

Dear Cm, what to play for white after :

1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Qc7 6. Ne2 e5

i personally got it OTB and played

7.dxe5, Nxe5, 8.Bb5+ Bd7, 9. Nd4

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Hey Marius,

Instead of Nd4, I advise capturing on d7 and castling, with a very easy game against an isolated pawn.

After one month

Hello all, hello Avetik,

I'm french living in France and CEO of Automotive company.

I started playing chess in January 2025 (one year ago) and I used to buy courses on chessable and to be honest it helps me a lot moving from 600 chess.com rapid (I play only 15'+10) to 1110 and then in November/December big tilt and back to 900 !!

is it the openings, the pawn play, the endgame, the tactics, difficult to know and difficult to find a path in all the products in chessable marketplace! 

By chance, I looked at Noel Studer videos on youtube and his nextlevelchess channel and he presented chessmood and then decided to make a try.

two first weeks on rise of champions (I like a lot the fun, thanks Avo) and then now on tactics Ninja, blunder blunderproof and in just 3 weeks I rise again to 1022 elo.

Still a lot of work to do to achieve my willing to be 2000 with a milestone at 1500 and also still difficult to understand my weaknesses but I will continue with the tactics, the blunderproof and certainly with the endgame roadmap and let's see. 

I will come back end of February to let you know how will be the second month

Everybody around me (speaking English!) will be alerted by me about this so nice and useful progress plateforme that is ChessMood!

Kind regards, cheers

Raynald the woodpusher

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Hello team,

Status: 2 and half months after starting using Chessmood: 1130 chess.com ELO in rapid (15+10) with a start at 972 = +158

less blunder, more vision still sometimes (often ^^) just a bad move with a pawn, a piece transforming a winning or egal position in a loose one !

Decisions in middlegame stay the more complicated for me. I just started yesterday the silent strategy course, hoping it will help me in this part of the game.

For the openings, I learned (before chessmood Pirc as black and Stonewall as white) and I still use it because chessmood openings with a e4 move I understand it is better to progress long term but too much lines to know and with the work in tactics, middlegame, endgame, it is too much.

Thanks again for the courses and let see at next status my improvements (or not)

Cheers, Raynald

Problem on online games

Before a blitz tournament I play some blitz games online and I play BADLY, I hang pieces, I lose winning positions, it feels like I haven't played chess for years, my online rating goes up and down like a rollercoaster.
 

But when it comes to the real OTB tournament I'm beating 2200 fide rated players and play the opposite of what I was during my online games.
 

It's just discouraging seeing me lose online games and it makes me wonder if I'm even going to play well on the tournament. It makes me lose confidence.
 

How am I even going to explain that I mess up online games but ace OTB tournaments?? If you can give some tips/advice, I'd appreciate it )

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Maybe your not good at fast time controls I suggest you switch your online games to rapid (10+0) is perfect.

@ fluffy goldfish

Chess Time Controls: Which is Best Suited to You?

because when you do online it is 2d board but when you go for tournmants it is 3d board it happens to me same

It happens a lot to many people,
1. The board views, sometimes the 2D board registers the piece to your mind and might not allow you to focus on long line, while the real board allows you to focus on combinations more but sometimes harder to focus on pieces- It is recommended to set board view to a 3D board which is realistic or mimic the moves you play in the computer to real board and calculate on the board.
2. A mind out of focus, sometimes your mind imagines the tpurnament ahead and not on your practice rounds- It is recommended to not play online the day before, instead play until you have your tournament day after tommorow, if you lose a lot on your last day analyze it on the day before and when playing say to yourself 'The person who lost a lot was me 48 hours ago, now I'm stronger than I was then, atleast a little bit stronger, I can do this.' if you won then spend the last day practicing puzzles, watching courses how to build strategies, etc. And when playing say to yourself ‘I’m in good touch'.

Perhaps this happened because you approached your online games and OTB tournament games with different mindsets.

I highly recommend the following article by GM Avetik Grigoryan:

https://chessmood.com/blog/golden-method-to-increase-rating-in-chess

While the title of this article is “Golden Method to Increase Online Rating in Chess”, I think the advice from this article extend beyond just increasing online rating. It offers advice that can help structure our online games into effective training sessions, which will be beneficial to anyone seeking to improve their chess.

Hope this helps :)

some players play online stress-free, so they make lots of mistakes coz they are not fully focused. on the other hand, OTB is more formal and players pay more attention and care more about rating. Maybe that is the reason y.

French problem

after 1.e4 e6 2.e4 d5 3.e5 Bd7 4.Nf3 a6 5.c3 Bb5 6.Bxb5+ axb5 7.h4! and the king side attack is stopped and my opponent quickly played Bd2 to prevent b4 and I was squeezed for space and lost a bad game. I looked it over with the engine and it didn't help. It just said after 7.h4! White is better and every line I put in it shows an easier position for white to play.

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Hi Eli se,

After h4, you can try to play Bxf1 Kxf1 and h5 - bringing the Knight to f5.
Against a very strong prep, it cannot be so easy, but this is our U2000 repertoire, and if you are chasing more engine-wise equal positions, you can take a look at our advanced openings, or once we have advanced French and Dutch.

Event timing

Hi CM team!  My son is mainly in school during CM live events.  He watches the recordings, but misses out on the 1-on-1s and the simils.  Any chance these events could be move to early evenings in the future, or perhaps times and days of week could be mixed up – AM and PM, weekday and weekend?

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I have the same problem I am in school and usually miss these events.

Dear Joshua,

We have students worldwide and tried to pick times more or less convenient for everyone.
I am very sorry to hear that the school schedules are conflicting; however, we have events on Saturdays as well (if suddenly there is no school that day)

We might have some other timings in the future.

I crossed 2100 on chess.com!

Check out this #chess game: studlyhunglow vs Edorin97 - https://www.chess.com/live/game/165951178026

Just wanted to share my happiness :D Didn't have a successful OTB blitz period since December, but now tactics training (Ninja + Matador) really made me quite fast and it translates into my online games.

Hope to stay that. Now hope to get into the advanced material.

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Great work!  How long have you been studying with CM and what was your rating when you started with CM?  

Good job brother! Tactic ninja and mating matador are both amazing courses 

Congrats Brother! 

Keep going!!!!

Does this checkmate have an own name?

The point is to move in with bishop, then move out and checkmate with queen. In my experience many people fall to this.

Check out this #chess game: peterbago vs Uruguay3 - https://www.chess.com/live/game/163938789058

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Scholar's mate

�🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣�

the “you fell for it” mate

The best way to describe it would be a scholars variant, ive experienced it multiple times before in the line 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Qg4 Nf6 5. Qxg7 Rg8 6. Qxf7#

its a scholars mate in the line 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Qg4 Nf6 5. Qxg7 Rg8 6. Qxf7#

it is a four move mate

Scholars Mate

Oppent blundered a piece on move 7 how to win

How do I win as white after my opponent blundered a piece on move 7 in the Evan's gambit

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If you up a piece or even up an exchange just trade of pieces to enter the winning endgame

The 1st rule in the winning positions - Don't relax until he didn't resign and shake your hand :) 

If your opponent blundered a full piece by move 7 in the Evans Gambit, you’re already winning. The smartest approach is usually simple: finish development, castle your king, and avoid unnecessary complications. The Evans Gambit is designed for rapid development and attacking chances after the pawn sacrifice with 4.b4, so if Black loses material early, White’s initiative plus the extra piece should make conversion straightforward. (Wikipedia)

Often the best plan is to centralize your pieces, trade when convenient, and transition into a winning middlegame or endgame rather than forcing tactics.

Funny how the same idea applies outside chess too — when you already have the advantage, the best move is simply to play solid and finish smoothly. The same goes for travel planning: choosing reliable options early can make the rest of the journey effortless, like booking a premium SUV through https://sherbrotherpakistan.com/product/rent-a-landcruiser-v8/ service for comfortable long-distance trips.

Would be interesting to see the exact position though — sometimes there’s even a forced mate hidden in those sharp Evans Gambit positions. ♟️

Dutch against d4 c4 then d5

Hello Chessmood Family,

I played with Blackmood opening a game as black which started as follows:

1- d4 e6

2- c4 f5

3- a3 Nf6

4- Nc3 b7

and here, he pushed 5- d5…. 

Is there a video from the courses where this is explained ? I was completely lost and I simply took 5- ….exd5 but things got quickly out of control and my position collapsed, while trying to keep playing the Dutch.

Any clue how to deal with this d5 move? Shall I just push e5 instead of taking exd5?

Thanks for any answer you guys can provide and if there is a video in the courses, that would be great.

Take care.

A.

Replies

I am not sure.

Check this event.

https://chessmood.com/event/dutch-attack-advanced

Bird system/Dutch variation - refuted?

I played a game, which started with the moves

1f4     d5

2Nf3  c5

3 e3   Nc6

4 Bb5

I played the opening book move next

4 …    Bg4, resulting in the following position: 

r2qkbnr/pp2pppp/2n5/1Bpp4/5Pb1/4PN2/PPPP2PP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 0 5

How do you insert diagrams of chess positions here? Anyway, she played

5   h3

Well there doesn't seem any point in moving the bishop back to f5 or d7 or wherever, it seems a waste of a tempo, I might as well have moved the bishop there in the 1st place; Bxf3 helps my opponent to develop her queen; so I maintained the pin on the knight with

5 …     Bh5

And the game continued

6 g4   Bg6

And she can play f5, trapping my bishop.

Has my opponent played a novelty? Apparently 0-0 is the book move on move 5. Have we discovered a refutation for this opening line? 4 … Bg4 doesn't seem to be a good move after all. I certainly don't think I'll be playing that move in that position next time.

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D5 and c5 isn’t the Dutch the Dutch is with e4 and f5

First of all, what I usually do is attach an image of the position (that is how they show up as diagrams).

Why do you believe 5…Bd7 for example is a waste of a tempo? If instead you played 4…Bd7, the position is the same, aside from the fact that Whites pawn stands on h3 instead of h2. Long story short, (usually) combing f3/f4 moves with h3 seriously weaken the dark squares on the kingside (g3 can no longer be controlled by a pawn). 

Second, even if you do lose a tempo (which as discussed above is not one experienced players would take), that is better then losing a piece after Bh5. Why are you playing Bg4 if you are not intending to take on f3 (or gain something from the pin).

Back when I played similar lines as White, it was quite uncomfortable (and rare!) to face g6 systems. I would recommend 4…g6 (Bg7, Nf6, 0-0 or Bg7, e6, Nge7 next) and Black has an easy game. Although I really am attached to that g7-bishop so this may not be ideal for you.

Honestly, unless you play the same opponent again, you shouldnt worry about this too much as its pretty rare. Just take note of the h3-g4-f5 bishop trap and youll be fine.

I hope this helps, and let me know if you have any questions!

New article: How to get better at chess: The 3-step formula and the secret sauce

How to get better at chess? 

It’s the most important question. And if you answer it right getting a plan from experts, you’ll have the right direction during your chess journey. 

In today's article, GM Avetik shares his proven 3-step formula and the secret sauce, which you can use to speed your growth and have more fun on your journey. 

And most importantly, you can use it not only in chess but in any area of your life. 
 

Click here to read the article 👇
https://chessmood.com/blog/how-to-get-better-at-chess

Share your thoughts below.

Replies

Heineken's ketchup? How refreshing! Think you might mean Heinz and be in need of a beer after writing it all. Good article though.

Nice article as always 🙃 Time for us to read all of the articles listed (for the first time or again) and make a strong study plan for 2023 😁

thank you 😀👍

Before chess.com banned me from playing titled players and staff members :(( I had a friend, FM Countofmontecristo and we chat a lot about chess. He is a belgian senior and I remember many things he said. Related with this article I would mention two: a) Everything is playable b) I remember all the theory I learnt at the 80s but from the actual theory I remember nothing. So as Spassky quoted I go OTB with an empty head :)

Study (Tactic Ninja) Practice (Puzzles) Fix yeah, recently I have been practicing this with the puzzle rush as well. I used to just play and not look back at the puzzles I solved incorrectly. (trying to break the records) But after spending time checking the mistakes, I improved the score. :D

Thank you so much, Avetik.

Actually, the article took me way more than 11 minutes ;-)  Something like 40 minutes,

during which I took notes and forgot everything around me.

I'll keep you updated how it works. I have (soon had, hopefully) a great tendency to eat too much

without digesting.  

Wonderful to fund ChessMood from GM Noël's email.
Happy to get a free trial due to World Chess Day.
Love the part about showing how to use the 3-step formula and the secret sauce and "eat & digest".
Let's grow up!

thx

Superb courses.

I haven't seen this wonderful course before.

nice path to become a strong player.

This is wonderful platform to learn chess perfectly.

I wish to become a GM soon by following this courses and formulas.

Thank you chessmood for this wonderful courses.

A big thanks to GM Avetik.

�👍👍👍�

The 3 step formula is absolutely great i realized just by fixing my problems I improved a lot 

Thank you Avetik

Thanks, a lot.
It's an amazing and useful article.

New member here! This is the first thread I found exciting to read! Bookmarked the article. Will read and follow the guide for sure!

Thank You GM Avetik actually it took me 2 intervals to read the article but its amazing.
Thanks for the information and really it was very good and I think u could have added some other things perhaps.

From 1600 to 1718 only after reading your articles — Thanks to ChessMood’s Mindset Advice

I just wanted to take a moment to say a big thank you to everyone at ChessMood.

I went from 1600 to 1718 rapid on Chess.com — not because I studied openings or tactics but because I applied the psychological concepts I learned from ChessMood’s amazing articles.

What helped me the most are : The Snowball Effect : Keep playing while you're winning, stop at 4 -2 games when you lose It helped ride my momentum, and more importantly, avoid tilt Game Session Rule: Limiting each session to 4 rapid games and taking breaks in between changed everything. I stopped fearing rating drops and played with a clear, calm mind.  “Smile and Straighten Your Back”: When I misplayed a position during a game or letting my opponent off the hook or getting boring position, instead of getting frustrated  I followed the advice — deep breath, smile and straighten your back — and mentally reset. It made me resilient and kept me sharp under pressure.

These small mindset shifts had a massive impact on my results, confidence, and enjoyment of the game.

Thank you, ChessMood, for reminding me that psychology is as important as moves on the board

 Excellent article as usual, congrats and many thanks to all the Chessmood team!! I could finally play blitz games decently (I thought I never gonna do it) and I grew about 100 points in this modality in chess.com and besides I'm enjoying playing and not fearing of rating looses any more, and I only read (and practice) from 4 to 10 articles by now! I remember “play e4!” or “e4 repertoire” (not shure the exact name of the articles, sorry), the concept or warming up before playing (tha makes a huge difference!), the making and use of the “CoGrowth files” and after a long year without reading (neither your articles) I found this jewel…I realized I forgot working on studing to keep improving, just amazing! Keep going like this guys! Greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina!

This one article has helped me a lot, even though I first read it yesterday. It feels as if I'm developing healthier study habits. I thank this article for that. I have already shared this website and the article with some of my fellow team members. Thank you 

Thanks. I kept thinking while reading the article “I've got lots to digest, I study my openings, but it's difficult to get to the same positions in my actual games beyond the first 10 moves… So I guess I cannot really digest them very fast.”

Great insights from GM Avetik. Having a structured plan and consistent practice really makes a big difference in improving at chess. Many players focus only on playing games, but studying strategy, analyzing mistakes, and learning from stronger players is what truly accelerates growth.

Improvement in chess, just like in life or business, comes from the right system and discipline.

By the way, if any chess players or travelers are planning to visit Pakistan for tournaments or events, reliable intercity transport is important as well. Many visitors prefer Rent a Car Lahore to Islamabad for a comfortable and hassle-free journey between the two major cities.

suggestion to chessmood

I recently discovered that Lichess hosts tournaments with predefined opening positions, called thematic tournaments. I even had the chance to play in one today, the starting position was the Scotch Opening, and I got to practice it with both colors against weaker and far stronger players, which was amazing!
i hope chessmood hosts tournements like this, they don't even need a prize as lichess thematic tournements don't have any yet they attract a lot of players

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hello, yes its very useful but only if you get to play white, chessmood dosent recemond e5 and nc6, and if the coaches play black then certain players may lose the love for scotch game

2000-2200

Hello, Coach Gabu

When I was 2000 chess.com and 1700 OTB we took our course study plan but now a lot of things have changed as that was over the summer where I had a ton of time to study but now I barely get 3 hours is there a way we can have another call and refine the plan to help me get to 2200 OTB and 2500 chess.com in the most effective manner. Thank you! For doing so much for us and chessmood.

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Hi Pawn Bishop,

Dear friend, I checked, and our last call was during the summer, and that is a one time option, which we can't repeat so frequently.
And at this level, you need to focus on the advanced level content on the website, if you have any concrete courses to ask about, go on.
But I am sure we discussed the steps what to do from the begining till the advanced levels.

Sicilian part 2

how to play this variation as white e4 c5  Nc3 Nc6 Bb5 Nd4 Nf3 Nxb5 Nxb5 e6

d4 Qa5+

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There, Nc3 is the only move. If you can clarify the question, maybe some moves about further options of Black, I will try to help :-)

Upcoming Lab

Hi CM team!  Will the up coming lab allow each user to import their own personalized PGNs?  Also, will it allow us to alter/develop our files inside the lab?

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Hi Joshua!
Thanks for your question!

Yes, you’ll be able to upload your files, make changes to them, and also use them in FixMood.