Chess forum by Grandmasters

Openings for Black in Must Win Situation

Hello everyone, I want to add an opening against 1.d4 which is suitable to play for a win. Against 1.e4 I there are plenty of options, I play the Najdorf Sicilian. Against 1.d4 I play the Grunfeld and white can force a draw in some variations. For this I had three candidates-- i)Modern Benoni ii)King's Indian iii)Semi-Slav. I have only played more than 10 games in KID, 2 casual games in Benoni and 0 games in Semi Slav. I think I should eliminate King's Indian because its me who gets more scared with black in Mar Del Plata Variation. I scored 0.01% in Mar del Plata variation. I played modern benoni in 2 games and 2 of them, but I only played them for fun and have no experience in it. I saw some games of Shirov in the Botvinnik Semi Slav and was amazed how complicated it is. Can anyone help me of selecting the best opening? You can also share your weapons in must win situations  :-)

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To be able to choose your opening based on your need, in this case a win, or based on the style of play of your opponent, you would need to know in detail more than one opening against 1.c4 Nf6 2.c4. I suggest you choose an opening that is different in style from Grunfeld that you already know. Then, depending on the style of the play of your opponent I would choose the opening that suits him or her less. This is to put the opponent out of the comfort zone.  

I always play my own openings, I change them so hard and that's my main disadvantage :(

I play the Modern Benoni and it certainly is a possibility in a must win situation.                                             It is a fantastic weapon against careless white players, but it is difficult to play against well prepared positional players, so I sometimes consider playing something else. I think I will give it another try and study more in the theory books. I can recommend John Doknjas: The Modern Benoni. He explains the ideas very well and offers a good alternative to the drawish modern mainline.

Hey Khokan,

When I am trying to choose a must to win an opening for black I am either going for Benko or Modern Benoni. The choice is logical cuz in that situation we need to choose positions where it's imbalanced. By that, I mean like black gives away the center but gets queenside to activate and has dark strong bishop like in Benoni or sacrifices a pawn and gets initiative like in Benko.

In must win situations I find that 1...g6 is quite a good try to avoid premature simplification and instead reach rich and complex positions, with the bonus that it can be employed equally well against both 1.e4 & 1.d4, making it a very compact and efficient surprise weapon. The main issue with the 2...d6 Sicilian in a must win situation is 3.Bb5+, while against Benoni/Benko hopefuls 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3 is a quite safe and solid option for White.

To sum up it is very challenging to successfully play for a must win as Black, it often boils down to psychological factors, strong nerves, risk tolerance and the ability to maintain concentration in case of a long tense fight.  It is also vitaly important that you know your 'Must Win' opening well, and fully embrace the risk that you will probably be somewhat worse if your opponent is well prepared, but with the upside being that a tense position will likely suit you more than your opponent.

Chess tactics

Hey ChessMood family,

Where do you usually solve puzzles? From the books, chess.com, lichess... ?

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I solve tactics at ChessTempo. All positions are taken from actual games

Mostly on chesstempo and lichess because they are taken from actual games. Chess.com has good puzzled but sometimes wrongly thematised or classified but I can understand the paterns quickly. Last day I hit 2000 on lichess puzzles.

Online on Chess.com and over a real board with the book "Test your Chess IQ" by Livshitz

I solve on lichess and chess24. Chess24 puzzles are very complicated and improve calculations a lot.

I also use visualwize books which helps me to visualize positions and solve it after 4 moves from the diagram

puzzle rush :D 

CT-ART 4.0 on my mobile phone. Mostly while on the metro. And the woodpecker method book (I copied the puzzle and had always a few pages with me). 

I study ' Chess Tactics from Scratch' from Weteschnik on Chessable. After that I'm going for ' Improve Your Chess Tactics' from Neishtadt. When I'm at home I set up the positions on the board. I also solve Chesstempo standard problems for calculation practice. Next to this I started in the Yusupov books. This contains tactics, strategy, endgames but all exercises where you have to calculate. 

~~~MoodCoins~~~

How many MoodCoins you guys have?

I have 899500 

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You rich.I have only 39500 :(

But sharing is always good.Are u wanna share :D

Wow !! I have 76500.

Seems that I'm the last one :D only 28500

Finally I got 900000 moodcoins. I wanted to make it to 1000000. I am sure soon I will make it but for now this 9 and 5 zeros looks cool.

Can I ask how you spent it? It's a slight dilemma how to spend my moodcoins, to be honest.

62500 not bad I think with 9 best replies.

51500

184500

PRO Members

Hello everyone. 29$ in INR(Indian rupees) is how much?

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2,127.30 (if you google "29 usd in indian rupees" it will give you the current rate)

https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=29&From=USD&To=INR

How to handle 3. c3 against Dragon

I've been finding that people are often playing 3. c3 after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6, and I don't see anything about that in the Dragon course.  In the Sicilian sidelines course, GM Gabuzyan recommends Nf6 after 2. c3.  Should we do the same against 3. c3, or do the moves Nf3/Nc6 mean we should do something different?  If this is in a course, and i just missed it, please let me know.  Thanks!

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Hello Karl

No, it shouldn't make any difference, I believe, still Sf6

Yeah Nf6 should transpose

Hey Karl,

My recommendation will be the same 3...Nf6 move as after e5 it transposes to Alapin, or if white decides to go with d3 that would just be to passive and we are completely fine for black!

Missing something in Sicilian 2.Nc3 g6 line...

Hello and a Happy new year to all Chessmood members! :)

Would you pls give a good recipe against the taking with a knight on d7, instead of queen in the main line : 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Qa4 d6 7.e5 dxe5 8.Nxe5 Bd7 9.Nxd7 Nxd7?

I can not find any note about that line in the course, but in the book of Hyper Accelerated dragon written by IM Raja Panjwani there is a detail analysis of this option giving black very good chances... 

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Agreed, 9…Nxd7 is also a playable move for Black.
I think White should continue with 10.Bb5, and when Black protects the pawn with Qc8 play 11.O-O, Bg7, 12.Re1 with a good game for White.
Better for Black is to offer a pawn sac with 10…Bg7!, but in my opinion White should not accept it with 11.Bxc6, bxc6, Qxc6, Rc8, Qf3, Bxc3, bxc3, Qa5= (now the white pawn structure is messed up and most likely Black will win back the pawn), but White should just continue development and play 11.O-O, O-O, Rd1, Qc8 and then Nd5 or Be3 with the slightly better game for White

Hey Martin!

I guess it would be still fine to play with 10.Bb5 and try to 0-0 or as well 10.Be3 seems to be fine with Rd1 in future , position is not very concrete and is slightly better due to 2 bishops advantage.

All right, folks, thank you for your response! It seems to me that black is quite OK in these lines thank to the good coordination of his pieces, especially the sniper on g7. I went through your suggestions, compared it with the above mentioned book and analysed it all with engine. Now I play this line with black against a strong opponent (rating 2500)  in correspondent chess. We already have position after 10.Bb5 Bg7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Rd1 Qc8 on the board. I will keep you in touch, if you don't mind... :P

Classical or Modern Maroczy?

Which one is the easiest to play/learn? Right now I'm learning the modern one. I have some trouble if white goes into sidelines like for example like the Queen retreat to d3 instead of d2. 

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6

5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 d6 7. Be2 Nxd4 8. Qxd4 Bg7

9. Be3 O-O 10. Qd3

Can we go for the same plan here with pushing the a-pawn, Be6 and Qa5?

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Hey dear @Duvupov_,

I didn't watch this course completely, but I checked it in ChessBase, there was games played with the idea that you mentioned, but I am sure that the coach checked both and showed the best choice for us :)

Well,  with 10.Qd3 white covers e4, but 10....a5 should still be good. Anyway white can not play 11.b3 because of the same answer as if he had played 10.Qd2: 11...Nxe4. The queen can not protect the e4-pawn and the knight on c3 at the same time. Furthermore the queen is on d3 exposed to a Nf6-d7-c5 or e5.

I have seen it recomended to watch the Maroczy Bind course,  even if you want to learn the Modern Maroczy Bind

Ches.com and Lichess Usernames

Hello Chessmood Family

If you play chessmood openings, then please consider writing your usernames please...It will be helpful to everyone

Mine is DEVANSh29 - lichess and Devansh290403 on chess.com

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Giorgos_Kechagias on chess.com and giorgoskehagias509 on lichess. On lichess I have slightly higher ratings.

Alekhine Defense Be7 Missing variation?

Hi all

In the Alekhine Defense Be7 variation, there is a missing, important variation from the course.

Please consider move 12, d5, main line. Black has 12...BxNf3 , a good in-between move that keeps black from isolating their d5 pawn.

Any suggestions?

https://www.chess.com/game/daily/299313508

Thanks in advance

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In my file I have: 12...Bxf3 13.Bxf3 Ne5 14.dxe6 fxe6 (14...Nxf3 15.Qxf3 fxe6 16.Qg4) 15.Bg4 followed by b2-b3.

I didn't watch the course yet, I just checked Be7 in the database it was the first move. I think coach working on it and it will be added soon.

Hi dear @Ovi_S,

I was checking this position with engine more than 20 minutes and the result was like this:

But I agree with you, it's better if the coach covers this line too, because white has to play so carefully to keep the big advantage. The only way is 13.Bf3 Ne5 14.dxe6 dxe6 and 15.Bg4, otherwise white is gonna lose it.

Hi all,

This line is analyzed in the latest Parimarjan Negi's repertoire book. I am pasting it here for your reference. I think that it can be useful to everyone and maybe there will be no need to go deeper into this line...

Accelerated Dragon Refuted!

Hello GM Avetik, can you please cover the Accelerated Dragon refutation variant: 1.e4 c5, 2.Nf3 Nc6, 3.d4 cxd4, 4.Nxd4 g6, 5.Nc3 Bg7, 6.Nb3 Nf6, 7.g4!! Montevideo variation http://escaque.blogspot.com/2008/07/propsito-de-la-charla-de-ayer-del-mn.html Please!

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Not so sure it's refuted, engine says just normal moves of d6, O-O and on g5 Nh5. Even if White plays Be2 and wins a pawn,  White's king is more the problem. 

  I think the key is that after 6.Nb6 we do not play 6...Nf6, but we play 6...d6. That way, if 7.g4 then 7...Bxc3+ 8.bxc3 Nf6 and black is not worse than white

White could try 7.Be2 Nf6 8.g4 0-0 g5 and this seems a little more dnangerous...

Lol 
Well, g4 is an interesting option, but it has nothing to do with the word "Refutation." 

It had to do only with one thing, to make the article headline bolder :)  

By the way Nb3 allows Bc3 interesting option for Black. 

I think interesting after 7.g4 is d5!? forced line and temporary sac, and played in few games with good results as black by GM Matsuura. Idea 8.e:d Nb4 9.Bb5 Bd7 according my engine equal. 

Check list after your opponent move

What is the check list to employ when your opponent has played ?

Check his threat, Yes his threat is important, i search an adequat move. No threat, only a normal move, what is important to thhink?

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I think except the threat there is nothing to "check" we just should make our position better

Besides threats, the Consequences of the opponents move could be added.

I am trying to make it a habit to list Consequences in my mind (forget it too often though).

For example: opening a file or a diagonal, blocking one piece with another, weakening a square or a pawn structure, leaving a piece undefended and so on. Any important changes in the position.

The purpose is to ensure not just to look at one consequence when finding moves. e.g if one of the consequences after the opponent´s move is an open file and then right away focus on that. Perhaps other consequences could bee better or easier to exploit.

I don't know how much help I can put in, but I use a thinking process that helps me gather my thoughts. When your opponent moves you check threats. Then look to see if the threats can be ignored. If they can't you address the threats. If you can (and this is very important this part is part of the decision to ignore his threat) you look for threats to your opponent that is more powerful than his. Usually you look for attacking moves. Moves that push your opponent back with you moving forward, or direct tactical operations. If there is no threats from your opponent, you still do the attacking move idea first. Look for threats of your own that look to push your opponent back while moving you forward or direct tactical threats. Think of as many candidate moves as possible. Sometimes starting with the most crazy first. See if you can calculate them to favorable positions. If you find one you like, play it. (Blunder check yourself right before playing just in case.) If none are satisfactory, and you know there is no blunders or threats.. You look for moves that improve your position. And when you are ready and you made your decision, it's good idea to do a blunder check. A lot of your "good moves" will come from developed intuition.

Hi Jean Marc,

A couple of months ago I wrote a comment about the thinking process for Jay in 

https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-members/chess-is-hard-work#scroll6021

but I am copying it here for you because it may be helpful:

We are really lucky because we have a strong, I would say spectacularly strong opening repertoire, which is clear not the thing that is wrong. Then we have here in Chessmood lots of instruction about the middle game, endings, everything at your disposal, right? Then what is missing? 

The thinking process is not the optimum one. Plain and simple. Do not think that is lack of concentration, or bad mood, I honestly believe that this is normal.

In order to help to overcome this blindness that you said, chess schools like the Russian, Ucranian or Chinese have been using for years the Algorithms in order to help the thinking process. GMs like Avetik or Hovhannes do this automatically and they do not even think about it. Lesser mortals like us, we must get used to think the right way, because we never did it yet.

I guess that this should be a topic for a couple of blog posts, but I will do my best to explain it a bit for you, this way I am sure that in a couple of months you will be again much stronger:

Avetik always says, what is the opponent thinking, what should be his next move? This is part of a thinking process that should be embedded in your brain. This kind of automatic questions are missed by us all the time. We must get used to think and answer these questions EVERY move!

The algorithms that I know were explained to me in Spanish by the excellent and great person IM Raul Ocampo from Mexico, but I am sure that you can adapt them to English, also you are in Arizona, you should speak Spanish too, it should only help, ;-)

He used to tell me:

The proper formulation of a problem is in most cases more important than the solution.
ALBERT EINSTEIN

To remember the algorithms, we use acronyms and since the vast majority of games are decided by tactics, I will start here. There are acronyms for middle game, endings, attitude at the board, when your pieces are attacked, etc. As I said, this is a remarkably interesting and complex part of chess study.

LET'S BEGIN, prepare your tea, and fasten your seat belts! (in Avetik style)

TO SEE (as a contrary of being blind) is easier with tools, and these are enriched at the same time if we develop the HABIT of examining each square on the board with our eyes or with our mind.
Some positions seem simple and easy to see and observe but they are not. Every square in every type of position of our pieces deserves our attention and we carelessly throw our work overboard when we do not pay attention.

The first question we should ask ourselves as chess players, out of habit is: What our opponent wants to do, and an easy way to find out is asking yourself ALWAYS: If my opponent played again, what move would he play?

This would be the acronym PARA, and you should always force yourself to ask and answer this, 

PA_ ¿Para qué? ( Why?)

R_¿Repitiendo qué haría? (Repeating the move what would he do?)

A_¿Adónde? Where (is he heading)

This is easy right? Do we do it at every move? we do not, GMS do it unconsciously. We must get used to do it at every move.

Another acronym is (the main one for tactics):

JACAS

JA_ Jaques (Checks)  You have to check out all the possible checks

CA_ Capturas (Captures) You have to check out all the possible captures

S_ Saltando (Jumping) Same as above but jumping, for exemple x-ray positions, pins, etc.

You also must free your imagination. How? Imagine that your pieces can jump, the same as those of the opponent and start thinking about:

• All possible checks if “the pieces would jump"

• All possible captures if “the pieces would jump"

These 2 acronyms: PARA and CAJAS, we will have to repeat constantly to avoid committing serious tactical errors. CAJAS IS FUNDAMENTAL. It takes time at the beginning to think like this but is the base of all growth.

The third one for tactics is: PLUS Which is the same in English

Piece
Limited
United
Loose.

You must look for signs in the board: pieces limited with no space, pieces united in the same diagonal, etc. or my favorite one, loose pieces. (I have an obsession, when I see a loose piece, I look for a combination that will allow me to capture it, I succeed many times!)

At the beginning when I started the courses, my coach made me do every day 20 min. of tactics at least. With well-chosen problems but with a mandatory thing to do:

Apply the algorithms at every problem!

I had a checklist that looked like this provided by him:

-          Check what the opponent menace is (PARA)

-          If the opponent would be able to repeat would play:

-          A) Checks ___  ___ ____

-          B) Captures ___  ___ ____

-          C) Checks jumping ___  ___ ____

-          D) Captures jumping ___  ___ ____

-          My candidates moves are: ___  ___ ____

-          I did CAJAS of every candidate move. YES or NO

-          I have a final evaluation of each of them. YES or NO

This was the list of questions I had to answer, sometimes I could see the solution right away, but we are trying to fix our mistakes, our thinking process, that is why you should do this slowly, writing, checking every move. We are trying to learn how to think properly at the board. At the beginning is slow, then it will become fast and automatic. GMs do this in a second, it will take us more time, but we should get there if we have the right way…  

I had hundreds of paper sheets written with this checklist, when solving Tactic problems, replaying master games, etc.  I even did it when playing practice games OTB with my friend. This helped me a lot to avoid blunders, which, let us face it, is the main reason why we lose games at our level.

I hope that this will help you, this simple system helped me a lot in the past, it makes no sense to build the house by the roof since our base is weak. Fix the base, grow up stronger! And above everything: Enjoy what you are doing!

Hi Jean!

Interesting question) It depends on the position I think. If it's an endgame and your opponent is trying slowly to activate the king to center you have no much to do. But if your king is in a center and your opponent is trying to sacrifice a piece you will need to check all possibilities. 

Trying to summarise I think it depends on the tension in positions. As higher the pressure is, as more you need to do.  I think the following can be a nice sequence.

1. What's the concrete threat?

2. Isn't it a blunder? ( in case you are lucky)

3. What's the idea? ( long term)

Merci

Merci

Question in Happy Pieces: The Art of Keeping Your Army Happy

Section 3: The Queen in the Mopenings

(haha the name kinda cracks me up)

Anyway, in video 28, (Xie J. - Larsen B.)

Here's the position, by the way - https://imgur.com/a/tlTRQV5

the move Qd6 was suggested. It does feel refreshing, but what about ...Re8 trying to play ...Bf8 next? That's why I didn't choose the move when asked to think about the position.

Thanks!

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it doesn't give black anything

Classical Game 21 Bisguier Karpov

Minute 4.00

Why after ... Be6 white doesn't play Ng5 gaining the bishop pair?

Thanks in advance

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Black would play Bd5 and if white takes there will be a very strong knight on d5. White never gonna take on d5 ))

This is also a model game used in the (last) Nf3 section of the English opening course, you may find some useful background there.

Dear PRO Members!

If you have any questions from courses, and you want to get the answers as soon as possible, please post your questions in the Channel only for PRO Members!

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FIDE Preparation

Hello GM team and chessmood family.If I am going to FIDE to open rating what should I learn to make FIDE rating 2000+? Chessmood opening,  or commented classical games? 

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Well, to be rating 2000+ FIDE you need to play very good, be a very good player, this takes time and of course Cheesmood is one of the best ways to be in the right path. Learn everything that yo can here and you will get there for sure if you work hard. :-)

I want to ask something

Heeyy ChessMood family,

I want to ask you one simple thing: if you want to ask a question about an exact course or an exact video, please leave a link that will help us find them easily, what you are asking about.

Thanks in advance.

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Its true.

right, no one do that, I don't know why :D 

PGN Sicilian sidelines not there?

I can find the PGN's from the Accelerated Dragon and Maroczy Bind but the one from crush the sidelines doesn't seem to be there?

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Yes, it seems that it is missing. I am sure that they will fix it soon or maybe they are adjusting the lines with the move 2.Nc6 and they are working on it... I do not have it either, otherwise I would have shared it with you. Thanks for making me realize that I did not have it!

Hi dear @Duvupov_,

They add PGN+Homework files only after the course is done. Some courses, like Sicilian sidelines, are not finished, more sections are coming. Once they upload all the material, PGN file will be added too.

8. Crushing d4 Sidelines

Coach, when you will add something in course "8. Crushing d4 Sidelines"?

Will be there Catalan?

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The intro gives some ideas as to what other content may be coming next. I don't think Catalan was mentioned, is that a sideline?

Not trying to have an attitude, but.... good luck getting a Catalan after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5. Then we will be pretty much always redirected back into ChessMood territory.

@Marcin_Wrzesiński @Inguh_Kim

The Catalan is a chess opening where White adopts a combination of the Queen's Gambit and Réti Opening: White plays d4 and c4 and fianchettoes the white bishop on g2. A common opening sequence is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3.

Since we do not play 2.e6 we cannot enter the Catalan opening.

We play 2...c5 aiming for the Benko Gambit as per the Chessmood repertoire

Visualization Training

From the past 3 months I was thinking of finding best ways to improve my vision  to the next level. Yes, coaches recommend blindfold training, solving puzzles or studies but what happens if position is unclear in the end. Then the best is to follow what  Ian Anderson wrote in his book Chess Visualization Course . I started it 6 days ago and did only 156 exercise but I felt difference in my speed of calculating lines. I am not saying I am doing super well in complex positions but I am started to doing well in a bit simpler positions. But I am sure my depth of vision will improve once I will finish his book course. You can see his method in the pic I shared.

How I am solving this book?

I try to follow through the moves which author is asking to visualize then I write the whole final position in my notebook and answer the questions which author asked. The reason behind writing whole resulting position in notebook is to see what I missed during I visualized that line. 

Now it's your turn to improve your vision to the next level.  This is what my training partner Devansh told me. So I am glad he shared me this instructive training so now it's your turn to improve!

Good luck.

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Now I am able to see 15 ply basic examples shared in this book. 

We use CHESSVIS.... Android Ap... Similar tools app to train chess visualization (static and dynamic chess board vision) by Henry Feldman :

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.conceptual.chessvis or train in web based version in... https://www.chessvis.com/

Thank you.

Other tools Android App to train calculation visualization... is BLINDFOLD CHESS PUZZLES....

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ultra4games.blindfold.chess.puzzles

thanks for the recommendation Abhi, I will look up the book.

I'm sure you're finished by now, whats your opinion of the results?

Thanks Abhi, I was also wondering how do I improve my visualization and finally I found my answer.

Anti Sicilian 3.g6

Hey GM Avetik and chessmood family what to  play after 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Bg7 6.f4 Nf6 7. Nf3 0-0.Now what is the best plan for white? Plz GM Avetik Grigoryan, grandmaster's team and chessmood family explain the plan in detail. 

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Black wants to use their strong bishop on g7, applying the TV concept and complete their queenside development in this structure which resembles the Rossolimo. On the other hand, we will go for O-O and try to strike in the centre. Take a look at these two variations from my personal analysis which I have played in my games and correct me if I am wrong somewhere.

1st: 8. O-O Ne8 black is applying the TV concept and is trrying to bring the Knight to e6 through c7 as in the Rossolimo 9. h3 b6 10. e5 Nc7 11. Be3 Nd5 12. Bd2 Nc7   2nd: 8. Qe2 Bg4 9. h3 Bxf3 here black is getting rid of our strong knight giving away their most problematic piece10. Qxf3 Nd7 again TV concept 11. O-O e6 12. Be3 Bd4 13. Bxd4 cxd4 14. Ne2 targeting the d4 weakness.

I hope I explained the position preety accurately. Waiting for your comments and new ideas on this position.

May be this helps..

Download the file from here https://icedrive.net/0/20EDW9bI7G for an better view.

The lines mention below are not fully accurate, they are just to illustrate some plans.

Feel free to ask any opening doubt or other help.