Chess forum by Grandmasters

French Defense: Tarrasch Variation: 6. Bd3

In the French Attack course, for 2. Nd2, (Tarrasch), the first few moves go like this: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nd2 Nc6 4. Ngf3 Nf6 5. e5 Nd7 It has white playing 6. Be2. However, a very common option here seems to be 6. Bd3 which changes things a bit I think. What would you suggest as a continuation here? Most lines from here seem to be pretty good for white and I've definitely run into this move in games.

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f6 is the thematic move there, attacking the white pawn centre. The engine says white has an edge, but looks like it's perfectly playable for black particularly at the under 2000 level. White can try some tricky stuff like Nh4 or Ng5 threatening Qh5+, but it's not the end of the world. You can learn a lot from defending that sort of position.

Keep Me Logged In

The "Keep Me Logged In" feature is not working for me, I am still getting logged automatically after a certain period of inactivity. Is anyone else experiencing this problem?

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Yes, could be because I declined cookies. If it is that probably should be split into essential and others.

I am also experiencing this over the last week or so. I think I accepted cookies though, so I don't think the cookies is the cause.

Thanks for reporting this. I am sharing this with the technical team… ?

Simplified Openings for Black

Has anyone come across 1.Nf3 e6 2. e3 f5 3.b3 ? Looking at the recommendations against white's early b3 seems to have playing e5 by black ... but this seems awkward having already committed to 1. ....e6

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Hi Derek, As an option, you can switch the main ideas of dutch playing Nf6-b6-Bb7 and since there is a pawn on f5 we will still try to play on the kingside. White doesn't have any pawn in the center, so probably soon or late they will play d4 and transpose to structures that you might already know from the course. Good luck :-)

Think like a Super GM

Some time ago I proposed to ChessMood to add a feature to the site: comparing game analysis between different strength of chess players, to be able to compare our own analysis with peers and GMs from ChessMood. The answer from ChessMood was that idea is good but it would require more resources, or higher subscription costs, which is understandable. ===== Fortunately there is a now a recently released book by Michael Adams and Philip Hurtado called Think Like a Super-GM, filling this void. https://forwardchess.com/product/think-like-a-super--g-m In the book there are 40 + 8 bonus puzzles, tactical and strategic, from middle games and end games, that were given to 33 players of different strengths from unrated to super GMs. Each was asked to record his own thought process, to choose the move and to provide evaluation of the position after the move. The book invites you to do the same and to compare your thoughts with others from the book, seeing how different players approached the position. There is a also a scoring system, which gives you at the end an estimation of your ELO strength. I only finished the first two puzzles and I can tell you the book is AMAZING. The best ever, at least for me. I knew my calculation skills need improvement, but before I couldn't figure it out in what way. From the first two puzzles I already got three pointers on what I should be working on to improve. ====== Finally, I would like to reiterate my suggestion to ChessMood, this time in a bit different format that would not require additional resources. One week before you publish a full game analysis from the classical master games or classical tactical games or openings model games, just publish the pgn of the game as a forum post and give everybody time to do their own analysis, and to publish it for others to see. And when you will publish your analysis as part of the course, which you have already intended to do so, we will be able can compare it to ours as well. Thanks for taking this into consideration.

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This was mentioned before and could be an event where a GM compares participant analysis (and maybe another GM's analysis) making some kinds of conclusions about the levels and what would benefit study. If the participants record their thinking it could be put all together as a course afterward.

That's for sharing your experience with the book Robert. It will move further up my wishlist now.

Why not start right now with the position below taken from BlackMood Openings. How would you evaluate it, who do you think is better and why, what are some of the plans for both sides etc etc. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that it is White to move in the diagrammed position. Good luck and I'm really looking forward to hearing your thoughts. ???

I've been pondering your idea Robert. I would change the idea to having a position to analyse rather than a full game. I think that's more focused and would appeal to more people, particularly those with limited time. It could be cool if ChessMood had something like "Position of the week" which would typically be a complex middlegame position for members to analyse. Then publish the analysis at the end of the week. There is already something like that with the Daily Puzzle but often those puzzles are quite easy and can be finished quickly. Also, they are always composed studies which are somewhat different to the sorts of middlegame positions that decide the bulk of amateur games.

Interactive lesson: The Art of Exchanging

Hello champions and future champions! Hello ChessMood family?

Today we’re hosting an interactive lesson on yet another important topic in chess strategy – Exchanges.

Making the right exchanges can improve your position while making the wrong ones deteriorates it.

And through the interactive lesson, you'll be learning: 

• How you can identify which pieces to exchange and which to avoid exchanging.
• Use exchanges to your advantage in practical situations like attacking, defending, when one side has a weak square. 
• Understanding the role of exchanges when you’re Winning a Winning Position(WWP), Saving a Lost Position(SLP).
   

GM Gabuzyan will be your host and the lesson will be hosted privately on our Youtube channel. 

You can join the lesson at the scheduled time from the events page ?
https://chessmood.com/events
 

Alternatively, we’ll also share the joining link with you via email.

For more details, please click the link below ?

https://chessmood.com/event/chess-exchanges-interactive-lesson
 

If you have anything to ask regarding this lesson, please drop it here.

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Great webinar! I recommend 2 good books by Rozentalis on this topic - "To Exchange or Not? (2020)" and "The Correct Exchange in the Endgame (2016)". Been studying them with my student and there are some really good examples/exercises Also wanted to ask about exchanging own good piece for opponents bad one. Is this exceptional situation or seperate topic? Examples https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdOFFRH_Pgg&t=5s&ab_channel=ChessMood Fischer - Petrosian Nxd7 https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044351

Dutch Attack - Jobava London Move Order Question

Hi, I have a quick question about a move order that I couldn't find covered in the blackmood openings Dutch Attack videos. If white goes for a Jobava London via 2. Bf4 how should I respond? 1. d4 e6 2. Bf4 f4 3. Nc3 ???? How should black play on move 3 against this move order? Thanks, Dave

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I guess 3..Nf6 and if 4.Nb5 d6 (or even 4..Nd5!?) If 4.e4 fxe4 and after 5.f3 Bb4!?

Hi David, I think we need to play Nf6 as this time white's setup is a bit pointless. If they go Nb5 we always have d6. As well our regular Bb4 threat is on the way.

Memorizing the Openings

There are so many openings, I'd really appreciate some ideas for how to effectively study and memorize them. For instance right now I'm mainly focusing on the Scotch for white and the French for black, both from the starter courses. But there are so many sidelines and variations, I'm not sure when's a good time to move on to the next opening. Perhaps just look at them as they come up in games I play? I've mentioned in previous threads I'm very detail-oriented as well as a perfectionist, so I find it very easy to get lost in the multitude of variations just in a single opening, but that means I'm not learning other openings.

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Just enjoy the videos and let the ideas sink in. You'll learn the key lines as you review your games. Did you get a study plan from ChessMood?

Have you read those articles? https://chessmood.com/blog/the-most-effective-way-to-create-chess-pgn-files https://chessmood.com/blog/how-to-memorize-chess-openings-variations Once your files are ready, you can create your own private course on Chessable and import everything, like that you will be able to use the spaced repetition ?

Accelerated Dragon is nowhere to be found

It looks like that the Accelerated Dragon class has been removed from https://chessmood.com/courses. ChessMood Team, can you please look into this? Thanks!

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?Yes, it looks that there is a strange glitch. We are asking our developers to look into it. Don't worry, the Dragon is still alive! ?

Fortunately, it has been fixed… Long live the Dragon!

Scotch Game: When Black Plays Bb4+

I just played the Scotch Game against a higher-rated opponent, and they played 4...Bc5, then once I played 5. Nb3 as recommended, instead of 5...Bb6 they played 5...Bb4+. I wasn't sure how to respond. The engine says c3 is best but then I can no longer play Nc3. It totally messed up my plans and I'm not sure the best way to respond to this. I wasn't able to find anything in the course discussing this line.

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See https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/scotch-4bc5-5nb3-bb4-1842 , where GM Avetik promised to discuss this line.

Hey, hey! 
There are many options. 
1 - g3 with Bg2 plan, playing similar as we did against Philidor. 
2 - Bf4 
3- f4 

Yeah, I wanted to record, but when I made a list of advanced variations, I figured out to record all my analyses will make the course around 50 hours! :) 
So, there are some rare variations, which for now, I'll leave you to dive deeper yourself. 
Just physically impossible to record all the theory… :( 

I took a look at this line. I think the simplest good way to play is 6.c3 Be7 7.f4. Then white will have very natural development. The bishop will come to d3, and you'll try to bring the knight from b1 to f3. The position calls for kingside castling of course. I'd try to keep that space advantage, generally avoid swaps, finish development, and eventually look for attacking possibilities with the e & f pawns. I wouldn't spend much time studying this line as you won't encounter it very often.

Practicing

Hi I became a pro member a couple of months ago and have completed a few courses (tactics ninja, white mood, opening principles) and I'm working my way through others (classical games, classical endgame, endgame mastery, happy pieces etc). It's great content and I'm hoping some of it stays in my brain! This takes up quite a bit of time and I think I've been doing this and not playing enough. I would like some advice as to how much to play so that I can assimilate the opening repertoire and improve my overall game. What time controls to play , how much to play (yes, I read the article about no more than 9 games) and how much time to analyse your games. There seems so much to learn - and so little time to do it all!

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I've fallen into the same trap a bit. I've been learning a lot of openings and have been afraid to practice them in a live game since I haven't memorized them perfectly yet. But I've been trying to overcome that and can confirm you memorize it a lot better when you put it into practice. I met with GM Gabuzyan when I signed up as a pro member and he said there is such a thing as too much play, but also too little. He suggested for me 3 good sessions per week, about 6-8 hours, but of course that was personalized to me so you could be different. I try to mix time controls. I like faster games because it's easier to practice openings without taking a lot of time, so I can practice more often. I like longer time controls because it lets me practice thinking more deeply. But with work it's hard to play longer time controls that often. Correspondence has been great for me to practice this without taking too much time.

Hi Norbert,

I believe that if you keep all the discipline you mentioned is a great work. Just chess is a sport that requires patience. Just keep doing the right things as now. Follow up-to recommendations you get from articles and other our sources. Trust to the process and if you do all correctly, soon you might have a growth in your chess career ?

Jobava London (video 'h3 the difference')

GM Hans Niemann on Chessable gives 0-0 after ...Qa5, sacrificing a pawn. So after 9...Nxc3 10.bxc3 Qa5 11.0-0 Qxc3 12.Rb1! [White has temporarily sacrificed a pawn but gained significant time. Black's pieces are really not coordinating. The bishop on c8 cannot move because it must defend b7. The knight on a6 is doing nothing and cannot move because of the f4-bishop. The g7-bishop is hitting concrete on d4 and Black's queen is overextended.] A) 12...c5 13.Qc1! [Black's queen is still in danger and it's unclear how Black will complete development. White will activate their pieces and see how Black responds.] B) 12...a5 13.c4! [The initiative continues as Black struggles to coordinate. This is very easy to play for White from a practical perspective.]

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Variation B is 12...Qa5 13.c4 of course

Hello Thomas,

I have checked out the moves you asked for and I can say that white's compensation is not really enough. After 12.Rb1 black has money good moves. I like the idea of Qa5 and if 13.c4 Nc7, overall whites have little activity, but it only compensates absence of the pawn. The reason is that the black king is safe, white doesn't have any concrete plan and big pressure, just a little activity.

Also, this variation is really super-deep and I believe below 2200-2300 online levels will happen super rare. What is your rating ?)

If you are below 2300 I would recommend investing time to learn the principles of the game deeper which we try to share in our opening, middlegame, endgame, and tactical courses.

Good luck!
 

Website or App to Practice Matting Matador

Hi Sir/All,

Is there any Website/App to practice Matting Matador Patterns. If so please suggest, My son wants to practice but I'm unable to find any site for it.

Thank you,

Premchand 

Replies

Hello,

You can try Lichess : https://lichess.org/training/themes 

If you scroll, you will see you can practice all the Mates (From Checkmate, Mate in 1, Mate in 2... to Smothered Mate)

It's also possible to do the same with Chesstempo :)

Why not try a book? For example

Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations and Games

Here you will lots of mate in one, two ... Puzzles. 

Now you can do the quizz (just in case you did not know):

https://chessmood.com/quiz/mating-matador

?

Black repertoire against 1st move sidelines

Hello ! Maybe not many people care about this but for blitz player being prepared against sidelines is very important to not loose on time or fall for cheap opening tricks, hence I wanted to know if there were something in the work for the black repertoire on how to play/refute what I would call the "1st move sidelines" (ranked here from strongest to worst) : 1. f4 1. b4 1. g4 It would probably not take much time, and especially 1.f4 is more challenging than some openings already covered (stafford, elephant, latvian etc) Have a great day everyone, and keep the nice content going :)

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French Attack (Advance): 8. c3 vs 8. dxc5

Just curious about a position in the French Attack course. Move order: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bd7 4. Nf3 a6 5. Bd3 Bb5 6. O-O Bxd3 7. Qxd3 c5 In this video, it's said that white should keep the pawn chain by playing 8. c3: https://chessmood.com/course/blackmood-openings/episode/3900 The engine seems to think 8. dxc5 is actually a bit better, and there are two master games in the lichess databases in this position that both make that move. Example game: https://lichess.org/BAAtQVSj#14 Just wondering if it's really as bad of a move as said in the video. Hope this question is OK to post here: just trying to learn.

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Hi Brandon,

Yes, it's fine to ask the questions here, however we don't really recommend to ask why this or that engine line is not covered or advised differently. The reason is, we are not machines and our priority is to provide knowledge form practical human perspectives. In other words engine can say it's ok and it will play well in that particular position. Players ( especially below 2000-2200 as this course is for that level)
need to learn practical ideas. This is about the engine part. 

Now about capturing. The thing is when white captures pawn chain get's disconnected and diagonal is opened. So black gains an easy ideas how to play using that benefit.

Good luck :-)

Question in the French - BlackMood Opening

Hello all, I am experimenting with the French and am really enjoying it. I did run into a problem in the exchange variation. 1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 exd5 (transposition to the exchange variation) 4.Nc3 This stumped me and is not addressed in the BlackMood course. I played 4...Nc6 and after 5.d4 I could not play Bishop to d6 and get the recommended set-up or else Nxd5 would follow. What should we play in the above line when White plays 4.Nc3? If this is already covered and I missed it in my video review I apologize. Thank you for the help, Leslie

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Hi Leslie I've sure one of teh GM team will assist with answer but I saw this game Avetik played back in 2019. The Idea is rather than Nc6 to play c6, with Bd6 Ne7 then Bf5 with plan of Qd7 and 0-0.. if Bg5 then f6 (similar to our Caro-Kann setups). [White "AndrsPalu"] [Black "Avetik_ChessMood"] [WhiteElo "2458"] [BlackElo "2589"] 1. e4 e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. d4 c6 5. Nf3 Bd6 6. Bd3 Ne7 7. O-O Bf5 8. Re1 Qd7 9. Bg5 f6 10. Bh4 O-O 11. Bg3 Bxg3 12. hxg3 Bxd3 13. Qxd3 Na6 14. a3 Nc7 15. Re2 Rae8 16. Rae1 Ng6 17. Rxe8 Rxe8 18. Rxe8+ Qxe8 19. Qe2 Qxe2 20. Nxe2 Ne6 21. Kf1 Kf7 22. Ke1 Ne7 23. Kd2 g5 24. Kd3 h5 25. c4 dxc4+ 26. Kxc4 Nd5 27. Nd2 Ke7 28. Ne4 f5 29. Nc5 Nxc5 30. dxc5 Ke6 31. Kd4 Kf6 32. b4 Nc7 33. a4 Ne6+ 34. Kc4 Ke5 35. b5 f4 36. gxf4+ Nxf4 37. Ng3 h4 38. Nf1 Nxg2 39. Nh2 Kf5 40. f3 Ne3+ 41. Kd3 Nd5 42. b6 axb6 43. cxb6 Nxb6 44. a5 Nd7 45. Kc4 Kf4 46. Kd4 Kg3 47. Ng4 Kxf3 48. Nh6 h3 49. Nf7 h2 50. Nd6 h1=Q 51. Nxb7 Qd1+ 52. Kc4 Qd5+ 53. Kb4 Qb5+ 54. Kc3 Qxb7 55. Kc4 Qa6+ 56. Kd4 c5+ 57. Kd5 Qxa5 58. Kc4 Qb4+ 59. Kd5 c4 60. Kc6 c3 61. Kxd7 c2 62. Ke6 c1=Q 63. Kf5 Qcf4+ 64. Kg6 Qbd6+ 65. Kh5 Qh4# {Normal} 0-1

Hi Leslie! 
There are many different setups for White. 
All of them I'll cover in the main course. 
Here I tried to keep everything simple not complicating your memory :) 
 

While waiting for a revised Benko course

You can watch these two YouTube videos from John Bartholomew. The quality of explanations is on the par with the ChessMood videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EmjP9LDP2c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGZD6xMKq6g Enjoy!

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Starter Black Repertoire

Hi, looking forward to the full Starter Black Repertoire! 1. I see the French section is practically completed, but it seems to me that it is not as comprehensive as the White Repertoire... please could you make sure that you give us even small ideas against "everything", like the Wing Gambit or 2.b3 variations, etc. 2. Same with the Dutch against 1.d4, 1.c4, 1.Nf3 and odd first moves 3. It also makes sense that the Black Repertoire should be bigger than the White one (7 hours) since Black is on the back foot and has to be better prepared against everything White throws at him right? I think having a wide coverage (not necessarily deep) is super important for sub 2000 players. Thanks for these Starter Courses!

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Also, in the Cochrane Gambit section, could you please add 5 minutes or so of explanation when the knight does NOT take the e4 pawn? Since it is really the bulk of the variation and as of now there is very little guidance :( Thanks! 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nxf7 Kf7? 5. d4!

First of all, I consider GM Grigoryan's explanations for openings the BEST that I have seen and these starter courses are no exception! On another note I really would like this BLACK repertoire to have more "Meat", the explanations are great but I think the coverage is minimal in several variations, for example French against KIA, 2.b3, Wing Gambit, etc Same with Dutch against Torre, Colle, Zukertort, London, etc In general I would LOVE to see another 2-3 more hours on French and Dutch and similarly sufficient coverage for the odd first moves, be it with more theory OR instructive tournament games illustrating the variations covered... more guidance. The full "serious" Black repertoire is about 33 hrs... vs 4 or so for the Starter one, I really hope this black repertoire gets Bumped UP!

Webinar: Weak squares in chess

Dear ChessMood family,
 

We have finished our webinar about an important topic: Weak squares in chess.

Hope you enjoyed it and just in case you can find the slide we covered during the event attached to this post.

Good luck!

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GM Gabuzyan, I was able to make some time today to catch this webinar and wanted to give you feedback on how excellent this lecture was! I am continually impressed with the quality of the training ChessMood provides and the Weak Squares session is a perfect example of this. There were many good learning points and some great examples of how to apply the techniques taught. I am very glad you guys make these available to watch on delay. Thanks for putting this together!

Full version of BlackMood planned?

Hello ChessMood family! Loving the French and Dutch Attacks so far. Especially the Dutch, which is giving me positions that feel like our attacks in the Grand Prix and (to a lesser extent) the Scotch. That's one major benefit of learning with ChessMood, right? A holistic, master-planned approach to improvement that builds in this sort of overlap. Anyway, forgive me if this has been mentioned elsewhere: Does anyone know if the ChessMood team is planning to create full versions of the French/Dutch repertoire at some point?

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I would first like to see the full repertoire completed, which has been neglected for years (e.g., Benko). PS: Why is it no longer possible to use an apostrophe or double quote in the forum?

In the video below, at about the 4:05 mark, Avetik says that in the future there will be a different recommendation "in the main course" for the c4 variation of the exchange French. https://chessmood.com/course/blackmood-openings/episode/3909

Hello everyone, 

Yes, Avetik will do a full French and Dutch repertoire for promembers. This has been said in the past and I can confirm it too.

As for the Benko, it is game on. For a long time it has been in our agenda but now our team is actively working on it. If nothing changes Hovhannes will be the one recording it very soon.   

@Peter N: And for the characters that you cannot write: ' " for me it works perfectly… What can I say…

Random Blunders

I am 1800 on chess.com elo. I have been blundering my pieces like a 400 elo for the past few days. I am getting a winning advantage almost every game but then I hang my queen or a simple knight fork and I lose the game. What should i do?

Replies

What's the time control? If it's blitz maybe slow down for a bit. Is your concentration being distracted? Are you doing tactical practice? Now, where are you blundering often? For example you're trying to finish off the opponent and they have some counterplay. You start looking for a way to finish them or deal with their threats focusing on one thing, completely overlooking a simple tactical threat they have.

I would just take a week break from chess. When you play too much and start tilting, this happens. Just play again when you are in the good mood. There is no way to play well when one is tilting, you will lose confidence and all the good work done will be in vane. This is my advice that worked for me in the past. For one week, no chess. Let's see if it works for you too…?

If you want to do something chess related nonetheless, just watch some commented games from the middlegame courses, but try to “reboot” yourself…