Upcoming Courses

Which kind of courses would you like to see in ChessMood ?

Maybe tactics or some kind of endgames, what do you need to learn? 

Replies

Would love a strategy course - color complexes, weak squares, the “what to do when there’s nothing to do”.  How GMs think.  Thanks!

A course on different pawn structures and in general what to do with the pawns would be helpful

I made a post recently about my interest on upcoming course.

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/mysterious-moves-in-chess

Mysterious moves in chess I hope to see

I think it would be very interesting:

1.- Types of Pawn centers and how to play them: Open, closed, Mobile, dynamic, etc

2.- Pawn structures and typical plans for both sides

How to combat rare lines as Black

1.f4, 1.g4, 1.g3, 1.Nc3, 1.e3, 1.b4, 1.b3

Getting the Best Benefit From Chess Softwares. (Fritz, Chessbase, ...)

How professional chess players use these Softwares? 

--------------------

How did you learn it? From manuals? From friends? Online courses? 

I think it would also be interesting a course about "Pattern Recognition"

I would like to have a course on more complex games. not only one sided model games but real games with real flaws

For the moment, I don't require more. There's so much already!

ChessMood tournaments and events

Dear ChessMood family! 
We've added new events for our ChessMood students and PRO Members. 

Replies

Would it be possible to post in advance which opening will be in the Saturday tournament so appropriate prep can be made?

Thanks,

ChessMood Blogs

Hi, dear ChessMood family,

We talked a lot about the courses, now let's talk about Blogs.

Which Blog impressed you the most and why? and what topic would you like to see in the future?

Replies

I loved all blogs. Especially about classical games one. For future I need blog on visualization. I know at certain level everyone's visualization breaks. For me I am also interested in working on how to break my barrier of visulization. So it will be interesting if coach share us some techniques by which we can improve our visualization.

Another thing is that when I play blindfold I can see fixed pawn formations well but can't see if pawn str. changes. In the bottom let me share an example by which you can understand issues.

So a blog on visualization and imagination techniques will be useful.

I would like to see a blog on visualisation

I specially like the blogs about mindset. There are quite a few that are very good:

- Never Quit, Commitment, Believe in yourself, How to stop bad results, How to overcome blunders, Reject draw offers, put your back straight and smile...

I think one of the best blogs is the one about "how to become a GM".  I also liked a lot the recent one about "The myth of tactics" or the one about "Time Controls"

In the future, I would like to see more blogs about practical topics like "The thinking Process", "Techniques of Calculation", "How to identify critical positions", "How to correctly identify your own weaknesses", "Practical decisions over the board", "How to train efficiently according to your strenghth and weaknesses and goals", etc

I would also like to see more blog about the importance of Psychology in chess...

Definitely. These blogs are awesome! There are many I like, some more than others, but I showed the one about not being afraid to make mistakes to an IM, he thought it was a well thought out article.

editing/creating pgn's

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a little help/direction on creating our own pgns for the courses. I was wondering what software everyone uses for editing their pgns. It's actually a little hard to explain but I get confused on which of the lines I'm trying to add the remaining moves from the video files to. Also I'm currently using chessable for the pgns but would love to know what the other options are for studying from. I haven't convinced myself to invest in chessbase yet but maybe it's worth it at this point. Any help much appreciated and sorry if this was overly vague or confusing!

Replies

Hi Daniel,

Check https://chessmood.com/blog/the-most-effective-way-to-create-chess-pgn-files if you have not done yet.

About SW, I use Chessbase and I think it is the best by a big difference. If you are looking for something free, there are people who use Lichess Studies. You can also try https://www.chessply.com/ 

About your question of the lines to add, it depends on your strength. I like to keep two PGNs. One of them with all the variants analyzed and another one with a summary that is the one I study (using the other as reference). I like to add a lot of grahics and text written by myself that helps me understand and remember. The stronger you are, the less text you need. 

I attach the beginning of my Benko summary PGN as a reference. I hope it helps (I am sorry the text in my PGN is in Spanish, but I hope you get an idea):

Chess assistant 20 is a much cheaper alternative to chessbase. Its very ugly like something out of the 90s but it works fine.

I believe its around 40 euro or something.

For me, the ChessBase is the best at the moment, I can't imagine my laptop without it :)

Hi Daniel, I am very happy with using Shredder 13 for creating/eddition my pgn-files (opening repertoire, annoted games, tactics etc.). The GUI is very straight forward and intuitive to use. And I understand what the programme is doing. If you wish you might run it with other engines (what I have not tried yet). The reason I did not buy ChessBase was that I wanted to keep it simple (but I got a ChessBase Prime Mebership to get access to the games' database). PS. The pgn-format is quite easy to understand and you might go directly into the file with an editor.

Chess Softwares and Engines

Hi GM Avetik and Chessmood Friends,

I think it is very important for a serious chess player to know how to use chess engines and softwares. So, I have prepared a few questions on this subject:

1-How professional chess players use chess Softwares and engines?  (Fritz, Chessbase, ...)

2-What is the best way to learn them? Do you know any offline or online course? 

Note: Of course software manuals are available to us, but I am not sure reading hundreds of pages would be the best approach.

Replies

Hey friend! 
It's a very big and complicated topic. 
Mostly because of for all levels is very different, and there are many different approaches. 
We're going to have this topic in the articles, giving you some tips. 
But it's a very complicated topic. 

P.S 
Kourosh, check out your skype, there is a message for you. 

@Kourosh_A

It would be better if you tell us how you use engines currently, that way we could offer you more useful feedback and individual guidance. 

GAMES resources can explore from HUMAN vs HUMAN.... HUMAN vs ENGINE.... ENGINE (semi) vs ENGINE (semi) or ADVANCED CHESS MODE in CHESS CORR,  ENGINE (Full) vs ENGINE (Full) like in INFINITY CHESS... MANY RESOURCES GAMES maybe CAN UNLOCK some HIDDEN knowledge about chess especially in OPENING.... As well as hidden endgames knowledge from Endgame Tablebase.

Thank you.

Doubt

I have a doubt guys regarding the Sicilian for black.... So here are my doubts : 
1) What to do against e4 c5 Bc4!?
2) What to do against e4 c5 a3 with the idea of b4! So Simon Williams has covered this in a video course on chess.com for WHITE so would like to know how to play as Black!


Thx, these are all the doubts!

Replies

Plz reply guys

Mistake in Recommended Reading

It says:

• For improving attacking skills

“60 Memorable Games” Alekhine book by A. Kotov Bobby Fischer’s

Replies

I beleive this is acually 2 books:

Bobby Fischers 60 Memorable Games 

and

Alekhine by A. Kotov

Books on - We Recommend!

Hi, coach I am already following some books from we recommend page but there you did not mentioned any books to improve visualization skills? I know you sometimes said solve puzzles and do blindfold but there is depth barrier at which my link breaks in visualization and I am sure this happens to every club player too.  So any ways to improve this skill? I mean how to practice it in best way? If possible make a blog about visualization training techniques.

Replies

Chess Calculation Skill not only Chess Visualization....  There is other sub chess skills like method to calculate, Evaluation, and others... Please refers books related to calculation topic from Grandmaster and Chess Experts. Is it right?

Thank you.

Where can we find the We Recommend page?

Is Chess Racist? :)

Is it racist that white makes the first move in a game of chess?

A famous question in recent months :)

Replies

I do not think chess is racist but one thing I noticed now a days is some idiots says girls cant play well and can't fight against elite. But this is just rubbish.  They forgot Judit who crushed every strong GM including Magnus. Hou Yifan still fight against elite. A lot women stars are here who can crush anyone like a melon if they want. I think I am not worried about chess board racist thing but this male domination thing should be controlled. I hope soon a girl will become World Champion in chess. I know it's gonna be super tough but not impossible. Who knows some day a girl will dominate the entire world. 

So, let's checkmate the Queen from now on :)

...

Queen to King: You Know, Without me you are nothing !

King replied: I am not lazy ! I am on energy saving mode for the end-game :D

-------------------------------

This one is serious:

https://theconversation.com/why-does-white-always-go-first-in-chess-141962

Ι know that this was because the raising chess theory in the late 19th century could be reduced. Otherwise the theory would be double both for white and black.

I think so :D

Why ChessMood openings are toxic?

Because often you can win Grandmasters without doing a move yourself. 
No matter of your level :) 

I mean if you carefully watched the courses :) 

https://www.chess.com/live/game/5596997257 

Replies

French 3.Bd3...gxf3

Hi, folks!

Here I am again with questioning our Chessmood openings via my own correspondence games played on lichess. This time to the position after straightforward answer 11....e5 in the proposed gxf3 move in the “main line” of 3.Bd3 French defense. It seems to me that Black is OK after the coolblooded 12. Bf4 Qxd4 13.Bxe5 Qb6 and next Be6, isn ‘t he? 

Replies

Hey Martin! 
This question was posted some time ago by Nicolo. 
Black has compensation for the sacrificed pawn, but White has all reasons to fight, instead of agreeing a draw. 

Armenian Grandmasters

How many Armenian Grandmasters do you know personally? Who is your favorite?

P.S. Of course after Avetik Grigoryan :)

Replies

Rafael Vaganian, and the Iron Tigran are my favorites

I missed Avetik's visit to US, so I've actually never met a GM in person. Would be amazing to meet Aronian; he seems like a very nice person.

I love Levon Aronian and his attitude. 

I have met Avetik (My favorite of course) 

Hrant Melkumyan

Varuzhan Akobian

Manuel Petrosyan

Aram Hakobyan

All of these GM's are amazing people and I feel lucky to have met each one.

We know all of them :D my favorite since childhood is Levon Aronian. They're all very nice people. I guess I have a good relationship with all of them :D

Akobian

Aronian

3 Petrosian (Tigran, Tigran L., Manuel)

Vaganian

I have never met an Armenian Grandmaster.

I have only shaken hands with one GM in my life, and he was Eduardo Iturrizaga, a strong GM from Venezuela 

I do know one as well, gm Sergej Movsesian, but he is a chess cosmopolitan, played also for my land (Slovakia) couple of years. Very nice guy indeed, polite, intelligent and speaking a lot of laguages fluently. Just, I have not heard about him much recently. Does he live in Armenia nowadays?

The CFO of a big company who became a GM!

Replies

Wow, when I saw the title of this thread I immediately thought Joel Lautier.

Kudos Goh Wei Ming, I remember you from your short stint as an author/contributor for Chesspublishing.com..

Surprise weapon in the Rossolimo

In yesterday's GM Gabuzyan stream, GM Elijanov surprised us (at least me) with 9.a4 and 10.Nd2

The game went 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.d3 Bg7 6.h3 Nf6 7.Nc3 Nd7 8.Be3 e5 (Diagram 1)

And then instead of 9.Qd2, GM Elijanov played 9.a4 a5 10.Nd2 b6 11.Nc4 threatening Nd6+ (Diagram 2)

Here, if black plays 11...Nf8 as in the main line, after 12.f4 exf4 13.Bxf4 Ne6 14.Nd6+ black has problems. (Diagram 3)

How would you play with black? Engines suggest 11...Qc7 (preventing f4) instead of 11...Nf8 (Diagram 4)

What do you think?

Replies

Definitely Gabuzyan knows better than me, I have been playing this opening for a long time, and after a4 I used to play Qe7, Nf8, etc. a4-a5 I don’t really know how it goes, but exactly in the position you are asking for I left my engine to think, and after 10-15 minutes you can see what it shows and I really like it :D

Hey! 
Sergio, 9.a4 is an option, but Black has different ways to get fine positions. 

a. after 11.Nc4 Qe7 12.f4 Ba6
b. 11...Ba6 12.Nd6 ke7 13.Nc4 Bc4 14.dc4 Nf8 with Ne6, Black is minimum fine. 

The main minus of White, including a4 a5 moves, is that Black can go to 0-0-0 in the future. 
Why? There is no more a3,b4 variation. 

I have shown you the idea with 0-0-0 in the Rossolimo course. 
https://chessmood.com/course/nightmare-of-rossolimo/episode/901 

Avetik 

Polish opening

Saw quite a few Polish Opening games during the Bundesliga. I didn't find much guidance in the forum on this. Curious how you feel about this opening and how you're able to meet it?

Replies

I think it is not a good opening for White.

This is one of the ways to play against it as Black, (explained by GM Tiviakov):

https://shop.chessbase.com/en/products/tiviakov_how_to_combat_rare_lines_as_black

https://shop.chessbase.com/en/products/tiviakov_how_to_combat_rare_lines_as_black

Go to "Video". It's free

He explains how to play against it as Black

Hunan, we are going to upload a course about 1.b3. 
We'll play 1...d5 and then 2...Bg4. 

The same you can do against 1.b4. 
Additionally, when in the future you play e6, you'll win a tempo, because of attacking the b4 pawn. 

correspondence game

Hi, folks!

I have one question related to one of my correspondence games on lichess. It is a position from our 2.Nc3 sicilian, main line, where black did not played 9... e5 like in Rapports game, but just 9...e6. There followed: 10.Bg5 Be7 11.0-0-0 Qc7 12.f4 b5 like in other familiar positions, but now a good GM hint would be very appreciated! :)

Is it OK to start wild things on the board with 13.Rhe1 b4 14.Nf5 or is it too much? :)

Replies

No one knows??? :))

Martin, Rhe1 and Nf5 looks so interesting, that Fischer would not forgive us, if we had an opportunity and don't play it :) 

Yeah, 13.Rhe1 ist just cool and I surely will give it a try in practical chess. Here I finely decided to calmer 13.a3 and won quickly in a fine sicilian manner! :)

https://lichess.org/yJlIhMac

How to think in 3 0 blitz?

Generally I'll either run out of time, or make some dreadful moves, sometimes blunders at 3 0.

How to play well at this time control? How should thinking be organised? How to practise other than just play lots of games, and the usual (practise tactics, endgames, openings, strategy) to rely more on intuition than calculation.

Replies

I think this time control is bad for your chess.  Chessmood is right.  Play 5 3.  It is better for your chess.

Blitz games: PRO Members vs GM

Champions, today GM Gabuzyan will not be able to come for the stream, but we replaced it with a blitz games vs Grandamster.
That Grandamster today will be me

More info you can see here: https://chessmood.com/event/PRO-Members-vs-Grandmaster​​​
​
P.S
You know the rules: if you win me, you're excluded from PRO Members team​

Replies

How professional chess players use chess Softwares

Hi Friends,

1-How professional chess players use chess Softwares and Engines?  (Fritz, Chessbase, ...)

2-What is the best way to learn them? Do you know any offline or online course? 

Note: Of course software manuals are available to us, but I am not sure reading hundreds of pages would be the best approach.

Replies

Daily Chess Puzzle - 10/15/20

Hi all,

I enjoyed the creative 3 move checkmate in today's chess puzzle.  But it also seems after White’s first move, if Black captures the rook instead, then after 2. Bd5 check and 3. Bxa2, White can also win, even though he will lose the f-pawn, and will have the wrong colored bishop for the rook pawn on the h-file, because the White king can come around the back and win Black’s h4 pawn just in time to shoulder the Black king from reaching the h8 corner, for the typical draw (against a rook pawn on the h-file and a light squared bishop).   Is this correct?  If so, the f-pawn is critical to both winning variations (otherwise the Black king would head immediately to the corner). 

Replies

Your assessment is correct - in your line Black wins the f2 pawn and then White moves his King to f4 (opposition) and then wins h4 and promotes the white h3 pawn (one possible line could be ... Bxa2, Kf5, Bb1+, Kf4, Kd4, Kf3, Ke5, Kxf2, Kf4!, Kg2, Kg4! ... +-

Without a white f-pawn and without a black h-pawn, the white pawn on h3 could not win, as the black King would go directly to the h8-corner, which cannot be prevented