Chess Variants

Hey ChessMood family,

Do you play chess variants at chess.com or lichess, if yes, which one do you like best?

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I was top 30 in the world for bughouse back in 2017/8(chess.com), now I only play standard. If memory serves me right, GM Hovhannisyan was also roughly top 30 in the world for bughouse back then. 

Chess960 is my favourite. I also play 3check, King of the Hill wchich is good for controlling the centre and king activation in the endgame, and sometimes crazyhouse. 

I like chess960 very much, but I don't play it often because sometimes there are not opponents and I have to wait so long :D 

Is solving compositions good?

I have heard many opinions. Some say it will improve calculation. Some says it is not good.

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even I too have got many opinions regarding this

I would share my point of view and then you can decide

1) If you play games that require calculations and sharp play, solving them might help

2) If you have time, solving them will give you happiness and confidence

3) Kasparian's domination, 1234 endgame studies and sam Lloyd's puzzles would be best for rating range 1400+ although anyone can solve them if you like

4) Study- like solutions will most likely not help in practical play if the openings are dry

5) They can be entertaining yet tough to crack, so one must choose them wisely

6) It can help a lot in understanding piece coordination and geometry

7) It can surely help in swindling and slp

Caro-Kann g6 without Bf5

I've just finished my OTB tournament (Armenian women's championship) and I've practiced our Chessmood openings and faced one problem in the Caro-Kann g6 line  1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bf4 g6 and she played this position without Bf5, so the game was continued 7. Nf3 Bg7 8. O-O O-O, here I've played Nbd2 normal move and after unpleasant Nh5 move, I didn't know how to continue :(

Maybe I shouldn't play Nbd2 in this position? 

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I think you played Nbd2 correctly. Just after Nh5 you move the bishop to e3. Than Re1 with idea to move bishop to f1 in case knight goes to f4. If opponent plays f5 to trap the bishop you can play Nb3 with idea to go to c5-d3 and free the way for bishop to go back.

In the course, there is also a recurring motif of playing Re1 to e3 to maybe g3/h3 later. If black plays Bf5 then we trade and play Ne5 and I think we are back on track. If black plays for some f6 e5 idea with Nd7 for instance, then it will also be possible for us to play c4 and Nc3. (slightly uncertain if it is preferred to go Nbd2 c4 and then recapture with Nc4)

9.Re1 is the best and a very subtle move. 
After 9...Nh5 10.Be3 f6 11.c4! with Nc3.
That's why Re1 is a little bit better. 
Also after Nh510. Be3 f5 will not make any sense, as it's not threatening to trap the bishop. 

Scotch video 36 (8.h4! a5)

What if Black goes for 9.c4 Ba6 10.g3 g6 11.h5 Bg7 12.f4 f6 13.hxg6 and now 13...fxe5!? instead of the video's 13...hxg6?

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Thomas, an interesting question. 
Just checked, 13.h6 might be stronger. After 13...Bf8 14.Bd2 (With Nc3) fe5 15.fe5

Scotch 4...Bc5

In the Scotch course Chessmood gives the following line: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nb3 Bb6 d6.

What if Black postpones ...d6 and goes for 6...Nge7 7.Qe2 O-O 8.Be3 f5!? as given by Krykun in his "A Complete Repertoire for Black after 1.e4-e5!" book? This way Black avoids the f2-f4 move as in Giri-Navara and threatens to play f5-f4 themselves.

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Apparently, Chessmood gives 7.Bg5 after 6...Nge7 (see the Negi-Maiorov video)

Hey everyone! 
Kevin is right, 7.Bf4 is an interesting idea. 
In my opinion 7.Bg5 is also strong. (With idea Qd2 instead of Qe2.)

 

Tournament in Scotch

Hello everybody,

I hope you are doing fine. 

I am studying the interesting course about Scotch opening.   I have an idea to create a rapid tournament for training on Lichess.  I am playing with the thought and I would really like  it. 

What do you think about this....  My suggestion is next weekend on Sunday  16,00 local time.  I am from Sweden. 

Please let me know and enjoy the rest of the weekend. :-) 

Best regards, 

Susanna 

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I would join.

Jag ställer upp!

ok i wii join

Thank you for your answers and that you are interested in the tournament. Nice to know!  I have written a suggestion about this to the team leader on our team on Lichess.  Hopefully there will be a tourmament to set up.  i am waiting for the answer. :-) 

Dear friends. You can organize it by yourself and add here the links of the tournament. 
First of all, on Saturdays we want you to play all the openings. 
Scotch we have played already once :) 

Philidor Defense

Hi all!

In the Advanced Section of the Philidor Defense you present the strong novelty 9.b3 after 5...Nbd7 6.Bg2 c6 7.a4 b6 8.h3 h5 9.b3 against the modern approach of delaying castling and going for ...h5 after White goes h3. 

Even better for Black seems to be delaying 5....Nbd7 and going for 5...c6 6.Bg2 (6.a4 a5 and ...Na6 with counterplay) b5 7.a3 Nbd7 8.h3 h5 when 9.b3 doesn't seem to be working. Is there a solution for this moveorder, as the line seems to be good for Black?

Best regards, Arnim!

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You have a posed a very interesting question, perhaps White can still play in a similar way as in the Advanced Course by delaying castles kingside for the time being. For instance: 

1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 e5 4.Nge2 c6 5.a4 Be7 6.g3 a5 7.Bg2 Na6 [7...0-0 8.h3 h5 9.g4 hxg4 10.hxg4 Nxg4 11.Ng3 exd4 12.Nf5 Bxf5 13.exf5 dxc3 14.Qxg4 With a winning attack.] 8.h3 h5 9.Be3 Nb4 10.Qd2 exd4 11.Bxd4 White is better, he has more space and can castle on either wing depending on what Black does. If Black castles kingside prematurely White can even consider g4 as a sacrifice with a powerful initiative as shown in the note at move seven. 11...0-0 [11...d5 12.0-0-0 dxe4 13.Qg5 And White is crashing through.] 12.0-0-0 Be6 13.g4 hxg4 14.hxg4 Nxg4 15.Bh3 c5 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Bxg4+- Winning

The above were just sample lines but it seems to me that if White refrains from castling kingside he will retain excellent attacking chances, akin to those found in the Advanced Course.   

Scotch ...Bc5

Hi Chessmood colleagues,

In my online games I often encounter the following line in the Scotch ...Bc5:

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nb3 Bb6 6.Nc3 d6 7.Qe2 Nge7 8.Be3 and now instead of 8...0-0 as given in the course, Black stays flexible with his king and goes for 8...Be6 9.0-0-0 Qd7.

Any opinion on this?

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You mean black wants to play with 0-0-0?

What is the difference in the two Scotch courses?

Hello,

I am new and looking to understand how best to proceed.

I see there is a Starter course that covers the Scotch as well as there is another course called, "Attach with Scotch Game". Which should I start with?

I also have no experience manipulating/editing a PGN file, how do I do this please.

Thank you,

Leslie Smith

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I didn't do the starter course, but I'm assuming it's a quick introduction to Chessmood and what is covered there will be covered in the main course. The use would be for say 1500 and below where tactics and basic endings plus avoiding dropping material would be better use of time than studying the rest of the opening courses in any depth (personally I'm not sure Chessmood is the best resource until you break 1500 at least, but you'll get good answers on the forum of how to get there quickly). The other idea is it's a sample of what you'd get if you bought a pro-membership since it's unlocked. I'm not sure you'd miss anything if you went on to the main course which is very good.

As for PGNs if you don't have Chessbase (probably essential for most players above 1800 particularly for opponent prep, though the online database which is free is useful for this if it's just for seeing what they play), you can use other programs such as SCID which is free (I used to 'work' with Shane on the Free Internet Chess Server long ago - though I don't think he's maintaining SCID these days). SCID is not quite as good as Chessbase for a few reasons, but Chessbase itself has a number of issues.

PGN is only one route. You could make hand written notes first time around, and then flashcards the second to help you remember. Then it's up to you to revise and keep it up to date with new ideas, things from the streams and so on. This is the older process before databases were around, and is probably more useful for learning/study IMO, though the database has the advantage of being electronic and easy to cross-reference to games and analyse with an engine without having to enter it manually.

For brevity afficionados, I'll say so well what @David_Flynn explained at lenght in but a few words: The first one is a condenced king-start version, the 2nd an in-depth coverage.

For creating pgn files you should read this article https://chessmood.com/blog/the-most-effective-way-to-create-chess-pgn-files and what about scotch, I recommend you to watch the first "Starter course", then Attack with Scotch

Hey and welcome dear @Leslie_Smith,

I think if you are already advanced player, maybe you can even start from "Attack with Scotch game".

What's your rating? 

In the game that you posted I think that BxBb6 was not a good strategy, in the Scotch Bc5 variation, the Bishop on b6 is a "stupid bishop" (quoting Avetik) and taking it does not help here, instead if they exchange our bishop on e3, we move the Queen and free our Light Squares Bishop. I would keep the tension a bit more...

D3 French Issue

Hi -- I've been having quite a lot of success using the Chess Mood lines on Li-Chess. But a higher graded opponent made me struggle as White in the d3 line. The game went as follows __

e4 : e6 - d4 : d5 -Bd3 : dxe - Bxe4 : Nf6  -- Bf3 :c5-- Ne2 : Nc6 -- Be3 : Bd7 -- dxc5 : Qa5 +  -- Nc3

It was his Bd7 that fazed me ! Maybe dxc5 was wrong as Qa5 seems good though Stockfish gives Qd2.  Eventually I found myself in a rather lifeless position where he had the two bishops and a strong edge.   I've looked through the materials but cannot find what is best ref Bd7.

I'd appreciate some quick guidance ?   Thanks  Keven

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Would quality 'higher graded opponent'. The answer might differ if higher graded was 1800 vs an IM say.

https://database.chessbase.com/?lang=en

Three games there, the stronger two are with Nbc3, the weaker is dxc5 with a different reply. That might be the first place to look with similar lines with the set-up. (note the interface is awful and you have to hit the search on board position to see the games).

One thing I've found in this variation is Black can alter development of the bishop, taking the pawn or not, I guess being familiar with the ideas and why things can be done in places and why not. That will help prepare for different move orders.

what about 9.c3 after Qa5+

To be honest, at first glance the move Bd7 looks ugly and not logical, I don't understand the point of it.

Hi Keven!

I checked out on my own and with engine as well. The conclusion is to play 9.c3

Idea es that bxc5 is no longer available as white will play b4 and win the piece.

And if black plays 9...Ne5 than 10.Nd2 Nxf3+ 11.Nxf3 Qc7 12.b4 keeping the pawn advantage. 

Later on castleing short and playing better position.

A small mistake in the Anti-Sicilian 2...e6 course materials

While explaining the 4...dxe4 section of the 2...e6 course (7...Nh6 or track 9) we come to the position on the screen. White has played 15.g4??

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Actually, the last White move is a blunder as Black can simply play 15...f5! and White is lost.

Rf7 appears to kill pretty much all of white's offensive threats. (gf ef Rhg1 Rf7 Qg3 Bh4 etc.) Therefore, perhaps we can play f5 first and then g4? The position still feels uncomfortable for black, since the bishop on c6 is misplaced against the white king that went to the queenside, similar to how the bishop on b6 in the Bc5 Scotch.

I believe the correct way to play is 15.Qg4 to provoke 15...g6 and then 16.Qe2. White should be better. Black has dark-square weaknesses around his King.

Hi Robert,

G4 is wrong for white and leading to a bad position. White instead of g4 is having a nice choice.

Qg4 seems to be great to provoke g6 and weaken long diagonal.

The engine as well offers h4 to start an attack. Now, f5 doesn't work as it is Qg3 with a tempo taking queen away. So after f5 e4 square will be terribly weakened.

My analyzed games. Starting from 3 March 2021

Hi everyone. Today I also decided to post which games I analyzed everyday. You can also correct me and share your doubts.

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3rd March

4th March

CB16 engine evaulation display change

Hi,

Anyone able to help understand the new CB16 engine evaulation display, looks to have moved from decimal to percentage?

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Image

Scotch - tricky 4...Qh4

I'm new to playing 1.e4 openings with White. In an online game my opponent played 4...Qh4 against the Scotch. I replied with 5.Nb5 as recommended in the Chessmood course, but was surprised by 5...Bb4+ which isn't in the course (maybe in the Advanced section?) and didn't react well.

After 5...Qxe4+ 6.Be2 Bb4 we play 7.N1c3, but I suppose after 5...Bb4+ it is better not to play 6.N1c3 Ba5.

Any thoughts on this move order? 

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I wrote Nc3 against Qh4 in my pgn file, so if I remember right Nc3 move order is covered in the advanced section. The following variation is 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Be2 Qe4 7.Ndb5 Kd8 8.0-0

In the normal course, that was the variation provided Thomas, but I believe that the advanced course variation is best.It is also very easy to remember

https://chessmood.com/course/scotch-game/episode/676

At the same time, you should also learn 5.Qf6 also in the advanced section, both moves appear a lot below 2200. It will take less than 10 minutes but you will be very glad to learn them.

https://chessmood.com/course/scotch-game/episode/675

Happy victories with these variations!!! But always remember, you get a good position, being on the driving seat but do not let your guard down.

Interesting position in the Benko Qc2

I thought I had to play 13... Bb7 rather than put my knights on the c5 square that had been cleared,  which seemed to be in the and allowed Nc6 and Nxa5, but there are some really neat tactics I didn't see over the board:

13...Ndc5 14.Nc6 Qc7 15.Nxa5 (bah! you can have it) Bd7 16.Nd2 (er what? If 16.Nb3 Nxb3 17.Qxb3 Nc5 - oh that Ra1 is hanging) b3 17.Qb1 (Well isn't the pawn en[prise]? - nope 17.Ndxb3 Nb4 - the b4 square has just been cleared and the bishop is in trouble) Ba4 (shuts out the knight from defence) 18.Nc6 Bxc6 19.dxc6 Qxc6 20.Be2 Nb4 - Black is better.

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Modern ...c6

The modern course doesn't give a hint on how to continue if Black plays with ...c6 (instead of ...a6 or ...Nf6 transposing to the Pirc)

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Be3 c6 followed by ...Nd7

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Based on all the strategic and tactical motifs presented in the Modern/ Pirc Course I am confident you should be able to handle all c6 type positions that crop up in this structure. Granted The Modern/ Pirc is a maze of move-order subtleties that could be intimidating at times, but there is a way to deal with this:

First categorise the structures of the different Modern/ Pirc Schools (Also see Diagrams Below):    

1. You have the Tiger Modern School [a6, b5 setups]

2. You have the Caro Modern School [c6, d5 setups]

3. You have the Chameleon Pirc/Modern School [c6, d6 delaying Nf6 Setups]

4. You have the Hippo Modern School [Double Fianchetto Setups, usually via Owens Defence 1..b6 ]

5. You have the Traditional Pirc School [Early Nf6 setup with all of the above pawn configurations still possible]

Now that you have the structures clearly categorised, it is much easier to devise clear strategies against each, and in most cases our plans and strategies overlap which thankfully simplifies our task a lot.  My advice would be to review the courses again but this time with the categories firmly in mind.

Interesting Trap in the Accelerated Dragon

I was playing with Black and in this position where ChessMood course suggest 11..b6 I played 11...Nd7?? 'preventing' the e4-e5.

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Luckily, my opponent didn't see: 12.Bxf7+ Kxf7 13.Ne6 and now Black loses the Queen or 13...Kxe6 14.Qd5+ Kf6 15.e5+ Kf5 16.g4#.

It feels good to learn on mistakes without losing :)

Yes, it's quite a famous game. You can also feel the competitive spirit or rather anymosity between Fisher and Reshevsky, as the later doesn't want to resign until he is left with almost no material.

March 2nd Daily Puzzle

Unfortunately there are 2 solutions in today's daily puzzle (March 2nd). Later Troitsky added 2 pawns to correct his study : white h4 and black h5. With them there is only one solution :)
(thanks a lot for the daily puzzles)

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Yeah I played 1.Rd4 Bc2+ 2.Kf6 after like 30 mins of thought, and it says it was wrong, I was like wtf? Even checked with the engine, it agrees.

*Edit* I think you mean the March 2 puzzle

I played Kf6 as well, but I guessed that move so probably wouldn’t have gotten the rest of the puzzle.

You are not talking about this puzzle right? but the march 1st puzzle is this, I just confused could you clarify for me? thanks. :))

Happy Pieces Part 56 Ending Additional Note

Instead of recapturing on f1, I believe white was more concerned that he will lose instantly to  Nb2(from d3) checkmate. Then there will no more grounds for SLP.

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oh yes, Nb2 is just checkmate.

Anti-Sicilian doubt

Why not (https://chessmood.com/course/sicilian-defence-part-1/episode/758) on 01:28 Black can't play Nf6 it's just repetition?

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Oh! My mistake, just Bxf6.