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Chess forum by Grandmasters
looking for course of anti sicilian position
Hi everyone,
i have watched antisicilian part1-3 so far and i am enjoying to play my new opening weapon against sicilian. altough there is one position i often encounter where i cant find a course for it. this position occours after following moves:
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. f4 a6
black can play this also with a6 first after we reply with g3. but in either course i couldnt find how to play against these setups of black. did i overlook something?
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Hi Alex.
You can find this variation in Anti-Sicilian part 4 🙂
https://chessmood.com/course/4-anti-sicilian-with-nc3-part-4/episode/3449
I am unable to open some forums
I am unable to open some forums. What to do? I was opening Study?Sparring Partner and some other forums but it didn't open up.
Replies
This is what happening. I tried logging out and logging in.
Hi Sidhart,
Sorry for the inconvenience, we are aware of this bug, thanks for reporting it. We will try to fix it as soon as possible.
WhiteMood French
In the French 3.Bd3 course, what do we do after black's 6…e5?
It is 7…e5 but one move later is already explained very well here https://chessmood.com/course/french-defence/episode/929 but it gives black doubled weak c-pawns.
So I was thinking what if black played e5 one move earlier, so we don't have Bc6.
What should I do now? I played a few games against the computer and black was developing fast and 0-0-0 with attacking my king.
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Spelling Mistake
There's a small spelling mistake in the naming of this episode: https://chessmood.com/course/french-defence/episode/932 :)
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GreyMood Openings
Hello All,
Has anyone experienced with the GreyMood openings? I very much like the French Attack and the Dutch Attack for black and wondered how following these opening lines on the white side would be. Can anyone share any insights on this?
Thank you!
Kingman
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Hey Glenn,
I have tried it a few times; there can be a few differences, but tough to mention as it really depends on what your opponent might do.
I think it will be very practical if you are enjoying the BlackMood structures in general.
This is not a personal experience, but I just read this in the August 2025 issue of ChessLife Kids magazine about a game in the Bird's Opening (as Andy Soltis calls it, the ‘bird bind’) on lichess that looks like our Dutch and contains a beautiful attacking idea in this position with 18.Rf6!
Has anyone used the Bird or this particular idea with Rc3! with black or Rf6! with white?
the game: https://lichess.org/rjtWNXrE
Scotch Question
What to do in the Scotch as White after 4…Bc5 6…a5?
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Video
I tried to correct the video speed when watching the course, and every time I reset the speed to normal it will work for that video. But once a new video is up then I go back to the speed setting and change it back normal. Could you check on this please.
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Hi Madison, thanks for letting us know!
It sounds like the playback speed might have accidentally been set to a higher speed. On the video player, you should see a settings icon. If you click that, you can change the speed back to 'Normal'.
Sometimes the player remembers the last speed used. If you change it to 'Normal' but the next video still plays at 2x speed, try this trick:
Change the speed to 1.5x.
Then change it back to 'Normal'.
That usually resets it for all future videos. Let us know if that works!
AVETIK
HELLO ALL
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🥰
Hello, what's the topic
RIDDHESH
hello all GM
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1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 Nf6
Dear CM family,
What to play after 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 Nf6 ?
because if we play 4. Bc4 as in the anti sicilian part 1: black plays 4. ..e6 and the bishop is not happy.
have a good day.
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Hi, Marius
In this position you play with nf3 the idea being that you don’t show your opponent your cards are you going to play bc4 or if they play e6 will you play with g3. I have made the moves check below -
https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/pgn/42mGS9uqp/analysis
Its also covered in the course
live event of the 29.11.2025 access
Dear Cm team: i was not able to participate to the event (ok i was a bit late 14.:07) it did not allow me to take part to the event : i m really disappointed: i planned to attend the event some day ago.. what happened ?
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Hi Marius, sorry for the confusion!
The live event has ended, but you can watch the full replay right here:
https://chessmood.com/event/racing-from-2005-2700-1
Just a quick note: This time Avo's events are streamed on YouTube, not Zoom. So in the future, you can just join directly via the YouTube link provided on the event page.
Hope you enjoy the replay!
New Engines
Some of the WhiteMood Courses I am watching were recorded before 2020, so maybe GM Avetik's engine wasn't that strong yet, so I am finding many new improvements with 2025 engine!
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Hi, Mood
at chessmood we don't focus on engine lines rather at most practical lines that engines say are fine and are good for playing, this way it is easy to remember the moves and also the plans will be easy and straightforward for us compared to the opponent that is the entire point why we play anti-Sicilian for white than open Sicilian.
Pin, annihilation or a bit of both?
What exactly do you call this tactic I used to scoop away the knight?
piedraven vs. GM_Kevin559 | Analysis - Chess.com
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You played a remove the defender tactic (annihilation) and won a queen for a rook.
Better would have been to use the pin and played Qxd7 winning a full queen.
Interesting that there were 2 tactical motifs in place at the same time.
Congrats on the win!
1:1 question with Coach Avo
I am a lifetime essentials plan member and just finished a 1:1 with Coach Avo. He kindly sent me a link from you tube during our call regarding a topic surrounding time management and bank accounts and how much time you should allow for each move depending on what time control you are playing. I unfortunately can not find the link he sent me!
It's possible he linked material I would not be able to access as I am not a pro memeber, but I thought I could try and reach out, hopefully one of your team can ask Avo for me…once he wakes up from his major 12 hr marathon!
Thanks again Avo for your time, great meeting you =)
Sincerely,
Nathan
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Hey, Nathan
Not sure by what you meant by YouTube but at chessmood we have this event - Webinar: How to manage time and don't be in Zeitnot - which tells you about time management and explain in format of bank account but it is only for pro members, maybe that was what coach was referring to but if it doesnt work check these out -
These are 2 great articles written by GM's -
GM Igor Smirnov - Time Management in Chess: Tips and Tricks for Optimal Play
GM Daniel Naroditsky - The Art Of Time Management - Chess.com
Hope these will help, Pawn
Recent Player Problem
In recent days, the ChessMood Courses have become increasing unstable, sometimes loading every few seconds, sometimes the voice continues, but the screen freezes, sometimes even it shows an error message of something like: “Player Error! Send Error Log?"
Is anyone else having this problem. I'm pretty sure it's not my net because when I view videos on other websites everything is working okay.
Please investigate.
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WhiteMood
Hello!
What to do after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nxd4 5. Qxd4 Qf6 6. Qe3 Bb4+ ?
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I had the same problem so I switched to be3 line instead - https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/pgn/3gvjjKsKQa/analysis
explained in this video by GM Avetik - (5...Qf6)
Wow!
Congrats to GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan on beating GM Nihal Sarin today!!
https://lichess.org/broadcast/karen-asrian-memorial-2025/rapid-2/COjyOJSp/iRWL2Qbt
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Its awesome only one game drawn rest all won!!!!!!!!!!!! letsss gooo!!!
how to play against this line in Accelerated Dragon
how to play against 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cd4 4.Nd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Nc6 bc6 7.Bc4 I already don't know here … when I play 7…d6 8.0-0 Nf6 9.e5 de5 10.Qd8 Kd8 11.Re1 and white has some chances…
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Hello!
I see you want to avoid complications and get the usual dragon setup.
After Bc4 (or if White plays Qf3 instead) I found a nice move Qc7!
The idea is that the queen indirectly protects e5. You can then continue Nf6, d6, 0-0 like usual.
If white plays Qf3 instead of Bc4, then again Qc7. If Bf4, then d6 and you develop like normal while preventing e5 moves.
Hope this helps!
Middlegame roadmap
Can you please make course on middlegame roadmap because I always got stuck in middlegame and don't know what to do and also I am very bad at middle game so tell me what should I need to do. Give me best plan and roadmap.
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Check out 7Q questions in rating booster section
Chess Beginner
I am a chess beginner. I know basic chess moves. My Chess.com rating for rapid games is 850. Can “Rise of Champion” course help in crossing 1000 rating mark? And can I start with WhiteMood and Blookmood starter opening course, given that I know basic opening principles?
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Hey, Krishna
Openings arent that important and Rise Of Champions also has a section for openings just go through rise of champions finish it and then work through.
Use this studyplan created by GM Avetik -
