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Chess forum by Grandmasters

Dutch attack vs London System

Hello,

There is something I do not understand in one set of dutch attack againts London System: the line with

 
1. d4 e6 2. Bf4 f5 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nf3 b6 5. Be2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. c3 O-O 8. Nbd2

 

In this position should not we play with black Ke4? If we do that, would not be the knight trapped by the white knight in d3? In this case we do not control anymore the g5 square and it is not possible to push d3.

For white having a knight in d3 , iscthe basic of London system. So I do not understand, this black mood setup against London system. Does anyone have any idea?

 

Regards

Replies

Correcting your post in bold a bit to what I think you mean:

1. d4 e6 2. Bf4 f5 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nf3 b6 5. Be2 Bb7 6. O-O Be7 7. c3 O-O 8. Nbd2

In this position should not we play with black Ne4? If we do that, would not be the knight taken by the white knight on d2? In this case we do not control anymore the g5 square and it is not possible to push g5.

Well Qd8 and Be7 do line up to cover g5, so that's 2 defenders for two attackers, if white were to play h4 (maybe after g3) we can still add a third defender with Rg8 after playing Kh8.

Online training vs OTB training ?

Objectively speaking, is it better to solve online puzzles  or should I set them up on the board?. I mean, we can save so much time with those “plug and play excercices but I'm curious if there's a serious study related to it 

Replies

I doubt there is a serious study.  I think a mixture is good.  You can do more puzzles online but IMO it's worthwhile solving some harder puzzles on a physical board because it also keeps your 3-dimensional board vision in shape.  Also I find it is easier to be disciplined when solving on a physical board.  Less temptation to just try a move to see if it works.  I will write down my solution and check it against the answer.

See to be in touch with the board irl is very important mainly because all the imp tournaments are being conducted irl rather than online,so if ur very much used to the online board,playing irl could be a bit difficult specially when ur looking for improvement (game wise or/and rating wise).

On the other hand,doing every single task with a physical board is quite tiring and very much time consuming…doing chess online has a very strong + point that is saves a looooot of time.

so in the end it really depends on various factors such as ur strength,ur flexibility with the board (how much “used to” ur brain is to the board),what are the tasks u feel like should be done online or to have a physical board set up etc etc. It is for u to decide :)

All the Best!

Does playing against weaker opponents harm your chess improvement?

Hi everyone!

Here I would like to ask a question that I have been wondering about for a long time: What effect does playing lots of games against weaker opponents have on your chess improvement (assuming you analyse your games)? Can it help you improve? Is it not harmful but also not beneficial? Is it actively harmful to your chess improvement and can it weaken your chess and make you a worse player? Or is it dependant on your rating/your opponents rating?

In my case, on both chess.com and lichess, my blitz rating is many hundreds of points lower than my rapid rating, because I haven't played much blitz recently (mostly I have been playing rapid), and because I had some bad periods of tilt in the past. I'm rated 1500 chess.com rapid and 1700 chess.com blitz, and 1800 lichess rapid and ~1300 lichess blitz. If I played loads of games against much weaker opponents in blitz to raise my rating to where it should be, what would be the effect on my general chess improvement? (I will analyse my games and practice my openings)

I would really appreciate help and thoughts on this question, especially from chessmood coaches and especially GM Avetik, who is probably my favourite chess player in the world.

One last thing: I am writing this with less than 15 minutes left in 2023, so Happy New Year!  😃

Replies

Perhaps there's a mistake in your post . You said your blitz rating is lower than rapid, then said you're 1500 chess.com rapid and 1700 blitz?  I'll assume you mean 1700 rapid and 1500 blitz.  I think at that level it's normal for blitz to be a bit lower.  According to https://chessgoals.com/rating-comparison/#chesscomotb a 1700 rapid is typically about 1600 blitz, but of course it'll vary between individuals.

In lichess your rating discrepency is bigger so it looks like you have some catching up to do there.

In any case, you should just play some games in “the pool” and you should encounter a variety of different strength opponents.  It won't take long for your rating to get close to its correct level.  Even if you get some easy opponents to start with, I don't think this will hurt your improvement.

I would play a variety of opponents, but try to get more stronger than weaker. After all you're learning from the opponent as well so seeing how stronger players play is important. If you only play weaker opposition you might find that you tend to over-attack because opponents can't stop it, where as a strong player can put up a defence or counter. That said you still need to punish mistakes and that's what weaker opponents are for.

Of course ratings aren't always a great indicator of strength +- a couple of hundred points.

There's always a limit you shouldn't cross and you'll be fine :) Let's look at the positive aspects of it :

  1. It increases your confidence (assuming one wins most of his games against lowers).
  2. You start trusting your abilities as a good chess player.
  3. Your rating increases!
  4. Because of all the positive effects you now like chess more and have a positive approach towards it which is very essential!

    BUT THERE IS A CATCH! You shouldn't play tooooo manyyyyy games or you'll never really learn how to face higher rated opponents! Also if you don't keep your thoughts in check, winning too much might result in over-confidence….Not to mention if you cross the limit and play more games than needed it will result in your rating increasing way more than your playing strength….

    [ Let's  be honest,what's the fun in winning easily anyway :P ]

    Conclusion : A limited no. of games against lower rated opponents doesn't hurt and is actually quite essential in chess improvement :)

Query on Effectively improving from Chessmood Middlegame Mastery Courses

How to properly maximize the gains from the course the wolf of the chess street ?I am solving the quizzes but can't apply it in practical games .And how many sections can I watch per day?

Replies

To maximize the gains:-

  1. Try to watch one section at a time this way you can grasp the concepts better.
  2. After watching each video if you made wrong in finding the move then you can put the same position in chessbase or lichess and check with an engine or training partner or coach which would be better
  3.  Then you can after finishing the section you can try writing the things you learned in a word file. The benefits are mentioned here https://chessmood.com/blog/bold-unbold-technique
  4. Then after Finishing the course continue with other course but try to keep a remainder after one month to solve "The Test" and see if you can do it properly

    All takes time my friend but this is a good way to maximize the gains. I practical games you will often get position to trades so when checking try to see if you did the right trades.

    Hope this helped!

thank you chessmood

 

 

I really want to thank chessmood for the gift sub that they gave me, I learnt such very important information and techniques, I congratulate you for the simple way that the information is giving in every course, and it really affected on my rating and my way of playing, again thank you very much 

(I know that my English is really bad but I hope that you got the idea)

Replies

Well said!  It was a very generous gift and a fantastic resource for those of us just starting out and who can't yet justify the cost of a subscription.

And your English isn't really bad.  It's very good! 😎

Samesies I used my gift sub to take Tactic Ninja and although I rushed it a bit and skipped some puzzles it was SO valuable. Won a bunch of blitz arenas on Lichess with it!

My chess improvement journey: week 3

Hello everybody!

Week 3 of my improvement journey has gone. This week was productive and rewarding. Let's see what I've accomplished.

First thing first, I got some cool resources to study tactical patterns. Since I'm not a premium member and can't afford to be, I had to opt for something similar to tactic ninja, and I've found some resources which I'm using and I found them very helpful.

Analyzing my games, I found my most common blunders are hanging pieces and missing forks. As I've said, I'm working on forks, for the hanging pieces part instead I managed to reduce them by reminding myself with a sticky note to check if every piece is defended after my move. It's still in progress, but it's slowly working out.

Last, Wednesday I took part to my first otb tournament! It was not an official one, just one created by my local chess club to celebrate holidays. We were 6 participants, playing rapid 15+0. In particularly there were 2 stronger players I feared the most. But, to my surprise, I was able to beat one of them in a pawn endgame and the other one down a quality in an endgame. I concluded the tournament with a perfect 5/5 and won! That was amazing, because I start to see that my training is paying off.

Next week I might hit 1400 on chess.com rapid, so stay tuned for the first new year update! Happy new year everyone!

Replies

Awesome job with the OTB tournament!  Well done!  

Seems as though that training is paying off.  What sort of resources are you using?  Articles, videos, quizzes?

Keep going with the updates - I enjoy reading them and I'm sure that others do too.

French Exchange - White plays Nc3 instead of c3

Hi all - wishing you a very Merry Christmas!  And may 2024 bring a brilliant Mood for all members :-)

I had a question on the French Exchange.  I don't think I can find any guidance in the courses for responding to White playing Nc3 instead of c3.  For example, 1.e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nc3

I see this Nc3 move quite a lot at my level.  At the moment I am playing Bb4 to pin it, which also helps get my Knight to e7 in line with the kingside attack plans.  Then I try to use the same attacking plans as in the course, trying to exchange the light bishop/ provoke h3/ queenside castle, etc.  If my Bb4 gets kicked (e.g. a3), I try to save it by bringing it back to d6 (because we should be keeping the dark bishops and losing the light ones, and it has already done a useful job of letting out Ng8-Ne7).  But this feels like a loss of tempo, especially as White will want that queenside pawn storm anyway probably.

Is any of this sensible?  Or should we try completely different plans after White plays Nc3 instead of c3?  

Thank you !

Replies

I have the same issue. I have tried to play our normal setup, but with Nf6 instead of Ne7, and ideas with Bb4. It is not very nice to not have any prep after move 4 in a relatively common line at my level. Any advice?

speedy chess mouse

hello guys

I am looking for a good speedy mouse for chess because I play a lot of bullet

Replies

I tried a view wireless gaming mice, but in the end I preferred a wired mouse.  A basic logitech M90 is what I settled on.

Other things are very important too, like internet connection speed and ping time to the chess server, wired connection to your router, minimising what other software is running on your computer while you're playing, etc.

a3 in the sicilian

[Event "Groningen chess festival: Prayan Sai Kumar-Ruurd Kunnen"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/study/QEIJXBlB/DtjYJiYh"]
[Result "*"]
[UTCDate "2023.12.24"]
[UTCTime "18:34:56"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[ECO "B23"]
[Opening "Sicilian Defense: Closed"]
[Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/Moluk"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 a6 3. a4 Nc6 4. Bc4 e6 5. d3 Nf6 6. f4 d5 7. Ba2 dxe4 8. dxe4 Qxd1+ 9. Kxd1 Ng4 10. Nh3 Be7 11. Ne2 Bd7 12. Ke1 Nd4 13. Nxd4 cxd4 14. Bc4 Rc8 15. Bd3 e5 16. Ke2 O-O 17. Ng1 f6 18. Nf3 Bd6 19. f5 b5 20. a5 Nh6 21. h3 { [%csl Gc1,Gh6] } (21. Bxh6 gxh6 { [%cal Gh6g5,Gf6g5] }) 21... Nf7 22. g4 h6 23. h4 Rfe8 24. Bd2 Kf8 25. Rag1 Ke7 26. g5 hxg5 27. hxg5 Rh8 28. gxf6+ gxf6 29. Nh4 Kd8 30. Ng6 Rxh1 31. Rxh1 Kc7 32. Rh7 Nd8 { [%csl Ge3,Gf4,Gg5][%cal Gd8c6,Gh7f7,Gf7f6,Gd2e3,Gd2f4,Gd2g5] } 33. Be1 Nc6 34. Rf7 Rg8 35. Rxf6 Ne7 36. Nxe7 (36. Rxd6 Kxd6 37. Bb4+ Kc7 38. Bxe7) 36... Bxe7 37. Rxa6 Kb7 38. Rb6+ Kc7 39. Bxb5 Rg2+ 40. Kd3 Bc5 41. Bxd7 Bxb6 42. axb6+ Kxd7 43. Bb4 { [%csl Gf5] } *

 Hi I played a game in groningen chess festival and someone played a3 can you please suggest a line or what I have to learn theory of a6 

Replies

How to play as White in the Sicilian after 2…a6 is covered in the following video:

https://chessmood.com/course/4-anti-sicilian-with-nc3-part-4

As Bf1 cannot go to b5 any more after 2..a6 (and Bc4 also does not really make sense due to b7-b5), CM recommends to play 3.g3! and then 4.Bg2, bringing the Bishop to the great long diagonal!

Once again finding the passion

Hello Chess Lovers!

 

I found ChessMood a month ago and really liked what I was seeing. Not just good information about Chess, but also lots of tips on how to happy in all aspects of our lives.

I thought hard about becoming a PRO Member. Or choosing the Essential membership. Both are an investment, not only of money, but also time and effort. Finally, I decided to go PRO. Why? There were lots of factors. One of the major ones was how committed I was going to be. “If I'm going to pay the money, then I have to work hard to get my money's worth!” I knew about the benefits of PRO membership, but honestly I didn't really expect to get that much from those extra benefits (boy, was I wrong!  Back to this in a minute). But I knew that if I made the investment, I would be motivated to work at it. So, I took the plunge last week.

 

I scheduled the 1-1 Bonus call with a GM.  Truthfully, I didn't really think this was going to special. But, I was astonished. When the call started there was GM Gabuzyan, greeting me and putting me completely at ease. I had answered a written questionnaire before so that he had some background information about me. He didn't waste any time, and began to explore with me the psychological and attitude problems that I had that were keeping me from being more successful. 

It was a delightful conversation! He easily pointed out things that I could do to improve that are about the mindset I have. I will always remember one of the questions that he asked me: “Why do you play chess?” I'm not and never will be a professional chess player. So I play for fun. Suddenly, things clicked in my mind – rather than being negative with every loss or blunder, why don't I enjoy the experience?? 

 

I re-dedicated myself to finding the passion for Chess that I've had for a lifetime (I'm 66 for those who are keeping score :D). Now, I'm focusing on finding the joy. I still plan to work hard to improve, but this one conversation was worth the entire cost of membership.

Today, I was riding a 9 game winning streak on Lichess. I found that I was playing more under control, enjoying the moment. I've even been find some tactics in the game that I wouldn't have if I hadn't gone through the Chess Ninja course (thanks Avo! Just want you know that you and your team are having a positive impact on people.) So, a few hours ago I wanted to play  another game and go for 10 wins in a row.

 

The game started off well. In the opening I slipped a little on an early move, but then quickly found a transposition into familiar territory. Then my opponent played a suspicious move and I had a clear advantage. Things were going well, and then I looked at the board in horror and saw that I had blundered horribly. My opponent had a mate in 1!!! I waited for the end to come, and was almost laughing at the situation. And then … my opponent missed the win, and I was back in the hunt. I finally won, proving again the old adage: “The winner is the player who blunders next to last”. 

 

Before, I would have celebrated and gone quickly on. But now, I know to examine the situation and try to figure out what made me miss an obvious move, so that I will be less likely to repeat this.

Anyway, I can't say enough good things about this happy adventure of ChessMood. Thanks to Avo and the entire team for creating this wonderful place to enjoy!

 

Cheers,

Jeff

Replies

Thank you Jeff!!! That's a very nice post to read! We love feedback, but when we read posts like yours we feel more motivated than ever to continue doing our best!

Keep on working and enjoying, that's the secret!!! 😀

What a great post, Jeff.  It's always good to read about such positive experiences.

I play chess for fun, too.  However, I still want to win!  And the information that Avo and the ChessMood team produce is just first class. 

Wow, wow, wow! 
What a post!!! 

Just screenshotted it and saved it in my files. You know why right?
https://chessmood.com/blog/thank-you 

"Why do you play chess?" Is indeed a fantastic question. I should buy today something for Gabu :) 

Thanks for all kind words and welcome to ChessMood family! 
Looking forward to seeing you on the 26th, at Christmas Meetup. 

With love,
Avo 
 

Dear Jeff!

Thanks so much for the kind words to our team, and I appreciate so much your feedback on our 1-1 call!
I hope that helps, and that you reach your goals with Chessmood!


Good luck and Happy New Year!

When can I start playing the Accelerated dragon?

Hi, new member here. I have really been enjoying WhiteMood openings and the Dutch attack, but the French attack does not seem to be working that well for me. I am getting good results and winning 61% of my games in the French, but I just don't like the positions I am getting, as I have trouble getting attacks like in the Scotch and the Dutch. I am rated 1492 in chess.com rapid. When can I start playing the Accelerated dragon? I don't mind learning some theory.

Replies

You can start the accelerated dragon whenever you want. But it would even better to try and understand the structures of the French Attack to improve more. For detailed information refer the following blog👇

https://chessmood.com/blog/change-opening-repertoire

New article: SLP Method - How to save lost chess positions?

What do you think it takes to save lost positions?

Of course, having a deeply-ingrained fighter attitude helps. But saving a lost position (SLP) is also a skill anyone can learn.

We've launched a mini-guide on using this topic where GM Avetik talks about:

✅ The 11 strategies to save lost positions 

✅ Why following normal rules in a lost position doesn’t work

✅ Why playing the engine’s best moves in a losing position might be a bad strategy

✅ The golden question you should ask before resigning

✅ How to train and improve your SLP skills, and much more!

Read it here👇

https://chessmood.com/blog/slp-method-how-to-save-lost-positions

And you can share your thoughts and ideas under this forum thread.

Replies

this game - https://lichess.org/O8VDCbNmudWp

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/86128211857?tab=analysis

Currently a rating of 1700 on chess.com

Played against an even rated opponent. I blundered a piece. Still won it, because of SLP ;)

[Event "samo1979 vs. Iskandar47"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2023-12-23"]
[White "samo1979"]
[Black "Iskandar47"]
[Result "0-1"]
[WhiteElo "1384"]
[BlackElo "1490"]
[TimeControl "600+5"]
[Termination "Iskandar47 won by checkmate"]
1. e4 c5 2. b3 Nc6 3. Bb2 e5 4. Nf3 g6 5. Be2 Bg7 6. O-O Nge7 7. Bc4 h6 8. Nc3
a6 9. Nd5 b5 10. Be2 d6 11. c3 O-O 12. d4 Be6 13. Nxe7+ Qxe7 14. d5 Bxd5 15.
exd5 Nb8 16. c4 b4 17. Nd2 Nd7 18. Ne4 f5 19. Nd2 g5 20. Bh5 Nf6 21. Bf3 g4 22.
Be2 Kh8 23. a3 a5 24. axb4 cxb4 25. Ra4 h5 26. Qa1 f4 27. Qb1 Qf7 28. Bd3 Bh6
29. Rd1 Qg7 30. Ne4 Nxe4 31. Bxe4 g3 32. h3 gxf2+ 33. Kxf2 Qg3+ 34. Kg1 f3 35.
Rd3 Qxg2# 0-1

Playing partners

Hi guys! I am looking for some good partners to improve my chess skills in online games on lichess.org and chess.com . My ratings vary from time controls, but they are round 1650. My lichess profile: giorgoskehagias509 and my chess.com profile: Giorgos_Kechagias. You can also contact me in my gmail: [email protected]                 Finally, I am located in GMT+2 zone Greece. I can play in any time controls but I prefer 5+3, 8+1, and 10+0, in order to stay focused. See you soon guys ;)

Replies

Hello

My name is Remy, and I'm looking for partners 

1700 on lichess

1350 on chess.com

I am in france

Hello,

If you are looking for a training partner there is already a pinned topic on the forum in wich it is recommended to look for one.

Link here: https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/studysparring-partner-1362

Study/Sparring partner

Hello guys,

I 'm looking for a partner. My elo on Lichess is 2400+ in rapid .

My fide rating is around 2100. 

I would prefer someone of my level or a bit better.

Thank you !

Replies

Hi there,

Add your post to this thread and I'm sure that you will find somebody:

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/studysparring-partner-1362

Questions regarding Study plan

I have noticed that you in the Study plan write that you use blitz rating when recommending courses and study plane.

First question why blitz and not rapid ?

You have a table with different ratings on some chess sites and how they relate.

Here chesscom rapid rating of 1200 is supposed to correspond to 500 blitz.

That is not true for me. I have around 1200 rapid and only around 500 blitz on chesscom. My current rapid (rather old) at Lichess is 1488 rapid and 1618? classical. 

So which plan for me is best

Below 1000 or

1001-1500

And what is the highest lower limit of course recommended rating for me before it must be considered to difficult

Replies

Hi there!

Chessmood decided to use chess.com blitz rating for recommending their courses, because not everyone has a fide rating. Since you can easily convert your rapid rating to blitz using the Rating Comparision Table, it shouldn't be a problem.

Ratings may vary sometimes. Some people are better at blitz, some are better at rapid. Additionally, some of your ratings might be old.

I would recommend you to go with the study plan for 1000-1500. There is not much difference between the study plans of <1000 and 1000-1500, only the ratio. You can use the ratio 30% study, 60% play, 10% fix. 

Start with the Openings Principles, then go with Tactic Ninja. 

Once you have finished these, you will most probably already be at 1500. 😃

New article: Grandmaster Guide to learn and improve chess tactics

99.9% of players choose wrong approaches and fail, when it comes to learning and improving tactics. 

So what do the 0.1% do differently? 
 

In today’s article, GM Avetik Grigoryan reveals the exact process and break downs a very effective approach to improving your tactics. You’ll learn:
 

✅The 7-step process to learn and improve your tactics from scratch.

✅The 4 mistakes you should avoid

✅Why a lesser-known tactic training software is better for improving tactics than the most popular tactic trainers.

✅How to know if you’re actually getting better at tactics?
 

It’s a very thorough and detailed guide with many stories and deep insights. 

So grab your favorite drink, sit back and enjoy reading!?

https://chessmood.com/blog/improve-chess-tactics

And share your thoughts under this forum thread!

Replies

CT-ART 6 is now CT-ART 10. Is not really a courses but a bunch of tactic courses from the platform learn.chess.King This platform has about 90 courses and summing. I own several courses like GM Panchenko, Total Endings that has 2700 exercises and some 50 Theoretical themes. I use the 300 pawn Endings to practice calculation. When I bought CT-ART 6 the Peshka horrible interface had been changed by a multiplatform enviroment and learn.chess.king has its own web with the +90 courses displayed and my CT-ART 6 was not a software but access to several tactical courses mostly for post-beginners, club and intermediate tacticians . So I concentrated instead in solving Studies and my tactical awarness on chess.com jumped from +2000 to +2800 in a short time. A GM qualified compositions solving as Advanced Tactics and I couldnt agree more. But still once in a weak I train puzzles at chess.com because I am an OTB player and puzzle patterns from games difere from patterns of Study solving.

I just realize I can only do well in fast games(1+0 and 3+0) and fast puzzles mode(3 min puzzle rush/battle and puzzle racer) and hoping to improve in my slow games by solving tactics for a long time ? Thanks for the nice article!

ChessCoach Andras suggests the following to get into good calculation habits. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5V8-CBQMBg He suggests doing mates in 3 on lichess (you can select puzzle by type) to get into the right habits of looking at checks, captures and threats roughly in the order of most forceful first. I think it also serves as a good warm-up before a match.

Nice article. It inspired me to give CT-ART another try (CT-ART 4 on Android). I didn't like the UI last time, but now it seems OK. Might be my new phone with a bigger screen, or maybe I just got used to it.

Avetic, there is a very interesting and beneficial book I recommend reading, "Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning". It is about key insights the science of optimal learning has discovered, some surprising. The authors are cognitive scientists at The University of Washington, St. Louis, a top tier university in the U.S.

Hello Avetic, what's your opinion on chesstempo.com free tactics training? To tell you the truth, I'd rather save a bit of money… Thank you!

Blundering

Hello I am 2361 rated player on lichess and when analyzing my previous 30 lost games, I found that I lost 17/30 of them by missing my opponents tactics and 8/30 as strategical mistakes. Can you please suggest a way to cut these losses? :)  

Thank You!

Replies

Hello,

First of all you are a human, so eliminating the blunders is almost impossible (even GM's blunder), but you can indeed reduce them. I am not the right person to advise you on how to do this, but you can watch the following chessmood courses on this topic.

The blunderproof course on this exact topic: https://chessmood.com/course/blunderproof

The tactic ninja course (as not having a sharp tactical vision is often the problem): https://chessmood.com/course/tactic-ninja

The mating matador course (for even more sharp tactical vision): https://chessmood.com/course/mating-matador

I recomend you to watch the blunderproof course first and if you indeed find out that you need to get better at tactics, then watch the other. Now if you don't have access to the courses, you can read this article about the same topic, in wich the blunderproof course is briefly explained, and don't forget to work on your tactical vision, this is very often the cause of blundering.

Link of the article: https://chessmood.com/blog/stop-blunders-in-chess

Hope this helps

I m too slow ! How to improve that ?

I m 57 yrs old and I always took my time before deciding anything but for chess , with the clock , it‘ s a problem ! How to improve my speed without lowering the quality of my decisions ? I watched the webinar of time management and I think it s a great way to understand this but when I play , I lose time awareness on certain position which are not always critical  ! I did read many articles on the blog and did all courses in the rating booster section . Completing Ninja tactic did improve my calculation speed. I tried playing faster time control to force myself to make quicker decision but the results are not satisfying… 

im 1700 otb , 1850 rapid and 1650 blitz on chesscom ( both are  100 pts under my top on chesscom that I got last month ) . 

Replies

Hi Denis! 

Were'nt you working with a personal coach too?
You should try to play with your coach, or play while he is watching you play. This way he should see where you need to improve to play better, giving you direct insights on your games. 
If you lose time in non critical positions, you already know what you need to do. Just play a move that will allow you to continue, this is a game, not science if you remember… Science starts after the game during the analysis… 
Also it depends a lot if you play tired or not, stamina is not the same, this is very important. Also if you do sport regularly it helps a lot! 
What do you think?😅

Hi Denis,

In order to make decisions better in chess, and even faster Knowledge is required.
How can strong players play 3+0 games with a very high accuracy?
The reason is knowledge behind the years of experience>

You can try to play little longer time controls to avoid time trouble, and the main suggestion is to keep training hard and acquiring knowledge. In the long run that is the key!

Hi Denis, I don't know if this will help, but I wanted to share some thoughts as I have similar tendencies. (I notice them in other parts of my life too, like holiday packing ;-) and I invite you to think about whether that is true of you as well!) 

I had two eureka moments recently on this topic.  1) I performed very strongly in a club rapidplay handicap tournament.  This is where players are handicapped on their starting clock time according to rating, and no increment.  What I noticed was how well I could play against very strong players when they were the ones under chronic time pressure.  This made me think:  the time pressure is really bringing down their rating, by 200-300+ points, to my level, and this is making us equals and I can beat them.  So … logically… when I am playing my more regular OTB games against my rating peers and I get myself into time trouble, I am basically turning myself into a 200-300 point worse player.  I do not want to do this!  If anything, I want THEM to be this weaker player thanks to the time trouble.  

So telling yourself that you are actually choosing to bring a weaker version of yourself to face the opponent may help you.  Like Todd Herman said in the podcast, your opponent deserves to face the strongest version of yourself actually.

2) I have noticed how often I mess up in chronic time trouble, and how rarely I play a best move anyway during the long thinks that got me there.  So basically, I think clock time can be seen like material (it's just another resource).  Use a load of it on a fairly quiet move, and the material count on the board may be the equal, but it's not really.  You've weakened your army badly, because you can't provide a decent command structure any more, and someone is going to get hurt.  I tell myself now that if I'm going to get myself 20-25 minutes behind my opponent's clock, I may as well have just taken off a piece earlier in the game instead of one of those long thinks - it's that impactful.  I wouldn't dream of simply giving away material like that, so I'm not going to simply give away time either.

Just my two cents worth , and I wish you luck in becoming an even more lethal adversary in 2024!

what to write about blunders and should I include positional blunders?

Note that by positional blunders I include moves that I understand they were blunders during the games and not something that the engine is telling me.

I also wonder if not noticing an important  capture is not a blunder even if it did not cause tactical mistakes.

I will give the last bad blitz game that I played today with my comments here
making the comments take more time then playing the game and as you can see most of them are about my thoughts and not about engine evaluations.

https://lichess.org/BlloFElq/black

1)8…0-0 was a positional blunders and in the game after my opponent played d4 I understood that I blundered by not preventing it or by allowing white to play it with a tempo by playing Bc5

2)when I played 15…Qf6 I missed Qd3 and when the engine may not consider 

Qf6 to be a blunder even when it is not the best me from my point of view missing Qd3 is a blunder that I will probably not do at long time control.

3)I needed to play 17….Be6 and not 17…Bh5
I can understand why the engine say that 18.f4 gives a clear advantage for white because of the idea f5 against Bg6 but I did not think about it during the game.
I am not sure if to consider it as a blunder
4)when I played 20…Rxe3 I calculated the line 21.fxe3 Qg3 22.Ne5 Qxe3+ 23.Kh1 and thought in the worst case I can win another pawn by 23…Bxe5 24.dxe5 Qxe5 and missed 25.Rf5
I wonder if to consider it as a blunder because the engine does not consider 20…Rxe3 as a blunder even if it is not the best move.

5)I think 21…Qg3 is a mistake but not a blunder.

6)23…b5 is a blunder based on the engine
I saw the opponent threat 24.Nxf7 and hoped to get some chances after 23….b5 24.Qxc6 Rc8 25.Qxd6 Rxc2 when I did not see in my calculation that the rook at c8 is not protected(of course I could see it in the analysis without an engine).

7)I think that 25…f6 is a blunder and I simply did not see 26.Nxc6 otherwise I could play the better 26…Bxe5 when I still have knight and a pawn for the rook(engine say that it is also losing but I did not understand it and I think it was my best hope)
8)I consider 26…Ne6 to be a blunder even if the engine does not agree and I needed to play 26…a6(did not see capturing b5 pawn and thought that I need to activate my pieces)
Note that I already had less than 40 seconds on my clock when I played f6 and Ne6 and time pressure(inspite of having an increment of 3 seconds) caused me to blunder from my point of view

9)when I played 33…Bf4 I blundered by not seeing the fact that I lose a pawn by 34.Re7+ and Rxa7
It could be an excellent idea in SLP mode but it was not and I saw that I can capture the rook at a7 during the game only at the time my opponent played 37.Kh2 and I wonder if I need to consider the fact that I did not see Bxa7 earlier as a blunder.

37…Bxa7 does not save the game but it was my best chance and I missed a  draw later in the game

10)42…Ke6 was not a mistake(stockfish prefers Ke8 but I ignore it espacielly when a weak engine like fruit2.1 that has a better human style from my point of view without the nnue evaluation and not a positional monster like stockfish  likes Ke6)

11)44…Rxd6 was the last mistake or blunder(not sure what to say about it).  I thought the pawn endgame is probably losing but I was not sure and I did not believe that a move like g6 Rd7 or Kd7 can save me because it seems to me I get no progress with it when the opponent can make progress(of course without time pressure I could avoid going to losing pawn endgame because I would not play a move that I am sure to be losing even if I believe that other moves are also losing and I will probably see that g6 45.b5 Rxd6 46.Rxd6+ is good for me because g6 prevents the opponent king the move Kf5). 

Replies

I played a second blitz game that was relatively better and again the question is what to comment about blunders.

https://lichess.org/i505zdFU/black#36

comments:
1)I could get the advantage with 15…Nb4 but I will ignore it because not playing it is not a blunder that I understand easily(I will only mention that I considered Nb4 during the game but did not think that it is better.

2)I missed 27…Bxa4 that the engine only consider as a mistake but missing a capture by myself can be also considered as a blunder.
I thought initially to capture back with the queen when playing 27…Nc4 but saw even before the opponent move that I need to capture with the pawn not to lose my queen and I wonder if to consider the fact that I did not see the fact that 27…Nc4 28.Bxc4 Qxc4 lose the queen at the time of playing Nc4 as a blunder.

3)The engine considers 32…Bb5 as a blunder and claims 32…Rd8 or 32…Kb8 as better but at time trouble I prefer to trade pieces and I saw that I cannot protect c2 and did not consider the fact that the opponent has problems after Nxc2 because the knight is pinned.

Note that my opponent does not have to capture c2 immediately and could also avoid the endgame.

4)35…Re8 was a positional mistake but I did not like exd5 Nxd5 when I cannot play Rc8 and did not see that I have Rc8 and thought that it is losing a pawn because of not calculating Nxc8 but calculating Kxc8 and had to play a move so I played non blundering different move with the rook.

5)I played the endgame later perfectly 

Middlegame Roadmap

Hi Chessmood Team,

First of all I wanted to say Merry Christmas to you all CM Team and all members of the CM champions. 

 

I have been struggling quite a bit during my game in the middlegame part. I get good position from the CM position, I feel like I know my line but I am having a hard time converting the advantage. 

 

I was wondering when will the course middlegame roadmap be ready on your end? I feel I could benefit from it. 

 

Thanks again for the great courses!!

 

Kamel 

 

Replies

Merry Christmas Kamel! 🎉

Chessmood is working on the middlegame roadmap course along with other courses.  

For now, you have 2 options:

You can just go through the “Rating Booster” section, you will learn the most important skills you need in the middlegame (good tactical vision, know how to attack/defend, SLP and WWP, etc.

or

You go through the “Middlegame Mastery” section, where you will master all the middlegame concepts.

Whether you chose option 1 or 2, depends on your rating. Please check out the study plan ( https://chessmood.com/chess-study-plans )

for more information about this. 

I hope this helps you! 😃

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