Chess forum by Grandmasters

New GM Gabuzyan recommendation in Closed Sicilian 6.Be3

I think 6... Rb8 was recommended before the update, followed by ...b5 and ...Nd4

However, in the latest update, 6...e5 is recommended.

6...e5 seems more in line with our repertoire, but I really liked 6...Rb8 an the resulting middlegame.

What are the differences, advantages and disadvantages between 6...Rb8 and 6...e5? Should I swap from 6...Rb8 to 6...e5?

Replies

Now you have two options. :-)

Sergio, it's will be much easier to play with e5, as you do it against almost all systems. Even against 1.c4 :) 
So we try to keep it simple. 

"Crushing the Scandinavian" course

Hey Champions! 
The course is uploaded and 3 sections are ready, others are on their way.
https://chessmood.com/course/10-crushing-the-scandinavian

I hope you'll enjoy it and start crushing Scandinavian players.
If you have any questions about the course - put them in the comments of this post.

With best wishes,
GM Avetik 

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The title of video nr. 57 in this course should be 7...Nb6! instead of 8...Nb6!

Killing the bluff crushing Sicilian sidelines

What if white instead 10Re1+ or Nd5 plays Bg5?

Thanks in advance

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Please give all moves.

Thank you!

Hello dear PRO Members!
I want to say thank you!
Why? :)

First, I'll tell you the good news.
You know, I'm trying to bring more Grandmasters to ChessMood.
And recently a man, who was in the top 10 in the world, agreed to record a course for us! (I will reveal his name later)

I would have never been able to invite such big guys without your support...
When you help me with marketing, for example by referring ChessMood to your friends, you give me more time to focus on chess and bring more value to ChessMood.
When you help me to grow ChessMood, I have more resources to invite the best players and the best coaches to ChessMood.
Thank you!

Last year we grew with 500%, with 1% marketing.
Most of the part of our growth came from our students, who referred their friends.  

Thank you very-very much!

I told you earlier, that all our profits will be reinvested to make ChessMood a better place and help chess lovers from all over the world.

Thanks for all your support!

With best wishes and deep gratitude,
GM Avetik

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Well, thank you for all the hard work you are putting in this platform! Since I became a member I have improved a lot and this is thanks to you!

Is it Boris Gelfand? This is my wild guess... :)

My guess - Is it Akopian? :-)

2. Bc4 webinar: Nils' question

At 32:45 GM Gabuyzan answers Nils' question:

After 1. e4 c5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Nc3 e6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. d3 d5 6. Bb5 Bd7 (line in response to my question at 29:56), Nils asked what if 7. e5 here, and the response was Ng8-e7 is fine.

Looking at the computer, it's about equal, but here, 7... d4 is even better giving Black an advantage as if Nc3 moves, Qa5 is coming. 8. exf6 dxc3 9. bxc3 (9. fxg7 Bxg7) a6 10. Bc4 Qxf6 - Note: Avinash suggests d4 in the chat.

Note the French advance style trap, 7... Nxe5 doesn't work here: 8. Nxe5 Bxb5 9.  Nxb5 Qa5+ 10. Nc3 d4 11. Nc4 and the queen has to give up the pin.

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Shredder comes to the same conclusion. Thank you, David. PS. Preparing for White for this tournament I had the game Martinez Alcantara-Zhigalko, 2021 in mind where Black played 6. ... Be7 (instead of Bd7 as suggested in the webinar) and White got a nice game after 7. Bxc6 bxc6 an 8. e5.

North Sea Defence

It would be interesting to see your take on Carlsen's blitz weapon, the North Sea Defence, in the Modern course.

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Nf6!?

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https://chessmood.com/course/modern-pirc/episode/1518

Why not avoid the Rossolimo with 2...g6?

Dear ChessMood Family:

ChessMood’s Accelerated Dragon repertoire calls for the move order:  1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6.  Why doesn’t ChessMood recommend 2…g6, which avoids the Rossolimo altogether and saves you the trouble of learning that entire line?  In other words, why is 2…g6 bad?  I’ve only heard two arguments:

1.  If you play 2…g6, you have to be prepared for 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4.  I don’t think this is a good argument.  In my experience, 4. Qxd4 is no big deal and comfortably met by 4…Nf6 5.  e5 Nc3, which is much easier to learn than the Rossolimo.  Granted, I’m a lower-level player…and maybe 4. Qxd4 is more dangerous at higher levels.

2.  If you play 2…g6, you can be forced out of the ChessMood repertoire if your opponent plays as Christof Sielecki recommends in “Keep it Simple 1. e4.”  Sielecki calls for:  1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. c3.  Now Black is forced out of the ChessMood repertoire because in the Alapin, ChessMood calls for:  1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6.  In other words, in the Alapin, ChessMood never recommends …g6.  I think this is a better argument, but should one go to the trouble of learning the Rossolimo just to avoid Sielecki’s line?

What do you guys think?  Am I missing something more?  What’s better, 2…Nc6 or 2…g6?  I appreciate any insight you can share.  Thank you.

-Nick

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https://chessmood.com/course/6-anti-sicilian-with-nc3-part-5

In the "6. Anti-Sicilian with Nc3!? Part 5" course he explains how to play for white against g6! so g6 is not a good move. Nc6 is much better and if you want to improve, you need to study hard and work hard, unfortunately there is no other choice. :)

3.c3 seems to give white an small but easy adventage. If you like playing these lines, 2.g6 is good for you

Because your life in the Anti-Sicilians is less easy. If you normally play 2...Nf6 vs the Alapin, white can force you in a different Alapin with the 2...g6 move order. This means you will need to play a g6 system against the Alapin.

And you need something separate against the Morra Gambit. With the 2...Nf6 repertoire you can avoid the Morra Gambit by transposing to the Alapin line. 

There are also some other nasty sidelines vs the 2...g6 move order. Besides that, most anti-Sicilian books/courses for black are made for the 2...g6 move order. So just learn the Rossolimo is way more practical. And if you learn it well, you will discover that with the Chessmood repertoire it is very fun to play! 

Well, there are lots of good points in the answers. 
Firstly you'll allow 3.d4 with Qd4. 
2nd, the 3.c3 gives an advantage in the theory. 

Especially because of 3.c3, top players don't play g6. 

However, for example GM Guseinov plays it for long time. 

Overall, if your rating is below 2300 you can play 2...g6 too. 
It will be fine.  

Best Games of the Month Deserve More

I propose to the ChessMood team that they once per month create a video with analysis of the best games selected.

I would like to hear what did you like, and what not. What could be played differently / better. And finally, what was the main reason the game was selected.

I believe that for many ChessMood members having their game analyzed would be more rewarding that getting a bag of ChessMood coins :)

And to the ChessMood family, do you support initiative?

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In our next internal meeting we are going to talk about this. It is indeed a great idea. We will see how we can implement it, but it is a lovely suggestion. Thanks for the idea Robert! Your help and comments are always appreciated!

Hi, I would like to add the following ideas:

(1) Define a maximum number of games one can submit

I tried to follow the posts in the best games-thread but it was too much posted. Sometimes, I had the feeling that members were submitting almost every game they played (this is of course a bit exaggerated). I would say a maximum of five games would be right.

(2) Ask for some comments on the games 

Why does the game deserve a price? How does it relate to ChessMood (might be the opening, an idea from the middlegame course might have been implemented etc.)?

(3) Have separate price(s) for different time controls (bullet/blitz and rapid/classical)

Is studying Commented Class Games course this way good?

Is the way coach said in his video (link below) good to study Commented Classical Games as he has said other ways in the course. I would like to know coach's opinion and other's opinion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Tw1iNDfas&t

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Wow, I didn't see this video before, thanks for sharing it!!! Why not, you can try to "play" the game this way at first, then watch the course :) 

Well, this is a good way, if you work with a chess book. 
With working with the course, it's better just to watch it, anyway, on the important moments, I'll ask you to pause the video and think. 

Very useful one, thank you!

How Productive is Your Life

Besides chess, do you make physical workout regularly and do you eat healthy? How important do you think they are for your chess skills? 

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I do some simple 15 mins workouts daily morning. Somedays I will play with my friends some football or shuttle badminton.

I take my iPad, and while riding on my stationary exercise bike I play chess games on lichess, watch youtube chess video (Powerplay chess, Naroditsky Speedrun) or chess events like Magnus cheess tour.

This is an interesting question in general. 

I gues you mean from the chess side of things... I tend to eat as healthy as I can but sometimes I am a bit weak. I tried to excercise and be in good shape for the sake of being healthy and not only for the chess... 

From the no-chess side of things, I guess like most of the others here I have a job and try to be as productive as I can (with some blitz games in between ;))...

I think nowadays the most challenging thing, or the biggest problem that we have is that getting distracted is sooo easy... for example, right now I was trying to complete the repertoire for the French defense in chessmood and thought... 'ok, I will have a quick look at the forum'... I could be training instead, but what to do (?)... :)

Troubles with specific openings

Wanted to get some thoughts from the chessmood family.  I've noticed that I tend to have a lot of trouble with our anti-sicilian lines, but other openings (Benko/Scotch/Dragon) I have great results with.  I suspect part of it is that the Sicilian lines can transpose to each other quite often and I tend to lose the thread of which approach I should take, so I'm going to be going over all the courses again with lots of attention to where the positions can be similar, and also looking for any Sicilian-themed webinars, but I wanted to get any other suggestions people might have. COGRO!

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Just had the webinar on the Bc4 (non GP) lines.

Hello Karl,

This is a fantastic thing to do, re watch the courses... I watched some of them several times and still I keep forgetting lines... As for the webinars I took the liberty to select for you a couple of them that made a great impression on me:

Here you have the link for the Accelerated Dragon webinar, which I watched 3 times already!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pZMiyAOm78

Next, yesterday's spectacular webinar regarding an early Bc4.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QnlcxWURao

Let's keep growing while being happy!!

Hi Karl, yes you're right I have the same problem. There're a lot of transpositions and variations in Antisicilian. Rewatching courses is fine. I think a very efficient way is to go after your specific game to a certain variation in course, might take more time but you will remember this variation better. Also, I'm paying attention to pawn structures it helps too. And the last thing I noticed I'm getting often good positions out of the opening but not finishing them in the best way.

Thanks for the thoughts everyone!  I started rewatching the anti-Sicilian courses yesterday and then played this game that lichess said has no inaccuracies mistakes or blunders!

https://lichess.org/eaoxh1Og/white

How did you find ChessMood

Let's share our stories here about how you've discovered the existence of our lovely ChessMood and how you decided to become a member of ChessMood family :)  

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Before a year and a half, my chess was very weak and I wanted to improve it. So I started watching videos on the chess with Suren chanell, which chessmood is also recommending. One day, I discovered that a channel called "Chessmood" was appearing on the "other channels" list, just next to the playlists. I got amazed by the way GM Avetik was explaing the few, but excellent chess videos the channel had once. The next day, I typed chessmood on google chrome, and as I was exploring the courses, I hoped I found a very good source to learn. GM Grigoryan's message "try to learn chess from trustworthy sources", and the articles motivated to become a Pro member and take as much value as I can. The 1,5 year I am a Chessmood member, by watching the courses and the streams, being or not being Pro member, I raised my online rating around 350 points from 1500 to 1850 (I have highs of 1960) and I owe a big thanks to all GMs not only for the excellent courses and webinars, but also for the instructive articles and commented games. It would be very interesting to hear how you found our chessmood family.

My story is funniest. I have a facebook chess group and there I help beginners and below 1600 players. Even though I am also 1465. But still I help them in proper way and I never misguide them. One day coach @GM_Avetik_Grigoryan texted me and told me about his group and I asked are you seriously a Grandmaster? He said yeah, then I thought in my mind no he can't be a GM because GMs normally do not like to talk with novice. This was my thoughts in past. So I googled his pic and everything and then I realized yeah he is GM hehehe. I felt so happy that a GM is not only talking to me but also he is treating me so well like I am not novice but a decent player. Then he made his website and asked me to join. Again my bad old thoughts came in my mind. I thought oh! now he is doing marketing. The reason for that is most GMs are doing that normally. So I never trusted anyone's contents. So I felt same about him. But in front of him I said yeah I will join sir. In the end I never joined chessmood. Suddenly one day my friend asked me to check his content I said nah. He said check the very first video. So I thought ok let's give it a try. Once I saw the content I felt so angry on myself that I did not trusted coach's words and I felt so sad too. But then I joined chessmood and it's gonna be for forever. Chessmood helped me in chess and gave me super chess training partners and I am improving day by day but all credit goes to chessmood family!

I got to know about Chessmood via some of my chess groups

The Perpetual Chess Podcast
https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2020/9/1/episode-192-gm-avetik-grigoryan

It was the 30December 2020 and At that time all of the courses were opened for 3 days for free.

GM Bassem Amin our African champion wrote about the site and advised us to seize this opportunity to watch as much as possible in these 3 days.

From that time, I am a member here

At first I saw the Chess.com account Zaven_ChessMood online. I thought of applying this "Mood" in my username. So the next day when I opened chess.com I saw Sam_ChessMood then again that evening Hrant_ChessMood! I then found that they were all Armenian GMs. I googled then "Why Armenian GMs have ChessMood in their username". Then I found "ChessMood:Chess Courses and Events with ..." written there. And after that I also read an article in ChessBase India under it which helped me to find. This is not a baked story

Chess board in forum posts

I've noticed that some post chess boards in their forum posts. It would be nice if someone could please tell me how this is done! :)

Replies

One way is add new file and select a pgn or picture file. The post editor isn't very good and hopefully will be better when the new website is released.

A Few Proposals for Improvements

1. Make a new menu option with list of best games of the month.

2. Stream with GM Gabuzyan, I would ask Gabuzyan to play less games (max 3 games) per session but each game would be analysed afterwards, preferably in the style of Daniel Naroditsky's Speedrun.

3. Make a possibility to tag the games submitted by members with ChessMood tags related to courses, so that games could be linked from the course page. I would only tag the games of some value --> that would require that ChessMood team would tag the games. (one of the tags could be best-game, which would solve point 1 as well).

4. Make a possibility to submit important games related to ChessMood courses from current and past tournaments . Also require to submit pgn's so that they can be viewed immediately instead of links, that would drive people to other websites. 

Replies

Hello Robert,

Thanks a lot for your suggestions. I just started moderating the forum and helping with admin duties yesterday, but I appreciate it very much. I am taking note of all of them and dully inform the team.

One thing is for sure, giving more importance to the games of the month is one of my main objectives, there are some other posts related to this and we will do something soon about it.

We value your support and feedback very much, many thanks once more for your input!

I like the idea of tagging posts to link them to the courses.

I think this would be very useful for questions relating to specific openings.

Right now, there is no nomenclature on how to write the title of a new discussion.

This makes it very difficult to find all (older) questions and answers relating to an opening.

Sicilian GP setup: black plays d6, e6 & Nf6, holding back on Nc6 and no g6

Hi CM team!

I recently had a game that started like this:

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 e6 4. Nf3 Nf6

At this point I figured there's no choice but to decide on the development of the f1 bishop, andthe game continued:

5. Bb5+ Bd7 6. Bxd7 Nxd7 7. 0-0 Be7 8. d3 0-0 9. Qe1 a6 10. a4 Qc7 and here I continued with 10. Qh4, figuring that the discovery on the queen is not imminent as the e7 bishop hangs, and I could always put the queen on h3 if needed.

A few questions:

1. Do you recommend going 5. Bb5+ and exchanging on d7 in this case?

2. Do you still recommend going for the d3 setup in this position or perhaps betting to go d2-d5?!

3. What about the king's side attack and what to do with the queen?

Replies

Hi @Yair_E,

I think about first two questions what you did was logical, about the Queen I am not sure Qg3 and Qh4 moves are logical :)

The position after 4...Nf6 is covered in the course. My notes say: "Here neither Bc4 nor Bb5 is promising." 5.g3 "Switches to closed Sicilian, against which e6/d6 is not the most critical setup. See model games."

Yair, you'll love the daily lesson #42 :) 
Overall after 1.e4 if Black goes random moves, our setup is 2.d4 3.f4 4.Nf3 5.Bd3 6.0-0 and then e5 with f5 and checkmate, or include moves like Nc3,Qe2,Bd2,Rae1, or just one of them :) 

Modern Maroczy Bind

One of opponent played against me 13. Kf2?   How should i continue? I haven't  seen the advance section yet if it is there then i will watch .. 

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6

5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 d6 7. Be2 Nxd4 8. Qxd4 Bg7

9. Be3 O-O 10. Qd2 a5 11. f3 a4 12. Rc1 Qa5

13. Kf2

Replies

A line I can recommend against 13.Kf2 (which is a good move for White) is 13…Be6 (best place for the bishop), 14.Nd5, Bxd5, 15.Qxa5, Rxa5, 16.cxd5, e6 (e.g. played by Gawain Jones)

https://chessmood.com/course/modern-maroczy-bind/episode/591 yes it's in Advanced section! I just checked the move also on chessbase and I think it's kinda a new move. I'll watch the course as well :)

Hello Shahinur,

Yes, I do think it is time, I have been following your progress, with all the tournaments that you are playing and getting very good results... No need to remember everything of the advanced section, it is impossible in most of the cases, but if you get the idea it will help you for sure! I only learn some variation at 100% when I am preparing for some opponent and I know the line that they will play...

Keep up the good work and keep inspiring other people!!

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.

Chessmood suggestion for 1. f4 response

In one of the early streams, GM Avetik plays the From Gambit (e5 d6). I used to play this, and if White avoids the traps and plays sensibly (as 1700+ would), it didn't seem Black got enough for the pawn. Is this still the suggestion, or is d5 preferred (maybe even c5 since e4 d5 transposes)?

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Note, you'd also need to have something against the King's Gambit as well if 2. e4 gets played

Hi David

In one of the Stream series, Avetik played c5 to keep within the ChessMood normal approach of g7, Bg7, Nc6, d6, O-O with Rb8 and b5 plan. This c5 would then also allow transposing to Sicilian after e4.

Below are the 2 games from the stream

Hope this helps

[Event "Live Chess"]

[Site "Chess.com"]

[Date "2020.07.09"]

[Round "?"]

[White "leoleavell"]

[Black "Ave_ChessMood"]

[Result "0-1"]

[ECO "A02"]

[WhiteElo "1987"]

[BlackElo "2031"]

[Annotator "Mik"]

[PlyCount "48"]

[EventDate "2020.??.??"]

[TimeControl "300"]

1. f4 c5 {[#] Normal approach of g7, Bg7, Nc6, d6, O-O .. Rb8 and b5} 2. Nf3 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Be2 Nc6 5. O-O d6 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. d4 O-O 8. d5 Na5 9. e4 a6 {protecting b5-square, also supporting b5 pawn push} 10. h3 b5 11. Nd2 Nd7 {control e5-square} 12. Bf3 Rb8 13. Nb3 Nc4 14. Be2 Ndb6 {Supporting Nc4, then b4 winning b2-pawn} 15. Qd3 f5 {[#] put pressure on e4-pawn after b4 removing Nc3 defender .. also activate Bc8 to Bf5} 16. Bf3 b4 {[#] Look for a5 and a4and Ba6 working on f1-a6 diagonal as no more Be2} 17. Nd1 a5 18. Nd2 Ba6 19.Re1 Ra8 {Supporting Ba6} 20. Nxc4 Nxc4 21. Qb3 a4 22. Qxa4 Nb6 23. Qb3 Bc4 24. Qe3 Bd4 {Wining the queen Ave_ChessMood won by resignation} 0-1

[Event "Live Chess"]

[Site "Chess.com"]

[Date "2020.07.02"]

[Round "?"]

[White "sergeygitsu"]

[Black "Ave_ChessMood"]

[Result "0-1"]

[ECO "A02"]

[WhiteElo "1916"]

[BlackElo "1907"]

[Annotator "Mik"]

[PlyCount "76"]

[EventDate "2020.??.??"]

[TimeControl "300"]

1. f4 c5 {[#] Keep consistent with g6, Bg7 and Nc6} 2. Nf3 g6 3. e3 Bg7 4. Be2 Nc6 5. O-O d6 {[#] Against reversed Dutch setup with d6, e5 and Nge7} 6. d3 e5 7. c3 Nge7 {[#] Plan O-O with h6, Be6 and Qd7} 8. e4 O-O 9. c4 h6 {Stops Ng5} 10. Nc3 Be6 11. Nd5 Qd7 {Be6 is better then Be2} 12. a3 Rab8 {Usual Rab8 and b5 pawn push} 13. Bd2 b5 14. cxb5 Rxb5 {Removed one of the defenders of Nd5 and b2-pawn is under attack} 15. d4 Rxb2 {wins a pawn} 16. dxe5 dxe5 17. Bc3 Rb7 18. Nxe7+ Qxe7 19. f5 Bb3 {practical - better not to give opponent any chances} 20. Qc1 Nd4 21. Nxd4 exd4 22. Bd2 g5 {[#] Bg7 controls f6 and e5 .. on queenside Be2 is bad push the pawns c4, c3, e3} 23. h4 Bf6 {cover g5 and allows Kg7, Qe5 and Rh8 using open h-file} 24. hxg5 hxg5 25. Bf3 Rb6 {Look for Rh6} 26. e5 Qxe5 27. Bxg5 Bxg5 28. Qxg5+ Qg7 {Have super connect passed pawns d4 and c5 .. still have Rh6} 29. Qf4 d3 30. Be4 Qd4+ 31. Rf2 Qxa1+ {wins the rook .. gameover!} 32. Rf1 Qd4+ 33. Rf2 d2 34. Qg5+ Rg6 35. Qxd2 Qxd2 36. Rxd2 Rg4 37. Bb1 Rd4 38. Kh2 Rxd2 {Ave_ChessMood won by resignation} 0-1

Aggressively punishing the opponent for opening mistakes

This is something I need to do more of. I was watching one of the old streams in early 2019 about improvement suggestions for PRO members (hint would be nice to have another one of those events). I like the bit about 'become a wild animal' as soon as the opponent makes a mistake :) I guess better to be too aggressive and overdo it (and learn what can be done) than too timid and never try.

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Finally reached 2000 blitz on lichess

Finally got there. Next stop 2100.

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Congratulations! Way to go my friend! I am also going for the 2100 before April. Now I am at 2041 but still I get absorbed in some positions and I start to think for long time forgetting about the clock! Let's make sure we get there!

Congratulations!!! @David_Flynn 

Have you already read that useful articles about how to increase the online rating?