Chess forum by Grandmasters

e3 Benko question. (5. ...e6 seems to have some problems)

I really wanted to try 5. ...e6 against the e3 Benko line but I ran into some issues due to the same e4 ideas as the ones Avetik presented in the Blumenfeld countergambit comparison. Could you please take a look at the pgn below and let me know what you think?

[Event "Black opening prep: Chapter 1"]

[Site "https://lichess.org/study/WOCjf67D/JSlcLMLX"]

[Result "*"]

[UTCDate "2020.09.15"]

[UTCTime "20:36:33"]

[Variant "Standard"]

[ECO "A57"]

[Opening "Benko Gambit Accepted, Modern Variation"]

[Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/liszt85"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. e3 e6 6. dxe6 fxe6 7. Nc3 (7. Nf3 d5 8. Nc3 Bd6 { What Avetik played in his blitz game. } 9. Be2 { was the move played in the blitz game that Avetik played but } (9. e4 { is far more challenging. So 8. ...Bd6 is likely to be wrong. } 9... dxe4 10. Ng5 O-O 11. Be3 $16 { [%cal Gf1c4] }) 9... O-O 10. O-O Bb7 11. bxa6 (11. a4 { Bhakti, Kulkarni - Holm, Kristian Stuvik, 1-0, Budapest FS05 IM, 2011, https://lichess.org/SEvmD3FI } 11... axb5 12. Nxb5 { and white is more than comfortable here. } { [%csl Gd6] } 12... Be7 13. b3 { [%cal Gc1b2] }) 11... Nxa6 { Kazakovskiy, Valeriy - Kovalev, Vl, 0-1, 84th ch-BLR 2018, https://lichess.org/KiGZLIWY } { This was also how Avetik's game went. }) 7... d5 8. Nf3 *

Replies

Hey Vishnu! 
Good question. This problem was posted by our PRO Member Nicolo. 
As we said earlier in the posts, now we're re-recording the Benko Gambit course. 

Beginner French questions

Hello, 

I am a low intermediate player, not sure my otb rating at this point tend to be around 1500 online. 

I like playing the French defense, but I frequently get opponents that play slightly unusual or inaccurate move orders. 

The one if face most often is 1. e4 e6 2. Nc3 which usually goes into exchange French 

and another is 1. e4 e6 2. e5 which usually transposes into advance variation. I was wondering if there is anything to do against these weird move orders to spice things up a bit. 

I get tired of playing the exchange so I could transpose into a Sicilian in the first example but don’t play that opening, so I’m not sure what variation that would be called. 

Thanks

Replies

If you want to play the French and play for a win, you need to deal with the Exchange Variation.  After all, white can play it on  move 3 no matter what.  

Yeah, i see that the exchange variation is drawish.But if our opponent wants a draw, they will  fight for a draw so they won't play aggressive move.If you want to win, there are some rules

-Castle in the opposite side of the white king

-Try to exchange their light square bishop via f5

-Play f6 to cover e5, then follow with g5,h5 and a pawn storm

I would buy giris french course, it is super sound and covers more or less everything

How to practice CHESS STRATEGY?

How to practice CHESS STRATEGY in best way?

Thank's a lot.

Replies

Daily Puzzle link in page footer

The daily puzzle links to an old puzzle - https://chessmood.com/daily-puzzle/17.09.2020

It'd be great if you'd fix it so I could get my daily fix with just one click!  By the way, I finally solved one today.

Replies

Doubt

will all the courses which are only for PRO would be eligible to be bought by Moodcoins in the Near future?

Replies

Yes, it is! 

Can We Buy Membership With Mood Coins

?

how to play against caro cann

how to play against caro cann defense ? 

Replies

There is a course for white against the Caro kann with exchange variation

It's a very reliable and practical way to gain the upper hand

Yes @Devansh_Shah is right. But I also suggest that after watching the course then try to work on Carlsbad pawn formation. White gets better Carlsbad in this Caro Kann Exchange Variation.  So I strongly suggest to learn Carlsbad ideas if you wanna master caro exchange ideas in depth!!!

If you are a pro member tou can access the course or if not I suggest you to buy it with moodcoins. I have completed the course and now I am playing 2 result games against the Carro Kan.

I definitely recommend the Advance Variation with Shirov’s g4! I believe it is perfect for dynamic and modern chess player.If you wanted to learn this variation, I will give you some tips and typical ideas, but it is a bit long to write everything here.You can email me at banhgiahuy2009@gmail.com or message me in chess.com(my account is banhgiahuy2606.Skype is possible with that email, too

Tactics from day 2 of FIDE olympiad 2020

Yesterday I have posted tactics from day 1 olympiad.

Here you will get tactics from day 2 of fide olympiad - https://bit.ly/32fX3Bt

if you haven't checked day 1 yet - https://bit.ly/3aRDrHR

Replies

Thanks!

Today 11/8/2020 Puzzle

after 1.Bf5 h1Q 2.c8R+ Bc8 3.Be4+ Qe4 Stalemate or after Bb7 Bh8 and then wrong side rook passed pawn so it should be a draw but after 2.c8R the position shows wrong to me but in the 2nd time after 2.c8Q it shows me correct,but both are drawing.

Replies

I totally agree!!!

https://imgur.com/a/7roDnGq

Where are my Moodcoins!!!

Haha :))) 
Are you serious guys? :) 
You want us to spend time on development, so you don't trick the system, or we concentrate on producing more courses. 
We created this puzzles to help you to keep your head fresh, and not try to find bugs in the system. 
I hope this was just a joke))) 

Idea: Events on Weekends

Hey there :) 

Was wondering if events on weekends is something that could happen in the future?

The reason behind it: I have a full time job and can't join the events live on weekdays because I am usually at home around 6-7pm (events start at 5pm my time). Maybe other chessmood pro members have the same problem.

All the best!

Replies

Hi, welcome to Chessmood, you can still watch the recordings of all the pro members events. If you have any questions about any position which you cant understand during you see recordings then let us know. Thanks

Hi Jonas! 
For sure. 
As much our ChessMood Family grows, we'll be able to reinvest in ChessMood more, hiring more GMs and to add more events. 

Starter course: Winning with white - pgn file?

Would it be possible to add a supporting pgn file to the this course?

Replies

Hey Petter. 
We'll add after we finish the start course, which is still under construction. 

What Benko Gambit can do for you

Hi family! I just wanted to share my experience:

Last night, in a online 15+10 game, I voluntarily accepted isolated double pawns on b column with white after a Queen's Gambit. It was not as in some London lines with black when you let him exchange Queens on b6, because you can advance your b pawn and it is not a weakness. I accepted the weaknesses of the b2 and b3 pawns and b4 square, because I was confident I would make proper use of a and c colums (he had played b6, so a7 and c7 were backward paws.

The point is that a few months ago I would not have allowed isolated doubled pawns under any circumstance, but Benko Gambit has made me feel more comfortable using open lines.

Go Chesmood Openings!

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Ole, ole, ole.... !!! 

The Golden Question

Another wisdom gem , reinforced by Avetik....Thank you!

Replies

Thank you, Ovi! 

Only BLIND CHESS to improve Chess Calculation?

Only BLIND CHESS to improve Chess Calculation?

Any other good technic method to improve our calculation skill significantly?

Thank you for solution. 

Replies

Heri, of course not. 
Blind chess is just for improving visualisation. 
There are many different calculation techniques. 
In the future, we're going to add a course, but it's gonna be only after the course "Tactical Mastery"

Middle Game and End Game Course Order

ChessMood is offering middle game and end game courses. Is there a best order for studying these? Thanks.

Replies

I think first of all if u are below 2000 then work on middlegame courses first. 

1. Watch daily 1 classical commented game.

2. Watch 2-3 videos on happy pieces or rest is up to you.

Once you will finish middlegames then work on endgames because right now chessmood is making contents for beginners so it will take some time for the intermediate endgame courses so in this mean time better work on middlegames and chessmood openings and streams.

Hey Tom! Not really. 
You're new in ChessMood right? If you haven't a 1-1 call with a GM yet, feel free to reserve a call and get a personalized study plan. 

New faeture idea

So I was reading through a few of my favourite blog posts, I have them all bookmarked on my web broswer currently.

Howeever, I think it would be great to be able to add blog posts to favourites. That way everything you need can be stored in favourites list and easily access from one page.

Replies

Hey Jamie! 
Thank you very much for the idea. We liked it too :) 
We'll put in the to-do list of our developers. 
By the way, which ones are your favorites? 

A silly question about PRO membership

On the website it says: 

29$ is only for our first 100 PRO members.

But seeing the number of views on the PRO Member posts the numbers vastly exceed 100, the price still seems $29, and it seems like a contradiction. 

Am I missing something?

By the way, I am not complaining in any way. Chessmood has been tremendously useful to me.

Replies

Regarding the view counts: every time you refresh a post you'll see it get +3 views. For example, look at the screenshots I've attached for this post: I refreshed the page once in between those.

Regarding the discount, it's not impossible that there are more than 100 pro members at this point and that the promotion still holds; it says the First 100 get a discount, it doesn't say the rest do not :p Joking, mostly.

I also hit the renew button :P

There is a +6views only from me (I did that twice)! And yeah obviously everybody else did the same thing as well :)

I honestly don't care if it is just marketing or not. I can afford it, I like it, so I am staying! And yeah I have seen results in tournament play (+200 elo rating performance in just a few months). If it was 99$ I wouldn't be here...

Inguh, you are right. 
We had the intention to raise the price after we got 100 PROs, but then we realized that the company will not survive... 
Soon the price anyway are going to be raised (not to 99$ maybe), but for all the past PRO members the old price will be keeped. 

Hunan, you're right. We have many bugs on the website, and now I'm hiring developers. 
Hopefully, soon we'll be able to execute a new designed and fresh fast working website. 
Sorry for the inconvenience. 

opponent played 5..e6 in Caro-Kann

https://lichess.org/rDS30QGhFlWF

I think I hadn't seen the e6 videos during preparation for my game, but I did afterwards.  Is the idea
the same and I should have played f4?  I didn't know about that so I played Nf3, figuring that his lsb was now blocked.

Replies

Here we have a bishop on c1 so direct f4 is better option. If black wanna play e6 then better was to first of all let white to play Bf4 then e6. But now due to direct e6 and bishop is on c1 then white has additional f4 option and it's best.

I found this game exciting!

https://www.facebook.com/374333479894337/posts/637597313567951/?vh=e&extid=LeGgkdNcyxkDZAWG&d=n

Replies

Is it still possible to buy PRO with MoodCoins?

Is it still possible to buy PRO with MoodCoins?

Replies

Slobo, it's possible to become an affilate partner and make $. Which you can withdraw or pay for Membership. 
You can message to our support team and we'll be happy to have a partnership with you.

P.S We remember you very well :) Thanks for everything! 

bad response to Sicilian Accelerated Dragon

I have a game in a few days against someone whose history shows that he plays 3.Nc3 and 3.Bb5.  I haven't seen these in the videos (yet?) so I'm thinking they're bad moves.  How should I prepare to respond if they happen in our game?

Replies

For reference, we're both rated u1600 Lichess classical.

I didn't see that there were any videos for these moves.  They're not in the PGN that comes with the course, either.

Hi JC,

For 3.Nc3 I would just continue with g6, Bg7, Nf6. Normally it transposes to the normal dragon, otherwise there is no worries in the center.

For 3.Bb5 this is the Rossolimo Variation, covered in a really good but a bit advanced course by GMs Avetik Grigoryan and Hrant Melkumyan.

https://chessmood.com/course/nightmare-of-rossolimo

Take a look at the basic ideas, it is really complex this variation and enjoy the learning!!

Hello,

I am brand new, in fact this is my first post on chess mood! Does the Nightmare of rossolimo cover 3 Bb5?

https://lichess.org/V0YcO9Xn

The game followed the Accelerated Dragon plan for six moves, but my opponent played 7.Nxc6.  I was happy with the evaluation for most of the game, but blew my advantage toward the end.  Thankfully my opponent returned the favor.