Chess forum by Grandmasters

Course reviews disappearing/not appearing

Hi there This is an update to a previous question found here https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/course-review-rating-not-appearing I don't know if anyone else is having this problem, but currently none of my new review scores/comments are appearing and one review that had not appeared and was kindly fixed by ChessmoodOdysseus to appear has now disappeared again. This is all happening (or should I say not happening?!) in the Endgame Mastery courses. My review scores appear for the first two courses, but after that there is nada. What is going on and can it be fixed? Cheers in advance.

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Don't worry, I informed the technical team and it should be fixed very soon. Thanks 🙏❤️!

New course:Fearless Warrior - Attack smartly and fearlessly

Our brother GM Gabuzyan is about to make the most important move in his life. 

And a day before GM Gabuzyan’s life changes forever, we’re launching the course, Fearless Warrior. 

In this course, GM Gabuzyan will help you understand the fundamentals of attacking in chess, all of which are packed into 10 simple concepts. You’ll learn: 
 

✅When to start an attack?

✅The different strategies to get your pieces into an attack.

✅How do you attack when the Kings are castled on the same side?

✅How to punish reckless attacks from your opponent?

…and much more.
 

Start watching from here 👇🏻

https://chessmood.com/course/chess-attack
 

As for GM Gabuzyan’s most important move, he’s getting married tomorrow 😊 Send him your wishes.

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Congratulations to GM Gabuzyan!

Looking for the section in grand prix where black plays e6 after we play bishop c4.

Hello all. I am unable to find the section in the grand prix where black plays e6 after we play bishop c4. I don't think there was anything about this variation in the whitemood course. I only remember e6 before we played bishop c4. Maybe this section is in the main course. If anyone could point me to this section it would be greatly appreciated. I am facing a lot of e6 after bishop c4 on a lower level people realize how strong that bishop is. Thanks for your time.

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I found it in the main course I think we play d4 is that correct? Do we only play d4 if black fianchetto's there king or do we always play d4 after bishop c4 e6?

If it was in the simplified Whitemood courses you might want to check the Anti Sicilian courses to figure that out. They go in far greater detail.

Daily puzzle /underpromotion 12.10.2022

Hello, In this position, promotion in rook is also mating. But it said "wrong". That s sad.

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Exactly, I did it right then I tried both underpromotion to rook and it says wrong while it's not cause anyway black must take with Bishop after g8=R+ and its # even with a8=R#

I've gotten the last couple of daily puzzles correct but wasn't given the moodcoins. Today's one has a nice Novotny theme.

Lost control of the centre

In the attached position, I'd followed the ideas in the hybrid e6 a6 advanced section, but since Black played d6 delaying the advance d5 until after o-o-o (which seems a lot more sensible). Unfortunately I go wrong here and try to get some space on the qside with b3, with the idea of getting in c3, and get busted with a great attack from my opponent. Obviously right now the Bg2 is bad, but it's acting as a king shield from the g-file and long diagonal if Black can open it, and maybe later could be used in the game. Any suggestions for learning to handle such sort of positions. I know post-game it's easy to know that the centre needs to be controlled to stop Black's plan of b4 o-o-o Rg8 d5 Rxg2 Nxe4 etc. White can keep the advantage with Nd5 which at first glance messes up the pawns, but then c4 is coming after.

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The full game: https://lichess.org/641iKS2TKBtP

Perhaps a useful way to think about this position is statics vs dynamics. Statically, white is worse because there is an open file onto their king. So if black can complete development and castle long the position will likely favour them. But dynamically, white is better because 3 vs 2 minor pieces developed, they are already castled, and black has a loose piece on f6. All that points to white needing to play with some urgency to disrupt black. Therefore forcing moves like Nd5 and Bg5 (also a decent move) should be high on the list of candidates. I agree the pawn structure after exd5 looks a bit ugly at first sight. The cramping effect of the d5 pawn is nice though. It might just be one of those patterns that we learn from experience.

CM Grand Prix line with 6.. e6 - knockout win

CM came through for me in an OTB game yesterday.

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French Attack

Dear Avetik, you sometimes refer to the 'main course'. Where is this, or what is meant by that. Love your site's content. Best wishes Thomas

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Dear Thomas, 
After finishing the courses that we are doing now, we will publish the Main course of the French attack which will be a complete repertoire targetted for advanced players. At the moment, there is only the French Attack course, which is enough to start playing it and get a good feel for it until 2000 rating. 

Where is the main section for French playing as black?

In the Simplified Black Opening courses, references are made to more advance options in the "main section". May I know where can I find the main section to learn more about French when playing as black? In particular looking for the exchange variation with 4.c4, where Avetik recommend bishop develop to d4 instead of e7... Many Thanks in advance.

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I think that's planned for later. Right now they're working on a number of middle and endgame courses as a priority. Unfortunately unless someone has a cloning machine there 2 GMs and not enough time right now. I would expect some time early next year as the earliest opportunity for more opening updates.

After finishing the courses that we are doing now on middlegame and endgame, we will go back to openings, publishing the Main course of the French attack which will be a complete repertoire targeted for advanced players. At the moment, there is only the French Attack course, which is enough to start playing it and get a good feel for it until 2000 rating. 
Of course since it is a practical repertoire the lines are not analyzed deeply in purpose.

3 weeks to go training programme

I have 3 weeks (actually 4 but I'm on holiday for a week) left before a long play tournament, most of the competition is around the 1900-2100 FIDE level. Interesting in suggestions for a warm-up training plan to get ready for it spending 2 hours a day.

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General thoughts & ideas: - Regular solving of moderately challenging positions over the next 1-2 weeks, focusing on quality over quantity. Setup the positions on a physical board. - Switch solving to easier tactics in the final week. - Play some rapid games online, 15+10 or slower. 100% focus. Emphasis on disciplined thinking. - One or two OTB training games using the same time control as the tournament if you can manage it - Review a few favourite classical games for inspiration. If they are from a ChessMood course, use physical board as well as the video. - Take some days off so you turn up fresh and ready for battle. For openings, some light review. If you haven't already, check your online stats and perhaps put a little extra work into the weak spots. Think about who else is in the tournament and whether it's possible to predict some likely opponents. If so, it might be worth preparing some specific lines for a few people. Good luck!

I've got two drills worked out so far. The first is solving mate in 4 as was suggested by Coach Andras on YouTube. While the lichess mates aren't too difficult (if they were the study type it would be very difficult!) it helps get into the process of looking roughly in order of checks, captures threats. It also helps visualising a 4 move sequence. It doesn't train is looking for (or making) other targets than the king (and you know there is something there in 4) and the degree of visualisation is limited often to one or two pieces around the king's area. However it's a useful thing to do in isolation. The second I'm planning to do is to go through a number of games, but the purpose here is to take a side and visualise the next move and blunder check it. Again working on a small unit of the whole: visualising the next move, asking can it be taken, did it address the threats on the board, what threats the opponent now has, what does that move unprotect, etc. Perhaps looking through the games of sub 1700 players might be a good here since if it were a master game you'd expect to get lazy in that almost all moves (and more still in a published game) won't be blunders. Sub1700 though, some of those moves will be dreadful, particularly in faster games.

I was pondering this question again recently. I'm not sure what the stats are, but it seems there is a good chance of having at least one game that reaches an endgame and is played out in the increment, i.e. with just 30sec/move thinking time. So perhaps sparring some endgame positions, using a time control of something like 5min+30sec, would simulate such conditions and thus be a good warmup. And yes, I stole this idea from Chess Dojo, but if it works use it!

Stream missed opportunity

Was looking at the old stream how to crush 2000 ELO field. This game takes place about 50 minutes in. White (GM Avetik) plays the good h3 here, but the opponent manages the eventually draw. However there is a brilliant move here which destroys Black's position and leads to a win of material in many lines. I'll not spoil it right now. From Avetik_ChessMood vs ddd123ddd123 2019.02.21 (first match)

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Nice shot!

Nice one David, nicely spotted!!?

The orange glasses

What were the orange glasses the GMs were using (I know the brand got mentioned once but I forgot it). I'm finding that after a week using orange filters a couple of hours before bed is helping my quality of sleep, more than just setting a nighttime filter on the laptop. Problem is LEDs are in the lights, TV, etc. It also means I can use that as study time rather than have to come away from the laptop much earlier. Unfortunately I'm experimenting using my ski-googles which makes me look a bit of a .... Anything I use would need to fit over glasses, and preferably not make my wife want to call the funny farm.

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I would also be interested in learning more about these glasses! Alas, I think it is too late to stop my wife from calling the funny farm though...

There are different variants. 
I always bought Gunnar. 
https://gunnar.com/

 Or you can find them on Amazon too. The first days feels strange. But then you can't sit in front of the computer without them :) 
Enjoy. 

Course Review Rating Not Appearing

Hi There I rated the latest course I did a couple of days ago, but the rating is not showing up. Normally when I rate a course it appears the same day, but not this time. Is there a glitch; the mods are a bit behind and I should wait or should I just give another rating in case it was something I did wrong? Course in question is https://chessmood.com/course/endgame-rook-vs-pawn Thanks in advance.

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Thanks for letting us know Casey! No need to rate the course again, it is already reflected. By the way, if you could add some comment this will give us some feedback and it would be greatly appreciated. 
???

ChessMood club on Chess.com

This club seems rather inactive for the last year or so. Is not any admin interested in arranging Vote chess with our ChessMood openings? According to my experience a lot of interesting discussions and study opportunities will atise in this form of chess.

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I think it is a lost opportunity to really create a community study group. I think chessmood is awesome but would be even better if we were encouraged to work with each other to help our development. I think active learning in a group (for example look at Chess Dojo), if done well would turbo charge the chessmood effectiveness.

Official discord channel?

It would be useful to have an official discord channel (there are a few unofficial ones, and not all associated with chessmood only). This could also be an extra benefit of being a pro member.

Uses:
 . To find adhoc partners to practise with or prepare for matches or adhoc games / tournament organising, particularly where more permanent arrangements don't work for busy schedules
 . Study and other analysis
 . Discussions (chess or Chessmood) that are more fluent that posting on the forum, including from Chessmood to its members to get opinions or to maintain a sense of family
 . Announcements from Chessmood (such as when a stream is about to begin)
 . General social (not chess) chit-chat that isn't possible otherwise (would need some house rules to request it not become offensive [either to groups or individuals], facilitate distribution of copyright materials or be of a nature unsuitable for children)

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I agree with you. i do need more training partners for openings study and mdidelgame work

Hi David,

Great idea, especially for finding training partners

+1

We will have to think about this because one of the things of Discord is that everyone's data is visible I believe. It is not a bad idea at all, the more the merrier and it may be interesting and maybe useful to some members. In the meanwhile I seem to remember that Kevin, Jay, Abhi and some others already were using a a channel for the same purpose? Can you tell us how is the experience?

Still some interest around this? Found some discord server that seems quite dormant. I feel a platform that's more direct than this forum and more free-style than the FB group could be beneficial. Are there any unofficial ones that are good?

Jobava line with f3

What about the following: 1.d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. f3!? ? I didn't find this covered, but I feel 4.. c5 should be the right move, but then white plays 5. e3 proceeds to play Qd2 and castle long, and black needs to either allow white to capture on c5 with pressure on the d5 pawn, or themselves capture on d4, after which the white queen-bishop battery is opened.

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I checked this move on several books and courses like for exemple the Grunfeld repertoire by Svidler and it does not appear anywhere. Let's see if we can find some idea in the forum?.

4...c5 looks fine to me. If White has nothing better than 5.e3, it's not clear to me what they accomplished with an early 4.f3. dxc5 is usually well met by ..Nbd7 or ..Qa5. Sometimes we sacrifice d5 in exchange for counterplay. For example, because Nc3xd5 Nf6xd5 opens our Bg7, we might have ..Bxb2 followed by ..Bc3+. If White castles long without first playing dxc5, a pawn storm with ..c4 followed by ..b5 (with or without preparation) and ..b4 becomes a serious option.

Hello,

Yes, black is playing c5-Nc6 building a good center with pawns and the pieces. Later on if white castles long there could be attacking chances on the queenside.

BlackMood Advance Repertoires

Is there going to be a Blackmood "Advanced" repertoire eventually? I think I read that somewhere or am I mistaken? Looking for some Classical Dutch with the 1...e6 move order for the future :)

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Yes, this is the plan as Avetik said in some webinars. 
Still, with the Dutch Attack, even if it is not very deep, you can start to win anyways, no need to wait… ?

Maroczy with g3 and Qa5

Hotel to continue after 1.c4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 cd4: 4.Nd4: Nur 5.Nc3 g6 6.g3 Bg7 7.Bg2 0-0 8.0-0 Qa5 9.e3 Ne5 10.Qe2 d6 11.h3 Qb4 12.f4 Nc6 and now not the analyzed 13.Nc6: but 13. Nc2 More pieces onboard. Engineering Es like White. P,esse give a direction. Thanks Christoph

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Dear Christoph,

The position which you are asking for is very deep and concrete. It is very practical and after Qc5 there is a lot of game ahead.

The reason I mentioned position is the majority of the opponent's U2300 levels will not get so far. What is your rating?
Mistakenly players try to drill very long deep lines, instead of learning healthy chess concepts. If you are 2200+ still this position is very practical, but otherwise, no need to focus on this, would be much better for your chess growth to improve through other aspects in chess.


Good luck!

Chessmood open round 2 - almost lost against kid from India

Hey chessmoodians, Here's my 2nd round of chessmood open, I played badly this game, was lost at couple of points but kept the mood and in the end won! Comments welcome ? https://lichess.org/study/CBKkKJfx/hhk61tgA

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Good stuff Paulius - very interesting report as usual. A few random thoughts: - It's always a challenge playing kids! - It's understandable that you wanted to play a surprise line after getting out prepared the previous round. - The line you played looks quite interesting! - I thought Bxe4 was a natural looking move, but as you say could have been costly. Best not to dwell on it until after the tournament. - I was impressed by how you kept a level head and outplayed your opponent in the end.

Good game Paulius, thanks for sharing!

The 'Caro-Schlecter'

An interesting mash up, which might be a good blitz surprise weapon or for weaker players to avoid theory and play from similar ideas to the French line. d5 was wrong though as Ne5.

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Sicilian: 2.. Nc6 with a6, b5 and after 9. Bg5 black goes f6 and e5

Yesterday I was confronted with the following: 1. e5 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nf3 Nxb5 5. Nxb5 a6 6. Nc3 b5 7. d4 cxd4 8. Qxd4 Bb7 9. Bg5 f6!? 10 Be3 e5!? 10. Qd3 Bb4. Eventually I won, but I didn't find the position out of the opening comfortable, as it looks inevitable that black will get to play the freeing d7-d5. Turns out the engine also thinks black has equalized. In the course two possibilities are given for white on move 9, Bg5 and a2-a4. Shall we conclude that 9. a2-a4 is the way to go?

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Hi, yes exactly 9..f6 was top egine line and also played as novelty by GM Bacrot as black but ok he played 10.. e6 and true 10..e5 with Bg4 is much better becasue after 11. 0-0-0 Bc3! is unplesent becasue our pawn e4 is hanging and no full compensation after 12. Qc3 Be4. Maybe better 9. Bd2 with idea 0-0-0 or 9. Bh4!? with interesting sacriface e5 10. Ne5 f:e 11.Qe5 Ne7 12. Rd1/0-0-0

Hello! 

In the position you mentioned white can play with a4 or castle, also as an alternative instead of Bg5 it's possible to go a4 or Bf4.
That position isn't very concrete and several moves are good for white.

Good luck!