Chess forum by Grandmasters

Balogh Defence

Hi coach - was playing an OTB tourney over the weekend, and my opponent really surprised me with 1.e4 d6 2.d4 f5. I played carefully for a few moves - Nc3, Bd3 aiming at the weakened light squares, and when I had the chance to play Qh5+, Bxg6+ and Qxh8 I thought he was just busted, but quickly realised that I was in trouble. Looked at it today, and I fell for the main idea of the opening ? I gave back the exchange and the extra pawn to get a playable ending, which I did manage to win, but it was not nice being surprised like this! Any plans to do a course covering it? I recently had an OTB game where a strong opponent played the Latvian Gambit, and because of the great course on that, I blew him away ???

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Hi Nigel,

The variation you are asking about is extremely rare and at the same time very easy to play as white. I believe the line which you went for Is the only hope for the opponent. There can be many moves like e5 b5 or something like this and we will not be able to record it all. Seeing variation like this, which doesn't have a big logic we need to develop the pieces well and fight for the center. Instead of Qh5+ I just recommend developing, castling and using central files for the rooks.

Good luck :-)

Crushing All Sicilian Sidelines. 2. a3!?

Hi, Looking at the great course and material I wondered if you could give any advice on the best way to handle this rare sideline?

It is quite rare but there are a few players in my local area who play this as a surprise weapon thanks to the book published by Bezgodov from Chess-Stars publishing.  I'm sure others may come across it from time to time.
It can be very dangerous if not handled with care and I have even played it myself a few times.

For example, 1.e4 c5 2. a3 g6 3. b4 Bg7 4. Nc3 cxb4 5. axb4 Nc6 6. b5 Nd4 7 Ra4 and black can't develop his Knight to f6.  So if 7...e6 8. Bb2 Ne7 9. Nce2 and white wins a pawn.   

So it is tricky and knowing a good way to handle this variation would be useful.

A link to some variations can be found from the contents of the book at 

2a3_contents.pdf (chess-stars.com)
Hope that helps in coming up with a recommendation.
Thanks a lot.

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I've asked for it. The passive 2. Be2 probably should have a note attached to it as well, though probably doesn't need more than a suggested line. GM Jones even gives it a quick mention that some GMs were experimenting with it as well as a line given in GM Pert's DVD. I think d3 and Nge2 are probably covered enough by other lines and will transpose. f4 probably needs a few more lines in missing variations (I posted about this before) as it's very common at club level.

Why take 4.. cxb4? Instead, let's go for the main move 4.. d6 and then if white pushes b4-b5 the knight will be protected on d4 and no problem in developing g8 knight to f6. Also, it would seem non-principled to exchange the c pawn for the b pawn.

Hi Adam,

On the sidelines, we have 1.e4 c5 2.b4 which is sometimes similar to 2.a3 but we are going to make updates in the very near future and 2.a3 will be included!

Improvement after 1 Year on ChessMood

Hi Guys, I'd just like to share my happy news that I have found working on the ChessMood courses very effective at improving my rating. Filled in lots of holes in my understanding through the classical games and my openings are now better than they have ever been. This has led to an increase in 200-400 points in every rating I have only the OTB is left now as that has been delayed a lot through Covid and lack of games. I hope everyone else has as much success and fun as me at studying here. I've attached the progress graph from Lichess. Good luck everyone!

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This is fantastic, it proves again that the system works and it makes us all very proud. We (the chessmood team) are always very, very happy when we hear such news! Good work and constancy with the right guidance is paramount when learning… 

Let's see how it goes after your second year, you will have understood better the ideas and will have more experience… 

Looking forward to it!!! Ah! And CONGRATULATIONS!!!!! ?????? 

Congrats Adam! I have more questions :-). Approximately how much time per day have you been spending on chess over this period? What other ChessMood courses did you study apart form Classic Games and openings? Did you read any chess books during that period? BTW, I wish there was a thumbs up button for posts.

Congratulations! ?

Well done Adam!

Thanks for sharing with us your success story. This is the best compliment we can get - the growth of our students!
 

Wish you good luck and keep increasing your elo!

That's great news man! ? Wish I could make such a rapid progression (I think we're similar playing level?), curently stuck at 2200-2300 on chess_com for over a year. You must be studying very effectively? Which things do you feel helped you most and what have you improved most significantly, is it calculation? I mean what do you feel changed most dramatically that is reflected in your games?

This is fantastic!!! 

Congratulations Adam. That is truly inspiring. I'm quite new to the process so it's good to see success stories. I see from your graph that you had a big step up soon after joining , then a period of stagnation before sustained growth after mid '21. Can you explain what the growth / stagnation / growth was due to? Just out of interest how much did you play as opposed to study?

Amazing!! Thanks for sharing; that is really inspiring and motivating! Congrats!

Tactics Ninja Course / Quiz

The tactics ninja course is great, my favorite course so far!! ?? I am just in the middle of doing the quiz, which is also great, even though I find it of course much harder on my FIDE 1650 level with the random sort order, not knowing the topic - but that is the point and I will just have to repeat the quiz until I know most (all?) patterns! Just one little observation for number 189, which probably needs a slight correction: the accepted solution is Ne4, dxe4, Qg3+, Ka8, Qxe1. Instead of Qxe1 I entered Ra4# (mate), which was not accepted as the solution. Probably the change should either be Kc8, Qxe1 or Ka8, Ra4#

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The quiz is great, and I'm sure the examples come from the courses having seen a couple I recognise already. Also while I found the course easy, the quiz is certainly good for up to 2000 and beyond and doesn't suffer so far from the overly easy or unrealistically difficult problems many compilations suffer from.

OTB games vs ~1900 using CM repertoire

Hi guys! I'm participating in Lithuanian chess semifinal and have played couple of games using chessmood openings https://www.chess.com/a/cYhWg2XYZT2S this was a great caro variation with Qc7, I tried playing like in the model game Petrosyan - Safarli, would like GM opinion what I did wrong and how I should have converted that ending, thanks https://www.chess.com/a/2iTq4JY9tZT2S Got GP played against me, but not CM variation with 4.Nf3, so I knew what I was doing, proud of d4 move, please suggest improvements Will post more games, if they're relevant to chessmood repertoire. Thanks guys and back to the fight!

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I'm not a GM, but in my opinion, you should have kept the bishop pair and avoid Bg5/Bxf6. If I'm not mistaken, you already did something similar in a previous game (where you took on f3). Thank you for sharing your games :)

Hello Paulius, Thanks for posting this. I think your posts are some of the most interesting in the forum. Please keep them coming! I too am not a GM. I guess I am at a similar level to you. I only looked at the first game, and will share my thoughts about that one. OK, the game: 18.Rxh8!? I understand that it's nice to swap rooks to increase the advantage of the bishop pair. But I think there is no hurry to do this because black is not going to move away from the h-file. In your notes you mention Bd2 which I think is a good alternative. Overall in this position I found myself somehow wanting to organise a q-side expansion. Regarding the decision for Rxh8 vs Bd2 (or some other building move). I think that when playing a weaker player, it's often good to "give them enough rope". In other words, sometimes it's best not to force the pace and ensure there is sufficient opportunity for your opponent to make mistakes and weaken their position. 28.Bg5. Here it seems you have successfully organised a queenside expansion and should strongly consider 28.c5. Grab that space, limiting the scope of the knights and looking to make the black king uncomfortable. Also, c5 at this point cuts off the black queen from the queenside giving you a free hand there. Black will have e5 at some point but has to be worried about ending up with a weak d-pawn, and opening the centre for your bishops. An immediate e5 seems risky, for example 28.c5 e5 29.dxe5 Nxe5 30.Nxe5 Bxe5 31.Bf4 Nd7 32.Bf5 winning material. Perhaps 28.c5 e5 29.dxe5 Nd7 (or Ng4) but then 30.b4 and your pawn structure is better plus you still have the bishop pair advantage. Note: all the above was written with the engine turned off. Now I just turned on the engine to check, and can see it also likes c5. The Q+B vs Q+B ending looked tricky. Nothing obvious springs to mind there. Overall aspects of this game reminded me of game 11 (Tartakower vs Pirc) from 100 Classical Masterpieces. Btw, in that game I liked g4 more than b4 (at around move 16). I remember that I verified with the engine that it's also a good move.

In the first game, you went for 9.g3, in the course Avetik suggests Qg4.

https://chessmood.com/course/caro-kann-defence/episode/162

Min. 9:01

I would go for Qg4 instead of 9.g3. But what is important is that after 9…h5, 10.Bg5 allows you to have a good position and neutralizes the opponent attack. Instead by playing Nbd2 you allowed h4. After Bg5, you can play later h3 and g4 against an eventual h4 after exchanging Bishops. This is where I would start next time, but I will ask Hovhannes to see what he has to say…

Another game with Qc7, this time opponent prepared this rare e5 move, please suggest how to play against it, imo instead of Bb5+, 0-0 was a better move https://www.chess.com/a/2mzKBn48EZT2S

This time I faced Trompovski attack and knew chessmood repertoire quite good I think, but didnt get sufficient imbalance to play for a win. Please suggest improvements. https://www.chess.com/a/2fJomqnoxZT2S

Got a benko game, but still didnt manage to win, almost all draws in this tournament against 1900-2000 opposition. Still having huge trouble winning against this rating range Played Qc8 chessmood variation, but missed typical f5 move at critical moment. Ready for critique :) https://www.chess.com/a/38WPVqJvJZT2S

Finally won a game (after all the draws) with french Bd3, but opponent was well prepared, crazy game with 2 knights vs 2 bishops ? https://www.chess.com/a/2d9brh5TtZT2S

Won the last game and took 7th place :) Normal tournament, managed not to drop the rating as well. Here's final standing http://chess-results.com/tnr620141.aspx?lan=1&art=4&turdet=YES You can also see there all the games which were live as well

Pgn files for Rock n roll streams

I love the best of streams (rock n roll white and black). Is there a way to obtain the pgn files of the selected games. Is there a software that converts videos to pgn files? Thank you in advance

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If you want to achieve this you can use "openingtree"(free on website). You selected a username and you can download the game (all the game). It's very useful if you need to understand a position and what idea to follow!

Sicilian 2.Nc3

In the line with 1.e4, c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bb5 what if Black plays Nf6 instead of Nd4 or g6? Should we take Bxc6 immediately and then play d3-f4?

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Yes, this is exactly the approach, cripple the Black pawn structure and play as you said. Check the games on the streams courses in this variation.?

Need your help

When I lose a game I lose interest in playing chess. This thing affects my mind for the next rounds and I play worse even against very lower-rated players. In short, when I lose a game (even against titled players) I lose my mood, energy, momentum, and interest. Please help me to remedy this.

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Defence mechanism maybe? You don't want to feel bad or feel you aren't as good as you should be? Wondering what others might think?

That's an interesting question! Personally I decided to take a break from chess, I'm done right now :D

Every person feel different emotions when he/she lost a game. The emotional pain and frustration is lived in many ways. Losing is a part of life, and chess teach how to lose (in some case very badly). So..you need to understand if you need a break from chess, manage some break during the week and also (and very important) improve your training!!

Last month I was around 2400, now I'm under 2200 ? And the worst is that I'm studying every day for many hours since then ? I decided to quit for some months, until I'm motivated to play against because right now I can't play good moves because I don't have the right mood :) Have a good continuation everyone, thank you for the great content Chessmood team!

I've faced some challenges with tilting and of course frustrations with not playing as well as I'd like. I really like Avetik's emphasis on Right Mood. Right Mood = concentration + positivity + joy. I think most of us find the concentration part fairly easy, and the positivity not too difficult, but it's easy to overlook the joy part. We have to remember to enjoy actually playing chess, regardless of the final outcome. This is actually the most important part, because if we don't enjoy it then why do it? I can also highly recommend the section about maintaining a Growth Mindset (GM) in Aagaards Thinking Inside The Box. It's a similar message, although expressed slightly differently.

I totally understand you. I used to take my losses similarly so that I would study but not play. What helped me is Capablanca's quote " you may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win. You will have to lose hundreds of games before becoming a good player". So every time I play a game I try to remind myself "ok, either I win or I learn". I agree with Peter M and that reference to Aagaard's book, which also helped me immensely. On a similar vibe, I would suggest you listen to GM R.B. Ramesh in this interview with the Chess Dojo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIlXOqO5rqQ&t=1s

Blackmar-diemer to take or not to take?

On the subject of aggression and taking unsound gambits, we reach this after d4 Nf6 Nc3 d5 e4 dxe4 f3 I'm assuming Chessmood will be for taking, although certain sources (IM Palliser I believe) advised not taking simply because there is chance of going wrong and the White player will be looking for an attack they are familiar with (it was put in more stronger terms). Having faced it I often win, but I once did fall into a nasty trap and a fair bit of care has to be taken. I also think it sits somewhere between the Stafford and the Smith-Morra for soundness. Also will this appear as an abracadabra gambit at some point as it's both slightly unsound, but reasonably common and dangerous?

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With the chessmood move order (1..Nf6) 3..Nxe4 is more problematic for White as exchanging pieces will reduce white s attacking potential. Ps: Not sure if this is a bug but I cannot type 3 dots for black moves or write apostrophe s for possessive!

Against 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e4 we can take with the knight Nxe4. We're not obliged to take with the pawn. If 4.Nc3 Nxc3 and White's structure is all broken up and I think the pawn on f3 is badly placed, and White's king is weak too. If 4.Nxe4 dxe4 5.f3 e5 opens up the position and all our pieces come out quickly.

Hi David,

I do agree with Alex. The idea of capturing with a knight and playing e4 after f3 is strong.
Let me mention as well if instead of 5.f3 white goes 5.Nge2 still there is a strong move 5…e5! Opening up position and often leaving the white king in the center after exchanging queens on d1 leads to a great position for black.

I have always preferred 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e4 dxe4 4.f3 over 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.e4 Nxe4. Not because it is stronger but rather it is a more universal solution, since one day we may want to expand our repertoire to include1.d4 d5 then if White tries the Blackmar-Diemer then there is no choice but to go dxe4. That's just my 2 cents.

Exciting new feature on Chessable

There is a new feature that creates a tactics course from your games that you have played on Lichess or Chess.com, just for you. How does it works? You only need to give the the username (no password) and then you wait. After some time a new course is created called "Lichess tactics: See what you missed." I wonder If you could give any other user name. The tactics from the ChessMood GMs playing on chess.com would be particularly interesting. There is one correct move for each tactics. In the first run it creates tactics from mistakes from the last 100 games (not including bullet and superbullet), and it will continue to pull more games as you keep playing. It stops stop pulling games when you reach a limit of 1000 tactics (for Pro users) and 100 tactics (for Free users) The tactics are distributed with a maximum number of 100 tactics per chapter and there will be a maximum of 10 chapters. I checked and you can also export PGN of all tactics. As I used to be software developer I already had an idea to build something similar myself from the database of Lichess tactics (which is open sourced and can be downloaded) from all games not just mine, but for a specific openings (i.e. accelerated dragon) If somebody is willing to discuss with me about this idea, please contact me.

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That's interesting. I hadn't seen it mentioned anywhere. How do I access it? I wonder what the quality of their puzzles is like. A real challenge is to organise them by theme, and also to avoid having too many puzzles that are very similar to each other. I recently wrote my own puzzle generator, i.e. a program that you give a PGN file and it gives you suggested puzzles. Well I should say it's definitely a work in progress in that it works, but the quality of puzzles varies quite a bit!

Wow. Interesting feature. 
You can check out for username “ChessMood.” Also, 
GabuzyanChessMood is Gabuzyan's, and Avetik_ChessMood is mine. 

Benko with 7. Bg5

Hello! I got this Benko position in a rapid game just now and wasn't sure how to handle this. I was 50-50 between playing simply Nbd7 so they can't ruin my structure and g6 to bait my opponent into capturing on f6, giving me the bishop pair temporarily and making my strong g7 bishop unopposed I chose the g6 idea and they did end up capturing on f6, but I couldn't play f5 afterwards to reopen my bishop because of their e4 move How would you deal with this Bg5?

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Hi, I've checked and the most of games are Nbd7 and then the same pattern g6-Bg7 but for black one IM 2444 played interesting instead of g6 he choosed h6 and g5-Sh5 exchanging Bg3 1.d4Nf62.c4c53.d5b54.cxb5a65.bxa6Bxa66.Nc3d67.Bg5Nbd78.Qd2h69.Bf4g510.Bg3Nh511.Qe3Qb612.b3Bg713.Rc1f514.Qf3Nxg315.hxg3Qb416.Qe3 0-1

Hello Sandro,

I believe that Bg5 isn't dangerous as it leaves queenside without an important defender piece.
I believe that allowing Bxf6 after g6 is also fine, as the bishop's power will compensate for doubled pawn structure.

However, I think playing with Nbd7 is practically easier, later on making the regular ideas which we do in the Benko.

Good luck!

Interactive lesson: Weak squares

Hello champions and future champions! Hello ChessMood family?

Weak squares is one of the most fundamental concepts to learn that’ll greatly improve your understanding of chess strategy. 

So on 23 April, we’re conducting an interactive lesson to help you understand the basics of this concept. 

Here you’ll learn:

• What is a weak square?
• Why is it important?
• How do you identify it?
• How do you make the best use of weak squares to improve your position?

The interactive lesson will be hosted by GM Gabuzyan on YouTube. 

You can join it at the scheduled time from the events page (link given below). Alternatively, we’ll also share the joining link with you via email.

For more details, please click the link below ?

https://chessmood.com/event/weak-squares-interactive-lesson

If you have anything to ask regarding this lesson, please drop it here.

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?Hi Mister Gaby! Please help sir. Just been watching your Bishop v Pawn course where section1 comes after section 2 ? ! In section 1 chapter 9 Vancura study after 0:59 you give after 1 Bd7 Kf3 2 Kd4 Kf4 3 Be6?? I do not understand as surely black plays Kg5 and escapes ? Instead doesnt h4 just win or am I missing something? Sorry if I am wrong or sorry if you have to rerecord ! Mike

Game database for a Mac

What database program do you recommend for viewing PGNs, saving my OTB games, etc? I have a Mac.

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Free or not free?

I use, and am very happy with, Hiarcs Chess Explorer Pro (on my Mac): https://www.hiarcs.com/ The software is very solid and has good database features. It handles PGN files smoothly or you can use their database format which is said to be faster for really big databases. It can also import Chessbase files. It comes with the Hiarcs engine which is decent but you can also install any UCI compliant engine. I've installed Stockfish and mostly use that, plus I also have Leela installed.

?Sorry Dennis, none of us have a Mac… I guess chessplayers we all use Chessbase and windows (well, some linux too)/…?

I expect scid will work if you have the right things installed. Chessbase 11 might work under wine, but you need to know the workaround as you can't register (I don't want to disclose that publically), plus in the recent year they broke the kibitzer meaning the engine can eat all the CPU, so I use scid now for analysis.

I'm using https://mygames.chessbase.com/ cloud version for chessbase. You need user with csy I think 10 dolars per year. There is option to import from .pgn and save database

ChessMood Openings in Practice - Best of the Streams

Hello Champions! ?

Today we’ve something very exciting to share with you! 

We’ve added a new category “ChessMood Openings in Practice - Best of the Streams” under the course page.
 

We chose the most instructive games from the streams, edited and organized them into sections based on the openings. 
 

Now you don’t need to go through thousands of hours of previous streams to find the instructive games. All the hard work is done for you. 
So, after watching an opening course you can come here and watch games with live commentary based on the opening you’ve learned! 
 

You’ll not only remember your learned variations better, but also understand them much deeper, and in the process, improve your chess level significantly! 

https://chessmood.com/course/rock-n-rolling-with-white
https://chessmood.com/course/rock-n-rolling-with-black
 

Others will be out soon!

Have fun watching them! ❤️

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Been looking forward to this. Very nice!

Superb idea! Thank you :)

Thank you. This is great addition. Hopefully more gains will be added as we go along.

Thank you for this amazing collection! ? Will repeat one opening at a time and watch the right section.

Thank you so much, another excellent time saver for us!

Excellent stuff. Makes it easier to appreciate the flow of the game and also see tactical and positional ideas come to fruition. ??

(9.Bg5) in the Anti Sicilian Course pt 2

Towards the end of this video: https://chessmood.com/course/sicilian-defence-part-2/episode/783 9. Bg5 is presented as a means of putting pressure on blacks development. The computer seems to more prefer 9. a4 in this position, but Im trying to understand more the ideas behind the Bg5 move. Blacks best response here looks like: ... f6, Be3 e5, Qd3 Bb4, a4 bxc3+, bxc3 (Qxc3 loses the pawn on e4) and here black looks fine Other options for black seem to be: ... h6 (doesn't seem to do much) ... d6 (with ideas of eventually playing e5 at the expense of a weak d5 and d6 square, plus the dark square bishop is now bad) ... Nf6 , e5 (the knight is now awkward and should move back to g8) Is the idea here that Bg5 stifles most of blacks common development moves, thus its up to black to find ...f6?

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Yes and I can assure you even up to people as strong as norm hunters and new GMs will not find this move, unless they are diehard researchers of this exact line. Quoting the answer to a typical coach Avetik question: "play ridiculous looking move and get banned." xD

Hello Joseph,

Bg5 is a good provocation to try to weaken the opponent's position as well as white develops the piece. The line you are mentioning sounds like an engine line as black, and players below 2300 hardly will ever play it, though even after Bb4 which you mentioned white can create pressure on Queenside with a4 and those are very playable positions.
Let me mention that the 9.a4 instead of Bg5 is also a good decision trying to attack the black pawn immediately.

Good luck!

Dutch attack

I cannot find the Dutch attack course.

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Hi Dennis! ? You are right, you cannot find it, no one can yet… Avetik is still recording it. It will be uploaded when it is ready.

We will have to wait a bit more… ? But I am sure that it will be worth the waiting! Stay tuned!?

SUBSCRIPTION CHANGE

Hi Sir, I was a regular PRO member of chessmood family but I had to interrupt the subscription of chessmood because I had to use my friends bank account. I subscribed yesterday but this time I was charged with 49 dollars. As per our conversation earlier could u give me the earlier price 29 dollars.. and refund the remaining amount or else can I just pay the extra amount of just 9 dollars next month. Total 49$dollars I gave.. If u take 29 dollars this month and carry forward 20 dollars I just need to pay 9 dollars remaining

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Probably best to correspond via the contact us option rather than the forum.

Dear Sreenath,

?All the personal matters regarding to the accounts must be discussed with the support team, not in an open forum.?

Please write the support team using the following page:?

https://chessmood.com/contact

They will be very happy to help you.?

"100 Classical Masterpieces" like books for IM

I was wondering if you can recommend chess books that explains chess like your excellent, "100 Classical Masterpieces" course at IM/GM level. Thanks.

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Books aimed at IM/GM level would be different in style to the "100 Classical Masterpieces" course such as Kasparov's "my great predecessors". However similar in style I think would be the following suggestions aimed at players of club/strong level. Try "The Most Instructive Games of Chess Ever Played" by Irving Chernev (though this is aimed at club players/ early intermediates). Also there is a whole series of books by Everyman Chess : the move by move series. They have collections of games by great players (Rubinstein, Alekhine, Capablanca , Lasker and Nimzovic plus many more) with explanations and questions you on what you would play. In addition John Nunn "Understanding Chess move by move, Richard Reti "Masters of the chess board" So you can see there are so many good books to review classic games - and I'm sure I've failed to list many great books.

As Norbert says, there are simply loads of best games collections. You can't make a list without probably forgetting some great book so I'm not even going to try. My top 5 favourites that I can whole-heartedly recommend are: 1. Zurich International Chess Tournament, 1953 by David Bronstein - My Desert Island Book, if there was such a thing. 2. My 60 Memorable Games by Bobby Fischer 3. The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal by Mikhail Tal 4. My Best Games of Chess 1924-1937 by Alexander Alekhine 5. Secrets of Grandmaster Play - John Nunn and Peter Griffiths Hope that helps.

I'm assuming the OP is an FM (https://ratings.fide.com/profile/6000029). I wonder if this Gelfand book might be the sort of thing you are after to help take your positional play to the next level? I haven't read it, but I noticed a number of guests on the Perpetual Chess podcast were speaking highly of the Gelfand books. https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/products/2/247/positional_decision_making_in_chess_by_boris_gelfand

Coach vs ChessMood

I have just ended a year of working with a chess coach once a week online. I started from the very basics of chess and got up to a 1400 rating on Lichess. It was very helpful and I learned alot. I just found ChessMood and I am intrigued by the idea of using ChessMood. If you had to choose between a 1-1 coach or ChessMood which would you choose?

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I prefer a family of coaches instead of one coach only if this is what you ask ?

For starters, it doesn't have to be one or the other! Many people who are trying to maximise their improvement are spending multiple hours per day on chess, so there is plenty of space there for ChessMood plus a 1-1 coach. I imagine that most chess coaches will assume you are also studying from other sources, so in that sense ChessMood can be in a similar category as chess books or online services like Chessable. Also note that some coaches are comparatively expensive compared to ChessMood. If you want or need a GM coach, expect to pay 100 USD or more per hour. So rather than 4 coaching sessions with a GM coach each month, I would choose 3 coaching sessions plus keeping my ChessMood subscription and having some cash left over too!

You could always do both. Coaches are great as they can go over your games and help notice you patterns or blind spots in your current thinking. Pre-made courses are great for helping you work on specific things like tactics, endgame, openings, etc.

Question about Rossolimo

If i am not wrong in the Rossolimo course you d ont have the modern variation. 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3Bb5 g6 4 O-O Bg7 5 c3 Nf6 6 Re1 O-O 7 d4 d5 8 e5 Ne4 9 Be3 or Bxc6 bxc6 and then Be3

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I asked the same question in this thread as I remember https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/rossolimo-5c3-d4-line-question