Chess forum by Grandmasters

Greymood

Hello all! Ive been playing a bit (along with studying) for about two years and just found this great website. Im starting to work my way through the courses such as mating matador and tactics, etc, which is all topics Ive been exposed to but enjoy the presentation and review from chessmood. Alongside these courses I decided I would invest the time to follow and learn chessmood recommended openings and watched the blackmood course, as there were only two openings to learn from black and i dont want to focus too much on this aspect of the game at my modest level, per what seems to be the conventional wisdom.. At the end of the course description, they said there would be courses on using the black openings for white; however, these courses arent yet available. If i wanted to use this approach so I didnt have to devote any more time to opening study over other topics (there is considerably more work on the white side than the black side), would opening white with 1. e3 be valid, and then following with either 2.d4 or 2.f4 as appropriate to emulate a reversed Dutch/French? Again, I am interested in this so that I can minimize my study of openings and devote effort to the other aspects of the game, and so thought this is perhaps a reasonable streamlined approach to a workable repertoire for both colors for the price of 1, so to speak...especially since the course description alludes to the idea of using blackmood for the white side. Thanks so much for any feedback. Cheers!

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sparring partner

hello people I'm looking for a sparring partner to play chessmood openings with, I'm 1700 fide.

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Hi Lucio,

Please use the following thread to post your message. https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/studysparring-partner-1362

This is the official thread for looking for a sparring partner.

Please let me know when you did it in order to delete this thread.

Thanks in advance and good luck in finding a partner!?

4 things required to become an expert

https://youtu.be/5eW6Eagr9XA Chess related for those interested in watching. The TLDR summary is that to improve your chess you will have to do a lot of work. The good news is that with Chessmood the quality inputs are provided here for us. The rewatchability of the classic games and various courses is significant. There is too much to gleen from just one viewing. Happy studies everyone.

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I think one major quality that sets a good player apart is that he / she doesn't fall apart when he / she falls behind in material or when in a losing position. Hikaru calls it tilting, right? The psychological aspect cannot be ignored. Not easy to attain such a focused state in a real game regardless of the evaluation bar, but can be done.

When will the blackmood openings course will cover the dutch vs everything else?

Hello, in the week where you Opened all your courses I did watch almost all the Dutch course and I enjoyed it a lot. I am probably going to buy the discounted yearly plan as a result since I believe there are many courses here that can help me improve. My question is when will the Dutch course will cover all the other starter moves similar to the black main course (about the Sicilian and the symmetrical English)

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We will add it soon! also, till you become a decent player play this Dutch and keep improving once your are a decent player then start learning and playing the Benko Gambit given in our courses! and also we will surely do about dutch soon

French - Schlechter variation main line deviation with 6.. Be7

I very rarely get the main, main line with 3. Bd3. Instead, I get all kinds of deviations where I feel it's quite unclear if white has any advantage. For example, I just got this: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Bd3 dxe4 4. Bxe4 Nf6 5. Bf3 c5 6. Ne2 Be7, and black later took on d4 and pushed e6-e5. Any ideas against this?

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The french is rarely played and ChessMood's Variation even more rarely. After the sequence of moves you give you get as White a majority on the Qside against Black's on the Kside. (The engines assess the position as equal.) One way to play that position is possibly (?) to take account of theses strategical imbalances ?

I think it's covered maybe in advance section by GM Avetik. 7. Nbc3 0-0 8. d5! GM Onischuk idea d:e 9. Nd5 Nc6 10. Nec3 Nd4 11. Be3 Nf3+ 12.Qf3 Be6 13. 0-0-0 If not take 8..e5 9. 0-0 Ne8 10. g4! Nd6 11. Ng3 but very advance.

Twitch streamer from Malaysia

Hi there. My name is Frankie. 54 years old. Married, gamer dad, IT Manager from a country that has no GM. I stream chess at twitch.tv/durian_defense .... just wanted to ask if anyone else here streams on Twitch? If yes, great! If no, that's no problem. Just curious. I bit the bullet and signed up for the yearly Pro Plan during the 72 hour offer period. I am looking forward to being a productive and useful member of the Chessmood community. Just want to share an interesting t-shirt I saw a motorcyclist wearing the other day. His shirt read the words: "Good food is good mood". So a useful piece of the puzzle to playing chess in a good mood is ... good food! Eat well, eh? Regards Frankie "Durian Defense" Kam Malaysia Chess com Blitz rating 2050.

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Welcome Frankie! I'm not a streamer, but probably some other members are.

French Attack McCutcheon Gambit....

Please you opinion ChessMood coaches and players. I have faced this variati?on 2 or 3 times and the opponents don't accept the gambit !?. After 6...Bb4 they answer 7.Bb5+ (instead of 7.dxe6) and the position seems (at least to me) difficult to play for Black : which constructive plan to build to compensate the pawn minus ? After 7.Bb5 Stockfish 15 assess the position as equal.....but we are human and for the majority of us amateurs....

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Hi! Yeah that seems like an annoying move Bb5+, but usually in blitz people take dxe6 against me, then I think black has good play. After 7.Bb5+ I guess we need to go Bd7 8.Bxd7 Nxd7 9.dxe6 Bxc3 10.bxc3 Qxe6 11.Qe2 Qxe2 12.Nxe2 0-0-0 with ideas Nb6,Rd6 with some play, though I dont like being pawn down in that endgame so instead of 9..Bxc3 maybe something else

Relaxing too early - another technique

In positions I'm winning, I find a couple of things that are useful to try: 1. What are my opponent's only chances - even if it looks impossible that they can achieve them. Pretty much all the examples in the section could be seen (although the hidden mate in the 'not an angel' section was hard to see) by doing this. Getting a queen trapped, a king being in a mating net etc are all visible if you are aware of the opponent's possibilities and you check before moving that they can't execute them. 2. If I was my opponent, what tricks (SLP) to save the position would I be trying. Remember tricks is plural, it's often easy to lock onto one idea and miss another. By evaluating as an opponent hopefully you'll see their ideas, and unless time is low, you'll have more time to do this as your own move should be 'easier' (though don't relax!), so it's about snuffing out all remaining counter-chances. Additionally, some opponents just don't resign, either to hope for such a trick, a blunder or just to annoy you. Just play as normal. While some describe playing on in a hopeless position bad manners, as well as 'wasting your time' having to finish them off, they're wasting their own time too which could be used to recover from the loss in prep for the next round. Of course this gets really annoying if you've got to go for a train(!) just don't let it phase you, otherwise a slip means the game will go on longer. If you don't act bothered they might resign, but if you get frustrated then they are right to continue. On a similar note it's worth practising basic finishes such as Q+KvsK, R+RvsK, RvsK,B+BvsK,B+NvsK,P+KvsK,P+RvsR,Q+KvsN+K,Q+KvsB+K and others like it whatever level you are. Often when you have to deliver these you might be under pressure and low time which is a recipe to slip. Don't be arrogant that your rating means such basic drills are beyond you.

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Good tips! Reverse psychology really helps not to relax, basically you have to kill all hope moves and ideas of opponent. When hope dies, they resign

One thing not mentioned but I find that works is stare at them like Kasparov if they are in a hopeless position as if to say How dare you play on.

NEW ARTICLE: Raise Your Rating by Cutting Your Losses

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I like your idea of having two accounts and using one to play casual games and the other to play serious games. But I saw that the Chess.com policies say "Do not open more than one account." https://www.chess.com/community

Other ideas I have are to play serious games on one chess website, and casual games on another chess website. Or, to play unrated games when you are tired. If you have trouble finding human opponents who want to play unrated games, you can always play unrated games against a computer opponent.

Last year I hadn't played for 6 years for health reasons but I wanted to go OTB again (notice that the 2 profiles trick doesn't apply OTB). In 7 months and 37 games I lost about 250 FIDE rating points. What I did? I stop playing because dropping material constantly u don't learn anything.

So what I did instead is reading chess books. Theory of the Opening, theory of the endgame, tactics, calculation, chess history!!! (is amazing the quantity of material we just ignore).

I don't know when I will go back OTB but as GM Hansen pointed out this time I will never give up again.

Llorenç Boldu

Thank you Avetik.

The next question arises is the following:

"How can I boost my mood and energy?"

Thank you GM Avetik!

It worked gor me and I crushed 2100 Elo on Chess.com just by not playing when I feel tired

The next question I have in mind is that in a classical chess tournament, where we can get real Ratings and Titles, We have to manage our Moods and Energies. Our body and mind must follow us when we need them!

Since you are a highly experienced chess professional, I thought may be you can share some techniques chess professionals apply to manage their mood and energy in real tournaments, where they have to play according to tournament schedules, not at will.

Thank you and best wishes for Chessmood

Sir,In Real Tournment Situation the Time is Fixed and At that Fixed Time Our Mood is Not good So What Should We Do Then?

I have two accounts and after 6 months, by reading your article I understand why my rating is different in the two accounts.

https://lichess.org/@/jyotisko06 - Real account where i play with right mode and energy.

https://lichess.org/@/jyotisko2006 - Second account where i play when at bad at night ( in sleepy mood just to enjoy).

I have one account in each platform but with the key advice from the articles I raised +69 blitz, +45 rapid in one week. Now I can crush players up to 2000 easily. I am 1860 - 1950 rapid and blitz, 1940 - 1990 bullet.

Dear Maestro Avetik,

I liked this article very much. I recognise myself in that I feel I have developed a very bad habit of playing too much online, i.e. also at times and in conditions when I shouldn't be playing (on a cellphone, while killing some time, or example). Particularly, when I lose a few games, I get extremely annoyed and playing on until I've won back my lost rating points can become a total obsession. As a result of that, my online blitz rating (almost 3-0 games exclusively) has been seesawing between 1900 and 2200. I will try to implement your golden rule of playing one session of 9 games max, and avoid playing when I feel tired or have distractions (such as my one-year-old daughter attention calls). 

I have a few questions I was hoping you might find the time to comment on:

1. Do you recommend playing nine 3-0 games, or three 10-0 games? 

2. Do you recommend analysing all online (blitz) games immediately after the session?

3. If so, what is your recommended approach to analysing such games?

 Thanks!

fantastic article

GM games in French Attack

Hello, Dear Champions, Being all my life a Sicilian player recently I have been playing the French attack in my streams and other events. However during my training games against 2850 GM. I used the opening and it turned out it practically works so well. I was enjoying great positions out of the openings. I have won all the games as black and below you can find the link. I love this French attack! https://www.chess.com/game/live/52503589393 https://www.chess.com/game/live/52502977865 https://www.chess.com/game/live/52502467721 https://www.chess.com/game/live/52501922833 P.S. This is not the only session against very high-level opponents, so I would say on the level below 2700 it's practically very interesting! Good luck and best wishes Champion! I would love to see your French-Attack masterpieces here so you are welcome to share your games!

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Wow instructive and crushing games in advanced var of the french, this rare Bd7 sure surprises even very strong players! ?

wow...4 different games after Bd7

Thank you for posting these GM French Attack games! Great stuff.

So although it says the French repertoire is for till about 2000 level you could also play it against much higher rated opponents? ?

Congratulation, nice games with Bd7 not so easy to play with white. I've checked and GM Shipov is often using as black if anybody need more games to reserach. I'm happy that there are at two opening for chessmood becasue then everybody could easier prepare and based on openings CM.

Searching forums

I noticed that the forum search function (the magnifying glass icon) only searches for thread subjects. What if I want to search the body text of a post in the forum? For example, I want to search and retrieve ALL posts in the forum that have the word "durian" in the body of the post. How do I go about this? Frankie "Durian Defense" Kam

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Hi Frankie, 

I will ask the tech team, but yes, at the moment the search is limited to the thread subject. ?

Durian? :) You mean that smelly fruit? :) 

Recommandation - Positional Chess

Hello, I started to play 20+ years ago, and easily ranked up to 2000 Fide Elo. Then I stopped to play , and now I can resume my chess career. I used to be agressive player and play for checkmating opponent asap in every game. Now, I understand that I need to be "multistyle" to perform. My goal is to reach 2300 elo. Do you have any recommandation to learn positional chess ? Do I need to work on my principal weakness, or is it better to work on my strenghts ? (tactical play, sharp positions ...) Thank you

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I think it was Jacob Aagaard who said that you should work on both your biggest strength and your biggest weakness. I guess the reason is that the former is how you gain points, and that the latter is how you lose points! There will always be times, particularly when playing black, when your opponent manages to direct the game into a quieter waters where solid positional play is essential. I think going through the 100 Classical Masterpieces course (https://chessmood.com/course/chess-classical-gamesis), at most one game per day so you can fully absorb it, is a nice way to improve positional play. There will be a certain amount of learning by osmosis by playing through 100 carefully selected classics, plus the annotations are first rate and contain lots of helpful advice for positional play. Happy Pieces is another course that I'm greatly enjoying. For additional material, the book reviews here are interesting: https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2022/3/29/ep-272-posiitional-puzzle-book-championship-with-neal-bruce https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2021/8/24/episode-240-pawn-book-championship-special-episode-with-neal-bruce

Moodcoin

Hello chessmood family! I have around 100000 moodcoin which i do not know how to use/spend. It says i can buy courses but i dont see where. Thank you.

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Hello, Odysseus answered the question just here: https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/courses

Where did I go wrong??? Help!!!

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/52678760375 A viewer vs streamer game in which I followed the chessmood opening and after 12.Nec3 I got confused cause I think it is not covered in the course any suggestions on how to continue. I would be very much grateful if someone guides me.??? Regards Vedant

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Play ....Rb8 before ....Be6 that way Nd5 can always be met by b5. You could say that ...Rb8 is prophylaxis against Nd5. I hope that helps. Postscript: I didn't realize Nakamura played anything other than Nf3 e3 b3 in his streams, so at least you got him to deviate :D

~Goals 2022~

I just thought that it will be wonderful to know goals of chessmood family members. So share your goals!

~~ Good day ~~

~A~B~H~I~

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I think I'm playing at the 2000 level now, so the aim is to play consistently 2100 or 2150. A lot depends on how busy I am with work. Hopefully I believe I have enough to get off the sub-2000 plateau rating wise, but there is another one at 2200 and getting any opponents at that strength and beyond requires time out to play in longer tournaments which is incompatible with work and potentially Covid still.

Hello :)

I would like to:

- Be done with all the books I planned to read/work with.

- Work on my emotions (related to chess)

- Have a complete repertoire for White and Black (until now I mainly worked on middlegame and endgame and was not very serious with openings)

How are you all improving in chess?

Petroff defense - 8...Be6

Hey CM folks, Had a blitz game like this in the Petroff: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Be7 7.Be3 0-0 8.Qd2 Be6. The usual moves in the course are 8..Nd7/c6 intending Ne5 or Nc5, but this Be6 is played later in the lines. In the game I went 9.Nd4 but then Bd5 it was kinda messy and I misplayed badly and lost to a spectacular tactic ? https://www.chess.com/game/live/52760446263 My question is should we go 9.Bd3 intending to transpose to a later line with Nd7/c6 or is there something better to punish this early bishop deployment?

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Courses

Um where do I buy courses with mood coin I can't find a buy course button only become a Pro member that costs real money

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You can buy the courses with Moodcoins. Access the course page and just select “Get lifetime acces”, click the button. In the next screen you will see the different options for purchasing the course, one of them is MoodCoins. This is the way to do it ?. See the picture attached.

10-minute Racing to X games (instead of 5-minute)

Hi Chess Friends, One of the most instructive aspects of ChessMood for me is the "Racing from X to Y" series. I love seeing the openings we're using while listing to the reasoning behind the moves. I do wonder, however, if 10-minute games would be even more instructive. For example, I noticed on YouTube that GM Daniel Naroditsky has a similar series of videos called Sensei Speed Run (or something like that). He's not using our openings, of course, but he does play 10-minute and 15-minute games. This gives him a lot more time to explain every move and not get into time trouble. Could the ChessMood GM's try this approach for a few videos just to see if people find it even more helpful? Thanks, Richard

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PGN Files

Hello, I'm new on this page and I started to watch the courses. There is also the blog article which says to build own PGN-Files. So my question is: How to build this files? Is there any software or web service which I can usw?

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The best software to build your own files is Chessbase. But if you don't want to spend money, you can use Lichess studies which are really nice and free. ? The two articles: - https://chessmood.com/blog/the-most-effective-way-to-create-chess-pgn-files - https://chessmood.com/blog/how-to-memorize-chess-openings-variations

Hello, You can use SCID vs PC, is a good & free replacement of ChessBase

endgame technique

Hi guys, I had this endgame in a classical game. This occured after alapin variation. Black is pawn up but I couldn't find a winning plan. Any suggestions on how could black win this position. Thank you so much.

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Is this really a winning endgame? The only plan I see is to get the king to the kingside and try to create a passed pawn there but you always have to be careful White cant get the knight to c6