Chess forum by Grandmasters

Classical game Rubinstein Duras

In game 15 Rubinstein Duras... minute 11,would have been the same to play Nb2 instead of Qf1?

The idea was the same... changing the queens

I maybe found the answer on my own... the problem is that b3 wouldn't be safe anymore... correct? 

Replies

Yeah very similar, Claudio. Just it's better to have the knight on d2, to protect the b3 pawn. 

Daily Lesson with a GM (Chess Mood at YouTube)

Chess Mood started yesterday with more chess video instruction on YouTube in the form of daily video lessons. I am about to watch video 2 (020121).

I do not think they want members to view these though, as they have not been promoted here onsite. Another hoodie blunder!

So I will promote them. They can be found on the Chess Mood YouTube website. Go watch, learn & enjoy ..Right Mood, Right Move COGRO

Below is the link to the first video-The Useless Bishop

https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR1XHvULGnKd9WV3fju845ps9r-1hRNbPwF32L-1oetJAAEEzaNDm7tKZFw&v=i9vTe4kgSwI&feature=youtu.be

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Thank you Richard. I received an email and it was also commented in the Messenger group

Watched the first two already and spread the word around.

Also wonder if it would make sense to cross post the videos here as a free course in the middlegame section, so members don't have to go out to youtube to find the videos?

Hey guys! 
Thanks for support! :) 

Well, we want to add them in the website too :) 
The problem is just technically. 
As Vimeo and Youtube work differently. But we'll solve it soon :) 

Alekhine's My Best Games of Chess

While reading this book I found it hard, hard to grasp. Sometimes I could make some observations, like 'Alekhine's pieces often seem to be in good active positions', other times it's like move, move, move and suddenly he's winning, and I'm like wtf? 

It's also not easy to make sense of variations given.

What would be the solution here? Thx!

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Hi

I cannot answer this, but I sympathise with you. I have not read this book, but I have seen several of Alekhine's games and he was an amazingly good player! I believe there are some of his games analysed in chess courses and on chess websites, so if you can find any, that would be helpful (I should think Matojelic at YouTube must have done analysis of some of his games!).

I chuckled a little at this post, as it has a similarity to the fact that, I am looking presently at at a course by GM I Smirnov, titled "Play like Fischer" and the first video explores the concept, that Fischer placed his pieces to the most favourable places, as he was a fine positional player! Talk about stating the clearly obvious! Still, I have yet to finish this course and I hope to get better answers to how Fischer played his style of chess so well!

Good luck with your Alekhine studies, stick with them, as learning from Alekhine will make you & anyone else a better chess player (GM R Fischer knew Alekhine's games & I think most GM's know something of Alekhine and his chess ideas-an ex world chess champion).

Inguh, a good question. 
It's very important to know who is the author of the book. 

It's the main factor, and about whom is the book is the 2nd. 

I often see, many Youtubers create great content and analyse games very well, when the game is very concrete, and they found all the answers with help of engine, and then they show the game. 
In that case it doesn't matter so much, who analyse. A GM or 1900 rated player. 

But with positional games.... There too much bad cases. When someone lower rated, explain some idea very badly. As they check with engine, but not truly understood the idea. 

By the way, that was on the main ideas, of the Classical Games course. 
I don't show you games with brilliant sacrifices. 
You can find them in Youtube too, commented not badly. 

So, overall my recommendation would be, to always pay attention who is the author. 

2. Nc3 against Silian Kan set-up, holding back on d7-d5

I just had a game (which I won eventually!) that started 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. f4 a6 4. Nf3 b5

This is actually quite a common way for Kan players to play, hoping white will play d2-d4 whereafter it's a proper Kan, but also being quite content with white playing d2-d3 as black has gained significant space on the queen's side. I didn't see this covered in the course.... What is your recommendation, CM team? Transposing to the closed Sicilian with g2-g3? Will there be coverage on this variation in the future?

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I think in the e6 course when black plays with a6. The recommendation is to go with g3, bg2 and build up kingside with h3,g4 etc.

Early a6 from black a a move is a bit of a wasted tempi when white can still go go, bg2 etc and we play against black lsb which is stuck behind its pawns 

Definitely g3 and Lg2, and go for a closed sicilian position. Besides black is a bit behind in development

Yair, after e6 and e6, it's better to play g3 immediately, and keeping option Nh3 for future. 
It's more tricky when Black starts with 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.f4 Nc6 (!) 4.Nf3 and now a6. 
Still we go with g3. 

I'll add it in the advanced sections, after finishing with Abra-Cadabra gambits. 
The first one, we upload on Tuesday. 

Don't show "Get unlimited access" banner for Pro members

Please don't show this banner for Pro members. I need to close it every time I visit the site.

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Hey Peter! 
Can you clarify what do you mean? 

Not a big issue, but I agree is annoying

Ah, I see! 
Will think about it! 

Free pgn editor/reader for Chessmood study?

Hello, new pro member here.  Watching my first couple videos and the amount of material is impressive.  Trying to absorb and retain the information will be challenging without taking the advice and really working and testing myself with the pgn files.   Does anyone have a recommendation for a free or more affordable pgn editor reader?  Obviously chessbase is popular, but that is fairly expensive.  Thanks!!  

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Chess assistant is 40 euro. It looks like something out of the 90s but it works fine 

Chessbase have a free reader also I think and there is a totally free program called scid v pc or something. Never used that one but heard its ok as well 

Lichess Studies is ok to use

Hey, Matt welcome! 
Thanks for your words. 
Hopefully, you'll join the team of the winners! :) 

Discoordination of Openings

Hi, I just joined ChessMood.  I was hoping recommendations against Siclian sidelines would be g6 based but the lines against Nc3 involve 2. ... d6 and you have to know Najdorf.  Possible to add g6-based options?

Replies

Hi Anthony,

Hi Anthony,

Have good news this side. Updates are almost finished and will be published in near future.

There you will find the whole reporter based on systems we are playing now in ChessMood.

Hey Anthony! 
Welcome! :) 
We're editing now the videos, will be uploaded very soon. 

Apparent contradiction in Trompowsky Course

In Crushing d4 Sidelines, Section 1, video 6 (g3 line trying to keep white king safe):

At about 3:33,  it is mentioned that if h4 Black should not play ...Ng4 because they run into d5, like this - https://imgur.com/a/hlUG6EM

However, at 2:34, from this position - https://imgur.com/a/wR1ZRNo

the move ...Ng4 is recommended! Now if White plays c4 ...dxc4 Nxc4 ...Bc7 d5, hello! We have transposed to the position which Black should not have gone for!

PS I finally started creating my pgn files (it feels great!), discovering this while doing so.

Replies

Well noticed! seems you are right. I thought maybe there is something against c4, but no, black should take on c4 and the position would be transposed.  

Haha :) 
Hello, hello! :) 
Well, you're right. 
Before Ng4, Be6 is a good move! 

Question in the Tromp

In Crushing d4 Sidelines, Section 1, video 7, this position: https://imgur.com/a/cPpUuvB

(1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.Bxf6 exf6 4.e3 c6 5.Bd3 Bd6 6.Nd2)

it is mentioned that White's idea is to play Qf3 and prevent ...f5, but thinking logically, why not play ...f5 right away after Nd2, before White plays Qf3?

PS I've posted 3 times in the last 2 days, hope it's not too much ;)

Replies

Stockfish doesn't like f5 immediately, I think it has its explanation but I couldn't find out it, maybe h3-g4 will follow? Anyway would be better to wait for the coach to answer. 

btw, ask as much as you want and don't worry about that, especially since your questions are interesting and logical :)  

Inguh, really a good question :) 
Looking at the position now, it seems absolutely fine too. 

Selection of advanced topics

Could I ask why in particular the Nc6 anti-sicilian topics e.g. 4... e6/a6/g6 are advanced?

It's not a move that only 2200+ will play especially given its proximity to the start, and knowing how to deal with them is rather important to the system's viability. If there were good workarounds given then perhaps that would qualify. It's one thing to say don't worry about it for blitz, but another if you are going to be playing in a match or a tournament. Personally I would leave advanced for giving information that isn't likely to be remembered because it's long, difficult to get right or just too much detail. However, if it's a major move you're likely to face or it's a recommendation in a major course or book, it really does need something in the ordinary course section as an alternative, or the first few moves leading to it so that it can be muddled through over the board (against perhaps less accurate responses).

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But if you are a Pro member, what is the problem to watch them in the advanced section? :) 

David, before 2200 level, Most of the people whether play 3...g6 or take on b5 after Nd4. 
We have seen many times during the streams, when I was playing against lower level players. 

If you don't think so, and you meet them often, not a big deal :) 
There are in the adv. section.  

Videos on Mobile?

I can’t seem to get the videos to work on my mobile devices? I can a black screen that says the video cannot be played due to it’s privacy settings...it would be very helpful if I could use the iPad to watch the video sometimes and not have to be at my desktop...is it possible?

Replies

Hi Aaron,

I have no problem whatsoever to watch them in my smartphone. I watch the videos with the Firefox browser but you may have some privacy settings or something activated in your smartphone. The videos work perfectly in any device, if you can watch youtube and vimeo you can watch this. Try a different browser on your smartphone... That would be my first step...

Hey Aaron! 
It's strange. 

Noone had this issue before. 
Can you please contact our support him, they'll try to understand the reason and helping solving the issue. 
Please write at contact@chessmood.com 

Sicilian GP attack 2... d6 - the issues

Looking through my notes in prep for today's tournament. Am noting some issues that need to be resolved / I need to try to resolve:

Issue 1: Opening move order
One of the problems with the whole complex is that Black can play some or all of the common moves (a6, Nc6, e6, Nf6, g6 - and d6 if we go beyond this one system) in different orders. The play against them is different. Therefore there needs to be some kind of overall rules to negotiating the move order otherwise it's easy to enter a different line.

I also think an extra move-order video would be useful for that reason as part of the course, or maybe as part of a 'round-up' course which covers the contents of the 5 videos and helps with transpositions.

Issue 2: d3 or d4
In pretty much every line d3 or d4 gets played. How to choose d3 or d4. If cxd4 whether to capture Qxd4 vs Nxd4

Issue 3: Bc4, Bb5 or Bg2 (or even Be2)
A main theme is placing this bishop. When to 'retreat' to b3.

Issue 4: Capture Nc6 (when) or retreat
Another theme after Bb5 is whether the knight should be captured and when. If not, whether Ba4, Bc4, Bd3, Be2 (or maybe even f1 to redeploy on g2) should be played

Issue 5: The kingside attack
Whether to play Qe1->g3/h4, whether and when to push f5, when to let the f3 knight go (Bxf3 / Nxf3) or exchange it (usually Nxd4)

Issue 6: a4 advance
When to play this, when to keep pushing to a5/a6

Issue 7: Bc1
Where to play this piece - Be3, Bg5, Bb2 (after b3), Bd2, leave it for a bit, even Bh6 at the right moment

Issue 8: O-O or O-O-O
Mostly O-O in the videos, but there were a few times O-O-O was considered

Issue 9: Mating formations
Would be useful to have a taxonomy of these

Issue 10: Nxc2 (and maybe Nxa1)
When to allow this, when to defend, when to exchange Nf3 for Nd4. If Nxf3, capture with Q or R.

Replies

Great Post which summarises many of the tricky move order issues and other things I find with the system (good system as it is)

Great post.  It addresses some of issues I also have with the GP attack.  Frankly, I don’t really like playing it and I’m pretty close to junking it and searching for another system.

Hi David, your post puts into words what I am dealing with, too. When trying to employ these lines in blitz, I quite often feel helpless with a lack of the guiding ideas in mind. So what to do? I will finish the other openings for White first. They are much more accessible for me. After that I will go through my  pgn for the Ant-Sicilian again and integrate the stream(ChessMood team playing ChessMood openings)  into my work plan. And after that I will start playing Blitz again and will go through the games. The last step will be the Webniar on this opening (it should come out soon since there had been a dedicated tournament to the first part of Anti-Sicilian the last days).

I read through the interesting post and the replies. I find your idea how to learn the opening catching but flawed. It feels like you are trying to do it by mechanically remembering certain patterns and by providing answers to questions in specific positions. 

On suggestion of a post I can't find, GM Jones' DVD on the Sicilian Grand Prix was recommended. I bought it and have gone through about half and it's a good companion to the course here.

If anyone is interested, it's just gone on sale at Chess & Bridge, London for £5 (no idea about international shipping and customs costs), but it might be a cheaper option than the download from Ginger GM (which to be fair is a bargain as well).

Kevin D's answer is perfect! 
Guys, if you consistently watch the streams, and get into the position, you'll not have problems. 
Soon Gabuzyan starts a streaming series, where he'll play with players around your level, so it should help with feeling the positions better. 

Maybe we can organize a webinar, covering all the questions you have? 

Hoodie blunder of the month entry

This hoodie blunder is from the recent Chess Mood arena training, on the power of the bishop pair and played by my opponent (only rated 732 higher than me, which might confirm that rating has little relation to chess play, or not and that hoodie blunders can strike anyone at anytime for any reason, but that is a deep and possibly meaningless discussion, so I will not continue it.)

Sadly, I have not taken the power of the bishop course yet, but I look forward to doing so.

Anyway, here (as seen in the image), Black makes a bad move with Nh4 (knight on the rim is dim) and follows it up with the hoodie blunder move, Ke7...oooops!

This makes this a fine contender and entrant for Chess Mood Hoodie Blunder of the Month. Mind you some of my hoodie blunders this month might be considered at least equal to this!? Lol

May these hoodie blunders strike anywhere but our Chess Mood games, and happy play & training to all!

Replies

Out of interest, where does the phrase hoodie blunder come from? Is it like your hood coming down over your face - i.e. going chess blind?

How to win equal Positions?

Hello Chessmood friends,

In many openings such as French Exchange, and Slav Exchange, we may get symmetrical pawn structures which are very boring and frustrating. But, players like Ulf Anderson, Karpov, Petrosian, and ENGINES can squeeze water out of the Rock and win these positions!

Question: How to win equal Positions? 

Replies

There is a book by VasilIos Kotronias called How to Play Equal Positions

It might be helpful to you

Game 8 of Commented Classical Games would  also be good to review for Winning Equal Positions 

Do you watch chessmood daily lessons? This might be helpful :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUSwIAI2SXo

I think a good mindset is essential while playing chess. Personally, I have played games where I felt equal positions are a draw or it is not to my liking then have a lapse in concentration and lose the game. However, lessons need to be learnt! I have realized that if I'm happy, positive, confident and focused, playing equal positions won't be as dull as it seems but are actually full of opportunities! Right mood=Right move! In today's era, there is plenty of training material but chessmood is a great website to improve one's chess. 

The starting position of chess is also equal. Equal is not the same as 'draw' especially not at the amateur level. With the French exchange for example; all the pieces are still on the board! Plenty of play left in the position. 

At Master level this opening has a 55% draw rate. While at the Lichess online database only 8% drawrate. Just 2% more than 3.Nc3 in the French. 

I think the key in these positions is the control of the open file. 

There are 4 ways:

1. You can try altering the pawn structure or introducing a material imbalance.

2. You can try forcing your opponent to deal with sudden threats or by sharpening the position. 

3. You can try confronting your opponent with strategic dilemmas. 

4. You can try attacking your opponent.

Hi Kourosh,

This is a really big question. I will try to share my personal opinion about it. If a position is equal we need to outplay our opponent which means we should try to do something better.

Outplaying is a very much required practical skill, which helps to win as you mentioned equal positions.

In order to outplay you first of all need to determine the type of position.

Usually, I am trying to create weaknesses, attack King if I think it's abandoned or I have enough forces to do that, gain more space, activate my pieces, or limit the opponent's one.

To summarize I mean either you need to improve your positon and pieces or spoil opponent's one.

Openings for Black in Must Win Situation

Hello everyone, I want to add an opening against 1.d4 which is suitable to play for a win. Against 1.e4 I there are plenty of options, I play the Najdorf Sicilian. Against 1.d4 I play the Grunfeld and white can force a draw in some variations. For this I had three candidates-- i)Modern Benoni ii)King's Indian iii)Semi-Slav. I have only played more than 10 games in KID, 2 casual games in Benoni and 0 games in Semi Slav. I think I should eliminate King's Indian because its me who gets more scared with black in Mar Del Plata Variation. I scored 0.01% in Mar del Plata variation. I played modern benoni in 2 games and 2 of them, but I only played them for fun and have no experience in it. I saw some games of Shirov in the Botvinnik Semi Slav and was amazed how complicated it is. Can anyone help me of selecting the best opening? You can also share your weapons in must win situations  :-)

Replies

To be able to choose your opening based on your need, in this case a win, or based on the style of play of your opponent, you would need to know in detail more than one opening against 1.c4 Nf6 2.c4. I suggest you choose an opening that is different in style from Grunfeld that you already know. Then, depending on the style of the play of your opponent I would choose the opening that suits him or her less. This is to put the opponent out of the comfort zone.  

I always play my own openings, I change them so hard and that's my main disadvantage :(

I play the Modern Benoni and it certainly is a possibility in a must win situation.                                             It is a fantastic weapon against careless white players, but it is difficult to play against well prepared positional players, so I sometimes consider playing something else. I think I will give it another try and study more in the theory books. I can recommend John Doknjas: The Modern Benoni. He explains the ideas very well and offers a good alternative to the drawish modern mainline.

Hey Khokan,

When I am trying to choose a must to win an opening for black I am either going for Benko or Modern Benoni. The choice is logical cuz in that situation we need to choose positions where it's imbalanced. By that, I mean like black gives away the center but gets queenside to activate and has dark strong bishop like in Benoni or sacrifices a pawn and gets initiative like in Benko.

In must win situations I find that 1...g6 is quite a good try to avoid premature simplification and instead reach rich and complex positions, with the bonus that it can be employed equally well against both 1.e4 & 1.d4, making it a very compact and efficient surprise weapon. The main issue with the 2...d6 Sicilian in a must win situation is 3.Bb5+, while against Benoni/Benko hopefuls 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3 is a quite safe and solid option for White.

To sum up it is very challenging to successfully play for a must win as Black, it often boils down to psychological factors, strong nerves, risk tolerance and the ability to maintain concentration in case of a long tense fight.  It is also vitaly important that you know your 'Must Win' opening well, and fully embrace the risk that you will probably be somewhat worse if your opponent is well prepared, but with the upside being that a tense position will likely suit you more than your opponent.

Chess tactics

Hey ChessMood family,

Where do you usually solve puzzles? From the books, chess.com, lichess... ?

Replies

I solve tactics at ChessTempo. All positions are taken from actual games

Mostly on chesstempo and lichess because they are taken from actual games. Chess.com has good puzzled but sometimes wrongly thematised or classified but I can understand the paterns quickly. Last day I hit 2000 on lichess puzzles.

Online on Chess.com and over a real board with the book "Test your Chess IQ" by Livshitz

I solve on lichess and chess24. Chess24 puzzles are very complicated and improve calculations a lot.

I also use visualwize books which helps me to visualize positions and solve it after 4 moves from the diagram

puzzle rush :D 

CT-ART 4.0 on my mobile phone. Mostly while on the metro. And the woodpecker method book (I copied the puzzle and had always a few pages with me). 

I study ' Chess Tactics from Scratch' from Weteschnik on Chessable. After that I'm going for ' Improve Your Chess Tactics' from Neishtadt. When I'm at home I set up the positions on the board. I also solve Chesstempo standard problems for calculation practice. Next to this I started in the Yusupov books. This contains tactics, strategy, endgames but all exercises where you have to calculate. 

~~~MoodCoins~~~

How many MoodCoins you guys have?

I have 899500 

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You rich.I have only 39500 :(

But sharing is always good.Are u wanna share :D

Wow !! I have 76500.

Seems that I'm the last one :D only 28500

Finally I got 900000 moodcoins. I wanted to make it to 1000000. I am sure soon I will make it but for now this 9 and 5 zeros looks cool.

Can I ask how you spent it? It's a slight dilemma how to spend my moodcoins, to be honest.

62500 not bad I think with 9 best replies.

51500

184500

PRO Members

Hello everyone. 29$ in INR(Indian rupees) is how much?

Replies

2,127.30 (if you google "29 usd in indian rupees" it will give you the current rate)

https://www.xe.com/currencyconverter/convert/?Amount=29&From=USD&To=INR

How to handle 3. c3 against Dragon

I've been finding that people are often playing 3. c3 after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6, and I don't see anything about that in the Dragon course.  In the Sicilian sidelines course, GM Gabuzyan recommends Nf6 after 2. c3.  Should we do the same against 3. c3, or do the moves Nf3/Nc6 mean we should do something different?  If this is in a course, and i just missed it, please let me know.  Thanks!

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Hello Karl

No, it shouldn't make any difference, I believe, still Sf6

Yeah Nf6 should transpose

Hey Karl,

My recommendation will be the same 3...Nf6 move as after e5 it transposes to Alapin, or if white decides to go with d3 that would just be to passive and we are completely fine for black!

Missing something in Sicilian 2.Nc3 g6 line...

Hello and a Happy new year to all Chessmood members! :)

Would you pls give a good recipe against the taking with a knight on d7, instead of queen in the main line : 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 g6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Qa4 d6 7.e5 dxe5 8.Nxe5 Bd7 9.Nxd7 Nxd7?

I can not find any note about that line in the course, but in the book of Hyper Accelerated dragon written by IM Raja Panjwani there is a detail analysis of this option giving black very good chances... 

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Agreed, 9…Nxd7 is also a playable move for Black.
I think White should continue with 10.Bb5, and when Black protects the pawn with Qc8 play 11.O-O, Bg7, 12.Re1 with a good game for White.
Better for Black is to offer a pawn sac with 10…Bg7!, but in my opinion White should not accept it with 11.Bxc6, bxc6, Qxc6, Rc8, Qf3, Bxc3, bxc3, Qa5= (now the white pawn structure is messed up and most likely Black will win back the pawn), but White should just continue development and play 11.O-O, O-O, Rd1, Qc8 and then Nd5 or Be3 with the slightly better game for White

Hey Martin!

I guess it would be still fine to play with 10.Bb5 and try to 0-0 or as well 10.Be3 seems to be fine with Rd1 in future , position is not very concrete and is slightly better due to 2 bishops advantage.

All right, folks, thank you for your response! It seems to me that black is quite OK in these lines thank to the good coordination of his pieces, especially the sniper on g7. I went through your suggestions, compared it with the above mentioned book and analysed it all with engine. Now I play this line with black against a strong opponent (rating 2500)  in correspondent chess. We already have position after 10.Bb5 Bg7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Rd1 Qc8 on the board. I will keep you in touch, if you don't mind... :P