Chess forum by Grandmasters

Watching and learning from super GM life Tournaments

My question is: With the possibilities to follow super GM matches life with online commentators which is certainly nice and entertaining. But, how to make something/most out of it is my question.

Certainly half following during a couple of hours is not the best but.. how to do it better?

thanks for your views on this.

michael 

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Maybe take some notes of interesting ideas/unseen patterns and begin to store/group them. Also, checking your opening pgn on what GM played to refresh the memory also helps, especially if opponent tried some dubious move, which wasnt in the course, then the ideas should really stick how to punish that type of play.

Should Blitz be played?

I play rapid (10+0) time control most of the time. Is playing blitz bad for my overall game? Will it reduce my planning skills which are required mainly in rapid and longer time controls? If not, how many blitz are fine every day?

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I joined recently, and reading through various blog posts I was happy to see that Avetik is quite positive about playing blitz. He also has some excellent advice regarding blitz: Here he talks about the importance of analysing your blitz games if you want to improve: https://chessmood.com/blog/analyze-blitz-chess-games Here he talks about session length and generally having some discipline and structure around your blitz sessions: https://chessmood.com/blog/golden-method-to-increase-rating-in-chess And here he talks about time controls. Basically, using increment is important for improving. Particularly endgame skills!: https://chessmood.com/blog/what-chess-time-control-to-choose This last one has been a useful catalyst for me to start switching my time controls for bullet/blitz from 1+0/3+0 to 2+1/3+2. I will probably just keep one account where I play 3+0 so I have a reliable way to measure improvement. Btw, on chess.com even 5+5 counts as blitz. For a game that goes over 60 moves, which is not that uncommon, this time control gives you more total time than 10+0.

Depends what you want. Sometimes blitz is all players want as they like to play the game but don't have time (or perhaps the patience) to be sat for hours or to want to think deeply. If your goal is your long play and blitz is a way of improving that, then blitz can be useful to practise your opening repertoire (since you get through a lot more games) and also to help pinpoint weaknesses, intuition and judgement issues which perhaps are hidden in longer play since you have more time to correct faulty thinking. Analysing positions (and getting the right depth and accuracy), looking at and weighing up alternatives and thinking more about what your opponent should play and longer term plans is something that doesn't happen so much in blitz, so you want to balance your play and play longer time controls when you can. That said I find 15 5 or so a good happy medium which is good also for practising for 30 minute rapidplays.

Advice for new, lower ranked players

Hello ChessMood family,   I am relatively new to CM. I am a lower ranked player (around 1300) and an adult. I have time to study. I have greatly enjoyed CM so far. After my GM 1:1 call, I have focused on Tactics Ninja (almost done), the Speedboat course (loved it!), and Openings. I am looking for Pro Members advice for my level. My only difficulty so far is that CM seems well suited to players above 1700 or so. 

I specifically am interested in thoughts on CM's new release of a condensed repertoire for lower players. WhiteMood was perfect as I had become established with the Scotch and Grand Prix. But I am a bit unsure about BlackMood. I have enjoyed learning the Accelerated Dragon and Benko. But I realize they have a lot of sidelines. Now I am offered the French/Dutch system. I am incredibly thankful to have these options and they reflect the intense time and effort the CM grandmasters have put into the site. But I am unsure where to put my time, especially as I want to keep my Opening study to 25% or less of my total time. I realize solid advice for someone at my level is: minimal opening study, don't blunder pieces, work on tactics!!

Thanks in advice for your thoughts!  John

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Below 1700 games are decided pretty much on tactics and basic endgames alone. Other than dropping material, a tactical blunder will appear, or poor endgame technique with pawns or rooks will decide the game. As long as you avoid a known trap or a complicated tactical position your opponent knows parrot fashion, you're still be at the level where opponents either want to avoid opening theory, know a mainline and little else once they're out of it, or out of the book quite quickly. Set them problems and watch them fold.

The openings 101 and Whitemood courses are at the right level. Get a feel for the openings and play healthy chess (i.e. basics avoiding bad pawn structures without compensation, play for quick development, the centre where appropriate, get your king safe...). After each game you can then learn a little bit more of the opening, what was the suggested line, and if you deviated did your move have drawbacks compared to the main line. If a line is proving particularly problematic, then you can go for a more detailed look.

As for the Blackmood course, I can't comment having not looked at it, but IMO the courses for the black openings aren't _that_ complicated that you can't learn them, although there isn't the overview for them. Your opponents at that level won't be able to play them either, the question really is whether they know the basic plans and can improvise better than you can. I suspect you'll get more sicilian deviations than the open sicilian or rossolimo, and the maroczy won't appear at all (or if it does your opponent will be clueless). Expect 2. f4, GP attack, closed sicilian etc. As for the benko, I'm not sure how weaker players deal with it (since c4 is quite common) but I suspect they'll avoid the mainlines. There will be a number of d4 deviations, the London and Jobava in particular. c4 might occasionally appear, but again just knowing something about the key positions should be enough.

Don't spend all your time on openings (as you've identified), but do view it as a long term process so that as your other skills improve you're not having to start from scratch.

Thanks, I reviewed your forum post and it's very helpful. I will look for some streams where the "master" is playing someone around my range. I'm very familiar with Gotham and Ginger GM, will look on Youtube. Also I have watched about 4-5 of the CM streams and was awestruck: it was amazing to watch GM Gabuzyan beat players easily with our openings, while he was explaining his thoughts, in a 3 minute game, then look and see that his opponent was rated 2500! 

New Website

Will there be a TACTICS TRAINER in the New Website?

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Seems so. Cf. the end of the Ninja course. 

BlackMood - move missing

Section 2 Video 35, 4,Ngf3

At 2:09 Isn´t Black moving a second time without White has moved?

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 Nc6 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5,e5 Nd7 and now Black is moving 6…f6 and White´s move 6 is missing.

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There is nothing missing here. It is a general explanation. Please try to understand the ideas, not focus on move by move orders.  If you look at the same video on min 3:34, Black has moved like 9 times but White did not move, we just moved the Black pieces to show you the general plan.

Happy learning!

Hats off to ChessMood

I really enjoyed watching the new BlackMood videos today, I am excited about learning them further and putting them to good use. You guys do a wonderful job continually putting out amazing content and these newest videos are no exception. I know GMs Avetik and Gabuzyan, as well as the entire support staff, work very hard on these and it shows. Thank you for doing great work!

Leslie

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Thanks @Leslie_Smith. Very much appreciated! Happy to hear that! Now you just need to start playing our variations while enjoying every moment of it!! 

Anti - Sicilian Part 1

Anti - Sicilian Part 1

In the Bg4 variation, after 9. f5 Bxf3 10. Rxf3 Ne5?!?!? how to continue? Should Rh3 be continued or not?

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This is the position...

Hello Vedanta,

I think 11.Rh3 with our regular attacking ideas looks well here. We are not scared of Nxc4 dxc4 because doubled pawn on c4 will never allow black to play d5 and we can also use a half-open d file for our rook in the future.

Never quit on yourself!

I just returned home from the Southwest Class Championship held in Dallas Texas, and I wanted to write about this while it is still fresh in my mind. I played up to the "A" section instead of the "B" section my rating falls into (My USCF was 1743 going into the tournament). I wanted to test myself against higher-rated opponents while still giving myself chances to win.  

What I want to write about isn't how the tournament went, though I will give those details at the end for those interested, but how much work you actually put into improvement before you see results. 

How many players work on their game for a few hours a week, and after 3 months of not noticing any results suddenly quit deciding it is a waste of time? How many try for 6 months, 9 months, or even a year without results? What amount of time is too long to wait for the improvement you feel should be proportional to the amount of work you know you are doing? 

A little over three years ago, while on one of my extended breaks from chess, I met GM Avetik Grigoryan online. We chatted in private messages for a couple of months, hardly any of it about chess, and he re-ignited my desire to improve at the game I have loved my entire life. I had quit completely two years earlier thinking I had reached my peak, and no longer was seeing improvement from my time invested in studying. My rating was around 1750 USCF and had been there for a long time. 

A short time later, ChessMood launched and I began my work in earnest. I started by learning a whole new opening repertoire. Previously I had been playing only the Trompowski as white and Simon Williams' Black Lion with the black pieces, so learning a complete arsenal of new openings was quite daunting. 

With my new weapons in hand, I charged into battle, ready to slay any opponent unlucky enough to cross my path! However, my opponents didn't cooperate with my designs, and instead, they fought back and slew me just as often as before.  While my online rating grew slightly, my OTB rating slid backward since I found myself in many unfamiliar positions that left me feeling uncomfortable. How many times have you switched openings, had bad results for the first couple of months, then decided the opening was trash and moved to another one? I spent close to a year getting completely familiar with the new opening repertoire before I felt comfortable with the positions I found myself in, but the result is I no longer fear my opponents' preparation and I very rarely get a bad position at the beginning of the game, even against strong players. 

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?), a game of chess is rarely decided with the choice of opening, and it didn't seem to matter how well I was doing at the beginning of the game, by the end I was on the losing side just as often as before. While my online rating did continue to grow (this was helped by being locked down with little else to do!), my over-the-board rating stayed static around the 1750 mark (Hindered by the same lockdown...)

Also in that first year, I added many other training activities to help accelerate my growth, including online tactics puzzles, reviewing annotated games, reading books on strategy and endgames, as well as playing as often as I could. My knowledge of the game of chess grew by leaps and bounds, but my results continued to be less than desired. (Is this story feeling familiar to anyone else, or am I alone in this?) 

By this point, many players would have thrown in the towel and invested their time elsewhere. However, my love for the game of chess and my commitment to myself and those that have invested their time and knowledge in me has kept me motivated to keep doing the work necessary to improve. 

With the second year of improvement stunted by the inability to play OTB tournaments, it is hard to quantify any real progress from this time period. My online blitz rating had increased by over 500 points, however, I was much lower-rated in blitz than any other format, so I am not sure that is saying too much. On the bright side, I wasn't discouraged by a lack of progress in this second year, as it was beyond anyone's control. 

As my third year of focused chess improvement was beginning, I decided to finally take GM Avetik's advice a get a regular coach to help me pinpoint my areas of greatest opportunity for growth. He put me in touch with the wonderful Nicolo Pasini (recognize the Pasini variation in the ChessMood courses? Yes, that Passini!) and I started working with him to improve my game. Unfortunately, with Nicolo on the other side of the world from me, finding a time to connect that worked for both of us was difficult and not consistent. I then reached out to a GM that lives locally to me that I have known for years and asked if he would be willing to help me. In late March we agreed to start, and I have been working one on one with GM Barcenilla since that time. 

He quickly identified my weakness in tactics, which I had previously tried unsuccessfully to cover up by avoiding complications, and set up a plan to help me quickly improve my vision on the board. He is also helping me deepen my growing knowledge of our ChessMood openings, giving me new middlegame ideas and opening my eyes to new ways of looking at the chessboard and the way the pieces interact on it. However, even with all of this growing knowledge, my rating continued to flatline and stay about 1750 USCF. (As a side note here, he had me playing only open sections since April, and it was a little tougher to beat the players rated 300-400 rating points higher than me)

So now we come full circle and back to where we started from. Three years of focused study on the game of chess, and not a shred of tangible improvement if one is only focused on the rating chart. I entered the "A" section of the Southwest Class Championships in Dallas Texas with a USCF rating of 1743. I played 7 rounds of chess with an undefeated 5/7 score (3 wins and 4 draws) gaining over 100 rating points to reach 1855 USCF. Does this mean it will continue on this path upwards? No one really knows and only time will tell, but I do know I saw more possibilities on the chessboard during my games than I have ever seen before, and that only encourages me more. 

The reason I tell this to all of you who read this isn't to get a pat on the back or accolades for my accomplishment (Though I will gladly accept all of those, as we can all use affirmations from our peers!), but to hopefully encourage all of you not to quit too soon. Give yourself time to absorb what you are learning before it shows in your results. Trust in the process, keep putting in the work, and the rewards will eventually come. 

GM Jay

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Congratulation ,

Jay,

Thank you for that great story, very inspirational!

I almost went to Dallas to enter that tournament but decided to enter a local one instead. There are other large Dallas tournaments later this year I am thinking about also attending, are you planning to go to any others in Dallas? Perhaps if you do we can meet and say hello?

Leslie

Thank you Jay for your nice and encouraging story.

You mentioned ",,,and opening my eyes to new ways of looking at the chessboard and the way the pieces interact on it," which sounds very interesting to me. I remember myself when I was about six years of age and was taught how to play chess. I got specific images in my mind and did not see the board and the pieces as they were but more like a medieval battlefield around some towers.

May I ask you to elaborate a bit on it, please?

/Göran

Well done Jay!

Your story reminds me of an analogy with a melting ice cube.  

The temperature is -5ºC in a room with an ice cube and you have to put a lot of physical effort in to raise the temperature by 1 ºC.  The temperature is now -4ºC and the ice cube is still standing there.  No observable change.

Finally one day you put an effort in and the temperature of the room climbs above 0ºC for the first time and suddenly the ice begins to melt.  Soon there is only water.  Massive change!

  It's not just the last bit of work that caused it but all the preceding work that raised the temperature from -5ºC.  Sometimes you have to put in a lot of work to improve at something and the results of your efforts are unseen but one day a tipping point comes and you see a big change.   So the moral is don't give up the big changes are coming...

Wow Jay.

That is so impressive, kudos to you or your tenacity and positive outlook. I am in a similar situation to when you started with Chessmood (I only joined this week!). I am hoping to return to OTB chess now after a long break(20+ years) now that I have retired and would like to return to the level I was before (about 1600 elo) and maybe grow from there. I have been studying on my own using the Yusupov orange books , 100 endgames YMK, tactics books/trainers and trying unsuccessfully to create a reliable opening rep. without any discernible improvement. I am hoping that Chessmood will help me push forwards on all fronts to at least get towards my goals. However, it looks like a long hard climb which I am trying - I am just not sure that I will have your endurance, but your story is truly inspirational.

Very inspiring Jay!! Keep it up!!!

 Great post GM Jay, thank you. Great to see you getting the success you deserve. Right mood, right move is surely right, good buddy!

Hello Jay!

Nice story, congrats and keep going!!!

A Dynamic idea Against Bd3 french,played by my opponent

https://lichess.org/S3uLWWAa/white#1

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I don't know the French (Chessmood) repertoire yet, but maybe its better to keep the bishop pair even if the complications can seem difficult at first?

The best line seems to be 8. Bxb7 Nc6 9. Bxc6 Bxc6 and instead of exchanging queens with Qxd8 as you played to simply play f3 shutting down Black's light squared B a little.  In general, when you're trying to get going in the opening the manta "to take is a mistake" is helpful.  What is the point of Qxd8?  Your Q is sitting well in the centre so just limit his pieces and develop yours.

After 10. f3 Black's best is Qc7 and the position is technically speaking fairly equal with the B pair counterbalancing the pawn deficit.  But practically speaking the Q-side majority is a potent force and when I look through the lines Black is forced to find only moves for quite a long time to maintain equality.  WHite's position is easier to play with several options to preserve the status quo.  Black on the other hand can quickly slide into a much worse position and is walking on a knife edge.

After 10.  f3

10....Qxd4 11. Nxd4 is much better for white.

10....Qc7 11. Nbc3 Bd6 12. Bg5 is already drifting in white's favour.

I think although it is technically equal Black's task is very difficult because apart from activating his pieces he doesn't have a long term plan.  He is definitely fighting for a draw only.  White has a static advantage in the extra pawn which means he can take his time, improve his position and eventually push his Q-side majority.   Exchanging pieces favours white, getting one of Black's B's would probably sky rocket the evaluation to +1 or more.  As the pawns go forward it will become harder and harder for black.  Black's plan is very much limited to just frustrating white.

Some positions in chess are equal and some are more equal than others. :-)

So I think practically this is a nice position to play with good odds of winning in the long run. 

After8.Bd7, We can Play 8.Nbc3 and after 8.Nc6 We can play Qf4-a Strong square for the queen(Bd6 is hard to achieve for back) next White wants to play Be3..0-0-0..and start attack against Black's king by stroming on kingside.(h4..g4) and our quuen on f4 joins the Attack fast as it is near to Blacks king.

and I think White should have an advantage bcoz of black's PASSIVE BISHOPS.

Hello ChessMood family members,

I have never seen this idea previously and checked it out. I don't think black has enough compensation for the pawn. Exchanging the queens and castle seems to be right. I think white can build pawn chain in the future against the bishop on c6 with b3-c4. Develop bishop to e3 and bring rooks into the game.
My practical preference will be on white side. 

Blackmood Course

Hi all, anyone know if the Blackmood course is out yet?

Whitemood is a great one BTW...

Cheers

Ovi

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I kind of asked the same question a few days ago.  I'm not sure there is a solid date yet.  There is a lot of work that goes into checking the lines, recording, uploading, etc.  I started studying the French Defense in the mean time (it's my guess to what will be recommended for e4 in the new Black Mood course).

There is no fixed date. We are working on it. Thanks for your support and kind words!

By the way, we already announced that the openings would be different against d4, something easier but fun to play and to understand than the Benko, Maroczy, d4 sidelines complex.

Anti-Sicilian Part 3

I made another post about this and included the PGN file but the site is saying the page is unavailable so this is a repeat of my previous question that I hope the forum admin will delete so we don't have any broken pages or duplicate.  I came across this as I am preparing for an all play all tournament and one of my opponents is very likely to play this line so I've been analysing it.

Since I can't attach my PGN file.  The question comes in the variation. 

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6  3. f4 d5 4. Nf3 dxe4 5. Nxe4 Nc6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. Qe2 Nh6  8. b3 Nf5 9. Bb2 a6  10. Bxc6 Bxc6 11. d3 Be7 12. 0-0-0 Nd4 13. Qf2 Nxf3 14. Qxf3 0-0

This position occurs in video 9 from 7min 20 seconds and here GM Avetik spends about 20 seconds on 15. g4?? and why the attack is strong.  But in fact the position is lost after 15. g4.  Black plays 15...f5 (The N is pinned) 16. gxf5 exf5 17. Qg3 Rf7 18. Rhg1 Bh4 and black wins the N with a completely winning position.  Stockfish gives white a 1% chance after 15. g4?

However, the position after 15. h4 is much better for white since against the same 15..f5 we now have a pawn on g2 so can simply play Qg3 attacking g7 winning.
15 h4 isn't the only good option.  15 Rhf1 is also very good.

Which of these two options would you play?  Any reasons on why one may be practically better than the other would be appreciated.

I know it is impossible to create such good content as here that is always correct and I'd like to thank you for such amazing work but thought you might want to update this video so people don't go down a losing line.  

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Hi @Adam_Musson,

Thanks for spotting this and informing us. This was already commented in the following post:

https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-members/a-small-mistake-in-the-ant-isicilian-2e6-course-materials

but somehow it skipped Avetik's rerecording schedule. 

I added it to his schedule and hopefully we will fix it soon.

Thanks for your collaboration.

Error in Anti-Sicilian 2Nc3 e6 Course Video 10

Hi Guys,

In preparing for an upcoming tournament I was looking through this line as one of my opponents will likely play it and I found an error.  In the video from 7min 22 seconds there is a position that Avetik spends about 20 seconds saying is good for white but the move 15 g4 is a blunder and is losing.

The position is clearly better for white if he plays 15 h4 or 15 Rhf1 but I think I prefer 15 h4.

The point is that g4 means that black can play f5 and the Ne4 is pinned to the Q.  In the 15 h4 case you can play Qg3 threatening g7 so it's still good.

Also, there are a couple of variations that are mentioned that are will be covered in the advanced section and those haven't been added yet.  I'm thinking of the b4 Benko style line in the previous section.  Any plans for releasing these advanced videos soon?  I know you're busy :)
Cheers

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Any idea?

Suppose we are starting with happy pieces/Bishop Pair/Power of Rooks, how to remember al the ideas as we go ahead?

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Hi,

Everyone has their ways, but I, for example, take notes, or make an excel sheet with various middlegame ideas ant try to group them with adding sources where I've seen them to repeat if I forget. Hope that helps.

To add to what Paulius said. In the introduction to classical games the coaches explained what topics are covered. So relating the individual games to these topics might be a good starting point. After some time you will have some games under some topics. You can then try to remember to game/ideas. Or you can revisit all games under one topic.

How to improve technique?

How to improve technique?

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Study, in particular the courses here.

You might need the be a little bit more specific (improve what exactly and your current rating) to get a good answer.

New Website

When is the new website coming out?

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Running the last tests. Fingers crossed!

Caro Line ?

In the Caro Exchange I sometimes  get the following line ;--

e4 c6 : d4 d5 : e/d c/d : Bd3 Nf6 ( played early) : Bf4 and then Qb6 attacking both the d4 and b2 pawns.

OK Qxd4 falls to Bb5+ but this early Nf6 + Qb6  seems to screw up what we are trying to achieve. OK tactics around Nc3 then b5 look good but I'd like to know what others think, as I'm sure others will have seen this as well ? 

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But why 4. Bf4 and not 4. c3

After 4...Nf6 we go c3, otherwise if you move the Bishop to f4 first, in case of ...Bg4 or ...Qb6 as you say, what would you play? We would not be able to get our positions. So, yes, to make it easier: 4...Nc6 or 4...Nf6 we go c3... Happy rating  grow @KEVEN_HOLTON!!!

There is a new video on this set up I believe. 

However, Avetik mentions it will be very rare you face this. Maybe there is some new course with it on something but I have faced it quite regularly myself. I always play c3, and have often faced Qc7 as  response of Bg4, Qb3, then Qc7. 

I normally aim for Ne2 with Bf4 ideas, but will check out the video today.

Grand Prix with Nd4 4...a6 with e5 idea questions

Hello CM!

My friend (about 2000elo) played this line  in his country U18ch and got to this variation after 6...e5. Looks like black is trying to setup kinda botvinnik system like we play vs english. White misplayed the position with Re1 and got outplayed later with black advancing f5.

I dont see this variation in the courses btw (correct me if I'm wrong)

Imo, white has couple of plans: Bc4 with maybe ideas of Ng5 and f4 or smth like Bc4, Nd5 and c3 playing in a more calm ala Spanish type position. But black looks solid and in the long term, I'm bit worried about f5 plan and not breaking that pawn triangle

Also checked in the db, there are only a handful of games with good results for black actually, so it would be interesting to know GM opinion.

Please suggest the plans for this position after 6..e5. Thank you.

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Hi Paulius, 

e5 weakens the diagonal a2-g8 and d5 square. I would go for Bc4-d3. Then decide based on black's moves as well. Sometimes playing through the center and sometimes through kingside as well.

Rapid Match (10+0)

Anyone rated 1850+ rapid on chess.com willing to play matches matches against me? My ELO is 1850.

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At what time?

Modern Maroczy - White Strategic Error?

I have found this position on a game of one of my opponents in the Modern Maroczy line

I believe it is an error on white's side because they are freely trading their good bishop and allowing black to continue with their plans h4,Qh5 etc Also I believe this makes the white knight move on d5 less effective since the possible pawn capture on f7 would not come with check

Am I correct? Is there any better plan than the one with the normal lines?

Thanks!

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 Was there not a model game in the course re Qd2/Be3 and Bh6?

This is a very bad move says Avetik. But do not take my word for it, listen to him in the game Liu X vs Bu X. 2017.

https://chessmood.com/course/modern-maroczy-bind/episode/589

Changing the Dark Squares Bishop (DSB) is always in Black favour since White stays with a bad Light Squares Bishop (LSB).

Happy learning Jordi! I am sure that you will rock in the Catalan League with our Maroczy!

'Tomb' mating pattern

Not sure if this would deserve a section in Mating Matador, since it's a help mate / trap. But I've fallen into this not just once, but twice. Given the king gets entombed, I think it's a good name for it.

  The first time it happened in the attached game, I was low on time and should have easily drawn against the CM, but it was so tempting to threaten the king with back rank troubles, not seeing that White had a quiet move which then the king is stuck in the tomb, and getting mated next. I also missed it a few days later in a blitz game and got snap mated, so it's a very easy trap to fall into - it's an automatic reaction to advance the king as far as possible to keep the other king back.

  The key to the pattern is the two enemy pawns (diagonally offset) supported by their king which also stops the front escape from the tomb (or something else does) and a third (friendly) pawn or blocker stopping the rear escape. The rook cuts off the other side and gives mate (although now the king can't move, anything else which can attack the king also would.

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The website is not allowing me to attach the game so here is the link:

https://lichess.org/sxYzmuEtnrzW