Chess forum by Grandmasters

Dragon with 8. h4

Dragon with 8. h4, is not discussed in the course but I cane across this:

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 { B32 Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon } 5. Be3 Bg7 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Be2 O-O 8. h4 d5 9. exd5 Nxd5 10. Nxc6 bxc6 11. Nxd5 cxd5 12. Bd4 e5 13. Bc5 Re8 14. h5 d4 15. Bb5 Qa5+ 16. b4 { White resigns. } 0-1

 I played black and the 8. h4 move surprised me. I could not see any real threat really so proceed with d5 and it worked out well. He resigned after the mistake 15. Bb5 without playing b4 first

But I am wondering if there is a better answer to this?

Theo

Replies

8.h4?! is not a good move, as there is no real threat and as B now can get his d-pawn from d7 to d5 in 1 move playing 8…d5! (just as you did). This is one of the points of playing the acc. dragon rather than the regular dragon.
9. h5?! is answered with 9…Nxe4 and 9.Nxc6 with 9…bxc6 10.e5 Nd7 (or again 10.h5, Nxe4), or (probably best but still slightly better for Black) 9.exd5 Nxd5 ... as in your game.

Hello Theo,

I have checked the game and up to as you played is the best,

H4 shouldn't really work because white doesn't control the center and starting the flank attack is not on time.  

The central break with d5 as you did looks very strong and that's why winning the game that early is not even surprising.

Scandinavian..2NF6

Hi, I have question

E4 d5

ed nf6

Bb5 Bd7

Bc4 Bg4

F3   Bf5

Nc3 Nd7

G4  Bg6

F4 Be4

I don't see this obvious move covered which looks ok. Is there a good continuation for white?

I was looking at Nf3

Regards

Replies

Hi!

Instead of Bg6 - Nb6! i think is the move best for black, but in my practice, esp blitz people auto go Bg6.

Now after Be4 I think it's not mentioned because we just take Nxe4 Nxe4 and go for example d3 and Be3 staying pawn up, next plan maybe Qf3 and 0-0-0, cheers

Hi Richard, 

In my opinion, Be4 is not dangerous at all. White can take the bishop and continue development with Nf3 - Qe2, pawn up, bishop pair, and space advantage on the kingside looks good enough to me.

Playing Nf3 as you mentioned is also a good option and can be played as well.

Overall after 8...Be4 white is doing better, because of the reasons mentioned above.

Good luck.

d4 sideline with benko gambit

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. e3......i dont know how to react...plz help!! its hard to react..

Replies

You can continue with ...g6/...Bg7/...O-O, Black has a good game :)

This variation is dealt with in the course, section 6, video 37, Rare Moves.

And indeed 3...g6 is recomended

Robert Ris' Beat the Anti-Sicilians

This is being released shortly, and is a repertoire for where Black plays the Sveshnikov, which will be reached via Nc6 (also a more complicated option we can use if the Accelerated Dragon doesn't suit), thus most of the lines will be of interest. In the pdf sample there is the Nc3 Bb5 line, and he's recommending the Chessmood Bd3 line with b3 IIRC.

Might be worth a look for some additional material / alternative lines.

Replies

I checked the PDF sample file and he is proposing 7...g6 for black that was not analyzed here at ChessMood.

against reti opening

Hi GM_Avetik Grigoryan

Is the chessmood team preparing to deal with the opening of Rati?

I had another question, I will send my  chess games pgn  soon

Please advise where is my game problem?

I myself feel that my weakness is in the calculation part
  I do not know how to improve my calculation?
And reduce my mistakes in the game
I will post some of my games soon
If you please, check and guide
  I will be very grateful

Replies

Hello @maknatevaeva_maknatevaeva, did you already have the one on one call with a GM? If not you should do the 1-1 Call with Grandmaster. 

Press the "take your seat" button in the "events page"and have your time with a GM that will advise you

https://chessmood.com/events

When I face the Reti I transpose to the Benoni positions as I use them in my opening repertoire along with the Accelerated Dragon and King's Indian Defence.

Sparring partner

I'm looking for a player (up to 1500 ELO) who would like to just play chess or practice openings and endings without using an engine.  

Replies

I would like that, shall we chat and see where and when we can start this. I am on chess.com and lichess. 

https://www.chess.com/member/theovanstratum
https://lichess.org/@/tvanstratum

DAILY PUZZLE OF 18.01.2022

Dear Chessmood family;

Reference to the daily puzzle, the system is giving an error in case one decided to repeat some moves (before threefold repetition). In this situation, if we just re-play 1. Rf5+, the system gives "wrong"; whereas, you can still go to the winning situation (will not reveal it for the sake of authenticity).

Hence, the system shall have the flexibility of repeating some moves. If the player does a threefold repetition, then it should provide the error :) !

Replies

I think in this situation we should play R:g8,next move K:g8 of course,2.Ke6 not allowed black to come back f7 so Black King must go h8 and White play Kh7.Now Bg7# is unavoidable .If Rf5 we 'll win too but it is longer than R:g8 line to checkmate.So the correct for the 1 st move is R:g8

Solution:

Rxg8 

If ...e5, then Rg7+ , capture the h7 pawn, and move the rook to "e", and capture the pawn and everything will be a a piece of cake. 

If ...Kxg8:

Ke6 Kh8

Kf7 ...

Bg7#

Tactic Ninja Quiz Button

I can't seem to find the Tactic Ninja quiz button that is referred to in video 4 of Section 29 - Epilogue.  Please help!  Thanks

Replies

Exactly,  there has been a slight delay in the implementation of the new page *(with the button for testing this). Avetik explained it in the following video *as Nils pointed out  https://chessmood.com/course/tactic-ninja/episode/3531

https://chessmood.com/course/tactic-ninja/episode/3531

Coach Avetik gives an explanation here (will come with the new website).

Daily puzzle of today - 14.01.2022

Please note that after solving the daily puzzle of today, I come to the idea that if white also promotes his pawn into a rook, the solution is still valid; however, the system states that promoting it into a rook is wrong and rather it should be promoted into a queen to get to the solution.

Please clarify.

Replies

I agree. promoting into a rook would force the queen taking.

Thanks for reporting this. Yes, sometimes the problems may have more than one solution and in this case it seems that it skipped the testing phase. We will add the rook promotion as an alternative. Thank you very much!

Playing against Engines

Hey guys today I asked myself if it would be possible to get stronger by playing aginst a really strong engine. So I wanted to ask you about your opinions and maybe even experiences. I think that it would be frustrating to lose all the time against a strong opponent but if someone would be able to overcome that hurddle he could still learn a lot ideas by analyzing the games and grasping the ideas and strategies the engine used to apply them in your own games. So what do you think about it?

Replies

Re using engine for trainig - I found this quite interesting:

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2021/12/21/ep-258-gm-matthew-sadler

I read that playing against the computer can make you sharp. Before that, i read that computers use tactics a lot, are, poor in making long range plans for the game, and weak in endgames.

Engines are too strong and I doubt you will learn much because they will just find a tactical flaw in almost everything you do.

The best advice I heard was if you want to improve try to play against an opponent who you expect to score 20-40% against.  Rating wise this translates to 100-300 points or so.  This means you score enough wins to keep you motivated and the difference in strength is close enough for you to understand where you're going wrong.   Sometimes it's tactics, sometimes your tactics may be as good as the higher-rated opponent but your strategic understanding could be what's lacking.  You won't get this from an engine as you will be worse everywhere.  You can close the gap and then find another opponent to continue improving.  

Hope that helps

Playing against engines or even thinking about it isn't the right approach for anyone wanting to improve their Chess IMHO. You can watch those games played by them and understand the rationale behind moves, ideas that can be tried out in your own games. You won't be playing against them in any tournaments either except if you are a Kasparov, Magnus or any other top SGM, so there is no point in wasting your time with those thoughts. 

The team at Chessmood have put in enough material to learn from, shared their ideas and given tips to work diligently on various phases of the game and through their streams demonstrate their decision making process too. 

Enjoy the game and have fun learning. 

lesser played openings

I read that  openings that start with moves other than e4, and d4, and sometimes c4, shouldn't be played because they don't win. On black's side, the French Defense, and the Caro Kahn were mentioned in the same vein. e5, and c5 were listed as ok.

Replies

Some strong players hold this view. IM Toth for example has a clear opinion (a little strong, but grounded in how play takes place). Even at GM level all those openings are played and are sound, and only at the top echelon do certain openings which otherwise are respectable get considered tricks only as it's too easy to equalise or difficult to set complicated enough problems. There is a fair bit of fashion thrown in too.

For all of us here, including the GMs, there is no reason to always avoid c4, Nf3, b3, g3, or not play the French and Caro Kann for the reason stated. For White f4 is probably just okay, b4 is tricks only and others are only worth the suprise, transposition or looking to play reverse positions. Probably e4 and d4 as your first move would be better for other reasons, but not because they are the only winning moves.

The only caveat is certain openings and all those above would apply, where it allows the opponent a potential free hand in play or does not challenge them, that a few mistakes or missed opportunities may lead to positions where their opponent is much better or even be strategically lost. This forms part of IM Toth's view, for example in openings which do not immediately challenge the centre may be problematic if the player doesn't counter at the right time, leading to situations where it's hard to pinpoint what went wrong.

What is more important in my view is selecting openings which are sound (all of the mentioned are), ones that don't require more work and memory than you can reasonably put in (which is where IM Toth's view of learning mainlines breaks down for many players), and are suited to your style and level, but also will give you enough experience and exposure. Some experiment and experience may be needed here. I suggest learning the Chessmood repertoire and seeing how that suits you.

Study/Sparring Partner thread error 500

Hi, I am getting an error 500 on the Study/Sparring Partner thread. It is working okay for the rest of you?

Thanks 

Replies

Same here!

I believe this is a known problem.

statement

I read once that you should always play out the first five moved of your opening. If your opponent plays e4, and you decide to play the French Defense, after looking at the first move, e4, you play out the first five moves of the French Defense. this could mean that you lose 10 points, or a significant amount of material by doing so. or end up in a terrible position to continue the game. On the other hand you could win a lot of points, or material, too. Or, even gain a great position. This is what i interpreted the statement to mean. 

Replies

Hello @Christopher_Aach! Welcome to the family! I think that this "statement" makes no sense at all. You should play the moves according to the opponent moves. Transpositions are very frequent, I recommend you to watch "opening priciples" and I am sure that Avetik explanations will make sense to you and you can learn properly how to think about the opening...

https://chessmood.com/course/opening-principles

PD: I realized that you also wrote a review, maybe you already watched it :-) If you finished, then let's start to learn a proper repertoire with: 

https://chessmood.com/course/1-starter-course-winning-with-white

Happy learning my friend!

I think what that advice means is you should be able to play correctly the first few moves of the openings you play, you shouldn't be trying to make it up as you go along (exception if you're a really strong player playing weaker opposition particularly in games that don't matter, but for now don't worry about that).

As you get more experienced at chess you should be able to do that for openings not in your repertoire as you learn how different openings work and review model games for example.

Whether the number is 5 moves (an FM noted that often the first 7 or 8 moves may be difficult to adlib from principles) or another number (certainly depends on the opening and skill) don't worry. So long as you know the main lines of play and why so you can handle deviations that should be enough. It's also not feasible to play every possibility, after the first 3 ply there are maybe around 8000 different sequences and no one plays through all that. In addition, even moves that could possibly be played as sidelines, maybe by weaker or trickster opponents there are going to be too many to look through and learn, so as said try to understand why a move is bad over the board by understanding why the mainline is what it is or general principles. Some moves just 'have a bad smell'. Looking for a trap and trying to understand what the drawback of the move is will serve you well most of the time.

So the advice is:

Learn the ideas and goals of the openings and in general.

Select a repertoire suitable for your style of play and chess level

Study that repertoire by learning the ideas behind the moves, reviewing model games ideally between master strength players

Don't worry too much about memorising initially, except where the move is non-obvious and deemed important or critical

You can practice opening sequences on software such as Chessable, but better would be to play games of reasonable time controls and work with sparring partners. After the game analyse and look for mistakes and compare against the recommended line or moves to avoid.

As mentioned look at the openings 101 course here which is a great introduction, there is also an introduction to some of the White repertoire, then start working through the individual courses.

Learning takes a lot of time and experience, and isn't 'magic' or unrealistic exceptional memory like in the Netflix series Queen's Gambit. Openings are important, but so are tactics and endgame so don't overlook those as many many more games are lost due to missing tactics and blunders than forgetting opening moves/ideas.

Good luck on your chess journey!

What is good alternative to Philidor defense?

When I play as black and white opens pawn e4 , then I move pawn e5, then commonly white will move knight f5

At this point in the game I am not a big fan of black knight to c6 because I try to stay away from that move incase white would counter with bishop to b5 and it kinda jams black up in the advancment of pieces.

The philidor defense seems to passive and feels like you are on steady defense from the very begining.

What would a good opening for black be to study in substitute of the philidor defense based on white's typical opening under these circumstances??

Your feedback is greatly appreciated!!

Replies

With our team, we thought that the most active, tricky, easy to understand and at the same time the solid defence against 1.e4 is the Accelerated Dragon variation of Sicilian defense!

We understood that teaching you this variation would take a very long time from us, but we were okay with that. So we did huge work, researching all the tricks, best games, and made a step-by-step plan how to provide you all these information, to make it easy for you to digest and start to practice.

Check it out: https://chessmood.com/course/sicilian-defence-accelerated-dragon

If you choose to follow the chessmood repertoire, you will raise your ratings drastically. Then, if you find the Philidor passive, I am afraid tha there is no other good way to protect your pawn on e5 after Nf3. Maybe the reason you avoid Nc6 is the big theoretical lines, but this is not the best solution. Maybe you should try the Petroff defence, but if you play with a chessmood pro member, you will again be searching for something new. 

Nc3 Sicilian with 2.. e6 & 3.. Nc3

What is the CM recommendation after: 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. f4 Nc6, with the intention of meeting 4. Bb5 with 4.. Nge7?

I can't seem to find this line in the course.

Replies

In this line I believe that we play 4 Nf3, not Bb5. Is it not?

Hello Yair,

I support idea of @Chessmood_Odysseus. 
We will play with g3. 
If black goes with Qc7 as you mentioned it's still not a great move and we are fine to go to the closed systems.
In line with Nge7 we will continue our regular development. Once black tries g6 to play Bg7 we can play d4!

Blitz games

I read that you can't learn from blitz games. Why do you study blitz games?

Replies

Take a look at this article and you will see why is good:

https://chessmood.com/blog/analyze-blitz-chess-games

And use a time control that allows you to play healthy chess. Just being fast and flagging your opponent in lost positions could be great for the rating but less good for improvement. And loosing winning positions due to time could be hard for ones motivation.

Closed Sicilian when black plays h7-h5

A version I've started encountering lately goes as follows:

1. e4 c5

2. Nc3 e6

3. f4 a6

4. Nf3 Nc6

5. g3 h5

and similarly if we play 4. g3 then 4.. Nc6 5. Bg2 h5

This kind of makes our standard plan with h2-h3 & g3-g4 more difficult or even impossible, and instead black has an annoying possibilty of pushing h5-h4, and often the castle queen's side.

Any CM recommendation here?

Replies

Hello Yair,

H5 move very much weakens black's kingside. We can regularly develop our pieces, castle, and try to play in center, sometimes with d4 and open up position. In that case, the h5 move will be absolutely useless in my opinion.

Modern Maroczy Bind - Nxc6

Hello dear friends,

After e4 c5 Nf3 Nc6 d4 dxc4 Nxd4 g6 Nxc6 bxc6 c4 Nf6 Nc3 d6

or after

After e4 c5 Nf3 Nc6 d4 dxc4 Nxd4 g6 c4 Nf6 Nxc6 bxc6 Nc3 d6

i reach a position which should be somehow equal, sure not hard to play for black, but also i have a feeling it's not hard to play for white also. Is there a recommendation how to handle this position? After the simple Be2 and short castle of white it feels they have no problems at all.

Did someone made some experiences with this type of positions? I did not find sth. in the maroczy courses.

Thank you for your help mates.

Fred

Replies

I'd be happy to get this position because it's both easier to play and objectively better than what we normally get in the (modern) Maroczy. We play moves like Bg7, 0-0, Rb8, Nd7-c5, Qc7 or Qa5 and have nothing to worry about. Due to our pawn on c6, White can never play Nd5, which is otherwise often annoying.

Hello Fred, the upcoming position you have mentioned is equal. According to my analysis, white has a +0,2 advantage. But if you have completed the accellerated dragon and benko gambit you will have any doubts here. The best line is: 8. Be2 Bg7  9. 0-0 Nd7  10. Be3 Rb8 we delay castling a bit  11. Qc2 Nc5  12. Rab1 a5  13. Rfd1 Qc7  14. f4 0-0  15. Bf3 a4! now if white starts exchanging, white's "b" pawn will be hanging. Then we bring the second rook on the "b" file being cautious about white's "f5" ideas at the same time. Anyway, this is a pleasant positiion to play. Hope this helps and correct me if I am wrong somewhere. 

Hi Fred!

I think it's easy to play for black if you know the ideas.

I would say that sometimes depending on the opponent's actions we may try to play d5 in the center.

Or We can try to use the b file and transfer the knight to c5 square playing on the queenside. That would also open up your g7 bishop. If white will reply with b3 one day, with the knight on c5 you may try a5-a4 ideas weakening the opponent's structures. 

Out of my experience, my choice will be the 2nd idea and I would say there is an equal game.

Good luck!

Accelerated Dragon 7.Qd2

Hi Mates,

just a quick question: Will we go after 6.Be3 Nf6 7. Qd2 with Ng4 Nxc6 dxc6 into a somehow weird endgame or will we go for short castle and try to transpose into some other stuff?

For example: 7.. 0-0 8 Nb3 d6..?

Thanks for your opinion :)

Fred

Replies

I also saw that after 7..Ng4 8.Nxc6 most people play bxc6 which runs unfortunately into Bd4 and after e5 Bc5 which is somehow uncomfortable

Exactly, you pointed out very well the problem of 7.Ng4 in your second post. That is why we go 7. Qd2 - ....0-0 Now we castle. In some games I met 8.Bh6? which is a blunder. The normal options are f3 and also 0-0-0. If f3 now we can play d5 getting a full extra tempo compared to the standard Dragon. If 0-0-0 now Ng4 is possible, why? And this is the variation that you should remember:
Now it is not the same since after 9.Nxc6 bxc6 if Bd4 we have Bh6 available! 11.f4 and e5...

Happy hunting @Fred_Erik!

The best games of December, 2021, and the prizes

Hello ChessMood family, hello champions and future champions! 
Welcome to the "Best games of December 2021" competition.
Under this post, we invite you to post the best games that you will play this month. 

The Prize fund is 350K MoodCoins which is equal to 350$.  

The 1st prize  - 150K
The 2nd prize - 100K
The 3rd prize-  50K
The 4th Prize- 30k
The 5th Prize- 20k

Good luck with your games and keep the Right Mood! 
#ChessMood
#Right Mood - Right Move 

P.S
Here are the winners of November:
Vedant Garg
Wenstin
Michael Larsen
Ilja Haitin
Anonymous :) 

Replies

Beautiful game!

https://lichess.org/AO0FMP0N/white

When your opponent transposes into your main line, thinking he is taking you out of book haha!

A beautiful and amazing game

https://lichess.org/rIuXnTOUFYY4

squeezing the opponent until he cracks!

https://lichess.org/NZaTfJB5NSSd

crazy Bd3 french

https://www.chess.com/game/live/32721669471 

https://lichess.org/PHhfKpUuFaks\

My best attacking game with the black pieces

Exchange Sac- Not Satisfied ☹☹☹

Queen Sac- Fully Satisfied $$$$

https://lichess.org/iWGYcPra/white#62

though at move 40 i played Be5 i was actually going to play Bd4 but then opponent showed sportsman spirit. It is because of him/her that i could show this

Pawn storm in antisicilian

https://lichess.org/EQ3hIg6i/white#1

queen geometry in antisicilian

https://lichess.org/JmaldIJw/white#34

Pirc turned into antisicilian grand prix attack

https://lichess.org/8dnfYZ4g/white#17

CM positional alekhine 

https://lichess.org/hqCpaF8i/white#0

Slp with knight and rook mating net

https://lichess.org/CJS7PMiRV8F3

Benko

https://lichess.org/izEIMbv3qs4i

https://tornelo.com/chess/orgs/penang-chess-association/events/penang-closed-online-chess-tournament-2021/divisions/penang-closed/rounds/5/pairings/5

After 13...Ne5 my initial plan was to put the bishop on d5, but I found out that Qe7 works because the Bishop takes the knight d5 square. If Ba2 there is c4. I know I need to react fast here and I found Bh6!?. My plan is that black cannot play the queen to c7 or e7 due to Nd5. Rg8 I can meet with Bxg7 and Rxg7 and black f6 pawn is weak and King cannot castle. So the critical line is Bxh6 Qxh6 Nxc4 but I have Qg7  Rf8 and Nd5 Bxe6 and Rxf6 and white wins. 

[Event "Penang Closed Online Chess Tournament 2"]

[Site "Malaysia"]

[Date "2021.12.11"]

[Round "5.5"]

[White "Shan Wen, Tin"]

[Black "Chong Kai Ni, Agnes"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "B23"]

[WhiteElo "1771"]

[BlackElo "1559"]

[PlyCount "59"]

[EventDate "2021.??.??"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Nf3 g6 5. Bc4 Bg7 6. O-O e6 7. d4 Nxd4 8. Be3

Nxf3+ 9. Qxf3 a6 10. a4 Ne7 11. f5 f6 12. fxe6 Nc6 13. Qh3 Ne5 14. Bh6 Bf8 15.

Nd5 Be7 16. Bg7 Rg8 17. Qxh7 Bxe6 18. Nc7+ Qxc7 19. Bxe6 Rxg7 20. Qxg7 c4 21.

Qh8+ Bf8 22. Qxf6 Qe7 23. Qh8 b6 24. Rf2 Nd7 25. Bxd7+ Kxd7 26. Raf1 Qxe4 27.

Rf7+ Kc6 28. Rxf8 Qe3+ 29. Kh1 Rxf8 30. Qxf8 {Black Resigned} 1-0

https://lichess.org/AgmT6qKe/white

win vs GM in OTB rapid 10+5 kinda with chessmood pirc ideas learned

https://lichess.org/CnzEUXII               

strong 2N+2R!

https://lichess.org/Mc7yc2r5/black#80

Play like Mikhail Tal

https://lichess.org/z1ZH31VPqOYW

https://tornelo.com/chess/orgs/penang-chess-association/events/penang-closed-online-chess-tournament-2021/divisions/penang-closed/rounds/4/pairings/8

Sicilian Endgame: The power of pass pawn

my second queen sac this month

https://lichess.org/UXZquiatCkUK

https://www.chess.com/game/live/33381827371

https://lichess.org/CeVQqRSsq56z

Crush the Caro-kann

https://lichess.org/CwTcfAYVPv2Q

my third queen sac this month. this time otb

A game that shows the example of what happens to an opponent when you know your opening and then continually apply pressure... they eventually crack!

Hey! This is my first try to post something here.

I knew nothing about the openning.

Knight sac!!

https://lichess.org/YPBwRrke/white

 nice game

https://www.chess.com/game/live/33923975615

https://lichess.org/Ss6zr1tV#0

play london system and trick 2400++ rated player 
fantastic game !

Another busted Stafford Gambit with a pawn sac on a2 from Black that did not work. Bd2 should be played before h3 on move 6, but it transposed anyway. It is nice to see how the Stafford gambit players know that they are going down (and they know it) once you play c3, Bd2, h3 and c3... If we could see their faces... ;-) The only mistake according to Stockfish was not playing d4, but I played e5 with the hope that they would take on a2 trapping the bishop... We will need to add a swindle mode to Stockfish....

Hi

https://lichess.org/H788Mte3/white#33 

A model game in a Vienna!

I liked 12.Bg5! which although the engine is not a fan of but it is practically difficult to play and mistakes follow and I won!  

Good Game

https://www.chess.com/game/live/34094423707

Amazing Game!
https://www.chess.com/game/live/34100490907

Got a Brilliant from chess.com

A nice win !!

https://lichess.org/nrb4rnUjMyhS

Nice Game

https://www.chess.com/game/live/34268996711

A nice win 

https://lichess.org/lGcmzIEGvlwW

Sicilian Grand Prix Attack and mate !

https://lichess.org/eNLYOKONOJLZ

https://lichess.org/0OM7u2cn#31

perfect game!!

https://lichess.org/a7Dg6pGn/black

was going to the best game of my life but I just blunder the game away due to time shortage
but still, a pretty good game, not gonna lie

queen sacrifice in the opening, and then again a piece sacrifice  to open up the king and got a Brilliant from chess.com  and many more things

https://www.chess.com/game/live/34617001725

king side attack!!!

https://lichess.org/RahgG5E5/white#0

Not perfect and pretty low level, but i was proud of the nice mate my opponent allowed.

Colorado Gambit

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/34704594491?tab=analysis 

Here is my final game at the North American Open. 

[Event "2021 North American Open"]

[Site "?"]

[Date "2021.12.30"]

[Round "9"]

[White "Garrison, Jay"]

[Black "Fajerdo, David"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "B23"]

[BlackElo "1871"]

[PlyCount "53"]

[EventDate "2021.??.??"]

[SourceVersionDate "2021.12.30"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nf3 Nxb5 5. Nxb5 g6 6. d4 Bg7 7. dxc5 Qa5+ 8.

Nc3 Qxc5 9. O-O Nf6 10. Be3 Qa5 11. Qd2 h6 12. h3 Qd8 13. Rad1 g5 14. e5 Nh7

15. e6 fxe6 16. Nd4 d6 17. f4 gxf4 18. Bxf4 e5 19. Bxh6 Bxh6 20. Qxh6 exd4 21.

Nd5 Rf8 22. Qg6+ Kd7 23. Qxh7 Kc6 24. Nxe7+ Kb6 25. Nd5+ Kc5 26. Qc7+ Kxd5 27.

c4+ 1-0

Beautiful attack!!

https://lichess.org/2SPwKIbTj2oL

Do you have a win award with a higher rating difference? I'm a already a candidate! December and January:
https://lichess.org/sek7TZGP9f3r

https://lichess.org/rHYj1yxt8MbB

One of my personal favorite game!

https://lichess.org/Wtczrm8D/white

With a amazing rook sacrifice and kingside attack 

Hello ChessMood family!

Wish you all a very happy New Year!

It was a pleasure to go through your games! Keep up the good work! Moving on, here is the list of prize winners for December 2021...

The first prize goes to Jay Garrison for his creative attacking play in the Anti-Sicilian 2.Nc3 Nc6. Find the game here https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/the-best-games-of-december-2021-and-the-prizes?page=3

The second prize goes to Wenstin for this beautiful attack on the opponent's King stuck in the center! https://lichess.org/0OM7u2cn

The third prize goes to Vladimir Bugayev for punishing early Queen moves in this game.https://lichess.org/JmaldIJw/white#33

Khokan De takes 4th place for the pretty finish with a Queen sacrifice. You can find the game here https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/the-best-games-of-december-2021-and-the-prizes?page=2

Aayush Shirodkar takes the 5th prize for this 20-move miniature with a nice finish. https://www.chess.com/game/live/34100490907

Congratulations to all of you, and thanks once again for sharing your games :) 

Keep the right mood and crush your goals in 2022! Looking forward to seeing you all grow this year.

Enjoy!