Chess forum by Grandmasters

Please help!!

I have invited 3 people and all of them signed up but still I haven't got any moodcoins please help

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Hello @Fan_of_Football I just checked your account data and the moodcoins were transferred to your account for the last 3 users  from 20.08.2021 and then there was another user registered with your referral on 04.09.2021. 4 users in total. I verified that the moodcoins were transferred correctly, they were before and also now in your account. Please check your notifications, I am sure that you had the message sent. Your moodcoins balance is correct.

Thanks and keep working on your chess! 

New Event Idea - Interest for ChessMood Openings only Themed tournament?

I'm trying to learn and practice the openings from ChessMood but am finding it hard to get training games. Would you consider running a tournament where users have to play only ChessMood Openings?

If there is interest please comment! 

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I would definitely support this - the lack of practice in some games are the biggest issue - I've looked at the openings recommended against d4, but at my level d4 doesn't seem that common so I've struggled to get much practice in the games and really struggle due to a lack of familiarity with the middlegame positions. I lose a lot of games against uncommon openings because I'm just not use to the positions that result from them.

It'd also be good to get some opportunity to playing against the openings.

Hi Vishnu, such kind of tournaments took already place (closed tournament on specific openings at the beginning and then some tournaments with "black starts with ... e7-e5" (starting with e2-e4 with reversed colours). At the moment the closed tournaments (arenas) are meant to train your sills with certain pieces. Although the benefit is much higher if one had participated in the tournament it still makes a lot of sense to watch the webinars of our coaches in which they give feedback on the tournaments. You find these webinar in the event's list. And I have posted as an example the links to the webinars on the Anti-Sicilian here:

https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-members/for-new-pro-members-opening-repertoire-webinars-tournament-coverages

NEW ARTICLE: How to Improve the Quality of Your Chess Training

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Very helpful article. Thanks for writing it!

But it fails to answer the main question. With distractions out of the way, what are the causes of loss of concentration? If it was just as simple as keep at it (this isn't just a chess problem either)...

Can I offer:
Wrong difficulty of material
Poor material (e.g. badly explained, alternative reasonable moves not considered)
Boring and/or repetitive
Too often need to work out what is the next thing to do, or need to think about the process rather than do it
Situation novelty vs knowing what to do and being organised to do it already
Over-training (including marathon sessions vs regular)
Too much of one task (including wrong mix of playing vs study)
Insufficient breaks, or relaxation
Not attending to all the other things in life that are nagging you
Poor fitness and diet
Sleep hygiene or other factors tiring oneself (such as a day of work, family, ...)
Long time before any payoff that can make one excited about more training
Plateaus or even dips
Lack of others to share with, or compete against

In 2019 after many years without playing I lost 218 FIDE rating points so I left the game and now I have a nice time solving studies. :))

Thank you very much for a golden piece of advice.

I really like your article !

This information is really helpful to us keep it up. After reading this article I decided to work with dedication and also concentration with some punishments for my blunders. Like analising the game and if I defete by others in a game i will find  my mistake what is that move where I move wrong and also what is the right move. 

Coming to the article it is very easy for reading and understanding the meaning of words I like the quotation of sun Tsu which is related to battle. Keep going I am with you. 

Thank you brother of my chess mood family

Very helpful coach I will stop all distractions and when i have to calculate i will push. p.s. I will do squats for you!

Yes. Yes. Yes.

And I had to think of a book I read some time ago: "Deep Work" by Cal Newport. 

One thing to add:

Even if you do not focus too much on "improvement" in a sense of having better results in practical chess (or to use Coach Gabuzyan's word: not the highest worrier spirit) - creating circumstances for concentrated/deep work on chess will very likely be rewarded with mental enjoyment (aha effect/momentum). 

The Key to Speed up Your Growth in Chess

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This is a great blog post. I agree we need to challenge ourselves. I think this site is full of things that will help challenge me. Its worth noting that the admins of the site are grandmasters who climbed the mountains of chess before the age of 20. Many of the members here are over 30 and still at the lower levels. Ive often wondered what it takes for older players to succeed. There once was a forum post at chess.com where people looked for someone who had become a master after learning chess after 20. They found almost no one, not a single example. It might be interesting to examine that topic in a future blog post. Again thanks for the post Gab.

Hi! It's a good topic but how can I understand which are my weaknesses in order to know in which part of chess I must do more difficult things to improve? I am a 1600-1700 ELO player from about 5 years and I play chess every day but I don't see improvements from a long time and I'm tired of it.

Thank you for a completely new concept! I am in the trap of solving already familiar puzzles that really are not helpful. Will try the puzzles and see...they do seem way above my capability.

Time for me to restart the puzzle book that was a bit over my head =)

Short and sweet. Just one thing to add:

I (unwillingly) left my comfort zone when I tried to solve the first exercise in “Mastering Chess Middlegames: Lectures from the All-Russian School of Grandmasters” by Alexander Panchenko. Going through the first chapter on the attack was very interesting and I had no problems following the illustrative examples. But then came the first exercise. After 20 minutes I still felt that I did not got it right and checking the solution confirmed that.

But what I want to add is that with dealing with problems out of your comfort zone not only comes growth. 

Typically you will see new ideas or more sides of the beauty of chess. Seeing and understanding the solution of the exercise was really an aesthetic/mental enjoyment and a great reward for leaving the comfort zone.  

Anti-Sicilian Part 1. 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Nf3 a6!?

Anti-Sicilian Part 1 2...d6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Nf3 a6 

My student encountered this in a tournament game and I didn't know how to answer his question of the best way to play this as White. There are only 4/5 games I found in Mega-Database with this variation. Could someone please advise on the best way to play this variation. Is the suggestion the same as the 2...a6 variation to place 5. g3 followed by 6. Bg2? 

Thank you. 

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Fix the notation.

Hi Vishnu,

I think if white chooses a regular setup with g3 it's a good choice. Black's setup is slow as they are mixing ideas of different moves and white can have a healthy play in a center and kingside.

Caro Kahn Main line Qc8 Line...Missing Variation From Course?

In the Course , Main Line Qc8, Move 17 Avetik explains that after BxNg5, BxBg5 there is a white pawn push, g4.

However , he doesn't explain what happens after black plays strong f6, and threatens e5 next.

Any input/ideas anyone??

Thanks in advance

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That is about 2:55 min into the video course, Qc8

I am adding a screenshot of the position, this way everyone will see the position that you are talking about and be able to comment. It was at min 2:30. I almost did not find it.

I do not think that this variation that you say is good at all for Black since the black knight has no space. 

After f6 in the position posted by Odysseus, we just retreat the Bishop to e3 as usual. Then if e5 is played as you say, we go g4 as Avetik says in the video, protecting our Queen and attacking the knight. The knight has to go to f4. where after BxN exf4 and Qf3, menacing e5 and f4. I would say that we are in pretty good shape. We will take the f4 pawn after Qd7 and play against the isolated pawn on e5... h3 will cement our position later on....

Hi Ovi,

F6 would be a nice move if there is no knight on h5 square. Here white can go Be3 and prepare g4. Otherwise, idea you mentioned would be a nice one.

Where to study rook endgames?

Guys....where do I study rook endgames? Someone please help me out with some resources(some books or some courses by someone and etc)

Thank you.

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What level/rating?

Hi Sheersonno,

My advice would be to do the following.
1. Make sure you know all the Rook Endgame lessons on ChessMood lectures
2. Go through the Rook ENdgames sections of 100 Endgames you Must Know by Jesus De La Villa

Then either study Secrets of Rook Endgames by John Nunn - Excellent book or get A Practical Guide to Rook Endgames by Nicolay Minev and Yasser Seirawan.  Kasparov once said this was his favourite book.

After that I'd study some classical rook endgames in simple positions.  For example where you have R +3 versus R+3 on the K side and an extra pawn on the Q side or R + 4 versus R and 3 on the K side and learn how the GMs played these positions.  There are lots of good examples.  When you find good ones add them to your Rook Endgame database for review later.

Then study some more complex Rook endgames.  Create a Rook Endgame database and add the games for you to review.  For example, some of the ones in my database to get you started include:
1. Gurgenidze - Radev Tblisi 1971

2. Karpov - Hort Waddinxveen 1979

3. Polugaevsky - Evans Siegen 1970  (active defense)

4. Zhidkov - Razuvaev USSR 1971 (mating threats)

5. Estrin-Pytel Albena 1973 (competing sets of passed pawns)

6.Ivanov-Bonchev Bulgaria 1974 (complicated by opponents strong pawn)

And I haven't even mentioned the many nice rook endgames of Rubinstein, Capablanca and Alekhine that are very much worth a study.

Hope that helps.  And good luck.

You can study every endgame if you are willing to buy books by using dvoretskys endgame manual and others and if you have a account in chess.com go to lessons and then search rook endgames if you have a lichess account then there are a lot of studies on rook endgames also you can use engine to study too

Carlsen in the World Cup - why?

I think Carlsen shold not be allowed to play here, anybody know why he is allowed?

I guess the two top players will qualify for the next Candidate Tournament - so Magnus is desturbing it for players in his half of the participants. And he is already secured a place in case he loses to Match against Jan N.

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@Erik_Jarlnaes

I completely agree with you, Carlsen definitely should not have been allowed to play in a World Cup where his qualification spot is already guaranteed. I feel especially sorry for fellow Norwegian Aryan Tari whom Carlsen knocked out, Tari was showing some nice fresh ideas up until then with a particularly interesting novelty in a topical line of the English Opening. I think Tari has every right to feel bitter, indeed all of Carlsen's opponents do.

It seems to me professional chess is constructed very illogically.  

Scandinavian

2 questions. First: Is it better to win one officer than to win one quality?

In variation 34, 9-c5 (1.49 into video) 10.Nxd7 Qxd7 white plays Qd1 to win blacks Night on h5. But he could also play 11.Bb5 axb5 12.Qxa8 Bd8 13.Qa7 escaping. But this is my question!

Also in variation 24 (00.38 into video) black plays Qa5+, Nc3 then why not Ne4? Is it because of white playing 0-0? and if -Nxc3 then what? bxc3 givng a pawn? or...? 

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2.Nf3 in Benoni

I play Modern Benoni but when someone plays 2.Nf3 I get confused. Can you tell GM Avetik sir how to meet 2.Nf3 in the spirit of Modern Benoni? 

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Start with 2...g6.

Also 2...e6 is a good reply, depending on the rest of your repertoire of course...

You can play Spielmann-Indian (1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5). Chessable has a complete course:

Huy's Original Repertoire: Spielmann-Indian by BanhGiaHuy.

The mainline is 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 c5 3.d5 b5.

 
Another possibility is 2…g6. If white plays 3.c4 then you can go for Maroczy Bind or Delayed Benoni.

There is a Gabuzyan example here: https://www.chessbomb.com/arena/2021-avagyan-memorial/09-Paravyan_David-Gabuzyan_Hovhannes

There are some comments about that game here: https://www.chesspublishing.com/content/9/index.htm (King’s Indian Update September 2021)

I also play Modern Benoni and answer 2.Nf3 with c5.

1) In case that white plays 3.d5 then I play 3…e6 and in most cases the game will continue with 4.c4 d6 5.Nc3 exd5 6.cxd5

2) If white plays the popular 3.c3 then I play 3…cxd4. After 4.cxd4 I continue with g6, Bg7, 0-0,

a6, b5, d6 and Nbd7. I have great success with this setup.

 3) If white plays 3.e3 then I continue with g6, Bg7 and 0-0. If white then plays plays c4 (e3, d4, c4 setup) then a good version of reversed Tarrasch (black plays cxd4 after castling and d5 if white plays exd4) is possible (more about that in Chessmood’s English course, section 6).

A good delayed Benoni (white plays d4-d5 but wastes a tempo if he plays e3-e4) is also possible.

If white continues with with c3 after 3.e3 then I play double fianchetto.

A thought

I was just thinking like Chessmood is doing so wonderful job for us but they can also add one more new thing in their stream. It's about thought process. We share our best games in Best Month Forums. That's good but I was also thinking that if we also share our thoughts with some texts and then send games in Best Games Forums then it will be easier for Judges to understand our weaknesses in thought process and they can make a webinar based on common mistakes by players. 

Mistakes can be in :

Openings.

Converting an advantage

Time trouble addicted

Tactical issue 

Strategic wrong or right trafes.

and there may be a lot more info. With this coaches can help all players to grow with 20x speed. Because 10x is already happening due to courses but for 20x even webinar like this can change a lot player's life!

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I do not want to bloviate by adding too much things in my post. But I hope Coaches understand this and may be it's cool idea. No other websites doing this . And for that one should post their games with some comments. 

Anyone interested in this new idea!

How to pronounce Tsaghkadzor?

Recently chess mood announced the OTB tournament in Tsaghkadzor city. I am not able to find proper pronunciation. Can Anyone help?

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It is not so easy, but I will assume that you are familiar with the international phonetics nomenclatures>

In Armenian is written>
 

Ծաղկաձոր

 This is the pronunciation with all the phonemes separated for an easy understanding, they are written twice based on the classical phonemes and the western ones> I hope that this will help you...
 

/dz/      /ɑ/       /ɫ/        /k/          /ɑ/             /dz/           /o/        /ɾ/

/ts/       /ɑ/       /ʁ/       /ɡ/         /ɑ/           /tsʰ/           /o/       /ɹ/

By the way, Tsaghkadzor literally means valley of flowers in Armenian

Oh! I see that you are participating in the open! Nice! You will get the pronunciation right for sure if you ask the locals!!!

Have a good tournament in Tsaghkadzor!!!! @nikhil_dixit

Lots of strong players will participate!!

https://chess-results.com/tnr577652.aspx?lan=11&art=0

GMs check best games of month?

I am curious to know who check best games of month? The reason I asked this is because one of my teammate crushed an IM in a national event and the checkers did not even liked his game. His game was full of quality. 

Let me show his game.

https://tornelo.com/chess/orgs/indian-chess-fed/events/a5b9bdaa-d44b-4f13-8be3-8a6fc7c4457d/games/47b70d18-ed27-4c47-a3fd-a34bd1131437

He crushed a leading expert of caro. IM was so shocked when my teammate blitz out opening till move 17. It was cm line and some analysis later by him also .

Note: I am not saying he should get prize. But if a 1600 fide is crushing 2400 then atleast he deserve a like from cm mentors as appreciation. 

Thanks.

This was the event link

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It's opaque I agree. Would be useful to publish the criteria or open it up to a larger audience, maybe as part of an event as I've already suggested. Otherwise when available time gets tight does judging suffer, who would know?

My Games for checking

Hello sir,

I am attaching three of my games with annotations right after the game below.

[There was no engine help.]

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=WthirQJPFEQOD7DgJP3N3yP3/iezhli+gu5wJfMzpassI6P8+Q+wkOzxpTVTTTNN

It would be very helpful if you could go through the games and tell me where I could improve.

Thank you in advance.

With Regards

J.Pragkya

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Refused play at chess.com 10 min tourney Mon 060921

Today (Mon 060921) I tried to join chess.com 10 min tourney, but was refused to play stating too few games.

This has happened to me previously & I think I played a couple more 10 minute games, but obviously still not enough to count as a bona fide Chess Mood club tourney playing member.

So, can someone please tell me exactly how many 10 minute games I need to play to be able to join the Chess Mood 10 min chess.com tourneys?

Are there Chess Mood club rules somewhere that state tourney play rules?

On my last refusal to this tourney, I mentioned this in a post here that this had never happened before to me & I played several of these tourneys. I was told it is a new rule in place to try & ensure serious or verified players play here, but it is annoying for me as it has stopped me playing with members & very sad that online play is beset with cheaters & time wasters, that these types of rules have to be made. Thank you

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I had a different problem. After playing Round 1, my game for Round 2 wouldn't start, and for some reason the connection bar had one red, so pressed f5 and apparently I had been given a 0 point bye because I was detected as offline. I was so annoyed I withdrew.

In retrospect, opening another chess.com window may or may not have had something to do with it, but it's very frustrating as I was most certainly not offline.

Hi Richard!

The minimum game issue is a chess.com requirement, not a ChessMood requirement. I believe the number of games needed is 10, but I havent checked in a while, as I stopped playing on chess.com regularly. 

I hope this helps! 

Good luck in your games!

GM Jay

@ Chess Mood Team: 

Is there a reason why not all tournaments are held at lichess?

I am asking because a terminated my chess.com account because I found the amount of adds extremely annoying.

The honest answer is, I don't know. But even with Chessmood tourneys at Lichess they have the minimum games thing (if I recall correctly, it's with games overall), so it makes sense they have something like that with Chess.com too. 

This kind of thing is experience too for both of us, so I guess it helps us grow (in different ways to chess). 

Hey, everyone! 
As was mentioned, the minimum games requirement is not ours :) 
It's decided by playing platforms. 

Anyway, from next week we'll cancel these tournaments temporarily, keeping weekly Sat. closed tournaments for only PRO Members. 

#CoGro!
#RightMood_RightMove 

Chessmood events especially tournaments

It seems the current events need a little bit of attention. It's very well looking forward to all the new things which are coming (we are of course), but there is a lot to be said for ensuring the current features are being maintained well so interest doesn't wane.

First the Saturday theme tournament is now just a default tournament 'play first as Black'. This is getting a bit long in the tooth and without a GM playing there is little incentive to play this yet again - after all we can get hundreds of games (just with the right colours) whenever we like already. A few of the regulars are now not showing up (or their partners dragging them off to the garden centre where they will never be heard from again - at least until the credit card comes out to buy all the new things :-).

There are at least 2 or 3 good opening candidates for theme tournaments - the petroff (but given 2-3 weeks notice as it's a big course) and anti-sicilian 2nd moves - particularly 2. f4 which is very common at around the 1800 and below level, as well as 2. b4 would probably be deserving. If the Jobava course was tidied a bit (the main suggestion we came to the conclusion in the furm was perhaps not so good for Black) that would also be a good one. By completing these tournaments it means we get webinars which are very good not only to check our own knowledge, but sometimes to fill in gaps in the course and also as a quick opening summary which can be used to prepare games. In addition, I don't think it's so bad to do some repeats now, maybe starting from certain sub variations on the bigger courses. Similarly there are also plenty of starting positions that could be tried - the material difference ones were quite instructive.

Today since I had time, I entered the prize tournament. There were just 3 players, one left and it was canceled. It's unclear from the event time that this is the registration time, not the actual event time. Given there is also an event on Wednesday, is this too much for a single time slot and so dividing interest?

Most events happen at 3pm UTC, perhaps it should be looked to vary this a little bit, particularly tournaments (depending on the membership). 3pm UTC is still work hours for GMT/BST timezone and also probably for much of Europe. While this suits Eastern Europe, India and a few parts of Asia/Africa, it's not good for further East or the Americas. Perhaps there should be some attempt to have events in those zones. Although at this time it might not be possible to get a resident master who is available in those hours, certainly tournaments that run themselves once set up could be considered assuming the membership is big enough now.

The other things is the usual whine about timely promotion and ensuring events (especially those that need preparation) in the calendar early enough. This Saturday's event appeared Saturday which although didn't need prep is far too late. An oversight maybe, but it's a regular occurrence.

In addition instructions (particular for the simuls or player the GM) need updating and making sure the right server is mentioned, this was causing problems and frustrations a few weeks ago.

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I would also be very happy if there were classical closed tournaments on specific opening or endgame themes followed by a webinar again.

I did play some black starts with 1. e5 games (even one against Coach Gabuzyan). But it turned out that playing with reversed colours was not that hard for my brain/memory. So it is more or less a standard 5+3 game. However, playing against other PRO Members easily lead to one line in the Sicilian and was a bit boring. So I decided to play my old repertoire - Smith Morra and Petroff). 

Regarding an early announcement - the ChessMood team knows my views on that :-)

@Chessmood_Odysseus

Is there any news on the structure of the future events?

Will we have closed tournament/webinar as follow-up again?

And if so - please announce the topics and dates a good time in advance.

Today (Wednesday) there is no webinar nor a closed tournament in the event's list.

The issue of downloading chess books

How do we know whether downloading a chess book (.pdf) is legal or not?

This is a sensitive topic because I want to order a book but it's out of print. And the price at amazon is pretty high...

But if I search the book on Google I can find it pretty easily as a .pdf file.

In the past I've emailed publishers to ask about this, but they do not always answer.

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In general assume it's not legal except for very old books.

Whether that is fair given publishers reluctance to produce online copies, or allow books to go out of print, and extortionists charging many times the cover price on Amazon is another matter.

Freely downloading books is likely illegal, but no one will pursue you for it. Students around the globe probably download thousands of dollars' worth of books every year due to unreasonable costs. Researchers sometimes download papers in shady ways too for basically the same reason. Despite it being technically illegal, it has turned general practice, really. 

I download a hell lot of books whatever i want in pdf files. I have never had any  problem.

Caro-Kann - Bg4 & Qc8 line - the Qb5 novelty

In the line with 6.. Bg4 7. Qb3 Qc8, when black plays 10.. Bh5, delaying castling, we have the novelty of 13. Qb5. Since the queen is anyway going to d3, why not via c2 as usual instead? What's the added value of taking the b5 route?

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as I remember, in that way we don't let black b5 counterplay

In the game 13.. a6 14. Qd3 b5 15. Ng5 b4 - the move 16. c4 is played. The game continues 16... dxc4? 17. Nxc4 18. Qd8?? and we see the Rxe6 tactic winning.

Instead of 16... dxc4, 16... a5 with the idea of playing Qa6 to swap queens is about equal.

Perhaps 16. Rc1 should be considered instead, the idea being if a5 then cxb4 and pinning Nc6, with ideas of Ndf3 and Ne5, with also forks if Nxf7 and Rxc6 are allowed. The a2 pawn can be ignored.

Opening study

Sir,

Can you please recommend a good way to study chess opening book { For example the book which I have , A Strategic opening repertoire for White by IM John Watson.} ?

Thank you in advance

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Personally, I would not study an opening from a book. There are much better online resources nowadays.

Othewise you need to start with the basic ideas and setups. Then you should find master games to see how they play. Them you should play some training games to see if the opening suits your style.

And finally if all goes well, you should study the opening in detail.

You should read " Chess Openings" by Mike Basman.  A well-written, instructive book, targeted to the beginner-novice, focusing on the application of opening PRINCIPLES and techniques.  Does a better than average job explaining not only HOW to play the opening, but WHY moves are made.  Features tutorial overview chapters on the following openings: Giuoco Piano, Sicilian Dragon, Queen's Gambit, Nimzo-Indian Defence, and Morra Gambit.  This would be a good supplement-companion to John Emms' "Discovering Chess Openings..." (above).  See also "Chess Openings for Juniors" and "Winning In The Opening", both by J.N. (John) Walker.

Best Website

This is the best website I have ever seen

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We are happy that you like it! Thanks!!