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Chess forum by Grandmasters
The Scotch Game - The Beginners Mind - Part 01
I decided to start this short series after watching one of the ChessMood streams and observing that in game after game the 1200 - 1700 level players kept choosing 4...Nxd4 against the Scotch, and I asked myself what was the attraction to this move at that level . I came to the conclusion after watching the games that it could be one of three things or some combination of these:
· To avoid getting double pawns
· To draw the White Queen to the Centre in order to attack it
· With no idea at all other than to exchange a piece and see what happens
Let's consider the above motivations one by one:
Avoiding unnecessary doubled pawns: All things being equal it is generally good strategy in the opening. Here it does lose a bit of time in an open position but it does achieve the goal of drawing the queen to the centre where it is vulnerable to attack and most of us are taught as beginners not to develop the Queen too early in the game as it can be chased around by our opponent. Books will tell you develop your minor pieces first, get castled quickly etc. which is fine. Ponder the following and tell me your thoughts, in the position being under consideration is avoiding doubled pawns and luring the opponents Queen to the Middle more important or equal to developing another minor piece instead.
Drawing the Queen to the centre: A question to ask ourselves after 5.Qxd4 is, is the White Queen really so badly placed in the Centre and if so can we favorably exploit it, if yes then 4...Nxd4 was a sound decision if not then avoiding the doubled pawns and losing time may not have been worth it. Now in the games I saw all the 1200 - 1700 players immediately or soon after lunged at the Queen with c5 which is well intentioned, after all you are attacking the opponents strongest piece with your weakest one so what could be more logical than that. In fact c5 is a very bad idea in this position, the reason is this, pawns do not move backwards and after White moves his queen you have not improved your development or position but rather permanently weakened your d5 square for free and left the backward d6 pawn forever weak as it is unlikely that White will ever allow you to play d5 in the future. Chances are you will lose such positions against a strong opponent 99% of the time without a fight and that's a good thing, so long as you learn from the experience and use that gained knowledge to exploit similar mistakes by future opponents. The take away here is you don't have to lose a piece or a pawn to have a lost position or conversely you don't have to be a piece or pawn up to have a winning one.
With no idea at all other than to exchange a piece: This is the worse sin that a 1200 - 1700 can commit in chess, that is to make a move or to exchange something with no idea whatsoever in mind, it is much better to have a bad idea in chess than no idea. No idea = No improvement or to be clear you will never improve, bad ideas can be corrected no ideas cannot. Drifting from move to move hoping something will turn up, or your opponent will leave something hanging for you to grab will leave you stuck at the same playing level forever, avoid such a scenario at all cost.
In part two we will explore the position after 4...Nxd4 a bit more. The following position was taken from one of the streams and I would love to hear your thoughts on it, in particular what would you play on move seven for White and why. Till next time ChessMood Family, stay safe and be well:
See Part 2 Here: https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/the-scotch-game-the-beginners-mind-part-02
Replies
Well as you already explained everything so well about Nxd4 so I have no words to include in it. Well done!
In case of plans after d6. I have one decent plan which I love to play. It is to play Bd2- 0-0-0 and then f3-g4-h4 or f4-Rg1-g4 for attacking. Another approach is positional to play against the pwn on d6 and use d5 square as an amazing outpost. That's the two plans I always chose to play against this setup
Kevin, what a great job you're doing!
I am still not sure that you are not a secret Grandmaster :)
If so, please message me privately, I'll keep your secret and offer you to join us in our ChessMood Blog :)
Anyway, thank you very-very much for sharing all these value with others!
My first thoughts on this position is to gain firm control of the d5 square. I believe the best way to do this is by 7. Bb5+ Bd7 8. Bxd7+ Qxd7 9. Nc3 and d5 is mine. My plan going forward would consist of Queen somewhere, Bf4 and O-O-O to put pressure on d6.
I rarely see this move online at 2000 level but whenever I faced it I almost won all time and if I lost then it's by my own mistake. Take a look at this game I played in the morning and he was crushed positional and also in tactical way. I know coach suggested to play 3-2 but I play 3-0 only to see my openings prep not middlegame and endgames. because I am not master yet in openings so my first priority is openings and tactics and after that I love to study middlegames.
https://lichess.org/MrbgCXWeB9HR
@Kevin_D yeah I know that a6 s to control the b5 and if direct e5 then Bb5 is deadly positional move. I studied the basics of Najdorf 2 years ago. I am not a big fan of this opening because I do not think my tactics and calculation can handle this super sharp opening so I love accelerated dragon because I seriously love to place my bishop on g7!
The Best Games of June and the Prizes
Hello ChessMood family, hello champions and future champions!
Welcome to the best games of the June contest.
Under this post, we invite you to post your best games that you will play in June.
The Prize fund is 450K Moodcoins which is equal to 450$.
The 1st prize - 150K
The 2nd prize - 100K
The 3rd prize- 50K
The 4th Prize- 30k
The 5th Prize- 20k
#blacklifematters
This month there will be a new Prize for the best game played by Black pieces! :)
The winner will get 100K!
Good luck with your games and keep the Right Mood!
#ChessMood
#Right Mood - Right Move
P.S
Here are the winners of May:
1st place - Hayk Khachikyan
2nd place- Arman Shahzamani
3rd place - Abhi Yadav
4th place- Jeffrey Cobb
5th places - Aayush Shirodkar, Jyotisko Sengupta and TK.
The Best Tactic- Fahad Rahman
The Guardian - Tanmoy Mitra
Replies
Need to work more in my personal english opening analysis. I think it would have been better to transpose in reversed chinese dragon with a3, Rb1, b4 instead of going for reversed Sicilian Kan variation structure. Also I lost a tactic I realises it later (also winning). I should fix my blitz blunder score with avrage 1 blunder per game.
some strategys,some tactics.
win with ChessMood Caro-Kann at Asain Junior Chess Championship (online) 2020.
https://www.chess.com/live/game/4950489838
I am now feel comfortable against Sicilian with 2. Nc3
I have just started the course against Philidor . In move 34 first I was going to play Bc4, but I thought
there was a discover check Rg2+ and lost my bishop. So I played Bd5 and just after the move I realised that my opponent also lost his rook.
In the end my opponent blundered and I took the chance to fork his King and Rook.
Saving a lost engame when trying the closed, drawish variations of Ruy Lopez. Tactics: use of passed pawns and piece sacrifice for promotion. 2 mistakes but still fun.
Rook sacrifice for initiative
Game of patzer opening on the theme queenless middlegame, bad bishop and prophylaxis.
I was in attacking mood and a Grand pix style attack.
My plan is to work on Sicilian accelerated dragon and side lines in the next week. Again I was exchanged down, but keep cool himself and in the end come back win.
My opponent mistake in the opening in Petroff and I had one pawn advantage. Next opposite side castle plan, it is now my favorite plan. I was always feel irritated against Petroff defense in earlier days. Now I am much confident. Although much work needed.
win against Grandmaster in French Defense.
https://www.chess.com/live/game/4956585818
win against Grandmaster with black.
https://www.chess.com/live/game/4956731122
saving a complete lost position with black
https://www.chess.com/live/game/4956978236
I have blundered my advantage. In one stage it is completely drawn by perceptual check . At this stage I offered draw two times for save my time, but my opponent rejected and in the end he blundered.
P.S. My opponent nick name is 'virus' .
My Opponent Kept His King In Centre And I Took Advantage Of it
https://www.chess.com/live/game/4961152852
Our strong repertoire against french!
https://lichess.org/9o5pYBIE/white#53
Defeated an FM at yesterday's chessmood tournament with our powerful Nc3 against Sicilian!
https://www.chess.com/live/game/4966759392
P.S. I dont play on chess.com except the tournament
Need to work on Anti sicilian part 3 2. ... e6 line. Also have to recall rook end games. I missed the opportunity in the early stage of end game.
Grand prix style attack again
The d4 side lines I have only once seen. I can not remember the lines yet, but some ideas are in my mind. Also I remember the ideas of Benko Gambit and Marcozy Bind.
Clean Game!
17Moves!!!
https://www.chess.com/live/game/4970764702
Crushing attack with chessmood attacking mindset.
A smooth win in the Caro Kann exchange!(Advance Line)
1. Sicilian Accelerated Dragon. Opening was ok but middlegame was terrible.
https://lichess.org/Nt5UOcCwUVC7
2. Power of AD again.
https://lichess.org/7eU2dHM0xbEs
3. Crushing with Caro Kann Exchange, a 2200 player!
https://lichess.org/lQuVTvcJMChN
4. Normal dragon and win.
https://lichess.org/yyNZQgk4vaL7
5. Ugly pawn formation ever but still won.
https://lichess.org/YfOZRrGSN0vE
6. Worse but found a mating net.
https://lichess.org/AP0IYlMuUCBE
7. Passive g3 destroyed.
https://lichess.org/AA8l9KBmvcCg
8. No calculation only intuition.
https://lichess.org/bV8hO2x5bQyA
9. Win with Accelerated Dragon.
https://lichess.org/yNRLShRkopv5
10. Power of Bishop Pair.
https://lichess.org/IHuC80mnb84r
11. Passive french against Bd3.
https://lichess.org/U7rBJJZ3CMYL
12. Not a good middlegame but ending pattern was cool.
https://lichess.org/ncJwSkFRvSEZ
13.
Crush your opponents with the Halloween gambit !
https://lichess.org/adkRLFnI
Setting up a trap in the end, and opponent falls for it!
1. Closed Sicilian. Ups and Downs.
https://lichess.org/@/abhi1997
2. Dream benko. A bit mess up but still good game.
https://lichess.org/VmpWTWTqdsIs
3. Funny but dream accelerated Dragon.
https://lichess.org/Z8ogwetB7env
4. Passive play in d6? Punishment!!! Chessmood's concept no cat and mouse.
https://lichess.org/MDZztcoePJsY
5. White played passive positional alapin so got punishment.
https://lichess.org/sauiMr9loATn
6. Crushing with Scotch!
https://lichess.org/vOwrpXu0ArbD
I Beat an FM!!!!!!! (My First Titled Player who I Beat )
in 90+30 game!!!!!!!!!!
Among My Best Game Ever!!
I have no word left
https://www.chess.com/live#g=4980576245
https://www.chess.com/live#g=4985547102
Very Clean Game And Winning Game..... But... I Messed Up
and drew the game(still nice endgame!)
Kill me, I messed up opening but what is good point about your Scotch course is that even though I messed up lines but I got super amazing time edge against a 2000 elo player and then in complications he collapsed.
https://lichess.org/aOUYOl38hX1D
Beating a GM with small tactics!
Misplayed a good position against Akehine but still I won by making his knight trapped in his own camp
https://lichess.org/pVQRdbdxO95B
Wild Scotch
https://lichess.org/Cq7coqtReqQD
Yes, I lost this game but glad I did well in opening
https://lichess.org/6ttmoGdBQ17c
Having enjoy by punishing youtube move 2. b4
I messed up lines, but in the end my opponent blundered. Need to work again with French.
Now I am not afraid to make exchange sacrifice. Thanks to ChessMood for making my mindset brave.
I blundered in opening. But my opponent did not see. Then a crushing attack. I benefit from the ideas of Benko Gambit.
Beaten Smith-Morra Gambit.
Perfect Game!!
Positional + Attacking +Defence!!!
https://www.chess.com/live?#g=4990591241
Dream benko. I missed early win may be but it was blitz. I only made one blunder with Rh8 but then I thought of chessmood's article and I hoped that he wont take and in pressure he forgot to take on h8 hehehe.
https://lichess.org/BPpXkONG4xNp
https://lichess.org/zQO2etp5/white#32
missed mate on 17 qf8! but then finally won with some fine sacs
win with Black. white king on black king's position at the end.
https://www.chess.com/live/game/4994944367
Scotch give me most rating points in previous month and its continue
Probably my first win with Maroczy Bind structure. All the other games in past with this system, I gained good initiative in the opening, but in the end loose. But not this time.
I messed the Caro Kann lines. But keep attacking.
I play White
https://www.chess.com/live/game/4996021812
"You must PUNISH your opponents mistakes!" These words were said to me in my one on one with coach when I first joined ChessMood!
Crushing c4 as black
https://lichess.org/v31oeeoKf6S5
Crushing again c4 with I think Botwinik pawn formation as black. I know basics of this pawn formations so sometimes i love to play this. I think I did well
https://lichess.org/TaQVQUuv12i6
Blunder after amazing opening but never give up attitude so I drew the game.
https://lichess.org/18r4HMK5r9f0
Weirdo Scandi as black so punished 2200 well.
https://lichess.org/puNyWTCgvX60
Reckless play with black and won
https://lichess.org/v31oeeoKf6S5
After a long time I have won with Benko Gambit.
Winning with accelerated dragon
Again Scotch and again win. This time I have sacrificed rook for bishop and gain initiative.
Some mistakes, still fun & picturesque checkmate ( although I missed Rxh2 faster #)
Crushing d4 again.
https://lichess.org/O1qC4ht9
A nice win against youtube opening ( ! ) with a knight checkmate
an exchange sacrifice followed by attack in spirit of Mikhail Tal
https://www.chess.com/live#g=5006566623
My opponent didnt seem to realize what I was doing... then I won a piece with a tactic I am not sure I would of seen a few weeks ago. Moral of the story? Get wrekked!
Crushed a 2200+ played with ChessMood's Anti-Sicilians. An amazing 14 move miniature in which he got no play.
https://lichess.org/PbKTadA1Hi94
Manage to save a completely lost position
Another opponent feel in same line. He also played worse with e6. Now it's a 12 move encounter with Anti-Sicilians.
https://lichess.org/vX9chK79R1BS
Crushing Sicilian Sidelines with amazing play. Yes, he blundered by giving up the knight on d4 but still he tried to press up but I won
https://lichess.org/XiKrXOEY71R7
Very Nice Game!!
I Was Winning The Ending Against A FM!!..... But.....I Messed Up Due To Time Pressure!
And Drew The Game!!
https://www.chess.com/live/game/5000295417
Thanks to Gabuzhyan sir for his sicilian side lines course.
Benko Gambit Masterpiece from my side. I never played a benko gambit game like this. yes at some point I missed Nd3 but I did thought of it during the game
https://lichess.org/RL6WAi2Uw3Pv
Caro Kann Exchange Total Domination
https://lichess.org/G0hwRuhXfvB0
Positive this would have won a game of the day. I sacrificed a room for the initiative and was in control the entire game but it wasnt a miniature as there was ways to go wrong till the final combination.
Scotch gets another cool win.
Got tricked during time trouble.. but still very happy to play such a strong player...
love this game xd, my queen found its purpose on h2!
https://lichess.org/daflzUOT/white
I havent been playing much on chess..com but when you play a game that hits all the positional points Coach has been trying to teach us in the Anit-Sicilian, then you need to share it!
It was all about the c-pawn, then activating my pieces around controlling c5. And then he gave me a nice tactic to finish him off! I hope you enjoy as much as I did!
https://www.chess.com/live/game/5023480203
What is the actual plan for black after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 . I am faced many times this line. Please tell me the best way I can handle this.
Played against the maroczy bind and got a bad bishop vs good knight endgame which i pushed slowly and converted to a win
https://lichess.org/jFg5iL29#88
A Fine Win by exploiting the weak pawns in queen side
https://lichess.org/EoNC5OzK#93
Simply And A Clean Game!
Clear Development Advantage!
And Just Crushed!
https://www.chess.com/live#g=5030421194
https://lichess.org/18A3lRal/white#61
I started to play the benko and that had helped me to get rid of the fear of sacrificing a pawn. I sac a pwn and gain his knight for 3 pwn. at the end i offered draw as it was quite drawing and we dont have much time. But i am happy that i get rid of the fear.
https://lichess.org/18A3lRal/white#61
I started to play the benko and that had helped me to get rid of the fear of sacrificing a pawn. I sac a pwn and gain his knight for 3 pwn. at the end i offered draw as it was quite drawing and we dont have much time. But i am happy that i get rid of the fear.
An interesting 3+0 attacking game against 1...b6!
https://www.chess.com/live/game/5032576759
As a +1400 rated player, I beated a NM using Acc Dragon as black.
The Most Cleanest And Slow Game!!!
The Game Went For Around 3Hr
And I Not Gave A Single Chance
Complete Positional Game!
and Slowly Improved My Piece And Position and Slowly I Won The Game!
https://www.chess.com/live#g=5035284195
Made two mistakes but I dominated the whole board with white pieces. Reminds me french advance position in which black play f6 and after exf6 Rxf6 g5 he sac on f3 and then Nf5 and play with compensation.
https://lichess.org/TdmgmOGqSndP
Another Anti Sicilian rocks
https://lichess.org/Lox6scwfngRX
d6 my old line
https://lichess.org/sLLx96XIKTrx
Crushing 2000 elo player with Anti Sicilian with no queenside play for black
https://lichess.org/845Mp06UZGZN
Chessmood French Line against a WFM!
Win against an NM , Chessmood Caro Kann lines ....!
Closed Sicilian..The Chessmood way..!
I play White. 5 minutes game
https://lichess.org/ga261x1qeGyC
I should have won this but messed up by passive play in the end but good thing was that I did not gave up and I managed to drew on time in losing position. My best game ever. Almost crushing a 2500 player on lichess
Crushed with Anti Sicilian
https://lichess.org/u2blwUsHJ9pM
Crushed the London System
https://lichess.org/wAT4MeEs0ch9
Best Clean & Positional Game Ever!
My Game "%" In Chess.com is
97.5!!!!
Among Fav Game!!!
https://www.chess.com/live#g=5045101621
This month I am playing quite less games as I have my exams from 29th June.
https://lichess.org/jpefoqsK/black#145
Double bishop advantage & transformation.
I might have missed a quick win in the endgame due to time pressure, but a great game.
https://lichess.org/5CMjmCdrPlCi
Wonderful sacrifice for mating
My opponent need to understand that don't play on the side where you are weaker - Rule in chess.
https://lichess.org/VSeW4KPcIG3M
May be i messed up opening but I thought to play Bb5 with the idea of attack in kingside like i remembered the games which coach showed us. So I thought I do not need LSB. good thing is look at the final position and timing in 3 min game. I thought he was 2000 but after the game I found he was 2167 heheheh.
[Event "Daily Rapid Arena"] [Site "https://lichess.org/M4KsStPX"] [Date "2020.05.20"] [Round "-"] [White "amitnew"] [Black "neftali_mena"] [Result "1-0"] [UTCDate "2020.05.20"] [UTCTime "18:40:34"] [WhiteElo "1493"] [BlackElo "1829"] [WhiteRatingDiff "+12"] [BlackRatingDiff "-11"] [Variant "Standard"] [TimeControl "600+0"] [ECO "A85"] [Opening "Dutch Defense: Queen's Knight Variation"] [Termination "Normal"] [Annotator "lichess.org"]
1. c4 f5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. d4 { A85 Dutch Defense: Queen's Knight Variation } g6 4. Bg5 Bg7 5. Nf3 O-O 6. e3 Qe8 7. g3 d6 8. Bg2 Nbd7 9. O-O c6 10. b4 e5 11. dxe5 dxe5 12. Bxf6 Nxf6 13. c5 Ng4 14. Rc1 f4 15. exf4 exf4 16. Re1 Qf7 17. Ng5 Qf6 18. Nce4 Qb2 19. Nd6 Qxf2+ 20. Kh1 f3 21. Qb3+ Kh8 22. Ndf7+ Kg8 23. Nh6+ Kh8 24. Qg8+ { Black resigns. } 1-0
[Event "Daily Rapid Arena"] [Site "https://lichess.org/QchQwJWT"] [Date "2020.05.11"] [Round "-"] [White "Vhdl"] [Black "amitnew"] [Result "0-1"] [UTCDate "2020.05.11"] [UTCTime "18:13:27"] [WhiteElo "1568"] [BlackElo "1450"] [WhiteRatingDiff "-7"] [BlackRatingDiff "+11"] [Variant "Standard"] [TimeControl "600+0"] [ECO "C42"] [Opening "Russian Game: Classical Attack"] [Termination "Normal"] [Annotator "lichess.org"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 { C42 Russian Game: Classical Attack } d5 6. Bd3 Nf6 7. O-O Be7 8. Re1 O-O 9. Nc3 c6 10. Bg5 Re8 11. Ne5 Be6 12. Ne2 Nfd7 13. Bxe7 Qxe7 14. Nf4 Nxe5 15. Rxe5 Qd6 16. Nxe6 Rxe6 17. Rxe6 Qxe6 18. Qd2 Nd7 19. Re1 Qd6 20. Qe3 Nf6 21. c4 b6 22. b4 Qd7 23. c5 Re8 24. Qd2 Rxe1+ 25. Qxe1 bxc5 26. bxc5 Qg4 27. f3 Qxd4+ 28. Kh1 Qxd3 29. Qa5 { White resigns. } 0-1
[Event "Rated Rapid tournament https://lichess.org/tournament/3ey7uH0S"] [Site "https://lichess.org/mUsP0Q34"] [Date "2020.05.10"] [Round "-"] [White "CNTRN"] [Black "amitnew"] [Result "0-1"] [UTCDate "2020.05.10"] [UTCTime "19:51:49"] [WhiteElo "1523"] [BlackElo "1446"] [WhiteRatingDiff "-7"] [BlackRatingDiff "+11"] [Variant "Standard"] [TimeControl "600+0"] [ECO "C46"] [Opening "Four Knights Game: Italian Variation"] [Termination "Normal"] [Annotator "lichess.org"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bc4 { C46 Four Knights Game: Italian Variation } Na5 5. Bxf7+ Kxf7 6. Ng5+ Ke8 7. Nd5 Nxd5 8. exd5 Qxg5 9. d3 Qxg2 10. Rf1 g6 11. h4 d6 12. Bg5 Bh3 13. Qe2 Bg7 14. O-O-O b6 15. Bd2 Bg4 16. Qe3 Bxd1 17. Rxd1 Qh2 18. Rf1 Qxh4 19. f4 Rf8 20. Re1 Bh6 21. Qe4 Bxf4 22. Bxf4 Rxf4 23. Qe2 Qg5 24. b3 Rf2+ 25. Kb2 Rxe2 26. Rxe2 Ke7 27. d4 Qg4 28. Re1 Qxd4+ 29. Kb1 Qxd5 { White resigns. } 0-1
Sorry chessmood, by mistake shared games played on may month.
https://lichess.org/iLf102DjFVwm
few blunders such as allowing Qd3 by playing Qc8 instead of Qe4 and playing d6 missing Nd5 from his side but again won on time hehejhe.
Blundered by giving up bishop pair and it hurt me a lot
active rook in the equal endgame gave me full point.
In the end queen endgame but I knew winning for me hehehe
https://lichess.org/Vi2SVMv9zjhW
Blundered a piece in speed but still tricked him by bothering him in queenside and won
https://lichess.org/tnb4cbxSpeFh
Have some fun by punishing such youtube moves.
Played game as amitnew on lichess in june month:
https://lichess.org/B3AVr0rmgoLn
https://lichess.org/T1I678gTBusE
https://lichess.org/fSqASHcfRrJB
Caro kann exchange. Tried to apply concept of playing against his pawn formation in the kingside. During the game coach's words were in my mind. I mean in the recent stream coach played against this structure in scotch in which black's king was on b8 and then after the game he showed us this caro kann structure kingside attack same ideas so I tried to apply it and I pushed hard and finally I breakthrough and his knights became so passive and I won
Final and amazing point about this game was the knight maneuver from Nb1-d2-b3-c1-d3 .This is well known I know but it's always amazing whenever I get the chance to play this one. I know this from classic game of Kasparov which Chessmood showed me and also from my work on knowing Carlsbad structure
https://lichess.org/F36CUf0C0u9N
Again lucky escape with Black pieces against 2300+ player with Black pieces. I can say lucky but it was me who saved his time and never gave up and he took a lot time making moves and I had better time management. I also played fine with knight against rook but yeah kingside pawns were goner but tried my best for SLP
https://lichess.org/ATnYYtrec4Xp
Before going to bed I played this game. All same plans with pawn storming but still fun to play.
https://lichess.org/BfEqqZDT10WU
https://lichess.org/NhjUIQBBTMC6
Crushing a 2700 in 17 moves!
Finishing in style!
I won both match against higher rated player but also made mistakes.I will try to fix these mistakes.
Won with black pieces
https://chess24.com/en/game/EyqZsafTTSaLguxWmU_rVg
Won a good game
https://chess24.com/en/game/s-1TFQmwS5Kfh9sGxSEKPA
Won a game with black pieces
https://chess24.com/en/game/TLGhqtI1Ttm4a4ipFpmiyA
h6 h6? missed a nice pattern which I could have found in petroff but still ending checkmate combination was cool
https://lichess.org/OOyaCihw/white#45
Nice Attacking Game!
18th Move... My Opponent Promoted his 2ndQueen (Ofcource It Was All In My Plan)
https://www.chess.com/live#g=5064835168
Interesting draw with black pieces at end. Both players playing “wait & watch” approach.
Won interesting game with white pieces
Forgot theory of London System but played endgame well
https://lichess.org/gls3f6Zo4ij8
Messed up opening but played well in endgame and dominated his knight in whole game. Reminds me basics of endgames. Open board and pawns on both flanks then bishop is better.
https://lichess.org/O0CyrGgiVHC2
Crushed London System and this time I think I remembered some ideas such as Nf4
https://lichess.org/Hh3DadGy25Uc
Yeah I messed up theory again but I loved this game very much because today I saw a lecture on classics and saw the weakness of f5 square and the funny this is that in that game bishop was also on h7 square and black gave bishop for knight on f5 and in my game I had same position and same idea and funny thing is Bxh6 was so so so cool
https://lichess.org/y7pmirw3QERF
I play white: 5 minutes game
https://lichess.org/AIj9PuM2CUiL
I play white. 5 minutes game
https://lichess.org/xfMsCLQeUpdC
I play white
It was a 5 minutes game
I was in time trouble after move 28: I had a few seconds to win he game ...
https://lichess.org/KZCWd6mtTGFZ
French Nf6 and win
https://lichess.org/drgBgHLFGQwQ
Won with Black. Had stable and fixed pawn formation so I thought to give him the h pawn for amazing play on the h file and he fell into it and later that h file gave me full point.
https://lichess.org/SXjlzn6q9U0k
I am not a sac kind of guy. I am learning just basics but I saw in courses that in this positions you can even sac on b6 so I thought to give it a shot and this man became passive by not giving the pawn on b2 and later I slowly converted position into win.
https://lichess.org/XaxNEc7Qf7wy
A nice game
A completely dominated game.
Draw the game with black pieces. Made a mistake in opening although came back later in match but in last again I made mistake & got stalemate
Quick draw with white pieces against chess24 engine (rated 1921) actually I surprised opponent ‘s offer & accepted.
https://chess24.com/en/game/19GqGAN0Sgix0RfPjKELXQ
Won with white pieces against high rated player (2094-chess24).Opponent failed to reconnect in time but I played well some extent.
https://chess24.com/en/game/nKTNIk2vR-GlO6v7NzGXvg
Nice win with white pieces.
Quick knockout. Even though it transposed into some sort of Kan of Taimanav may be but as a beginner I studied some kan games and one whole night I played this h5 ideas with my friends so I knew g5 works here. Anyways quick knockout.
https://lichess.org/blNmryDvEov6
15 move knockout with Black pieces missed Qa4 instead of b5 but still okay game.
https://lichess.org/LzLeomADGRir
I missed mate in 2 one moment. Still winning an easy game.
Nice win with black pieces.
https://chess24.com/en/game/HMqcJRuaTp2-MgaYH40JMw
Nice win with white pieces
https://chess24.com/en/game/1EI24rpDT9qfCqNoOpdh5w
Another cool game against sicilian Alapin
Hello all,
This was a game I played in chess.com
Link-https://www.chess.com/daily/game/264748010
This was very interesting game where I sacrificed my knight to get a mating net set and I pulled up a pawn storm which was too much and he couldn't survive,
Actually I am new to chessmood and don't know how to post so I replied instead.
Hello all
This is another game which i played-
https://www.chess.com/live/game/5009627291
It was a good grind and at last I won
Hello all,
This is a gam where i was loosing but somehow managed to escape with draw-
https://www.chess.com/daily/game/259852476
This is another game-
https://www.chess.com/daily/game/264748004
He was attacking very badly and i couldn't resist.But I found a diaganol combination and that ended the game with a fascinating tactic by me to encounter back
Lost with white against higher rated opponent but gave him good fight.
Nice win with black pieces
Good win with white pieces
https://chess24.com/en/game/c4jTb4P3QA2ZqxJDhJedlg
Good win with white pieces against opponent higher rated than me (140+)
Sacrifice after piece down!
Check out this #chess game: franqesko1 vs Nywolf - https://chess.com/live/game/5058751172
Queen transfer to h1!! Positional to attack.
Check out this #chess game: Nywolf vs franqesko1 - https://chess.com/live/game/5058734583
Faced a completely new opening when trying to play Scotch. Played with common sense. Finished with a combination!
Check out this #chess game: Nywolf vs MINDFREAKfrmINDIA - https://chess.com/live/game/5078666048
From me another Anti-Sicilian 2. Nc3 which leads to completely crushed opponent:
https://www.chess.com/live/game/5081588068
Here is my entry for June. This was a daily game on Chess.com. The fun thing about daily games is that you can use a database, like in correspondence chess. I doubt I could have ever come up with this without the help of deGleria, F vs. Malinaroli, M
https://www.chess.com/daily/game/268608472
I play white
5 minutes game
https://lichess.org/Igt8N0jXqRD4
https://lichess.org/2pjn8SxgOwfF
Hello ChessMood Family, hello champions!
This month we got 250+ games and it was very cool to see your growth.
There were posted many games by Sriram, Arnav, Giorgos, Jotisko, Aayush, Tanmoy, Abhi and Kourush. It was impressive to see your growth.
We've also noticed how much you work on the courses, and the results we all see!
Super job!
The 1st prize - best game of June, goes to Keok Woltek, for his very nice combination.
Koek played other nice games as well, including his nice Qh3, Qh2 maneuver.
The 2nd prize goes to Abhi Yadav. Among his many nice attacks, the game where he crushed french, with 3.Bd3, was a masterpiece. 11.Ne5!! was brilliant.
The 3rd prize goes to Jeffrey Cobb, for his queen sacrifice.
The 4th prize goes to Arman Shahzamani, for a nice game, crushing "Youtube opening" :D
The 5th prize goes to Kourush, for his nice attack with English opening.
The best game with Black pieces goes to Fahad Rahman, for his nice win against a Grandmaster.
Fahad also played another impressive game crushing with our Caro-Kann exchange variation.
The best opening for the month goes to Scotch Game :)
Scotch Game destroyed the opponents this month :)
Thanks for all the participants.
Keep the good job and COGRO (Constant Growth),
and see you in the contest of July.
Chess title?
Let's discuss in this forum topic about chess title and ratings.
Motto of this topic is to engage chessmood forums and to know our family in better way and I hope all members of our family will participate in this topic.
Replies
Maybe we'll have ChessMood title for ourselves?
@Kevin_D, @Nicolo_Pasini and @Kim_Skaanning-Pedersen would get ChessMood GM title right away :)
sorry i not understood anything
I think I am an expert at the analysis board... Now to translate that to when I am playing haha!
Just play
I want to join play chessmood.com
Replies
What do you mean, plz explain the question :)
The Winners of June
Hello ChessMood Family, hello champions!
This month we got 250+ games and it was very cool to see your growth.
There were posted many games by Sriram, Arnav, Giorgos, Jotisko, Aayush, Tanmoy, Abhi and Kourush. It was impressive to see your growth.
We've also noticed how much you work on the courses, and the results we all see!
Super job!
The 1st prize - best game of June, goes to Keok Woltek, for his very nice combination.
Koek played other nice games as well, including his nice Qh3, Qh2 maneuver.
The 2nd prize goes to Abhi Yadav. Among his many nice attacks, the game where he crushed french, with 3.Bd3, was a masterpiece. 11.Ne5!! was brilliant.
The 3rd prize goes to Jeffrey Cobb, for his queen sacrifice.
The 4th prize goes to Arman Shahzamani, for a nice game, crushing "Youtube opening" :D
The 5th prize goes to Kourosh Asgari, for his nice attack with English opening.
The best game with Black pieces goes to Fahad Rahman, for his nice win against a Grandmaster.
Fahad also played another impressive game crushing with our Caro-Kann exchange variation.
The best opening for the month goes to Scotch Game :)
Scotch Game destroyed the opponents this month :)
Thanks for all the participants.
Keep the good job and COGRO (Constant Growth),
and see you in the contest of July.
Replies
Black to move!
Find a nice combination, that was played in the game by Koek, the winner of the best game of June.
Congratulations to all the winners...... :)
A question to English Grandmasters or native speakers
Hello ChessMood Family. I have one question related to English.
In chess, most of the books are written in three parts of chess game - Opening, Middlegame, Endgame.
But there is a super important 4th one. Between opening and middlegame. Where you almost finished the development of all the pieces and time to find a plan for the future.
My question - Can we name it "Post-Opening" ?
Replies
Maybe “Middlegame transition”?
I am not native speaker but c2 english level. This is a good idea.
I also like the Middlegame Transition. I suppose there is also an Endgame Transition!
The only other thing that I can think of just now is 'Finding the Plan'.
Thanks for the answers!
In the Facebook Group, Kevin Hall offered a name that I liked very much.
"Mopening" :) The hybrid of opening and middlegame :)
What do you think? :)
We'll have our name for it :)
Pre Middlegame or Middlegame Transition as KH suggests probably sounds best in English.
Maybe we can name it as the "Pre-Middlegame" or "Plan-Period"
Problem in 4...Qh4 line for White?
Hello Friends,
I want to share a line in the Scotch when gave me some problems. And it is the line 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Qh4 5. Nc3 Bb4 { C45 Scotch Game: Modern Defense } 6. Nb5 Ba5. Such a simple move that I believe solves a lot of blacks problems. c7 is defended and the knight is still pinned. I tried to play dynamically in the game and i was on the losing end for most of the game but the Cassia rewarded me for not giving up. And my team also needed me to win! I don't think 6...Ba5 was covered on the course and it is quite tricky to find a logical reply if you never seen it before. What does Chessmood recommend here?
[Event "Rated Classical game"][Date "2020.06.25"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Kayode"]
[Black "NM"]
[Result "1-0"]
[UTCDate "2020.06.25"]
[UTCTime "17:50:53"]
[WhiteElo "2018"]
[BlackElo "1819"]
[WhiteRatingDiff "+51"]
[BlackRatingDiff "-52"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[TimeControl "3600+15"]
[ECO "C45"]
[Opening "Scotch Game: Modern Defense"]
[Termination "Normal"]
[Annotator "lichess.org"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Qh4 5. Nc3 Bb4 { C45 Scotch Game: Modern Defense } 6. Nb5 Ba5 7. Be2 a6 8. Nd4 Bxc3+ 9. bxc3 Nf6 10. O-O Nxe4 11. Bd3 O-O 12. g3 Qe7 13. Nf5 Qe5 14. Nh6+ gxh6 15. Bxh6 d5 16. Bxf8 Kxf8 17. Re1 Qxc3 18. Qh5 Ne5 19. Bxe4 dxe4 20. Qh6+ Kg8 21. Qg5+ Kf8 22. Qd8+ Kg7 23. Qg5+ Ng6 24. Qd5 f5 25. Qd8 Qe5 26. Rad1 Qe7 27. f3 Qc5+ 28. Kh1 exf3 29. Qd4+ Qxd4 30. Rxd4 b6 31. Kg1 Kh6 32. Kf2 Bb7 33. Rd7 Rc8 34. Re6 Be4 35. h4 Bxc2 36. h5 Kxh5 37. Rxh7+ Kg5 38. Rg7 f4 39. gxf4+ Kxf4 40. Re3 Nh4 41. Rc3 Bb1 42. Rc4+ Be4 43. Re7 Nf5 44. Rcxe4+ Kg5 45. R7e5 Rf8 46. Kxf3 Kg6 47. Re6+ Kg7 48. Kg2 Nd6 49. Re2 Rf5 50. Re7+ Rf7 51. R7e6 Kg8 52. Rc2 Rg7+ 53. Kf1 Rf7+ 54. Ke1 Rg7 55. Rce2 Kf8 56. Kd1 Rd7 57. Kc2 Nb5 58. Rf2+ Rf7 59. Rd2 Nd6 60. Rh2 Kg7 61. Rg2+ Kf8 62. Kd3 Rf3+ 63. Kd4 Rf5 64. Rge2 Rf4+ 65. Kd5 Rf5+ 66. Kc6 Rc5+ 67. Kd7 Nf7 68. Rf2 Kg7 69. Re7 Rd5+ 70. Kxc7 Rc5+ 71. Kxb6 Rc8 72. Rfxf7+ Kg8 73. Kxa6 Ra8+ 74. Ra7 Re8 75. Rfb7 Re6+ 76. Kb5 Re5+ 77. Kc4 Rf5 78. Rb8+ Rf8 79. Rxf8+ Kxf8 80. Rb7 { Black resigns. } 1-0
Replies
I suggest you to play this line, not best but still very playable for both sides: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Qh4 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Be2! Qxe4 7. Nb5 Kd8 8. O-O Bxc3 9. Nxc3 Qd4 10. Qe1 Nf6 11. Be3 Qd6 12. Rd1 Qb4 13. Bf3 Ne5 14. Ne2 d6 15. Qd2 Nc6 white pieces seem to be piled up but in the post opening your position will get better. Correct me if I am wrong somewhere.
Hey Kayode!
Giorgos' answer is correct. You should start with Be2, and after Qe4, play Nb5.
Check it out here: https://chessmood.com/course/scotch-game/episode/676
New Opening
Guys I finished Accelerated Dragon and I am doing well and playing a lot games with this opening too so I won't mess up move orders but I do want to include one more opening in my repo. The reason is to learn something new in chess. So what opening do you guys recommend to learn as black against e4 after accelerated dragon. I am not good in tactics and calculation yet so as coach told me don't go for Najdorf. So I trust him. I do not mean to focus in depth in new opening. I just wanna know ideas and that's it and my main opening will be accelerated dragon always.
Replies
These are my Choices:
I have played these systems before the Accelerated Dragon, and I will use all 3 systems in my games:
1- Taimanov Sicilian: Probably the most SOLID sicilian set-up. (A favorite of Anand)
2- Sveshnikov Sicilian: If you have a FIGHTER inside you, play it!!
Abhi, don't learn another opening, until you don't master the 1st one!
Don't learn a new opening, until you get 2200 rating.
There are much other useful things, you can do now, instead of learning a new opening.
Learn the Right Lessons From Your Mistakes
We have this topic in our Blog.
https://chessmood.com/blog/learn-the-right-lessons-from-your-mistakes
If you have any questions, comments or you just liked it, feel free to share your thoughts here.
Replies
What an amazing lesson coach. Yes I follow the same you mentioned. I analise my mistakes so well and I follow proper way to improve my skills. After I found you I learnt more about my past event mistakes.
1. Tactics and visualisation issue iin last event.
2. A bit excitement in endgame due to winning position so I started to learn slow and steady games whenever I am winning. Good example of my slow play is Qc2N game. According to many strong players I missed early win. Yeah they are right but what I applied was super slow approach to win in a winning position because no one will give me 2 medals if I win one game. So slowly slowly I won a winning game and also applying this concept in online practice and improving.
https://www.chess.com/live/game/4724281271?fbclid=IwAR26MNBB6pViTc6jqjiVANQgyz0cuohB3woh79KD7T-LlQKEyTkQrTze-9s
3. Last event I had trouble in openings due to no time for prep so I know openings are also my mistakes so after I found your community I worked on my openings and in the starting phrase I only worked on ideas but now due to lock down I am working not only on ideas but also on variations.
4. Knowing lack of classics. Because of lack of knowledge of classics I missed wins a lot but after you taught me to work on classics I felt a rapid growth in my games. Even if I lose games they are always amazing games. I watch daily 5 games of chessmood and after that I will work on Saint Louis Chess Videos and once you will publish your planning and exchange courses I will work on them too.
So thanks to you. I am on right track and I follow my all mistakes. Yes in blitz I sometimes mess up lines but in classical if I studied any chessmood lines the chances are so low that I mess up . My middlegames are also improving especially middlegames based on bishop pair.
Thank you Maestro Avetik for this fantastic article. I am sure many other students, like me, can relate to this. For example, I remember "studying" the Sicilian Accelerated dragon for some time. I even got pretty excited when I managed to beat a local 2000+ chess hero in the final round of a blitz tournament (the only one I ever won). However, shortly thereafter, I lost a classical tournament game because of a few stupid decisions in the middle game, messing up a good position. I still kept playing the line, but then a stronger club player (2200) would totally crush me me with the morra gambit. So I said to myself: "f*ck this opening, let's try a different one." The same happened with my Benko as Black: some 2000+ player would decline the gambit, and I would be in unfamiliar territory. After losing a few more games, I just gave up on the Benko, and starting trying out other lines, etc. etc. I am happy to have found this great chess commmunity, and happy to have a great coach like yourself not only personally endorsing these openings, but also playing them live for all of us to see. I know now the chessmood openings are here to stay with me, and I will stick to this training plan no matter what the results.
How do we prepare effectively to beat our opponent player that we know and stronger than us?
How do we prepare effectively to beat our opponent player that we know and stronger than us?
Thank you.
Replies
Off the top of my head
- Avoid blundering material needlessly and losing without a fight.
- Play actively and create threats.
- Do not overestimate or underestimate your opponent's strength.
- Do not accept a draw if you think your position is better.
Remember if you do lose the game don't worry, review it pinpoint the mistakes and make the necessary adjustments for next time. The same goes for games that you win.
Lastly it's useful to realise that psychologically the higher rated player is expected to win while you have little to lose. So we should try to exploit this factor in our favour by being bold and unafraid.
The above is not meant to be an exhaustive list by any means but I hope it serves you as an inspirational and helpful guide.
If you only care about the result: (I don't)
Play black defensive systems with an extra tempo when you play with white pieces:
For example: London system is a good choice. You do not need much preparation to learn it.
Many high rated players underestimate it and take risk to win, ....... and they loose.
It is extremely solid.
I frustrated many higher rated players with this opening, and they lost to their EGO. Pushed hard to break it! and they broke.
1) Um my approach is different in handling those players who are known to me. First of all I focus on their style. If they are positional player then it's so good for you to make position complex so chances of making mistakes will be high. That's why it's recommended to make a position complex or even messy if you are playing against a GM because if you play just normal you will def gonna lost in endgames because GMs knows 1000s of patterns which we don't even know and they can make a lot tricks to confuse us even in drawn position. So try to play opposite to their style.
Note: Above idea works if you are 2000 elo player and you have two repo one is positional and one is aggressive. For me I know not only the Grand Prix against c5 but I do know Alapin Variation in depth and my score in positional play with Alapin is also decent against below 2000 players.
2) Never play for draw. This is the biggest mistake of all players. Even elite players lose when they think like oh we just need draw and we win the event etc. Play for win and for me I feel like kill the opponent like a melon or just insult him on the board. But only on the board not in real life. No mercy, even if he cry and say draw say no way.
3) Clock management is so important skill to master and even elite players sometimes face clock handling issues whenever they face novelties. For this purpose I love the post which @GM_Avetik_Grigoryan posted few months ago about calculation. Check the link in the bottom.
https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/is-it-fine-to-spend-1-hour-on-calculation-1000
4) Mindset is important. If you are not confident you can't even win against 1200 elo player. No matter who is against you just be confident and I think confidence comes only if you are well prepared. For example you worked a lot on calculation, openings, middlegames, endgames before event so it will give you confidence like oh yeah I am prepared to play well so work on your skills before event so always work. This approach always helped me and I always felt confident when I work and then went to event. Even if i lost a lot but I lost just by blunders. No one dominated me in below 1600 events.
5) Never give up, This one line saved my a lot games. Even in worse positions because of Chessmood's line I saved a lot games. Even had a draw on time against an almost 2600 lichess player in blitz. So no matter how many blunders you make just try to be calm and never give up and you will def save tons of points. For more info read the bottom article.
https://chessmood.com/blog/it-is-never-too-late-to-resign-in-chess
This is all I can say about how to beat a strong player and super thing here is that you know the player. It's so tough for even GMs to prepare against those GMs who are not known to them .
Good luck, I shared what I learnt from Chessmood team and from my own thoughts about how to win.
Calculation ?
How do you guys train calculation. I am right now follow the plans of studying classics. I watch them and learn concepts from them but in complicated games it's tough to calculate.
Any advice how to start training calculation?
I have 20 mins daily for calculation training and an hr for watching classics.
After may I will have 3 hr for training.
2nd question; How do u guys worked on pattern recognition skills? Do you first see the pattern then u solve examples or u solve pattern by urself then more examples?
Replies
Blindfold games and blindfold puzzles can improve our chess calculation?
Thank You.
When I was lower rated and was traianing tactics recognition, I used the Magnus trainer app where there are tactics for all levels. You see the board, then tap the correct option feom below e.g. skewer, fork, discovered attack etc. And then yoy solve the puzzle. That helped me since 1600 online level. Now I am round 1850 and have some problems with my one calculation plan.
Improving calculation is a complicated topic with many layers, but I will attempt to partly answer your question with a question. If you never saw the smothered mate pattern before, do you think you would be able to find it in a game by calculation?
I remember many years ago watching a game between two reasonably decent club players where both sides missed a winning Greek bishop sacrifice on multiple occasions until the opportunity had passed forever. After the game I asked them both why the sacrifice was not played, and the answer came back it just never occurred to them, remarkably they were completely unfamiliar with the pattern.
I will end by saying that pattern recognition and calculation are closely linked and depend heavily on each other to be effective.
Abhi, please don't use spammy titles for your posts. One question mark is enough. Thanks.
Best tools to practice openings
Hi,
Yesterday I subscribed to Chessmood for my younger son. Can you please suggest some good tools to practice chess openings where he can create the repertoire after learning a opening and the tool gives some feedback about where all he went wrong and which all lines he missed upon.
Thanks
Replies
You can try chessbase 14 or 15 and if you need free software then try ChessX soft and it works in linux, Mac and Linux. There you can make your base of opening and middlegames or anything
Chesstempo is good if you can get a subscription.
https://www.studyopenings.com/ is the one that can help practice with the openings.
You can have a look here http://fritz.chessbase.com/?lang=en
or even consider getting the program Fritz 17 or earlier iterations. Here is a Demo Video showing some of its features: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJOxo53mIgI
Good luck.
Here are my current thoughts. I want to use something to drill my opening repertoire. I watch the course videos and just cannot remember it all. I know if I use some drilling software, eventually I will remember it all.
There are basically 3 methods that I have considered.
Method 1
BookUp, Chess Openings Wizard, Chess Tempo, Chess Position Trainer, etc.
I am not going to be using any of these, because the entry, drilling features, or what have you are very basic in structure or seem to be buggy. The analogy is trying to compare Microsoft Office (or Open Office) to Notepad on the feature aspects.
Method 2
Chessable
I LOVE LOVE the spaced learning feature and think that once a book exists, this is the best way to learn things. So any book that you might buy on the site, is really top-notch efficient. However, we don't want any book, we want the repertoire that is given here!
When I try to enter the course moves from the video, it is very hard for me to do this in a systematic way so that once I am done, it is all neatly organized and orderly! You have to do so much repetition in opening and re-opening various files, move orders do not present in the order you want, etc. I just think it is way too hard to enter in a repertoire in Chessable, but IF you can get it all in there, the training is superb.
Method 3
ChessBase
This is what I am going to do. My monitor is large enough that I can have the course open and alongside that a fresh board from ChessBase. As I move through the course, I just enter whatever into a game and organize it on the fly. If the game gets too big, I just save what I have and then start another game. Variations nest well, lines can be promoted and become main lines, annotations can be liberally included both by text and more variations. When I am done, I can then export well-ORGANIZED files into Chessable and train from there.
I have not given up that all this stuff can be drilled in ChessBase (or even Fritz17) and I may default to this eventually, but I see more sophistication in Chessable at present.
COST
I tend to see money as being a severely limiting factor in almost any decision chess players make. How often we hear the desire for something that is FREE but just as good as the professional software out there! Folks, I don't think it exists. (The obvious exception being the Stockfish engine. Every grandmaster uses ChessBase, and for good reason. In my opinion, this has become a basic investment much like a chess set or clock. I think if you use anything else you are doing yourself a disservice. You would not be reading this if you were not serious about chess! Why handicap yourself?
GREAT WAY TO LEARN
I have come across the IM Sagar Shah series of YouTube videos including a brand new series he is just starting. It is easy to search for! (Chess Base India is another place to search for him). I have learned more from watching his videos on how to use this stuff than any other source. I cannot recommend his videos more highly. He is one of the great guys in chess. I wish I could meet him personally!
(I also want to one day meet Jacko too....lol)
Nitin, you should reserve a 1-1 call, I'll guide your son how to take the most value from ChessMood.
+2hr comprehensive intro to chessbase 15
https://youtube.com/watch?v=EjlB9mMp9zs
Replies
Very nice video!
Thanks for sharing it, Kevin!
Retreating Moves- A dark mystery
I heard from Yasser and Maurice that retreating moves in chess are hard to find even for super GMs. My question is why? These guys are machines then why retreating moves are hard for them to find. Even in classical games sometimes they miss them. So I am curious to know.
Replies
Abhi, it's related to psychology and even to a harder topic - neuropsychology.
I have heard that it is very difficult to move your pieces backward when attacking; someone wants to checkmate as soon as possible; Tal had clear problems with retreating moves :)
National Open
I am planning on playing at the National Open in Las Vegas June 24-28, 2020. Is anyone else here going to play this tournament?
Replies
I am going to be playing the 4 day schedule in the U2100 section, June 25th-28th, and I am looking to see if any ChessMood members want to meet up. Let me know if you are thinking of going!
good luck man and I wish you will play good chess and we all will be excited to see your games in which you will crush people like a melon with chessmood openings and middle game lessons.
Note: "Crush like a melon" is a term which I created with my bestie. It's just a funny term and it's not showing disrespect to any person. I do respect beginners too.
As you are no doubt aware, many large events are now in the process of being cancelled due to the Pandemic scare. I am not sure I am going to play any over-the-board until later in the summer and even then with the close following of developments. I don't mean to be crude here, but I have played across from some pretty sick (ill) people and won't be doing it during these times.
What is interesting is that this could be a catalyst for something big in the realm of on-line chess. Now there is a REAL reason not to spend so much money on travel, hotel fees, entry fees, resort fees, et al. You can play right now in the safety of your home!
Doubts
Since I am new I have some doubts.Would be happy if you all cleared them:)
Replies
Hi Shona.
1. You get unlimited access to the courses when you are a PRO Member.
2. Calls are on skype. All members get a 15 min short call with a GM to get a personalized study plan, when they joined ChessMood PRO. (it's once, when you join, not every month. If you want 1-1 lessons with coaches, please write to our support team at contact@chessmood.com)
3. We have a 30-day money-back guarantee. So if somehow you don't like anything, you can ask for a refund.
Study plan
have sent you a Email GM Avetik on [email protected]!! plz check it out and reply GM Avetik! I am really waiting for your answers! It is about recommending me a study plan. I have described my strengths and weaknesses, the books I have and the Softwares /memberships I have. Sadly, I do not have a membership on chessmood because my dad does not allow :(
Replies
Do you only give study plan to PRO members? plz give to normal members as well!! plz!
tel me ur elo so may be I can help you a bit?
You are welcome @skipper_chess
Skipper, "personalized plan" word speaks for himself.
How do you imagine to give personalized plan of our 10.000 members?
Abhi's post is nice. Check it out.
Chess books regarding Calculation/Visualization
Hello, I am a 2000 fide rated player and am struggling in the aspects of calculation. I have trouble finding resources from both sides. I also have trouble calculating long variations in my head, since the position slowly gets more vague, and unclear in my head. I would greatly appreciate any tips for these problems, as well as chess books to strengthen these topics.
Thanks for any help
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Um. I am 1465 but have some suggestions and I hope it may help you. Even though I am not experienced but I am just sharing what I learnt from strong players. my own research and from my friends.
First of all issue about missing opponent's resources can be solved from a book called Recognizing Your Opponent Resources by Mark Dvoretsky .This is what a GM recommended to my WCM bestie because she also missed opponent's resources during she calculate long variations.
Now let's move to the topic of messing up lines and variations. As far as I learnt from my friend @Jay_Garrison as I am facing this issue too because I am just novice. So he suggested me to pick up a chess book of games. Then try to see the game in your mind till the first diagram position. Let's say first diagram comes on move 6 then try to visualise that position and then place the resulting position on real board and then check your resulting position with the book's diagram and check how clearly you saw. This way of training will improve blindfold and visualisation skills. I prefer try a bit simple games like go with Morphy instead of visualising the games of Kasparov. By practicing it soon you will be able to see the whole game in your mind.
Another useful point is by Indian GM Vidit. He said try to solve studies in blindfold. By this way you can also improve your visualization skills. I this step by step work is also important in chess. If you pick a book suggested for GMs then you won't see all the lines well in your mind. So I suggest pick a calculation book of max 2200 elo level. This is what I learnt from some other coaches. By solving 200 elo point higher problems will improve your skills to the next level. For example now you are 2000 so let's say you can solve tactics of 1900 elo level and you have issue after that then try to get rid out of comfort zone and it will help you.
Final word on calculation book.. I only heard and saw two books in past and they are good books. First is Grandmaster Preparation - Calculation by Jacob Aagaard and second one is Critical Moments in Chess by Paata Gaprindashvili
There are some recommendations by @ChessMood_ too . So you can go there and find the list of books which will be useful for you.
https://chessmood.com/we-recommend
Second useful article:
https://chessbase.in/news/Best-chess-solving-books-for-professional-players
Take a look at this video: (go to 04:12)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJOxo53mIgI
About calculation are written many books...
But personally, I didn't like any of them. Next year, I am going to write a one. Have already more than thousands examples on my computer.
For improving calculation, you really need coach.
It's something, that it's thought to explain in course...
There are so many different calculation techniques.
For now I would recommend to check Dvorecky's book and also to solve more puzzles.
Check the book Calculation by Aagaard.
Pgn file for Scotch Game Opening Course
Hello,
I have just finished the Scotch game course, and I am wondering if there is any pgn file that is available for review. It would be greatly helpful, as I can go over the lines numerous times, and make sure I remember the specific move orders.
Thanks, Sanjay
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At the end of the course, there is a PGN download which gives you some of the basic lines. It is set up this way so you will create your very own PGN for each opening, which will reinforce your learning and help you to memorize all the lines. It will also allow you to build more lines out as you play your own games and compare it to your file.
I hope this helps!
Sanjay, this would be very useful too.
https://chessmood.com/quiz/attack-with-scotch-game
How to Post
How to post?
Like if someone post there is only option to reply,
Is there option to post there in the forum too?
Replies
Can you please elaborate this question please?
