Elephant Gambit 3... Nf6

Seems this move was annoying my opponents:

e.g.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5 3. Nxe5 Nf6 - looking at Stockfish 4. exd5 seems to be the right way, as d4 Nxe4 gives Black the pawn back and it's around equal.

A couple of sample lines: 4. exd5 Qxd5 5. Qe2 Be7 6. Nc3 Qd8 7. b3 O-O Bb2
4. exd5 Nxd5 5. Bc4 Be6 6. Nc3 Nxc3 7. dxc3 Qxd1+ 8. Kxd1  Bxc4 9. Nxc4 - I don't believe the computer at 1.5 pawns since the extra pawn isn't worth so much as it's doubled
4. exd5 Nxd5 5. Bc4 Be6 6. d4 Bd6 7. Nf3 O-O 8. Bb3 Nc6 9. O-O - looks a better try, though I've not really explored much more than this.

Anything better, Chessmood team? Happy hunting.

Replies

Well. White could transpose Into very well known Petroff lines with d4 or just win with exd5 (difficult to calcultate in 5+3). Jobava tried this a couple of times with Black (from Petroff) and lost. But White should play d4/Nc3 instead of Qe2.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5? 3. Nxe5 Nf6!?  4. exd5 Qxd5 5. d4 Nc6 6. Nc3

But this was was an interesting transposition of the  Elephant into an rare Petroff line. 

Hi David,

As we already know from Elephant's gambit coverage the best option is to play 4.exd5.

Petroff line 1.e4 e5 2.nf3 nf6 3.ne5 ne4?!

Hi coach, today I was faced with the move ne4 against ne5 and all this time I was thinking that it is a mistake but the engine says it is just equal can u please suggest a way to play?

Replies

 video 2 in the course :)

Ofcourse i know it is in the course but after de5 black plays nc6 and if bb5 bd7 and if bf4 he has some g5 and f5 lines, 

The best games of March 2021 and the prizes

Hello ChessMood family, hello champions and future champions! 
Happy New Year and welcome to the "Best games of March 2021" competition.
Under this post, we invite you to post your 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 February: 

1st Arman Shahzamani
2nd Vladimir Bugayev
3rd Abhi Yadav
4th Sean Raasch
5th Vibhush Pusapadi

Replies

There are several ideas which I applied in this game. First is from cm classics games of petrosian in KID  structures to limit the bishop and use the f4 square, same is mentioned by lami in his caro course , now I forgot from  how many courses or content I applied the concepts and won this game. Only one mistake was allowing Qg4 which stopped mate.

Moral I can say is simple but nice positional game.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/8416471627?username=abhi_chess_gm

Learning also Magnus Variation and getting playable nice positions because people do not know main lines .

https://www.chess.com/live/game/8418807911

I do love Accelerated Dragon but my feeling of caro is amazing so I am using it also. Here is some sharpness in caro.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/8432697285

I thought this game was cool https://www.chess.com/live/game/8389396157

Crushed the Modern with ...c6: going to the Austrian setup (with f4) looks like the solution!

The Chessmood Repertoire takes another scalp!

I really liked this game.  There are no tactics in it, but I got an overwhelming position and didn't lose a single pawn!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/8375636997

https://lichess.org/BjnUmoiSaQYK

https://lichess.org/fGkgbleY/black#54

Attack!

Beating the Scandinavian (...Nf6) with 3.Bb5+.

A pawn sacrifice opens the road to the Black king in the centre.

CARO- SHarpness

https://www.chess.com/live/game/8507688707

Aggresive Benko with sacrifice. I love 19...Bxc4

https://lichess.org/OqBA16YmOCHR 

https://www.chess.com/live/game/8373950201

https://lichess.org/3JSzBhz5xRkV 

Antisicilian squeezing and attack

Scandi Q Trap

https://www.chess.com/live/game/8594740401

Power of initiative

https://www.chess.com/live/game/8593024467

Playing After Very Very Long Time

https://www.chess.com/game/live/8610397035

As Coach has said in the courses, c7 can be very weak in the Scotch.  Punishing 4...Qh4

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/8703952211

20.Rxd7!

https://lichess.org/XQpMYiy0/white#0

Strong Initiative

https://lichess.org/O45fq1my/black#178 

The game was equal but then I got in time troubles so I decided to play Rxa8 to simplified the position so, I decided to SLP with black knight & rook vs two rook. At some point I was winning but then I blundered and the game ended in a draw.

https://lichess.org/sZTgIaz0/white

Game played by me (against Caro-Kann)

Power of Monster Bishop.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/8768731043

 Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/U3UJCQPG/black#5

Crush the Scandi in 14 moves! ChessMood for the win again!

https://lichess.org/KgVjX6gYpX6Y 

Few sacrifices in a row, finishing in style! Definitely want to share this game)

Defence wins u championships XD

Blackmar-Diemer Gambit

https://lichess.org/h64IA8AE/black#5

Philidor Defense

https://lichess.org/QIMxxm8O/white#7

Wild game in AntiSicilian against strong IM

SLP after blundering the bishop

Never Give Up!

https://www.chess.com/game/live/9013585887

Caro-Kann Defense

https://lichess.org/7Gv08LtT/white#4

 Sicilian Defense: Alapin Variation

https://lichess.org/GbGCDft6/black#0

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/9037001327

Nice endgame

https://www.chess.com/live/game/9032786319

https://www.chess.com/live/game/9033429131

https://www.chess.com/game/live/9038255291

Crushing with space advantage and happy pieces.

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/9038839153?tab=report

First win against a GM with happy knight

https://lichess.org/KwKXUueZ 

https://lichess.org/6hRwgmrp 

https://lichess.org/acA8nobb

Three days ago, I watched daily lesson #61 in which Avetic presented Nh3 in the Anti-Sicilian when Black plays e6 and a6 before Nc6. I had finished my initial study of the course in October last year and had not memorized this setup. Today, I was able to implement it in a 5+3 game. It was amazing. The moves came almost instantly and it felt completely natural. And according to lichess, I played without any mistake nor blunder (the first time!). So, thank you again, Avetic, for the daily lesson. And even more important - the advice to play 5+3 and to play in good mood, only. PS. My opponent had about 100 rating points more than me.

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/UpPmMK3I/white#2

 French Defense

https://lichess.org/M8XYj769/white#3

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/olkywIHG/black#3

A nice win

https://lichess.org/wC0NaBL1xsZz

 Alekhine Defense

https://lichess.org/835rj7Vk/white#4

Passive play by white and squares weaknesses gave me nice point in caro.

https://lichess.org/VDgeLtnZPfY8

GP super win. e5 and lost

https://lichess.org/esuYTE8FH9sZ

nice miniature 

https://www.chess.com/live/game/9359739593

Lovely Game!

https://www.chess.com/game/live/9395809355

Dark square domination in AntiSicilian only 3 inaccuracies

Benko turned Maroczy Bind perfect miniature for black

Caro-Kann Defense: Exchange Variation

https://lichess.org/grBvni0f/black#3

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/2M1JdPy9/white#0

Full on Attack!!!

&

99.4 % Accuracy

https://www.chess.com/game/live/9476780875

Positional win in 16 moves: https://lichess.org/bVqi2RiL/white#31 

Against French defense

https://lichess.org/19lJxHHqSoZS

Bishop sacrifice and mate in Accelerated Dragon

https://lichess.org/09Vg2Lun4nIk 

https://lichess.org/wMZg1aWa

https://lichess.org/1uJmpQiNmWod

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/9Fved7Hk/black#2

https://lichess.org/lZrkVtIY#41

I sacrificed an exchange for dark square attack and I succeed.

The most perfect game I have played on Lichess

https://lichess.org/sOxKmrXG#74

Blundered a Rook in the opening, but didn't lose hope and I won !!!

Won a 2 vs 3 pawn with Rook Endgame against a 2300+ rated player.

https://lichess.org/Js6wrRa1#99

Perfect attacking game

https://lichess.org/pgK4pr3K/white#25

Two Rooks vs Rook, Bishop and Knight

https://lichess.org/eH7Mowva/black#0

English Opening from the White side

Attack, Attack, Attack with Black!

 Scandinavian Defense

https://lichess.org/8FHYMPQ6/white#4

This game comes with a big "Thank You!". When I joined ChessMood in October last year, the course on the Benko Gambit was the first one I watched (binge-watched to be honest, without taking notes). I remembered Judit Polgar mentioning this as one of her very early weapons. And since I played the Grunfeld when I was young, this was a perfect fit. A bit later a started learning the ChessMood openings in a more systematic way, starting with the courses for White (I am almost done, only the Alekhine is left). In my Blitz games, I kept playing my currant repertoire for Black which is the QGD. However, after learning the English for last week's closed tournament and using it in Blitz immediately I decided to play the Benko, too. And voila - I nice win yesterday was the reward - trapping White's Bishop on a2. In my post mortem I found out that our repertoire is to play 5. ... e6 after 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. e3. However, 5. ... g6 seems not to be an error and gave me a more Benko-like position. Compared to QGD, Benko is really more fun in Blitz.

How fast 2400 IM can get in trouble in Scotch...

A good win 

https://lichess.org/6lhI88UppcTv

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/zMy79mzR/white#5

English Opening

https://lichess.org/0nmuDrRr/black#5

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/o1BiJ589/white#3

https://lichess.org/QDjFEPhU#

COUNTER ATTACK !!!

https://lichess.org/MRQEmeJR/black#94

Playing the Kings Indian Defence !!!

https://lichess.org/3sqTCn94/black#80

Kings Indian Defense ... My favorite opening !!!

https://www.chess.com/live#g=9983499875

Final checkmate !!

Perfect Benko

SLP mode after blundering in AntiSicilian

Knight Ending and more!

https://lichess.org/fF4UpbKdsnO0

One mistake in AntiSicilian can lead to a quick disaster

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/fXiVMdNv/black#3

Queen's Pawn Game

https://lichess.org/2CDArCe9/black#0

 Queen's Gambit

https://lichess.org/WhhOzbdo/black#0

https://lichess.org/V52dkcET/black#77

Attack, defense and attack again !!!

https://lichess.org/CWFGGBE8#53

Attack meets counter attack !!!

Attacking with caro. mate was cool.

https://lichess.org/FICRV6YU0tG3

Nice Game

https://www.chess.com/game/live/10165382981

https://lichess.org/lEBVUcQw#57

Good use of minor pieces

https://lichess.org/0COtDQ8j/black

Bishop sacrifice for mate in 1

https://lichess.org/jzJZSUeNC4QG

Two knight checkmate in  middle game

https://lichess.org/Qn36zv2aEaut

https://lichess.org/9u2WSMRHCoxG

https://lichess.org/oscnjR1mw6nl

The happy knight

https://lichess.org/grTOHQN6fj1Q

Idea from chess mood daily lesson- Knight & Queen

https://lichess.org/XnrLRTwA/white

Game with analysis

Cool Game!

https://www.chess.com/game/live/10255435829

A short and sweet game against 2400 GM when black does not capture on d4 appropriately.

Opening advantage in the French leads to a blunder. But Where did Black go wrong before?

Accepting a broken structure to go all attack

https://lichess.org/yi8a2Dci/black#73

Tactical Move ... 22 Nxd4

14 move checkmate miniature in AntiSicilian

SLP French game against 2400 player after blundering pawn in the opening

If only I could play like this all the time!  Queen Sac leading to Morphy-ish mate :)

https://lichess.org/50AclaUvunY4

Nice attack with Black

https://lichess.org/5MRuc8at

Won a drawn end game

 Caro-Kann Defense

https://lichess.org/QnmQ3ue8/white#0

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/VEVvLHyh/black#0

What happens when your opponent plays strange f3 opening

Playing against Pirc

SLP after queen blunder in Scotch

SLP after queen blunder 2 in English

Scandinavian against FM 1

Scandinavian against FM 2

https://lichess.org/L5CVBpX0KZwu 

 Philidor Defense:

https://lichess.org/X8xNmS6C/white#0

Scandinavian Defense

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

https://lichess.org/XPDbNGza 

Gp nice win.

 https://lichess.org/uFXeocFvdC8F

There was also a possibility of even queen sac. I considered ity but it was blitz so i went for normal line. Qc8 move I saw in game but but in blitz hard to evalute 

Lost this match but it was interesting & roller coaster type match.

https://lichess.org/1sowfTp6AzT5

https://lichess.org/x5HPcMIOpWMw 

Scotch Game

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

Grand Prix.

https://lichess.org/Orwk65G6M4i3

Grand Prix another win using Qb4N

https://lichess.org/q7q1noLRutwC

English Opening I not studied it yet. Only studied webinars.

https://lichess.org/U3j3I9D8h6Ea

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/10187537615 

Interesting opposite castle battle. After 24...Bxc3, white is lost if he takes with rook, if he takes with pawn or even if he does not take and threats mate in 2.

I really hope Im not to late to enter this since its still march. I played 2 great games this month.

https://chessmicrobase.com/g/u2ktpvmo

Burning the Bird alive.

https://chessmicrobase.com/g/91bh08b2 

The Opera Games Cousins (The Warehouse idk lol)

Do they all have to be sacrificial games ? If not heres a positional beat down of the caro.

https://chessmicrobase.com/g/4gqymeum

Unfortunately I could not win this slightly better endgame after an interesting opening...

Win with caro against new user but 2300 elo player.

https://lichess.org/73RAZdk7X4YA

Another caro win against 2200 player

https://lichess.org/u2VJjPrt/white#47

23 move grand prix win

https://lichess.org/rwvS56OqRbzI

https://lichess.org/yoh88wLj

Slav Indian

https://lichess.org/WmxRo35k/black#0

 French Defense

https://lichess.org/VV3wUCjA/white#0

Power of pawns in chess

https://lichess.org/ZcDN9Vnb1Bdb

GP win over 2300+ player

https://lichess.org/Tyi0A2faMEjD

Champions, this was incredible..... 
We never had a month, when with our team, we didn't know whom to give the 1st prize :) 

It was absolutely amazing to see such growth and so many good games... 

So, the 1-5 places shared:
Avinash https://lichess.org/fGkgbleY/black#0   
Keok Woltek (The game is on the 2nd page) 
Mateus Damaceno   (https://www.chess.com/live/game/8389396157 Qh8!! ) 
Karl Strohmaier  (https://lichess.org/50AclaUv#49  Qf7!! )
Valdemar Rasmussen  (The game is on the 6th page) 

So, everyone gets 70k Moodcoins. 

Bonus prizes get: 
Derek Simpson (https://lichess.org/BjnUmoiSaQYK )
Jaylen Lenear ( https://chessmicrobase.com/microbases/14623/games/1149309 )
Vladimir Bugayev and Sergio Carrera (The games are on the 6th page) 

Each 25k Moodcoins. 

Thanks, everyone, for participating, see you in the next month! 

@Aayush Shirodkar the account is banned brother, because in the game which won him the best game award, he had 0 inaccuracies, 0 mistakes, 0 blunders and only 8 average centipawn loss. So definitely banned.

What to do about the Bird's Opening f4 ?

Have seen this twice recently, first I tried to remember the From Gambit and swindled a win. Second I played d5 and it got stodgy !  What does the Chess Mood family recommend ? 

Replies

You might consider 1.f4 c5!? intending to follow up with ...g6 and no matter what setup White chooses we will get positions quite familiar to us from our ChessMood Courses. I would caution against the From's Gambit though 1.f4 e5!? unless you are  ready to meet 2.e4 transposing to the King's Gambit, somehow many players are caught out or forget about this possibility, plus it falls outside our current ChessMood Repertoire so you would be on your own.

I like to play 1...g6 because if white plays 2.e4, then we play 1...c5 and we transpose to Grand Prix Attack. And if he plays Cf3 and g3,  Black equalizes easily. For example: 1.f4 g6 2.Nf3 d5 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.0-0 0-0 =

If I know my opponent usually plays Stonewall attack, I like to break his structure with c5 and e5! For example: 1.f4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 3.e3 Nf6 4.d4 0-0 5.Bd3 d6 6.0-0 c5 7.c3 Nc6 8.Nbd2 e5! and Black is slightly better

I have usually played with 1...d5 Follow up with Bf5 or Bg4 Nc6,Qd7,0-0-0 and with attack

Or you can try Kid setup as it undermines the f4 with e5 and could be pleasant for Black. Players with 1.f4 have chances to play Stonewall setup then this would be more effective for black to play d6-e5 as Once Coach said in the forum.

2. a3 line in sicillian

today in an online game I was faced with e4 c5 and 2. a3 move by white and I ended up losing very badly where white played some kind of wing gambit but with a3, after analyzing this game, to my utter surprise it seems many Gm games have been played in top level and even  Carlsen and Caruana have played this, what is the plan for black here coach?

Replies

Of course you played 2...g6 right, what else would a ChessMood devotee do. :-)

I play this quite lot in 5min games and am something like 8--1 in front!  There is a good book I own 'Challenging the Sicilian with 2;a3 !? by Alexi Bezgodov and for a quick refresher Simon Williams opts for it in his Spicey Gambits videos. Yes ...g6 spoils the fun !!

Blitz chess training

One's ability at blitz, particularly faster time controls often seems to be correlated to strength. Perhaps it's because one's intuition and ability to see what's important or stay focused under pressure that counts for much.

So I decided given that my fast chess is bad, that I'd sacrifice my chess.com blitz rating which I struggle to keep above 1700 anyway and play 3 0 which is outside my comfort zone. The aim is to play whatever comes naturally on my move after just checking what the opponent did, but on the opponent's move to spend my time on the what ifs and planning for as long as they give me.

The first few (for a long while) I was playing some really terrible chess like a novice. But what is interesting is that I'm still playing plenty of dreadful moves, but after a drop to mid 1600s, I've now pulled the rating up to 1750 more than I could do at 5 3. It seems that while my chess at that speed is still dreadful, my opponents play is even worse, particularly as I'm strong in the endgame and can play reasonably on auto-pilot there.

I'm going to keep this up for a bit and see if I can play better 3 0  (a start would be not making an obvious blunder) for a little while longer. I'm hoping by improving my focus under pressure that when I come back to slower blitz where I have time, but not enough of it, I will evaluate the important things better quickly and subconsciously so I can spend more of my conscious time on other things. Thus perhaps also in longer play putting haphazard approaches to my move to more of an order and I'll end up playing better chess overall.

Comments or insights welcome.

Replies

Hello,

I should try this too. So far, the only blitz I play is 5+3 and I'm absolutely terrified of any time control lower than that. I usually play 10+0 rapid but I could try this to improve my intuition. Nice idea!

Some Book Recommendations for a 1300+ level player

I am Sidharth Sreekumar. My strength is above 1300+. I need some book recommendations for attack. My style is attack. Is looking at Tal's games good? 

Replies

I would suggest Kasparov's best games by Igor Stohl

I too am an attacking player

Silman's Endgame Course I heartily recommend. It is grouped by rating, which means even a total beginner who just learned the rules of chess can learn something from this book. 

Good way to study the basics, and fun too.

If you want 'attacking stuff', Simple Attacking Plans by Fred Wilson also seems great! 

Hi, you should definitely consider purchasing 100 Endgames You Must Know by Jesus De La Villa if you haven't got it already!

Studying well annotated [in Words as well as variations] game collections of famous GM's like Alekhine, Kasparov , Tal, Spassky, Nunn etc. will help build your attacking vocabulary and instincts. Learn to recognise all the well known mating patterns in their simplest form and then work on detecting them in more complicated settings, after that you need to understand the thought process behind what makes a seemingly obvious tactical combination succeed or fail and it usually boils down to two things, pattern recognition and calculation of the details.

Aspiring players usually have little difficulty with the pattern recognition part, but for some reason they assume this is the end of the story  and once a pattern is spotted everything else will just magically fall into place like in the puzzle books. However pattern recognition and calculation go hand in hand, it is not enough to guess at the moves of a combination because a pattern looks familiar, the combination must be validated by accurate analysis. That's why solving puzzles while useful training can also be quite artificial, if only for the reason that we know a solution exists, in a real chess game however with have no such assurance to compel or thinking. 

Have a look at the following diagram taken from an actual game and please do not use an engine, you will only be cheating yourself out of a valuable exercise. What would you play as White and why, share your thought process:  

The Scotch Game - The Beginners Mind - Part 05 [Final]

Hi guys and Gals welcome to the long overdue final installment of our Mini-Series on 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nxd4 5.Qxd4 Ne7. If you have reviewed the previous installments you would by now realise not only that White's most effective plan here is to arrange Castles Queenside but also the reasoning behind why that is the case.

A typical continuation following 5...Ne7 above might be 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.Qe3 Bb4 8.Bd2 0-0 9.0-0-0 d6 10.Qg3 Be6 11.f4 f5 This kind of position should look very familiar if you have been studying the Scotch Courses carefully [For Example: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nb3 Bb6 6.Nc3 d6 7.Qe2 Nge7 8.Be3 0-0 9.0-0-0 f5 10.f4 Negi vs Maiorov - 2012 1-0 (42)]. Our attack on the Kingside is much farther along than Black's on the Queenside, in fact Black's counterplay has not yet begun and he is doomed to passive defence from here on out. One of the most important elements in opposite side Castling is 'Time' and we need to use that time to get our attack going as soon as possible. [See Complete Games at the End of this Article]

Returning to the position after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nxd4 5.Qxd4 Ne7 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.Qe3 Black can deploy his dark squared bishop more actively with 7...g6 and this was a favorite of Ex World Champion Boris Spassky and so should be taken very seriously. Our plan remains more or less the same, that is, Castles Queenside and launch an attack on the opponent's King pronto, the danger now being that Black has potentially more active counterplay than in the lines following 7...Bb4, nevertheless White's attack comes first and he should retain the better chances. [See Complete Games at the End of this Article]

Some of you maybe wondering what if Black annoys us with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nxd4 5.Qxd4 Ne7 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.Qe3 Nb4!? no worries, this is a temporary inconvenience, we stick to the game plan 8.Qe2! Nc6 9.a3 Bc5 10.Be3 d6 11.0-0-0 with an easy game and pleasant initiative to pursue. [See Complete Games at the End of this Article]

Well folks that's it we have come to the end of our journey, you should now be well equipped with the relevant ideas as well as concrete moves and plans to meet an early 4...Nxd4 followed by Ne7 or Qf6 with confidence. 

Good luck in all your Scotch adventures and don't forget to study the below illustrative games carefully.

Previous installments:

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/the-scotch-game-the-beginners-mind-part-01

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/the-scotch-game-the-beginners-mind-part-02

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/the-scotch-game-the-beginners-mind-part-03

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/the-scotch-game-the-beginners-mind-part-04

Replies

Thank you, Kevin. Very instructive mini-serie on this line

What do you think of 6.Bc4 as in scotch course, video 7?

This was a fantastic series that you shared with all of us. Thanks for your time, insights and for being such a good person! It is always nice to read your posts very well expressed and very instructive! Thanks!!!!

Another Cheating Scandal

Cheating scandal hits FIDE World Online University Championships.

 https://chess24.com/en/read/news/cheating-scandal-hits-fide-world-online-university-championships

Hi guys, does anyone have any idea what really happened here.

Replies

I'm sure 90-99% of people, who don't confess, were really cheaters. 
I know real cases. 
But still, I believe algorithms don't work perfectly... 

Hopefully this pandemic will be finished soon, and we move to real chess :) 

Modern Pirc with c6

How to play against Modern Pirc with c6?
We found a very strong way to counter it, which we share in the last update.
https://chessmood.com/course/modern-pirc - Section 7

Hopefully, you'll enjoy it and crush your opponents who play this system.

Replies

Wow, very interesting (and attacking) line - looking forward to giving it a try in the next closed tournament.

The lines chessmood provides are very useful. But I play them and preserve the Austrian attack.

Request for Payment Method

I am a 1223 Fide rated player and would like to join the monthly pro subscription.

However my bank doesn't support international transactions, nor with paypal.

I request you to consider crypto/bitcoin payment as an alternate payment method.

As we know most of the sites accept bitcoin payment nowadays...

I contacted support but the response was negative :(

Replies

Hello Kishore,

Yes, at the moment we still do not accept Bitcoin. Hopefully in the future we will be able to do it. We do accept credit cards, bank transfers and Paypal.

Looking forward to have you here in the near future.

Best regards from the Chessmood Team

Sicilian ...d6

Dear Chessmood family, ;)

Recently I encountered the next variation a few times against our beloved repertoire:

1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bc4 Nc6 6.0-0 e6 7.d4! cxd4 8.Nb5 a6!? This move was not yet in my pgn-file.

After 9.Nbxd4 Nxd4 10.Nxd4 Nf6 I twice chose 11.f5!?.

The most fun game is added to this post.

Any thoughts on this variation?

Replies

Hwo to play against 1.e4 e6 2.d4 c5 ?

Hello ChessMood family

I faced the odd move order 1.e4 e6 2.d4 expecting the French but Black played  2...c5 .. and I'm unsure how best to respond?

3. Nf3 cxd4 takes us into open Sicilian.

3. d5 exd5 4. exd5 d6 takes us into Benoni structure

3.Nc3 exd4 4.Qxd4 Nc6 5.Qe3 takes us into semi-Scotch position where we still have knight on g1

I played 3.Be3 and got myself into a horrible mess .. any guidance would be welcome!

Replies

Hi Mik, if I remember it correctly, David brought up this move order a couple of days ago and the ChessMood Team sugguest going for the Benoni structure pointing out that White had not played c2-c4 yet what was good for White (strange enough - I have this position in my Smith Morra Repertoire where Esserman suggest playing c2-c4 quite soon after 1. e4 c5 2. d4!? e6?! 3. d5 exd5 4. exd5 d6 5. c4). 

The line 1.e4 e6 2.d4  c5 is rarely seen in master play nowadays because after 3.d5 we reach the so called Schmidt Benoni, a structure in which Black is left with a solid but quite passive position. It is important to clearly understand the correct strategy to adopt in such positions and in this case it is primarily one of prophylaxis, at least initially, we will clamp down on Black's b5 break and we will also aim to make it difficult for him to fianchetto his dark squared bishop which is his primary source of counterplay in such structures. Once we have accomplished or 'squeezing' strategy depriving our opponent of space and meaningful counterplay we will seek to infiltrate Black's queenside utilising our main pawn break b4 along with maneuvers like Nc4 coupled with Bf4 to exert mounting pressure.  By the way I would rather you not go for c4 against the Schmidt Benoni, it is not a bad move at all, but it is even more effective to leave this square free for our pieces, especially a Knight.

As always the best way to grasp the above themes properly and be able to apply them in your own games, is to see some of them in action through an instructive illustrative game: 

Anti-Sicilian e6 webinar reschedule?

I notice this is not showing on events any longer - is there an intended date that it's rescheduled for?

Also are events taking place as normal over the Easter (long) weekend?

Replies

I am a bit confused, too.  I hurried back from work, started my laptop, opened ChessMood - and no webinar. I am pretty sure that there was an announcement for today. 

@ ChessMood: It would be very nice If you could send an email in case an event does not take place.

One way to catch up would be after the Elephant one, to do the part 4 Anti-Sicilian and cover both together.

This is now scheduled for Thursday 1st at the usual ChessMood time (but note that for most of us who now have gone to summer time, it will therefore be an hour later). The elephant one is now listed on the schedule for Friday.

Why do we need to play against stronger opponents?

Hello, champions! 

Replies

Nothing to do with the strength of the opponent, it's all to do with being 5 0 or faster. I can't play at that speed in positions I'm still learning and not make basic blunders - it's too fast. Also when there is streaming going on (Sunday) I learn a lot by watching, I can always play blitz at any time.

So myself, not knowing one single ChessMood opening yet and with the only ranking around 1650 (blitz) and not played at a longer time since 1984, could take part?

In that case it seems great. Perhaps I should wait until after the 1:1 talk?

Where can I read more about it (when to play, how often, time, must I commit for the entire season …) and how should I apply to take part in it? 

I do agree, Coach. But unfortunately, I am more of an early bird than a night owl. However, Saturday's closed tournaments usually offer me a lot of stronger opponents to play against. Right now after today's Philidor session, there is once again a lot to learn:

After 8. ... c5 I thought, that not much could happen and it would only me (White) to have a chance to win. Well, it turned out that "key_space" (2210 at blitz) managed to hold the position and after some inaccuracies and a blunder by me - he was the lucky one. 

I choose not to participate because I'm not that strong yet. I've played many times against strong players and against GMs. I'm not afraid of anybody and I will still go for an attack, no matter the result. It's just a game.. So what if I lose?

Hello coach, I realized how important it is to play the league tournament recently. Earlier I was struggling to pass the 2300 mark in lichess but after playing against stronger opponents now I have reached 2320 and I started to beat 2400 rated players who are much stronger than me. Yesterday I beat a Grand Master in that lichess league and it is clearly an outcome of the chess mood courses and importantly being in the right mood before the match. I have attached the game below and ya I had little bit of luck by my side

Full credit goes to you and my love for the game is increasing day by day

Thank you

I finally got up the Mood and confidence to play in the Bundesliga tonight (Sun 29 Mar)

I'll be honest it was very tough going, being one of the  lowest rated players and playing with the fastest time control 3+0. Consistently been outplayed, and in won positions but still losing on time anyway; there were a few times I wanted to stop and walk away and rather just watch Avetik's stream, but I know that playing against these stronger players will help me in the long term. 

I need to be realistic with my playing strength and level, and as the blogs say getting better is hard work, but if you follow the courses and guidance there will be constant growth.

Hope you see many more of you all playing there soon!

Bundesliga (Important)

Hello, champions! 

From now on Bundesliga will start 1 hour earlier than before. 
So, +3 ChessMood time.

Today I'll also join it and stream!
​https://youtu.be/817SyXOFdrY​​​

For participating go here: https://chessmood.com/event/chessmood-team-in-bundesliga-2-931
​​
See you soon!

Replies

NEW ARTICLE: How To Win Chess Tournaments: 7 Key Principles

Replies

Hello,

This is a really good article. Thanks GM Gabuzyan! This really applies to me currently since the National Online Scholastic Championships in the USA are in April and I want to win! The 7 key principles really help.

Also, will the interesting variation in the Nf6 Scotch that you played in Round 2 be added into the course?

Thank You.

Thank you for Nice article.

 I have a question . You said that one should be flexible about opening choice not playing the same opening over and over.

 I have  started to  learn chess mood opening should i change them frequently? learn other chess opening as well as? 

Wonderful Article !!

There's an error. In the game against Arman where your opponent had perpetual check, it's with 38...Ng4, not 38...Ng3

Scotch Passive Move ?

Hi -- I just was confronted in the Scotch Game by Ng-e7 on the fourth move. 

e4--e5 : Nf3 -- Nc6  :  d4  exd :  Nxd4 Ng-e7 . I could not find this in the 'Passive Moves' section?

What is the best response for White here ?  Thanks

Replies

The normal response is 5.Nc3 with likely transposition to 4...Nxd4 5.Qxd4 Ne7 6.Nc3.

Hi Keven

You should check video 7, scotch course. In this game GM Avetik plays your Bc4 in similar position

Commented classical game 33 & 34 question about why black doesn't play Nd4 and let white play c3

Game 33 & 34 on classical game

Why didn't black play Nd4 trying to exchange one of white bishops instead of waiting 4 white playing Na4 or Nb1 and then c3 that prevents that move Nd4?

Thank you in advance

Replies

Hi Claudio,

Trying to answer questions couldn't really figure out which concrete positions are you asking about.

Can you post the pictures for positions you need so I can reply?

Thank you.

@Claudio_Thoux

The link that you posted it points to a video, not a picture. But if you are referring to the initial position when you click the link, it is white turn here. If previously, before playing Rd8 the knight goes to d4, white can take it and win a clean pawn.

Can you take a screenshot of the position that you are referring to? Because I was trying to find the moment too and I could not see it at first glance. Thanks Claudio!

Anyone else facing the stafford gambit a lot?

This is a pretty popular gambit on twitch with eric rosen. It may have a lot to do with my level (~1000-1400) but im getting it kind of a lot when I want to play the scotch (and they go petroff defense). I've been declining the gambit by playing  4. d4 to defend the knight but maybe accepting the gambited knight is better? I just want them to be out of whatever comfort they have with the gambit line. Just wondering if anyone had go to response to this.

Replies

Hey! GM Danya made a vid about it on his YT! he gave a clear defense against it! just check it out!

I faced it a lot too! but not so much these days!

You can check out this lichess public study: Stafford Gambit Study (lichess.org)

I don't recall ever having it. What's the idea of the gambit if declined (defer d6, d5 in one, play b6 Bb7 instead - I guess capturing Nxc6 opens lines with dxc6)? Can I just retreat Nf3 and transpose where Black has shown his cards by playing Nc6?

@daniel schleith

Acceptance is certainly the strongest course but your 4.d4 is also an excellent and practical way to decline the Stafford while still retaining some advantage. 4.Nf3 is not as strong because in many lines Black gets to go d5 in one move instead of two.

Well done daniel I like your thought process in dealing with Gambiteers. :)

One sound way of accepting the Gambit not mentioned by Daniel Naroditsky is:1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nc6 4.Nxc6 dxc6 5.e5 Ne4 6.d4 [6.d3 Bc5 7.dxe4 Bxf2+ 8.Kxf2 Qxd1 Don't fall for that one, it's the main idea behind The Stafford.] 6...Be6 7.c3 with a big advantage for White. 

Yeah... And I'm very sad to see some IMs or GMs teach it to their students, telling it's a wonderful gambit. 
In reality, I feel Black is just lost. 

You should just now this 7.c3 move, with idea d4, then e5. 

Is it covered in any course, where someone recommends this gambit?
I haven't seen it. With very clear reasons, of course, why they didn't cover this move :)  

I'll cover this soon in the Abracadabra openings section :) 

@Kevin_D, what do you think about 7.c3? 

I have seen it just a couple of times. Last time was just a few weeks ago and I am sure it was down to IM Rosen streaming it & uploading to his YouTube channel. I won easily against it, mainly as my opponent played it badly! Still, it is one of those openings that is just bad! Except if it is played by a good player, who actually knows it & how to play, then it might be challenging I guess!

IM Rosen & Jonathan Schranz & several other chess streamers seem to delight in promoting dodgy gambits (Nakhmunson gambit?!). I do not mind this generally, but sometimes they go very silly and are shown to be very foolish! That is their choice... et comme les francais dit "chaque un a son gout"!

In conclusion I am sure you can find a sound good way to beat this Stafford gambit..follow Avetik & Kevin's advice! GL .....Right Mood, Right Move COGRO!