Chess forum by Grandmasters

Gratefull with ChessMood Family, Love the process!

Hey to all chessmood family, i just want to share with you some of my homework since one month on working with the courses, I want to recognize that my english writting is not the best but Coach Avetik ask me to share with you all this training method to improve. 

I just started training with chesstempo app, and playing more seriously on the web, i have a routine of hours per day with the clasical game and the repertoire plan that GM Avetik gave me when we start, so this is my litle progress that im proud to share.

Im so thankfull with the chessmood Family for being such good group of learning, and specially with GM Avetik that he is allways with the best wat to treat students. 

I use Excell, chesstempo and play (not much playing because im starting the courses and its more studying) but taking serious the process, with discipline, effort and the best right mood i want better results with next months,  

Im Heinichess in Lichess, and HeinichessPY, ill be glad to have new friends and play more games. 

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Really helpful! Thank you for sharing!

After spending some hours studying the theory I have come to the conclusion that if I haven't sacrificed a pawn in the first moves, or a piece, even the queen, then I probably don't remember the variation correctly  :D

Your tactics on chesstempo is impressive too :) 

Hey John! 
Thank you very much John for sharing it. 
I bet it should be super useful for our other Family Members

Woah, nice improvement. Good luck sir!!

Thank for sharing your study plan John and great results! Do you have a daily routine/plan you like to follow ?

Czech Pirc

Hello Champions! 

I am happy to tell you, that we are uploading a NEW course - Czech Pirc. 
We have analyzed many ways to play against it, and now we'll show you the strongest one, which is at the same time very easy to learn. 

https://chessmood.com/course/pirc-defense-czech-variation  

The first two sections are uploaded. 
Enjoy. 
The rest are coming soon. 

If you have any questions related to this course, feel free to ask.  

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Thanks coach! I face this a lot in Blitz and bullet!

Hey champions! 
Section 3 is uploaded! 
https://chessmood.com/course/pirc-defense-czech-variation 

Inspired play by GM G!

Hohvannes was on fire today in the stream!:) Very helpful. Thank you very much, learned great ideas!!

Cheers to all!

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His games are always useful. Especially, when he make mistakes he never feel down. He is a true fighter and because of him I saved many losing games. 

I learnt how to fight till the end from his games.

I learnt a lot about middlegame planning especially in case of winning weak pawns by fixing them.I

I also learnt some beautiful combinations.

His best skill in blitz is fighting spirit and Never give up attitude and also amazing commentary skills at high level too.

My funniest Chess Dream!!!

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I dont Know how to play when Black plays

I Got Promblem When Black play the move 8...a6 in Crushing Sicilian

[Event "?"]

[Site "?"]

[Date "????.??.??"]

[Round "?"]

[White "?"]

[Black "?"]

[Result "*"]

[PlyCount "14"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Nf3 g6 6. O-O Bg7 7. d3 a6 *

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I think that should play a3, opening a luft for your light sqared Bishop in order not to get trapped, or delay d3 move so that you can move thw Bishop back if black plays 8. ... b5. If black doesn't play a6-b5 you can continue the attack on the kingside with Qe1, Qh4, f5. I hope I covered your question.

Hey Dipak. Are you a PRO Member? We covered a few times during the Webinars. 

Repertoire against 1.Nf3 and 1.c4

Hello GM Avetik, could you make a complete repertoire for black against 1.Nf3 and 1.c4 please!

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It's the Marocy Bind Fianchetto. It's not a complete repertoire but it covers the mainline. 

Hi Atruro if you want to have a stronger repertoire against 1. c4 and Nf3 check out my suggestions:

Against 1. c4 I prefer the symmetrical london system with 1. c4 c5  2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 g6 where both sides fiachetto their kingside bishop and castle kingside ( 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. 0-0 0-0 ) then getting a dragon variation pawn structure with pawns on d3-6 , e2-7 , f2-7 , g3-6 and h2-7. Here the main ideas for both sides are to play d4 or d5 opening the centre. Of course, I believe that the symmetrical engliah does not fit  in a attacking playing style. You can also watch the Maroczy bind, which can occur feom Benko Gambit ( 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nf3 cxd4 Nxd4 4. Nc6 c4 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 )  or from the English opening and Sicilian defence.

Against 1. Nf3, usually white is transposing the game into Queen's gambit declined , which can arise after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 which is a very big opening but if you want to learn a lot you must try it. Or you can choose the Grünfeld setup which can be adjusted to any openings starting with 1. d4 or Nf3 It goes d5 Nf6 g6 Bg7 0-0 b6 Bb7 c5 echannging some pawns if necessary and the playing Nc6.

Or if white is transposing to other openings  you can learn King's indian defence arising from  Nf3 ( 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. e4 0-0 5. Nc3 d6 controlling e5 and c5 sqares not allowing white to push in the centre 6. Be2 classical var. in here white can choose other variations as well  Nc6 7. d5 Ne7 ). I love King's indian and you can watch Kasparov's and Petrosian's games to get a better understanding of this opening. 

Hi Arturo! 
The complete repertoire is coming. You'll get Maroczy Bind 90% of time if you play 1...c5 and 2...g6. 
The rest we covered during the webinars. 
But anyway, the course is coming. 

Files for Mac

Hey Champions! 
Help, please :) 

One of my students uses Mac. 
On which software can he open the PGN file them I send him? 

I try lichess, but there is some bug, very often when I try to upload the files it says error bla, bla, bla...
What other software do you use for Mac? 

Thanks in advance! 

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Chess Openings Professional has a "lite" version for the Mac.  This would accomplish that easily.  I think the cost is $67.  www.bookup.com    

That question was asked on www.chess.com and the best reply was 

if I understand you correctly & you are having trouble just opening your .pgn files, then I may have the solution:  If you are using a text editor such as Notepad (but any text editor will do) then open your .pgn file by browsing to the folder where it's stored but remember to select the 'All Files' option in file-types, otherwise, it won't display files other than .txt files!

Then you should be able to see the file you want & you can open it in the text editor. Next, copy the entire PGN data to the clipboard (Ctrl+A to select all & Ctrl+C to copy). 
Finally, open the Game Editor on this site & paste the PGN text into it. You should then be able to see your game, step through the moves & see any annotation in any language.

For example, I constructed the following diagram/game using PGN data that I compiled with notes I translated using Google Translate (unlike you, I can't read Russian):-  https://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-analysis/opening-pgn-on-mac

and perhaps the simple solution is https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chess-pgn-viewer/id1251365291?mt=12

I just came across this as well.  Again, it is not free but if I had only access to a MAC, this is where I would probably go for chess. 

https://www.hiarcs.com/mac-chess-explorer.htm 

There is also Stockfish for the MAC.  I would think that you could read a .pgn file here also.  It is free.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stockfish-chess/id801463932?mt=12

ChessMood vs Candidate

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Nice! Alekseenko is a Sicilian player too so its not like he was in foreign territory or playing something he doesn't know! (Although he clearly didn't know hehe)

Excellent Coach Avetik!

A good coaches teaches. A great coaches inspires! 

When you see a move, look for a better one! ~ Emmanuel Lasker

woah. I think our future is super bright with Grandmaster Avetik sir. I am improving a lot.  First time ever I gained 2100 on lichess and all credit goes to him and second time in my life i got 2100 o chess.com all bec of him. I done nothing special.

Question

Hello coach.in the  accelerated  dragon  there's  a line D×d4 that's  not  covered  in the  course. I have same idea but it's not enough, so I hope  for you knowledge. With  best  wishes. Abdelhadi aassim

REPLY

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From black side we play Rossolimo 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 so there is no chance for Qxd4

Hey Aasim! Do you mean the 3rd move Qd4? 
1.e4 c5 2.d4 cd 3.Qd4? 

No piece is symbolised with D letter so I did not understand what you meant.

Funny Bike or car sound!!

Guys do you ever noticed that during you watch courses you hear some sound of racing car behind the voice of coach?

I heard it several times. It's funny .

I love bikes and cars too but due to my eyesight I can't drive vehicle well!

My top speed is 85 kmph and normal speed now is 50 kmph.

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Yeah really funny.

85 kmph!

Maybe sir has a race court behind his house.lol

a missed thing in the website

hello GM Avetik! the blog button on the top of the screen , there is not new written in yellow as it used to be. while, on the other hand, when you scroll down as much as you can at the bottom of the screen the blue space where everything is written like copyright, Etc. you should remove the yellow coloured new from next to the blog button too

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Ah, right! :) 
We forgot about it. 
Thank you very much! 

Is chessmood philidor published by chessworld

Is the philidor for white course by chessworld published the same as the chessmood course

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I believe they would be exactly the same ..I think they package it as a separate course on its own in partnership with chessmood I'm guessing..I've seen them sell individual chess24 videos as well

Yep. 
We made a little partnership with them, as we need to support ChessMood going, to not get bankrupt :) 

may 2020 best game championship question

who are the 5 players leading the best game of may 2020 championship? ,when are the results going to be declared? can you pls answer these questions GM avetik?

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plz answer GM Avetik!

It'll be at the end of the May. 
It's not Eurovision, that someone is leading :) 

Accelerated dragon

Hello coach.in the  accelerated  dragon  there's  a line D×d4 that's  not  covered  in the  course.                                                                I have  same  idea  but  it's  not enough, so  I hope  for your knowledge.                                  With  best  wishes.                                                       Abdelhadi aassim

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Qxd4 was covered in the course, be more specific.

Could you write the variation or post a game? I don't understand which position you are talking about.

Identifying updates in the courses

I've found some practical problems in developing/maintaining the pgn files (actually .cbv chessbase files) and wondered how others manage this.

So I start with a database I call "1.e4 repertoire" and create a game in it called "Sicilian".  I go through the videos, once just listening and then I go though it more slowly, adding the moves, variations and comments.  This game file includes alternative moves for white, and also the errors that white makes.  It includes arrows, evaluations, highlighted squares etc.   This is intended as a permanent detailed file, including copied in GM games etc.

Then I copy the game to my "White Repertoire" database which I store on the chessbase cloud.  Now, I want to upload it to the chessbase web app "My Games", and create the file that helps me drill the lines using the Chessbase Openings app.  For the app to work well, I have found that I need to:

1. Where Avetik has given a choice, I need to choose which line I prefer and delete the other, otherwise the drill app seems to get confused

2. Delete the lines that showed what white should NOT play, otherwise the drill app will include them (I don't want to be sitting in a game and trying to remember whether that line I remember was the one to play or not to play!)

3. Shorten the lines down to the core moves, otherwise I will be drilling lines down to move 40 or so, which is an impossibility for the human brain.

4. Make sure there are no "hanging" black moves - each line needs to finish on a clinching white move.

4. Mark the lines with a "my move" mark so I will be drilled on them.

And then...….  Avetik adds some new videos, or I want to go back and view the advanced material and add it to my databases, or I play a game and find I want to add a new line to counter what my opponent played. 

Firstly, it is really hard to identify which videos are new since I made the original .cbv file.  Avetik, any way to better identify such new material, so when we come back to that opening a month later we can see what is new and what we have to cover?  And secondly, moving new variations through that whole process above causes me incredible brain pain.  It is just impossible to follow each through.  It seems to me that there is benefit in having 2 files (one that is complete as a reference for the detailed material, and one that is stripped down for using the drilling app) that stay synchronised as I cover new material, but doing so is doing my head in.

What do you guys do?  How can I simplify the process to make it more manageable, but still retain the goal of having a detailed file, and a drilling file?

Nigel

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Hi,

I don't know about chessbase opening trainer, because I haven't tried it. I am using an opening trainer that is built in chesstempo site. And as far as I can adress the problem, three things come to mind:

1. If you're creating an opening repertoire, let's say for white, you can add many variable white moves. During the drill, the opening trainer asks for a specified move, and if you play other possibility it states that the move is correct but will not proceed until you find the exact one. So actually you achieve it by process of elimination.

2. You can deactivate variants - this way the opening trainer wont consider them during the drill. So you create a repertoire with long lines and many variables but train as many as you wish during the drill. 

3. Making arrows and highlighting squares is not possible as far as I know. Opening trainer has an engine, but it is limited to some extend for non-premium members of chesstempo.

I have found it to be useful to create an Opening Repertoire Study (private) in Lichess and to keep adding lines (the opening explorer in Lichess is handy). This way all of Chessmood's opening lines can be captured and studied upon.

Hi Nigel,

When you are in Lichess, go to the learn column and then click study. You can add whatever you like and label it accordingly. If you would like to keep it private, go to the 3 horizontal  lines left top corner of board and when you click it , you'll get get "edit study". Then you can change it to private, otherwise everybody can see your notes (unless youre ok with that).

Hey champions! Please read this post and share your thoughts.
https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-members/software-for-memorizing-the-lines 

We are going to build something crazy and super-useful for you! 

Well, as far as I know, building your repertoire (let's say for white) means that for white you have ONLY ONE response to every response that black gives. You don't need to know the variations that don't work. The lessons provide several ideas mainly for the general understanding of the opening.

First you work with the general ideas of the opening and see where the pieces go, typical tactics and motifs. Then write the continuation that you liked most.

You should chose one continuation for white, and if possible in depth, and examine each possible response. That means that you don't need all 3 plans provided in the lesson (sometimes in advanced section another continuation is examined). Chose the one that suits you better. Same goes for black.

My little trick, not to get lost, is creating one pgn for each opening and each video is added as a game in the pgn. The name of the white player is the line (preferably the name of the video). So I don't have one file with all the analysis, but many small files. This helps me remember the lines easier and also I can find the files that are added later. If you want all the lines in one file you can merge them later, but it's not practical.

Question on Anti-sicilian Nc3

There are 2 lessons on Nc3 for both black and white(Anti sic by Avetik Grigoryan and Crushing sic sidelines by Hovhannes Gabuzyan). In a game, if both white and black follow chessmood lessons, which will win? 

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This is a feature of chess.  You always have to play BOTH sides of ONE line.  Nothing you can do about it :)

@Congkai

The side that plays better will win or maybe it ends in a draw. :)

If black plays correctly and know how to stop white's attack, and if both players have watched the advanced sections, then in my evaluation: 86% draw, 7% white wins, 7% black wins.

slav defense

hi ineed to know more about slav defense

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If you have chess.com account, I will advise you to read this article:https://www.chess.com/blog/slobodan007/qgd-vs-slav-vs-semi-slav-vs-botvinniks-gambit-system made by me because I play that variants. If not this is a short resume:

Slav is quite better than QGD( for both sides ), but black has many traps that he must avoid in order to stay active and equal. Black's idea of 2...c6 is not to block c8 bishop by moving 2...e6 like in QGD. But that idea can give black some big troubles if he doesn't know traps and tricks that can be used against him like:

• Tempo jackpot for white or even a losing c8 bishop if you put your c8 bishop on g4 too early.
• Losing b7 pawn or really bad structure if you put your c8 bishop on f5 too early.

There are many, but that's main stuff about traps.

In the article: https://www.chess.com/blog/slobodan007/qgd-vs-slav-vs-semi-slav-vs-botvinniks-gambit-system you can find some my games examples, lines as well or what to do if...

Slav is a very big topic! 
It's the same I tell you now I need to know more about stock market :D :D :D 

Here is a good course made by my friend IM Tigran Petrosyan 
https://www.udemy.com/chess-openings-learn-to-play-slav-defense-for-black/

I have good results against the slav with 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4. Qc2 / Qb3  recommended by Hilton & Ippolito in "Wojos Weapons Vol 1"

.... because few opponents play the main line used by masters 4.... dxc4
but  answer stereotyp like semislav with 4. ...e6

I never had good results when playing slav so against 1.d4 I prefer Benko Gambit King's indian defence, modern benoni and rarely Nimzo indian.

Free Tickets

Hey Champions! 
Our Italian friends organize a strong online tournament, with 1000 euro prize fund, where many Grandmaster will participate. 
As ChessMood is one of the sponsors of the tournament, and organizers are our friends, we got FREE tickets for our ChessMood PRO Members. 
Here you can find more info about the tournament - https://www.facebook.com/events/789658141566159/ 

If you would like to participate, please write your nickname in chess.com and your real name. 
And join this group.  - https://www.chess.com/club/anti-cheating-blitz-chess-tournaments 
Before 1 hour of start, the registration will be opened. 

The tournament starts tomorrow (Wednesday) at ChessMood's streams time :) , 8 AM PST. 

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I would love to be bale to play, but I will have to work, so sadly will miss it :(

Hey Coach, I would like to play. 

EsotericPA

Matt Hammons

I would like to play, 

my real name : Nguyen Doan Giang

Nick name chess.com: giangdoan0804

hey coach, how can I join the tournament??

I don’t know where the link to tournament is

Hello coach! I would like to participate in the tournament. Here is my details:

Chess.com username: Mykelpagz

Name: Michael Joseph Pagaran

Hey Coach

I am going camping with the family today, so I cant play.

/Kim Skaanning

chess.com -abhi_chess_gm

real name- Abhi yadav

Hello coach! I want to participate in the Tournament 

Chess.com Nickname: HeinichessPY 

Name: Heinechen John 

Hi there!

Thank you a lot, it looks appetizing. But I am not registered on chess.com, just on lichess. Can I play on my friend´s nick? :)

Ah! Please remember me to lose the first games, be the last of the tournament classification on round 5. Then I need to let loose, drink, and just concentrate on playing chess... and finally win. I read Hovannes sensei article today... Did I get the instructions right??

Ok, folks! I fid the registratuon and made my self couple of rating points. If nessasary to have >2300, give me 30 minutes, pls. My nick is SunceMamino. Real name is Martin Machata.

Great. I will join: rogerrein Roger Rein

Good mood - lot of fun :)

2305, hope it will be good enough at the moment. ;)

Hello coach .iam a new member.    Username:mahdi2302                                         reel name:abdelhadi aassim                           please the time of tournement(gmt)  

Guys, we (italian organizers) are having trouble with manual subscriptions to the tournament! I'm having the person who is in charge of subscriptions to the tournament to manually add you all, i hope we manage to! I put "added " to all of you who were added alredy to the tournament!

I will like to play

Mr real name: Moemedi Machobane

Chess.com username: machobanemoemedi

I would like to play. Mateo Jackson , MateoJackson

Hey,

I would like to participate, 

my real name : Cyrille DIMEY

Nick name on chess.com: onerouslawyer

Bye,

I would like to join 

my chess.com account is SuperBubbleBee

Hi 

i like to play 

  Chess.com account : mikhailtal68    real name : arman shahzamani

Guys, it seems you should go here and click join:
https://www.chess.com/live#t=1234613

Sorry, guys, is there a link or a direct way on chess.com to join the tournament? Pls give me info...

It does not work. They want us to register and pay 8 euro. Nevermind.

I would like to play

Real Name : Robick Vohn Villa from Zamboanga PH

Nickname : RVKVilla_14_Zambo

I think the registration is closed or they are just busy ?

pls help me join the group

Guys, if you wrote your nickname recently, the organizer will not have manually add you in the tournament... 

I am not the organizer, I am just helping you to get spots in the tournament. Hopefully, all will be good. 
Nicolo, let us know, when you find time. 

"The art of exchanging Bishops in the openings."

Hello, champions! 
In two hours we start the interactive lesson. 
I opened this post, where in the comments section I offer you to write down all the things you learned today. 
Even if it just 1 thing,  no worries, write it. 

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My main takeaway is just how early in the game you can make a good positional decision on which bishop to exchange based on what color the pawns are committed to.  While some of these examples I knew about, especially the French Advance, and Carlsbad structures, it was nice to see just how many other examples there were.

I was also impressed just how fast the members were in answering questions, even though they show sometimes ratings around 1500-1600.  I guess the lesson was full of instructive material and presented well.

Fantastic webinar coach. 

1. Keep an eye out for which pawns are locked in the center. Trade off your bad bishop, which is same color as your pawns that are locked up, for the opponents good bishop. 

2. Most openings have some version of this. Pay attention to move order and try to exploit this (example with Ne2/Bf4)

3. Look for opportunity to try and force the exchange of the bishop, or if the opponent avoids it then your bishop becomes strong, such as the example where if black played c5 and we exchanged our d4 pawn, thus making our dark square bishop good. 

4. Be creative in how you go about exchanging. For instance, if the opponent can stop you with g3/h4 don't forget to look for other options (Qb8, Bd8, Bb6 example)

The main thing I learned is we should be looking for the right trades from the very beginning of the game. The pawn structure will tell us which Bishops (both sides!) need to be traded, or avoided! Just be careful the pawn structure isnt easily changes before making the trade! Also to be aware that there is always exceptions, for example, when you have less space, it can be ok to trade your good bishop to gain more spaces for your other pieces.

I am sure there is even more I learned, but these are the things that stand out to me the most right after attending the stream!

It was a great session. I learnt a lot about the following things:

1) Opening bishop Trade: bottom some examples that I remembered well.

1. Trades of bishops when pawn formation in the center is fixed.

2. Trades of bishop in different openings such as:

- In Queen gambit exchange variation- Black must try to trade LSB for white's good LSB bishop. So he chose the plan the Nbd7-Nf8-Ne6-g6-Ng7-Bf5 an amazing Carlsbad plan.

1)  Bad DSB in philidor for black.

2) In caro kann white have excellent bishop on d3 an it's reversed carlsbad and black can't successfully change the LSB with white's good one.

3)  French exchange- trade LSB as black and trade DSB as white.

4) French advance then trade bishop by two route

Qb6 Bb7 Bb5 and second one by coach a6-Bd7-Bb5 and confusing route hehehe.

5)  In benoni it's good to trade LSB  for white if he can and white must not allow Bg4 Bxf3 (capture of knight) Bec knight is useful on Nfd2- Nc4 maneuver to target the d6 and b6 complex.

6) Closed Benoni trade DSB as black with Be7 Bg5 or h6 Bh6.

7)  Kasparov's King's indian plan with Kh8-Ng8-Bh6 ( when pawn is on e5)

8) In benko b4 and closed e5 structure black can play with Bh6 again to trade of his bad DSB.

9) Carlsen's approach with Bb4 to trade his bad DSB even by damaging pawn formation bec c5 was not possible due to dxc5 and it make white DSB super and with bad hanging pawn formation for black.

10) Gabu sir Bh3 to trade off his bad LSB for his opponent's good one on c8.

11) Qh5 in french advanced line to stop black's plan of Bf5 to trade off our good LSB

12) Trade of DSB is favourable for white if he is playing stronewall formation and trade of LSB is better for black if he play stonewall.

That's above all about general opening bishop trade themes I learnt. Some were known to me but some were new to me.

2) In the middlegame section I learnt how to apply these concepts in practice by numerous examples that coach showed us.

3) Learnt so much about pawn formation decide trades.

That's all the things I learnt from this session. Sorry If I missed something. 

Nice and funny webinar :-)

I like the relaxed, but instructive and serius way you/we do things here at ChessMood. 

I learned some creative ways of exchanging my bad bishop for opponents good bishop, and I had a fun time. 

I think Matt H write some of the importent takeaways in the webinar.

I also agree that it was a terrific seminar, than you Avetik and all for the great feedback.

Can someone please explain to me the KID?

Thanks in advance...

Hello coach.in the  accelerated  dragon  there's  a line D×d4 that's  not  covered  in the  course.                                                                I have  same  idea  but  it's  not enough, so  I hope  for your knowledge.                                  With  best  wishes.                                                       Abdelhadi aassim

Super closed game...any is it possible to continue?

 I recently drew this game because I didnt know what else to do. Any ideas anyone?

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Should be draw. You actually play without your bishop :)