Anti-Sicilian Part 3 Question

Recently, in the Anti-Sicilian,  people have been playing e6 first, followed by a6. The moves are like this:

1.e4 c5

2.Nc3 e6

3.f4 a6

And my question is if we keep continuing with our Part 4 plan, he can play d5 since Nh3-Nf4 is not possible since our f-pawn is there. Is there a plan to play against this particular move order?

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It can work, but in this position it would be also useful to learn how to play against the Kan variation.

Yeah Sriram, this is a good way to play for Black. We'll play the same way we were doing against 2...a6, playing Nh3. We'll not have Nf4 option, but still we have initiative and it's very easy to play for White. 
I had this position a lot during the streams. 

Question on Maroczy Bind

In the video 9.Nb3 Qh5 10.Nd5 in the second 1:57 after black can play 12... Ne4 because after 13.g4 black has 13... Qe5 move and black is slight better

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Kevin, can you please, in future post with Screenshot or video link? 
If we are speaking about the same position, after 14.Re1 black loses the knight. 

The best chess cartoon

https://vimeo.com/314770216 

Is there any better cartoon about chess? :) 

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kweN7VLx-JE

Hi!

Here are some funny chess videos and a chess history video. Enjoy!

/Kim Skaanning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiBeu-U3sNU - Train tunnel chess - Paul Merton show

https://www.reddit.com/r/chess/comments/fwtqq2/kramnik_plays_prank_on_magnus_before_game/ - Kramnik plays prank on Magnus before game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XudCtJc3fsc -  Chess GM Funny Moments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsUASjpU0nY - Chess Fun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeB-1F-UKO0 -  A brief history of chess - Alex Gendler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln4yI4zZEJE - Chess Sketch

All the courses are UNLOCKED

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Sir, why can't I download the PGN files?

Thank you very much GM Avetik!, I intend to become promember, just to know what to play against the Rossolimo variation in the order move 5.0-0 instead of 5.d3 and 5.d3 6.0-0. Do you have anything prepared against this? 

I would like to ask a question regarding the accelerated dragon course. Can I use the move order of hyper accelerated dragon 2. ... g6 instead of 2. ... Nc6 to avoid Rossolimo lines and only learn accelerated dragon, sicilian sidelines and maroczy structures against 1. e4?

I'm very impressed with the courses that I've looked at so far (Benko, Maroczy, Grand Prix vs 2...e6). I've been convinced that I should play these lines and I plan to become a pro member soon.

I do have a few questions:

1. There used to be the start of a Najdorf course. What happened to it?

2. Will there be a further course on the Reti/English, for lines that don't transpose to the Maroczy?

3. In the anti-Sicilian course, it seems that the lines are designed for Najdorf players (with an early ...d6). What is recommended vs 2. Nc3 if you want to play the Accelerated Dragon (2...Nc6, 2...g6)?

Petroff Section 8, 5...Nf6 & 6...d5

Is this line a transposition to some French Exchange?

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Stream recording link not working

Trying to check the "Logic of the openings" stream hosted this morning but the link isn't working.Kindly check.

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Seems to be working now

Teaching chess to the kids

Hi,

I would like to know your opinions about:

At what age start to teach them?

How to teach them once they know the basics?

What kind of resources will work with them, books, videos, only apps?

What study plan do you recommend when they just dream with playing against Magnus ? :)

So far my 6yo boy, can give me a checkmate if I am sleepy, is reading his first paper chess book for kids written by Kasparov, plays on chess.com or chesskid.com, I read with him the lessons on Magnus Trainer app, sometimes we play a lot on a board, sometimes we see youtube videos from chess.com, you can see the boy loves chess, but how to teach him correctly , specially to a level which I dont have.

Thanks for your answers :)

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Hi. I think  you should start teaching chess to kids at the age of 5 or 6.  It will take them time to learn but they will learn the basics. For example they might learn the basics in 1 or 2 months. Then, they will improve their chess skills over the months. You can use both apps and videos to teach them the moves and practice chess. 

Hi Edgar! 
I was the director of one of the biggest chess school in Armenia and we had lots of students. 
In one I'm sure, should be not earlier than 6. 
Max 5.5 when you take him to chess school. 
But to just teach him to play chess - you can do it when he's 4 :) 
Just be careful with this: 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJyeKiT8g4g 

Daily puzzle wrong? SPOILER ALERT

Hello Chessmood family I have notice an error in today’s Daily puzzle (22 july 2020).

I’m new there so I don’t know if it was been notice yet, but in the last move of the problem i promote to a Rook and even if it was Checkmate it sayed that I went wrong.

Thx reading, hope you’ll fix????

LLimone

Replies

Hi LLimone LLimone

You are right. There is some thing wrong with promotion to rooks in the daily puzzle from 22/7. 
The solution is 1.Bf3 Qd1 2.Kxb4 Qdxf3 3.a8=Q Qxa8 4.f8=Q. 
Both 3.a8=R and 4.f8=R is also solutions, but the dont work.
I think the solution in the database dont have your under promotions.

I think in the current form there are no acceptable alternatives programmed to the daily puzzles, only one answer is accepted. Not regarding the underpromotion issue, this puzzle is still a bit strange, because after White's Qd1+ you still have to find out which move is the shortest mate: Kxb4 (mate in 6), Kc4 (mate in 7) or Bxd1 (mate in 10).  The fair solution would have been just to stop after the (otherwise nice) first move.

You are right LLimone. 
We have this daily puzzles for people to keep their mind in a good shape. 
In future we'll hire better developers who'll fix all such things. 

Idea- Choose Nge2 or GP

Coach as you know my level so what you think which setup is better for me to play against Philidor 

e4 d6 d4 N6 Nc3 e5 Nge2 or e4 d6 Nc3 Grand Prix one?

My old story is that I studied very well Adams attack which comes in Najdorf. 

e4 c5 Nf3 d6 d4 cxd4 Nxd4 Nf6 Nc3 a6 h3 idea is g4 and same kind of maneuvers .Even if black follow up with d5 in this setup still white is fine. I don't remember the moves now because it was yy very old weapon against Najdorf but I do remember maneuvers. 

So I love the Grischuk and Carlsen's idea, But your opinion is valuable for me because I am a beginner too and you suggested that Nge2 setup is good if you are above 2300, I can say my feeling about those Nge2 position is better than GP. Even though I am learning GP and Nge2 but I have I have a lot experience in this structure. 

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Abhi, for now just keep GP Attack. 

NEW ARTICLE: Exchange, Distract, Destroy! The 3 Principles of Attack in Chess

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Nice article!

Thanks for the article with great examples! Amasing moves! 

The book mentioned in the article "Perfect your Chess". Is it the one written by Andrei Volokitin & Vladimir Grabinsky?

A Scotch Game to learn from

A Scotch Game between top Grandmaster's played today.

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Thanks, if chessmood will make a video on it then it would be super if not then I will try to understand it by myself by using this pgn and computers,.

Maybe Nepo is also one of the secret members of ChessMood? :)) 

Game with Benoni

Hi all,

I'd like to share a game I just played OTB. It's a classical 90m/40+30m with 30sec inc per move. It is the first time I've ever played the Benoni  after following Chessmood course.  Game ended with a Queen sacrifice which I'm proud of :-)

[Date "2020.07.20"]

[ECO "A57"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. e3 g6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. g3 O-O 8. Bg2 d6

9.bxa6 Bxa6 10. Nge2 Nbd7 11. f4 Qa5 12. O-O Rfb8 13. Qc2 Nb6 14. e4 Nc4

15. h3 Nd7 16. Rf3 Ra7 17. Rb1 Rab7 18. b3 Na3 19. Bxa3 Qxa3 20. Na4 Qxa4

21. bxa4 Rxb1+ 22. Rf1 R1b2 23. Qc1 Rxe2 24. Bf3 Bd4+ 25. Kh1 Rxa2 26. Rd1 Rbb2

27. Rxd4 cxd4 28. Bg4 Rh2+ 0-1

regards,

Duncan

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Nice,useful educational game. It helped me because I am studying Benko Gambit as well.

Hi Duncan! 
Very nice game. 
Just one correction. This is Benko Gambit. Benoni is another one :) 

Upcoming simul

I find the instructions for the simul are somewhat vague, i.e. log on 5 mins before ... where?  live chat again where ..?

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Live stream in youtube will start at 17:55 there

Hey Derek! Sorry for inconvenience. 
Live chat of youtube link we meant. 

Tips for chess study plan

Hello Chess Mood Family

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The best way to divide your time at this rating is: 60% learning from the Chessmood courses, 10% playing games, 20% analyzing and fixing your mistakes, 10% others e.g. solving puzzles or other stuff. I am using this division of time for three months and I had a progress of +100 online points. In addition, check the article "golden rule" in the blog. It will help you to keep a method of not playing much and playing only if you are in the right mood. I think my advice was helpful.

Hey Anurag! 
Study plan is something very personalized thing. 
That's why we jump for 1-1 calls with our new PRO Members. It depends on your level, goals, strong and weak points. 

Studying Kasparov's games

I've started looking at studying Kasparov's games. 

I don't own chessbase, I've not bought as I'm on a Mac , although I think I could get it to work with parallels.

I've signed up for a months premium membership with chess tempo which gives me guess the move , and I've noticed it has 487 games in total. 

I guess for this to be really effective, having a book with the same games analyzed would be useful. I've thought about buying the part 1 book in the we recommend section. I guess I may find the same games are not included though. 

Do people use any different tools for doing this, anyone found chess tempo is sufficient, or do I really need chessbase? Does the standard chessbase include these games or do you also need the database. 

Thanks! Tom

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Karpovs my best games is a great book, as you get in insight into one of chess alltimes greats. 

If you want to study seriously and want to become a strong player, chessbase is needed for sure. 

Have a nice day

Christoph

Hey Thomas! 
Yeah, overall Chessbase is very useful software. 
It also comes with three key I think, so you can share it with your friends. 

https://shop.chessbase.com/en/products/chessbase15 
This one for 119$ is good one to start with. 

Pro Membership

Hello Chessmood Team

I wish to buy your pro membership, I really loved your courses, is there any discount coupon available, is so, kindly provide it here

Thank you

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Hi Devansh. 
The price is already discounted and after 1 month, the price will go up.
At the same time staying the same for previous PRO Members who were already with us. 

Possible Novelty/Improvement in the Benko!

Not sure which move number but at some point ...Na6 is suggested, I believe Ne8?! Might be even better with all the similar ideas, except it frees the Bishop on g7 much sooner and the same knight will go to c7 in the same amount of moves as the b8kknight... in addition, the b8 can replace the Nf6 on the d7 sqaure... It might only be a small improvement, but IMHO I think it's worth looking at. Please let know what you think... Thanks! - Otis 

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Hi Otis Wilson

Is this the position you mean?

Sincerly

Kim Skaanning

Hey man! 
Very interesting idea. 
There are few downsides with Ne8. 
First when you move the e8 knight, you should be always careful with White's h4 move! 

2nd - after Ne8 very often Bg5 gonna be unpleasant. 
For example after 12...Ne8 13.Qe2! defending the b2 pawn at some point trying e5. And if you go 13...Nd7 then 14.Bg5 becomes unpleasant. 

Overall, I am very happy, that you think about the positions yourself and find your ideas. Good job! 

Question on Acc dragon

In course Acc Dragon in the last video in Section 3 White can play 12.0-0-0 and after 12...e5 de5 Bg4 white has 14.Qg3 move and black can not take 14...Bd1 because of 15.ef6 attacking the two bishops and black is losing minus 2 

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Hey Kevin! 
Can you please write move by move, add a screenshot of the position or write the concrete second of the video? 
Any of these. 
Thanks. 

@Kevin_Sun

So why play 14...Bxd1? Can't you play 14...Rxe5 instead and now you are actually threatening to take the Rook on d1.

Training Games (15+5, 2400+ Elo)

Hey ChessMood family!

I'm GM Max Illingworth, and I'm looking to play training games at a 15+5 time control against players  rated 2400+ FIDE, in preparation for the 2020 FIDE Online Olympiad.

If this interests you, let me know in the comments! My username is 'Illingworth' on Chess.com. 

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The Scotch Game - The Beginners Mind - Part 04

Hello ChessMood family, today we continue our exploration of 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nxd4 5.Qxd4 Ne7 which I am discovering more and more is very popular at certain levels.

Clearly black is intending 6...Nc6 to kick the white Queen from her dominating central post so what to do? I hear you ask, well remember the question I left you with at the end of Part 03, which was what were the possible drawbacks of 6...Nc6. To my mind the main drawback would be that it will leave Black's kingside short of a key defender, which in turns makes 0-0 potentially very dangerous for black as that will leave h7 hard to defend and White could invade rather quickly via h5 with say a Queen, notice a Knight on f6 not only protects the Black monarch directly on h7 after he castles but also keeps the important invading square h5 under control.

Now that we have identified the drawback we need to formulate a plan to exploit it, but before we do that I want to return quickly to the reason you would hardly see 5...Ne7 played at the 1200 - 1700 level, I briefly touched upon this in Part 04 but it needs further explanation. In this rating range 6.Bg5 looks very unpleasant to meet as it is very difficult for them to calculate accurately that 6...Nc6 does not lose material, this type of calculation where many pieces can seemingly be exchanged at once I like to refer to as 'counting' calculation, it is an important skill to master and can save a lot of time in a practical game, it is also where most games are won or lost at the 1200-1700 level.

The topic of learning how to 'count' effectively in chess deserves its own article and is outside the scope of this series, however what we can do is examine what a typical thought process might look like in the current position after 6.Bg5 from Black's point of view. Here we go, the Knight on e7 is pinned and we need to break it quickly or else we cannot develop our Kingside, what are our options let's see 6...f6, 6...h6 and 6...Nc6. 6...f6 looks too weakening on the c4 to g8 diagonal, 6...h6 looks interesting but after Bh4 g5 is impossible as the rook hangs and if I move the rook to play g5 then I can't 0-0. What about 6...Nc6 unpinning could that work he's attacking my Queen but then I'm also attacking his and after 7.Bxd8 Nxd4 White can't save the bishop on d8 because of the fork on c2, but what if he goes 7.Qd2 instead protecting his Bishop and renewing the attack on my Queen which doesn't have any squares, oh no, but wait, whew, I can block with my Bishop on 7...e7 which also develops a piece and then I can Castle safely.

That is the kind of thought process that often occurs at the 1200 - 1700 range and honestly it was not a bad one at all, but to become stronger such a thought process needs to be constantly refined. For instance, whenever your opponent makes a threat you must always ask yourself two things, 'Must I React' or 'Can I Ignore' by doing this you can often find resources that wouldn't occur to you otherwise, another useful tool in a good thought process is the concept of 'Revisiting' that is using ideas discovered from one candidate move to revisit and apply them to another candidate move. let's see how this works in the above example. We dismissed 6...f6 quickly as positionally very bad, next up was 6...h6 which we didn't like because after 7.Bh4 we couldn't follow up with g5 to break the pin, so onto 6...Nc6 which we discovered was playable because we counter attack his Queen also, furthermore if White exchanges on d8 he is the one after Nxd4 that loses material, at this point this should have prompted us to 'Revisit' 6....h6 where it turns out 7.Bh4?? is a losing move as now 7...Nc6! wins material by force since White must take on d8 or lose the unprotected Bishop on h4. In the example 6...Nc6 was chosen and after 7.Qd2 7...Be7 was automatically played to block the 'Threat' to the Queen, but had we asked ourselves 'Must We React' or 'Can We Ignore' the move 7...Bb4 might probably have popped up on our radar which as it turns out is superior to 7...Be7 due to 8.Nc3 being met with more 'can we ignore' thinking 8...Bxc3! now white cannot recapture with the Queen or he will lose the Bishop on g5 so 9.bc3 is forced with a ruined pawn structure and a complex battle ahead where Black has his fair share of the chances.

Just for clarity sake I will add that 'Must We React' implies a direct defensive response to a threat while 'Can We Ignore' implies meeting a threat with an equal or stronger threat or counter attack. I hope I've managed to convince you that 6.Bg5 is not as terrifying as it looks at first sight. Next time we will look at what I think is a more promising setup for White, but in the meantime I welcome any  thoughts you may have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YQnvBhN2Ug

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0-Wilf77Sc

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
 

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