Chess forum by Grandmasters

In the opening...

Hey coach, I was just wondering the right plan against stonewall? As of now I am playing in KID style and quickly playing e5 break . What is the right way to play according to our chess mood repertoire.

And also I am finding difficulty playing against Sicilian rossolimo 0-0 line where he doesn't play BC6 ANY IDEAS?? 

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Kid style with e5 break is a fine way to meet the Stonewall Attack, another excellent way is to play for c5 break or you can even combine both. The most important thing when facing the Stonewall Attack is to know what white wants to achieve from the beginning and prophylactically destroy his dreams.

Kevin D answered perfectly! 
I'm thinking to create badges for our PRO Members. 
Kevin knows a lot about openings and our ChessMood opening. 
He'll definitely have ChessMood Master badge. 
So whenever, guys, you see his answers, you know he's trusted by ChessMood. 
What do you think about the idea? :) 

Chessmood Odysseus

Hello Champions and Future Champions, Hello Chessmood Family...

I bet that you recognize the words... I just dared to use them to start making my introduction to all of you.

From now on I am going to be watching over your learning Odyssey in Chessmood by moderating the forum. Lately we had some technical issues and some undesired posts, that is why our beloved Avetik asked me to moderate the forum. Of course in no way I will behave as an inquisitor, and we still have to fix some malicious posts but we are on it. 

I enjoyed very much banning a couple of users that were spamming us and deleted the posts that I could (and I will delete the the rest soon).

I will try to make your experience here more enjoyable and I have been taking good notes in the different posts that you wrote.

I will only ask some patience before I get used to my duties but rest assured that I will be here for you!

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Great. Welcome. 

Welcome! Now your watch begins, the forum will be even better.

Hi Odysseus and welcome,

Are you able to make it  easier for users to track posts, especially older posts. The search function on the forum does not work very well.

Welcome Odysseus and good to see you're hitting the ground running!

Thanks, Odysseus, and thanks to everyone for their patience and ideas. 
This is just the first step. 

Soon, after hiring a new technical team, on ChessMood everything will be cooler! 
You'll see it :) 

More spam for you. This time about Vicki who I believe works at a greengrocer with large produce ;)

I guess it's whackamole until one/both of:

. Captcha on registrations and/or non-pro posts to prevent bots. Chess captchas with mate in one for example stop non-chess able spamming humans too (I think a good minimum is being able to mate in 1, despite some of our blitz games ;)

. Non-pro posts to be approved before going into the forum (also means that answers can be given at the same time on common topics)

The second prevents a reservoir of accounts built up before spamming. The first stops automated attempts when a manual user might give up on a moderated forum.

At the moment it's about a rate of one spam post a day, but in theory there is nothing stopping a higher rate and the site getting overwhelmed.

According to ancient Greek mythology, Odysseus sank a couple of ships, his crew died (some of them had a violent death) and it took him 10 years to reach his destination (a typical one-week journey)!

I really hope you are more lucky than he was :)

I don't know who you are, Odysseus, but you're very funny. Welcome and good luck!

The spammer has gone all KFC on us.

Chess Puzzles

Hello, if you are interested in improving and solving puzzles, then you are most welcome in our group https://t.me/ChessPuzzler

Its a telegram group where I and my chess mood friends will be posting and solving puzzles 

Only improving and serious players join pls !

Hope to see you soon :)

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Thanks for the great puzzles!

I joined the channel but I can not send any messages.

NEW ARTICLE: How to Defend in Chess – 8 Must-Know Defensive Ideas

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Excellent Article !!

Very interesting article but you should know that defence us my favourite part of the game. Especially in the Accelerated dragon, Schevenningen with black and Najdorf with white, which I also maintain ( The Sicilian is the most important part of my repertoire ), I have saved my king mostly with the escaping king or the brave king technique. When I played Schevenningen once, I marched from g8 to e4 through e6 and then back to c7, ending the game in a draw. 

Thank you 4 article. I followed the 1st 4 course. 

By the way, at the end, on counter attack, under diagram is written white to move but N is already on g5 (in fact I thought about Nf7+ Rf7 Qe5+ Kg8 - if Rg7 probably Rd8+ followed by QxQc3 - exf7+ Kf7 Rd7+ followed by QxQc3)

@ Richard

The ultimate goal is that all these defensive ideas eventually become intuitive and the urge to implement them happens on a subconscious level, such economy saves a lot of mental energy for the ensuing battle.

That's why learning the Open Games is so important in your early chess development. The nature of 'The Open Games'  results in your attacking and defensive instincts becoming highly developed at an early stage as if by osmosis. :)

NEW ARTICLE: Knight & Queen: A Powerful Attacking Team

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Instructive Article !!

Thank You very much coach Johan! That was great! Hope il remember as well in SLP!

French question: Move 7....cxd4

Hi, 

I played a game against an FM using the Chess Mood French. I think I got a good position out of the opening, but don't recall seeing this specific variation in the 3.. Nf6 video. Can you confirm the correct move?

Here's the game, I was white.

1. e4 e6

2. d4 d5

3. Bd3 Nf6

4. e5 Nd7

5. Ne2 c5

6. c3 Nc6 

7. a3 cxd4

8. cxd4 f6

Here's where I had to think for a bit and I played 9. f4. Is this the correct plan here? Thank you so much.

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I had two games last month with the same position in both of them I played f4. I also checked the move after the first game and Be3 was better first if the Queen is on b6, when checking what I did wrong and I recall that it was the first choice of the engine. I am attaching both games, in one I sadly lost at the after being a piece up, but in both games the position out of the opening was good I believe. Check it out...

Yeah Benjamin, f4 is correct! 
It's important to keep the d4,e5 pawn chain. 

Mistake in Acc Dragon 7.Be2 d6 8.f4 line

In the minor lines  8.f4 video you give 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6

5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. Be2 O-O 8. f4 d6

9. O-O Qb6 10. Kh1 Nxe4 11. Nxc6 Qxe3?

11...Qxe3 is indeed kind of equal but after 12.Nxe7 white wins back the pawn and the position is unclear. 11...Qxc6! gives black a big advantage. 

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Hi Duvupov!

Just checked and what you are saying sound correct! Let me tell you that the Accelerated Dragon course and also Benko are being recorded again and we will take your note into a consideration.

New GM Gabuzyan recommendation in Closed Sicilian 6.Be3

I think 6... Rb8 was recommended before the update, followed by ...b5 and ...Nd4

However, in the latest update, 6...e5 is recommended.

6...e5 seems more in line with our repertoire, but I really liked 6...Rb8 an the resulting middlegame.

What are the differences, advantages and disadvantages between 6...Rb8 and 6...e5? Should I swap from 6...Rb8 to 6...e5?

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Now you have two options. :-)

Sergio, it's will be much easier to play with e5, as you do it against almost all systems. Even against 1.c4 :) 
So we try to keep it simple. 

"Crushing the Scandinavian" course

Hey Champions! 
The course is uploaded and 3 sections are ready, others are on their way.
https://chessmood.com/course/10-crushing-the-scandinavian

I hope you'll enjoy it and start crushing Scandinavian players.
If you have any questions about the course - put them in the comments of this post.

With best wishes,
GM Avetik 

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The title of video nr. 57 in this course should be 7...Nb6! instead of 8...Nb6!

Killing the bluff crushing Sicilian sidelines

What if white instead 10Re1+ or Nd5 plays Bg5?

Thanks in advance

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Please give all moves.

Thank you!

Hello dear PRO Members!
I want to say thank you!
Why? :)

First, I'll tell you the good news.
You know, I'm trying to bring more Grandmasters to ChessMood.
And recently a man, who was in the top 10 in the world, agreed to record a course for us! (I will reveal his name later)

I would have never been able to invite such big guys without your support...
When you help me with marketing, for example by referring ChessMood to your friends, you give me more time to focus on chess and bring more value to ChessMood.
When you help me to grow ChessMood, I have more resources to invite the best players and the best coaches to ChessMood.
Thank you!

Last year we grew with 500%, with 1% marketing.
Most of the part of our growth came from our students, who referred their friends.  

Thank you very-very much!

I told you earlier, that all our profits will be reinvested to make ChessMood a better place and help chess lovers from all over the world.

Thanks for all your support!

With best wishes and deep gratitude,
GM Avetik

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Well, thank you for all the hard work you are putting in this platform! Since I became a member I have improved a lot and this is thanks to you!

Is it Boris Gelfand? This is my wild guess... :)

My guess - Is it Akopian? :-)

2. Bc4 webinar: Nils' question

At 32:45 GM Gabuyzan answers Nils' question:

After 1. e4 c5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Nc3 e6 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. d3 d5 6. Bb5 Bd7 (line in response to my question at 29:56), Nils asked what if 7. e5 here, and the response was Ng8-e7 is fine.

Looking at the computer, it's about equal, but here, 7... d4 is even better giving Black an advantage as if Nc3 moves, Qa5 is coming. 8. exf6 dxc3 9. bxc3 (9. fxg7 Bxg7) a6 10. Bc4 Qxf6 - Note: Avinash suggests d4 in the chat.

Note the French advance style trap, 7... Nxe5 doesn't work here: 8. Nxe5 Bxb5 9.  Nxb5 Qa5+ 10. Nc3 d4 11. Nc4 and the queen has to give up the pin.

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Shredder comes to the same conclusion. Thank you, David. PS. Preparing for White for this tournament I had the game Martinez Alcantara-Zhigalko, 2021 in mind where Black played 6. ... Be7 (instead of Bd7 as suggested in the webinar) and White got a nice game after 7. Bxc6 bxc6 an 8. e5.

North Sea Defence

It would be interesting to see your take on Carlsen's blitz weapon, the North Sea Defence, in the Modern course.

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Nf6!?

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https://chessmood.com/course/modern-pirc/episode/1518

Why not avoid the Rossolimo with 2...g6?

Dear ChessMood Family:

ChessMood’s Accelerated Dragon repertoire calls for the move order:  1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6.  Why doesn’t ChessMood recommend 2…g6, which avoids the Rossolimo altogether and saves you the trouble of learning that entire line?  In other words, why is 2…g6 bad?  I’ve only heard two arguments:

1.  If you play 2…g6, you have to be prepared for 3. d4 cxd4 4. Qxd4.  I don’t think this is a good argument.  In my experience, 4. Qxd4 is no big deal and comfortably met by 4…Nf6 5.  e5 Nc3, which is much easier to learn than the Rossolimo.  Granted, I’m a lower-level player…and maybe 4. Qxd4 is more dangerous at higher levels.

2.  If you play 2…g6, you can be forced out of the ChessMood repertoire if your opponent plays as Christof Sielecki recommends in “Keep it Simple 1. e4.”  Sielecki calls for:  1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 g6 3. c3.  Now Black is forced out of the ChessMood repertoire because in the Alapin, ChessMood calls for:  1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6.  In other words, in the Alapin, ChessMood never recommends …g6.  I think this is a better argument, but should one go to the trouble of learning the Rossolimo just to avoid Sielecki’s line?

What do you guys think?  Am I missing something more?  What’s better, 2…Nc6 or 2…g6?  I appreciate any insight you can share.  Thank you.

-Nick

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https://chessmood.com/course/6-anti-sicilian-with-nc3-part-5

In the "6. Anti-Sicilian with Nc3!? Part 5" course he explains how to play for white against g6! so g6 is not a good move. Nc6 is much better and if you want to improve, you need to study hard and work hard, unfortunately there is no other choice. :)

3.c3 seems to give white an small but easy adventage. If you like playing these lines, 2.g6 is good for you

Because your life in the Anti-Sicilians is less easy. If you normally play 2...Nf6 vs the Alapin, white can force you in a different Alapin with the 2...g6 move order. This means you will need to play a g6 system against the Alapin.

And you need something separate against the Morra Gambit. With the 2...Nf6 repertoire you can avoid the Morra Gambit by transposing to the Alapin line. 

There are also some other nasty sidelines vs the 2...g6 move order. Besides that, most anti-Sicilian books/courses for black are made for the 2...g6 move order. So just learn the Rossolimo is way more practical. And if you learn it well, you will discover that with the Chessmood repertoire it is very fun to play! 

Well, there are lots of good points in the answers. 
Firstly you'll allow 3.d4 with Qd4. 
2nd, the 3.c3 gives an advantage in the theory. 

Especially because of 3.c3, top players don't play g6. 

However, for example GM Guseinov plays it for long time. 

Overall, if your rating is below 2300 you can play 2...g6 too. 
It will be fine.  

Best Games of the Month Deserve More

I propose to the ChessMood team that they once per month create a video with analysis of the best games selected.

I would like to hear what did you like, and what not. What could be played differently / better. And finally, what was the main reason the game was selected.

I believe that for many ChessMood members having their game analyzed would be more rewarding that getting a bag of ChessMood coins :)

And to the ChessMood family, do you support initiative?

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In our next internal meeting we are going to talk about this. It is indeed a great idea. We will see how we can implement it, but it is a lovely suggestion. Thanks for the idea Robert! Your help and comments are always appreciated!

Hi, I would like to add the following ideas:

(1) Define a maximum number of games one can submit

I tried to follow the posts in the best games-thread but it was too much posted. Sometimes, I had the feeling that members were submitting almost every game they played (this is of course a bit exaggerated). I would say a maximum of five games would be right.

(2) Ask for some comments on the games 

Why does the game deserve a price? How does it relate to ChessMood (might be the opening, an idea from the middlegame course might have been implemented etc.)?

(3) Have separate price(s) for different time controls (bullet/blitz and rapid/classical)

Is studying Commented Class Games course this way good?

Is the way coach said in his video (link below) good to study Commented Classical Games as he has said other ways in the course. I would like to know coach's opinion and other's opinion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5Tw1iNDfas&t

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Wow, I didn't see this video before, thanks for sharing it!!! Why not, you can try to "play" the game this way at first, then watch the course :) 

Well, this is a good way, if you work with a chess book. 
With working with the course, it's better just to watch it, anyway, on the important moments, I'll ask you to pause the video and think. 

Very useful one, thank you!

How Productive is Your Life

Besides chess, do you make physical workout regularly and do you eat healthy? How important do you think they are for your chess skills? 

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I do some simple 15 mins workouts daily morning. Somedays I will play with my friends some football or shuttle badminton.

I take my iPad, and while riding on my stationary exercise bike I play chess games on lichess, watch youtube chess video (Powerplay chess, Naroditsky Speedrun) or chess events like Magnus cheess tour.

This is an interesting question in general. 

I gues you mean from the chess side of things... I tend to eat as healthy as I can but sometimes I am a bit weak. I tried to excercise and be in good shape for the sake of being healthy and not only for the chess... 

From the no-chess side of things, I guess like most of the others here I have a job and try to be as productive as I can (with some blitz games in between ;))...

I think nowadays the most challenging thing, or the biggest problem that we have is that getting distracted is sooo easy... for example, right now I was trying to complete the repertoire for the French defense in chessmood and thought... 'ok, I will have a quick look at the forum'... I could be training instead, but what to do (?)... :)

Troubles with specific openings

Wanted to get some thoughts from the chessmood family.  I've noticed that I tend to have a lot of trouble with our anti-sicilian lines, but other openings (Benko/Scotch/Dragon) I have great results with.  I suspect part of it is that the Sicilian lines can transpose to each other quite often and I tend to lose the thread of which approach I should take, so I'm going to be going over all the courses again with lots of attention to where the positions can be similar, and also looking for any Sicilian-themed webinars, but I wanted to get any other suggestions people might have. COGRO!

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Just had the webinar on the Bc4 (non GP) lines.

Hello Karl,

This is a fantastic thing to do, re watch the courses... I watched some of them several times and still I keep forgetting lines... As for the webinars I took the liberty to select for you a couple of them that made a great impression on me:

Here you have the link for the Accelerated Dragon webinar, which I watched 3 times already!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pZMiyAOm78

Next, yesterday's spectacular webinar regarding an early Bc4.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QnlcxWURao

Let's keep growing while being happy!!

Hi Karl, yes you're right I have the same problem. There're a lot of transpositions and variations in Antisicilian. Rewatching courses is fine. I think a very efficient way is to go after your specific game to a certain variation in course, might take more time but you will remember this variation better. Also, I'm paying attention to pawn structures it helps too. And the last thing I noticed I'm getting often good positions out of the opening but not finishing them in the best way.

Thanks for the thoughts everyone!  I started rewatching the anti-Sicilian courses yesterday and then played this game that lichess said has no inaccuracies mistakes or blunders!

https://lichess.org/eaoxh1Og/white

How did you find ChessMood

Let's share our stories here about how you've discovered the existence of our lovely ChessMood and how you decided to become a member of ChessMood family :)  

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Before a year and a half, my chess was very weak and I wanted to improve it. So I started watching videos on the chess with Suren chanell, which chessmood is also recommending. One day, I discovered that a channel called "Chessmood" was appearing on the "other channels" list, just next to the playlists. I got amazed by the way GM Avetik was explaing the few, but excellent chess videos the channel had once. The next day, I typed chessmood on google chrome, and as I was exploring the courses, I hoped I found a very good source to learn. GM Grigoryan's message "try to learn chess from trustworthy sources", and the articles motivated to become a Pro member and take as much value as I can. The 1,5 year I am a Chessmood member, by watching the courses and the streams, being or not being Pro member, I raised my online rating around 350 points from 1500 to 1850 (I have highs of 1960) and I owe a big thanks to all GMs not only for the excellent courses and webinars, but also for the instructive articles and commented games. It would be very interesting to hear how you found our chessmood family.

My story is funniest. I have a facebook chess group and there I help beginners and below 1600 players. Even though I am also 1465. But still I help them in proper way and I never misguide them. One day coach @GM_Avetik_Grigoryan texted me and told me about his group and I asked are you seriously a Grandmaster? He said yeah, then I thought in my mind no he can't be a GM because GMs normally do not like to talk with novice. This was my thoughts in past. So I googled his pic and everything and then I realized yeah he is GM hehehe. I felt so happy that a GM is not only talking to me but also he is treating me so well like I am not novice but a decent player. Then he made his website and asked me to join. Again my bad old thoughts came in my mind. I thought oh! now he is doing marketing. The reason for that is most GMs are doing that normally. So I never trusted anyone's contents. So I felt same about him. But in front of him I said yeah I will join sir. In the end I never joined chessmood. Suddenly one day my friend asked me to check his content I said nah. He said check the very first video. So I thought ok let's give it a try. Once I saw the content I felt so angry on myself that I did not trusted coach's words and I felt so sad too. But then I joined chessmood and it's gonna be for forever. Chessmood helped me in chess and gave me super chess training partners and I am improving day by day but all credit goes to chessmood family!

I got to know about Chessmood via some of my chess groups

The Perpetual Chess Podcast
https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2020/9/1/episode-192-gm-avetik-grigoryan

It was the 30December 2020 and At that time all of the courses were opened for 3 days for free.

GM Bassem Amin our African champion wrote about the site and advised us to seize this opportunity to watch as much as possible in these 3 days.

From that time, I am a member here

At first I saw the Chess.com account Zaven_ChessMood online. I thought of applying this "Mood" in my username. So the next day when I opened chess.com I saw Sam_ChessMood then again that evening Hrant_ChessMood! I then found that they were all Armenian GMs. I googled then "Why Armenian GMs have ChessMood in their username". Then I found "ChessMood:Chess Courses and Events with ..." written there. And after that I also read an article in ChessBase India under it which helped me to find. This is not a baked story

Chess board in forum posts

I've noticed that some post chess boards in their forum posts. It would be nice if someone could please tell me how this is done! :)

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One way is add new file and select a pgn or picture file. The post editor isn't very good and hopefully will be better when the new website is released.