Chess forum by Grandmasters

New podcast with GM Fressinet: The Untold Stories of Carlsen & Kramnik

GM Laurent Fressinet, former World Top 30 and second to both Carlsen and Kramnik in their World Championship matches, shares stories and lessons from inside the world of elite chess.

Hear it now on the ChessMood podcast! 👇

YouTube
Spotify
Apple Podcasts

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Very interesting and enjoyable thanks!

Great talk with such a nice person.

Thank you!

Is it possible that the quie to game Nr. 3:  https://chessmood.com/course/laurent-fressinet-best-games/episode/7885/4092#2 is not working properly?

French defense

Kindar suprise variation

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Bird Opening

What do I play when my opponent play bird Opening after 1f4,e6

        2.Nf3,  and also when opponent play 1f4,e6

                           2e5

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Chess Blindness

In analyzing my games and even puzzles a constant theme has developed.  There will be a pawn push that I will miss and it leads to complication or an outright loss.  For whatever reason, when I calculate a position I am simply blind to pawn pushes.

Is there any recommends on how to work on this issue?

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Dear Kory,

Are you specifically blundering pawn moves? 
This issue is a little unusual, to be able to answer I will need more information - please provide me with more details so I can give you a reasonable answer.

Not able to find sparring/training partner

Hi, coach Gabuzyan

I posted on forum and discord if any one is available to help as a training partner but no one responded. 
 

I am learning new opening from step-by-step opening repertoire for white and am afraid that I will forget 50% as I am not putting it into practice. 

I do use a Fritz 19(bot that plays with you and you can insert your pgn so it will play those lines) but I can’t feel the positions that well with it, any suggestions on what I can do? Thank you!!

Sincerely, pawnbishop_chessmood

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Dear Pawn Bishop,

It's the right thing to post on the forum and discord, trying to find a sparring partner; however, this is something that we don't guarantee, as it's about communication between our students.

You can try to practice in online games as well, trying to get the variations that you learned. 
Of course, having a sparring partner will be very helpful. 

Playing with an engine will not be super effective, as it doesn't play middlegames as a human would.

I've Reached 2100 - WOOP WOOP -

Finally I reached my 2nd goal after completing my first one - reaching 2000 rapid on Chess.com.

On February 13th I was in a loosing streak and my ELO dropped below 1800 (1791 to be precise). I was feeling really bad and low about my chess but I decided to follow the tips from Chess Mood courses and I stopped playing before warming up and I tried to never play if I go into a loosing streak or I am simply missing a lot of tactics.

This lead to gradually improving my ELO and most importantly my confidence. In only 4 months, with some ups and downs I raised my ELO for 300 points.

I am really happy about my progress and will continue to improve my chess.

Thank you Chess Mood Family.

Strahinja - aka Castle Queenside

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😎

Congratulations! 

Congratulations!

nice job!

Well done and thanks for sharing your what helped you succeed.

Excelent!

How to play against 1.e4 e5 2. n f3

How to play against 1.e4 e5 2.nf3

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Up to you.

In ChessMood the recommendations against 1.e4 are either 1…e6 (French)

or 1…c5 (Sicilian- and here they go for the Accelerated Dragon).

What to do in Anti-Sicilian Part 4 line

What to do against the system “1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 a6 3.g3 Nc6-g6-Bg7-e6-Nge7-0-0-d5 or b5”

I played this line as black against GM Gabuzyan and got a better position out of the opening but got flagged at the end :(

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Dear Eli,

2…a6 is covered in the Anti-Sicilian course offered by GM Avetik.

How to play against 1d4 Nf6 2Nf3?

Hi, I finished the Opening studies on Benko gambit, which is effective when White plays 1d4 Nf6 2c4. But what if White plays 2Nf3? Then you can't really play the Benko gambit. When I faced it, I ended up playing a Benoni setup, but White seems to get a space advantage, and Black is a little cramped. I didn't really see in your opening courses on how Black responds to White's flexible 2Nf3. What is your recommended set up?

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3c4  transposes, but what if White does not play c4? Then  Black can’t play the Benko. What setup should Black do?

Dear Luke,

Here we play with 2…g6 - now if 3.c4 then c5 - if White plays with Bf4 or Bg5 - similar lines you can find in the d4 sidelines course.
 

Tactic Ninja - Counter Tactics Example 7

Hi,

near the end of the video we are looking at ..Qe2 Rdd1. Afterwards GM Avetik presents ..Qxd1 as continuation. Which allows for White to play the intermediate Nf6+ we were looking at before, making everything a bit more complicated - 

Doesn't Black have a forced mate after ..Rf1+ Rxf1 Qxf1+ Rxf1 Ne2+ Kh1 Rxf1# ?

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Hey there,

Good job, Henning! 

Avetik's variation also wins as after Nf6 - Rxf6 and there would be Ne2 check still winning the material, but your line is just a perfect checkmate and of course much better.

Keep going sharp like this!!!
Good luck :-) 

Issues with Mating Matador PGN

Dear Chessmoodians,

1. So, I've imported the Mating Matador PGN into Chessable.  I figured out how to break it up into chapters and such.  However, in some of the positions, I'm the one getting mated instead of delivering the mate.  Is there an easy fix to this?  As in, do I just click something to switch sides?  Or do I have to figure out how to input all the error positions myself from scratch?

2. Could someone please direct me to a useful resource on working with PGNs, so I don't have to just start searching the internet blindly?

3. Does someone happen to have a corrected Mating Matador PGN by any chance?

Much thanks for your help!

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The PGNs are set to normal analysis by default.  Chessable is the right tool for the opening repertoire courses but not puzzle courses like mating matador.   GM Avo has multiple moves in the PGN, usually two but sometimes more.   Only one is correct, so you’ll have to edit it to promote the correct line.  If you do this, Chessable will work, but there’s a better option.

You’re going to want to push them to lichess and make an interactive study.   You can do this (I have), you simply need to change the type to interactive study in lichess.  Also, lichess takes the first line every time, but classifies the other as wrong and gives you feedback.  Keeping those wrong moves in your interactive study is crucial, you have an opportunity to enter GMAvo’s coaching from the video as a note when you play the wrong move.

I use Chessable for my opening repertoire study but not for puzzle based courses, matador, ninja, spartan, warrior, etc.   Another tip on Chessable, make sure you edit the PGN before loading into a story book format.   For example, Black is playing the Sicilian, Nc3 to the rescue, ….g6 is always met with d4 …. etc.   Otherwise you’ll forget why sometimes you kill the bishop with e6 and sometimes you castle.    The PGN is not ready upon download, you need to do some work to make progress.  But our coaches have given us all the information to make a study guide that will prepare us for victory.  You’re never gonna learn 200+ Chessable lines that go 20 moves deep without a narrative, going full depth will help you master the first 12 moves or so, but the narrative is what connects the dots, explains why we do the moves, it brings home the coaching points from the video with repetition.

Good luck!

French attack vs 3.Nc3

Hey! I'm very new to chessmood, and I'm really enjoying the content! So thanks to the chessmood team for putting out all this content. 

I have a question and I believe I'm missing something to fully understand the solution you propose in the section French Attack vs 3.Nc3 in the BlackMood Openings course. 

I understand why the “kinder surprise variation” is not bad although it may seem counterintuitive to move back with the knight to the starting square. What I don't fully understand is why 3.Nf6 is such a strong move on the first place. We have the queen and e pawn defending d5 and 4…e5 seems to me a really logical option for white to attack our knight in f6. So, why 3.Nf6 in the first place is so important, even if we are likely to move it back?

Again, it's probably me just not fully understanding the position. 

Thanks for the help!!!

Guillem

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Sign up

I just bought the annual pro membership and wish to book a call with a grandmaster. When I went to book a call, it said it was fully booked out for June and July. Does this mean I can’t have any 1-1 calls with a grandmaster anytime soon?

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Dear Alexander,

I just checked the schedules page as well, and I am pretty sure there might be a technical issue that will be fixed soon - I will let our technical team know. 

Thanks a lot for letting us know :-) 

Feedback sought re costly 'Miss'

Hi all,

In the game below it is White to play.  Before I describe my ‘Miss’, what's your move and why?

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/daily/824410012?tab=review&move=39

OK, I played Nxd5 to capture the pawn - the Black queen has the square covered but so does White's queen and c3 Knight so I thought ‘Free pawn’.  

However, the Chess.com engine sees this as a ‘Miss’ and the eval bar dropped from 4.1 to 1.1 - quite a difference!  

The preferred approach is to take with the queen to initiate a queen exchange.  Is the rationale for this simply that once we gain a pawn advantage we should look to exchange queens and simplify?

Thoughts?

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What you missed was the threat that Black has of playing Ne3 forking the queen and rook.  When you played Nxe5, that knight covers the e3 square, but it now a simple remove-the-defender tactic for black. Black plays c6 forcing the knight to move, and then Ne3 winning the exchange.

New article: How to Stop Blunders: The Ultimate Grandmaster Guide

Hello champions!

Imagine if you could reduce the number of blunders you make. How much higher would your rating be?  

Today, we’ve uploaded all the sections to the BlunderProof course and launched a detailed article on stopping blunders, where you’ll learn:

• 16 practical tips to stop blundering (and the reasons behind the blunders)
• 5 tips to stay hyper-focused during the game.
• How to warm up before a game/tournament and not be rusty?
• Why underestimation and overtrust can lead to blunders, and so much more!

Go read it here👇

https://chessmood.com/blog/stop-blunders-in-chess

And share your thoughts under this forum thread.

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Nice article which everyone should read.👍 (Note: you wrote "he said smth like", guessing it should be "he said something like")

The most useful course so far for me ! I was always looking at the other boards but since I did the course , I completely stopped it and I see a huge difference already !

Good article, Avo.  I find your writing to be informative and motivational.

Hikaru played the scotch!

Chessmood family!

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Hahah)) 

Why are you surprised? 

My first post on the Forums

If anyone has the bandwidth, I'd love some feedback on my round #1 game at the National Open in Las Vegas.  Specifically, can someone help me understand why I was better off playing 6.  . . . Qxd5 as opposed to what I played (6, … Nxd5)?

1.  e4. e6
2.  d4 d5
3.  Nd2. Nc6 (opponent was stunned by this)
4.  c3. e5
5.  Ne2?  Nf6
6.  exd5. Nxd5 (engine says Qxd5 was better)
7.  dxe5. Nxe5
8.  g6??  Nd3##

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Eadan!

Nice checkmate and welcome to the forum!
Engine says Qxd5 was better as White can't attack the Queen with Nc3, and it takes an active position on d5.
Usually, it's dangerous to develop the Queen early as it can get under attacks, but in this case, due to White's inability to exploit it, that was the best move.

Good luck in the upcoming rounds!

I have a question about Anti-Sicilian with 2.Nc3 Nc6 (Part 2) for the ChessMood team.

My question is for the course Anti-Sicilian with 2.Nc3 Nc6 (Part 2), where I couldn't find much information after the variation:e4,c5,Nc3,Nc3,Nc6,Nc6,Bb5,g6 and most of the players are well prepared (I have a rating of 2300 on chess.com) and I start to have problems in the opening.Could you give some variations below or make a video with this variation?
Thanks in advance and really appreciate the course.
The question is for the ChessMood team.

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https://chessmood.com/course/rock-n-rolling-with-white

there are 6 model games here.

personally I just take the knight, play f4 and then decide whether to play positionally on the queenside or start an attack on the kingside(i'm also around 2300). the model games are useful for learning common ideas and plans

hope this helps, Samuel

New course: Silent Strategy - How to Win Games Positionally

The long-awaited course is finally here: “Silent Strategy”! 🤩

We’re super excited to launch it on Christmas Day 🎄

With GM Gabuzyan as your guide, you’ll discover a completely new way to approach positional chess and raise your understanding of the game! 

Watch it here👇
https://chessmood.com/course/silent-strategy-positional-chess

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Hi! Is it complete or a work in progress? It's already good but I am interested in knowing if more chapters are going to be added

Hello, 

I am currently studying this great course, and I actually like it. 

However, there is a little issue which spoilt me the answers of the positions of a video : in the section 3, the positions of the video 19 are on the quiz after the video 18, so if you read this before the issue was fixed, just solve the 2 first puzzles of the quiz after the video 18, and solve the 2 next puzzles after watching the video 19. Could you fix this please? Thank you!

9 sections will be awesome! I will try my best to understand the top level course and master positional chess 🎯. 

The “Strategy Compass” course was removed from the booster section

Could you tell us about why the change of plans/program for the strategy area of the booster section? Thanks!

Hi

I would like to say what a wonderful course this is so far. I have studied strategy/positional chess books before but this is a real eye opener. Well done! 

I can't wait for more sections to be posted. Any idea when there will be more updates?

Hi there

I'd like to start studying it but it's not finished yet. Do you have any due date for the course yet?

Cheers

Matteo

How to Study the King's Indian Attack

Hi all,

I'm really interested in the King's Indian Attack (KIA) for white, especially setting up starting with e4 and going into a Glek System or reaching a KIA position. You can use it against the Sicilian, French, Caro-Kann, amongst other black responses.

What's hard about using an engine to study lines, is that it already puts the eval. flat after the first few moves, and there is less solid theoretical lines than there are general ideas to follow, but this just feels a bit loose and prone to getting into trouble. If you take the Scotch for example, you can really get a feel for how each line can go based on opening play. Somehow I'm feeling it's harder to do that with an engine for the KIA, like it's less clear/objective. I think the nature of it is that it's much more about positional play than fast tactics.

Would anyone have some advice around this, how I can feel more confident with the KIA and develop a strategy so I can study it independently? Thanks

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Buy a book/course with the move order you are interested in on the subject (for instance Reign Supreme: King's Indian Attack) and study it while making your own Chessbase/Lichess files; or watch free videos on YT about it to first understand typical plans and ideas before making your own files. Following what masters play in the databases (GM Amin Bassem is a good role model for instance) while building your files will also help you to navigate the lines better.

If you are below 2000, I think it will be much easier to follow recommendations by an experienced player instead of taking risks to do things wrong, missing important plans and ideas, analyzing too much lines, not being practical enough, etc. You will also gain valuable time by trusting an experienced teacher that you can use to work on more crucial middlegame chess skills than opening knowledge.

Also, be aware of the pros and cons of the move order you decide to follow in comparison to 1. Nf3. 

About the Glek System: There are many free YT videos by GM Naroditsky where he plays and explain ideas at the same time. If you want a book on it, Opening Repertoire: Strategic Play with 1. e4 by Milos Pavlovic is the most recent work on the subject where there is one chapter with lots of model games explaining everything you need to know.