Chess forum by Grandmasters

There are two ways to mate in Chess Puzzle 28/1/2026

😕😕😕❓❓😀

Almost at the end of the puzzle, there was two ways I could win. But they only put one move that was correct and another was wrong. Could you guys explain why?

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😭

By the way, both of the moves were still mate in one

It considers Kg7 correct but Kd6 incorrect when both paths go to f5 square.

By the way, it's 27/01/2026 puzzle but they don't change today yet

Hi guys! If there were two correct solutions at some point, feel free to message our support and we’ll add 500 MoodCoins to your account 🙂

No Daily puzzle for today (28-01-2026)

Where is the puzzle for today

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Yes, 29-01-26 also. No new Daily Puzzle. It shows the one from 27th only

That’s true, but they’re still celebrating Avetik’s birthday, so let’s give them a break haha  😅🎉

Hi guys! The issue has been fixed, and you can now solve today’s daily puzzle 🙂

2 Answers in the Daily Puzzle

In today's Daily Puzzle there are 2 correct answers.

1.a8=N g5

2.Nb6 cxb6

3.c7 b5

4.c8=N b4

5.Nd6 exd6

6.e7 d5

7.e8=N d4

8.Ng7 (System accepts this) d3

9.Nf5#

8.Nd6 also mates.

Please fix the issue.

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Your answer should be correct!

it would be great if ChessMood would make it multiple answers correct like on lichess. They probably will change it because so many people have had issues with this puzzle. either that or make the puzzles without other winning options

Exchange Sacrifice - event PGN

Hi guys!
How are you doing?

Hope you enjoyed the lesson on Exchange Sacrifice on Saturday!
I’m attaching the PGN in case you’d like to revisit the positions or analyze them in more detail.

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Thank you so much coach David!

Puzzle 05/09/2025

I think there is something wrong with the puzzle. no thinking are moves are forced and easy

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Hi there :)
Thanks for letting us know.
We have fixed the issue!

Daily Puzzle Bug 27-1-2026

Hi All, In todays daily puzzle on the 2nd last movre both Nd6 and Ng7 lead to Nf5#. I think this is a bug, I kept Nd6 but It shows as wrong. Hope you give me 500 mood coins. Below is the bug position followed by the original one

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Yes, that ist true…I got the Same “Problem”

Yes the reason is that daily puzzles never allow multiple solutions, so sadly many of use ‘guessed’ wrong.

i also guessed wrong with Nd6

😶

The same thing happened to me. Just when I reached that position, I thought about what the most natural move would be so as not to make a mistake, since it’s already common that when there are multiple solutions here, they only accept one 

Today, he shows the same puzzle. I don't see the puzzle for today

I also "made a mistake" with Cd6, but if a puzzle has double solutions it is a bad study.

How to come up with a plan?

Hello,

I was playing french attack Bxb5 variation and my opponent played in such a way where after 15.h3 in this position I had absolutely no idea what to do. Can I please have some recommendations on what I could have done differently?

By the way 26. rf8 was a misclick I didn't actually hang mate like that lol, either way the position got very bad as I wasn't sure what to do. 😃

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/148526890550/analysis?move=51

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In the given position, there was g5 - a decent move, and trying to play with h5 and Kd7 - even Kd7 right away - our regular plan is possible.

daily puzzle

can't find the daily puzzle for today, please fix it

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Move order trick in 1. b3 - transposing to rare Sicilian line

Hi, ChessMood family.

My friends know that I am playing chessmood openings, and he found a bug in our move order, and I got a bit confused in our blitz encounter.

In 1. b3 line, we are playing 1. b3 c5 2.Bb2 Nc6, but here when they play 3. e4 which was not covered in the courses, it transposes to rare 2. b3 siclian line where it was recommended to continue with 1. e4 c5 2.b3 g6, but in 1.b3 line when they play 3.e4, we cannot play …g6 bc he already developed his B to b2.

Someone please let me know if continuing with our English setup like ….c5, …Nc6, ….d6, …e5, …g6, …Bg7, …Nge6 and …Be6 is the correct plan or is there something better.

 Also, when we play ….e5 and then …g6, do we need to worry about f4 by white? 

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Indeed, this is a rare sequence, but out of my experience, the English setup can be fine. Also, you can try 3…Nf6 with some 4…d5 ideas, but you might need to investigate that type of options, as it's out of our repertoire. 

FixMood seems broken

Hi,

Fixmood seems to have stopped showing my chess.com games, starting from about May.  I pretty much play only chessmood openings, so it's very confusing.

Chess.com username : fuzzbeeq

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New article: What I Learned About Setting Goals From Monks

Most goals don’t fail because of lack of effort.
They fail because too much pressure is placed on the outcome.

Read about what allows progress without sacrificing peace in our new article 👇
https://chessmood.com/blog/goal-setting-lessons-from-monks

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Hi Avo , great article ! as usually 

I'll do what I've always done :
“I will finish this course.”
“Then I will finish that one.”
“I will play X games per week.”
“I will analyze my games every Sunday.”
and so on ……..That's all 🤩

in life , instead , .....we are not even the controller of the hair we have on our heads……

do you know what I mean , dear friend (brother) Avo?

Avo what about the other functions of AI section ?

Have a great year Avo expecially for your business 

Riccardo

 

I will finish the Chess Mood course.

Since this will take me more then a year (so much content) I will spread it over two or more years.

I will play 1 or 2 games otb per week, if I cant play otb I will play 1 or 2 games online.

I will analyse my games every monday.

I write my goal(s) here so tat I am acountable for them, since goal settings at the beginning of the year (hidden new year resolution ) one is always in danger of stopping with them in a few weeks, months, like I have been doing many years.

I wish you and your Chess Mood crew all the best for the upcoming year(s).

My plans: To be checked in one year from now 😁

a) Daily

1. Two rapid games on chess.com or Lichess with analysis
2. Ten minutes review my openings
3. Ten minutes tactics puzzle from books (writing down the answers and variations)

b) Weekly

1. One endgame from the book : 100 endgames you should know (Gift from my wife)
2. One hour in depth calculation puzzles from books, advanced level, writing down all analysis
3. One game guess your move, game from books like Botvinnik, Capablanca, Alekhine games
4. One game from Chessmood classical games

c) for 2026

1.Chessmood courses study:

    a) Scale Method

    b) Navigating won position to victory

    c) Mating Matador

    d) Silent Strategy

    e) Fearless warrior

    f) Saving lost positions

2. Chess Mood openings with white

3. Play thirty OTB games in open tournaments

I put theses tasks on my ePlanner…. so I've got a reminder !

Happy 2026 and thanks to the chessmood team who has bulid the courses and keep our morale high thru smart advices, mails and events.

My goal in 2026: 
2800 Chesscom and 2300 FIDE 
Plan? Finish the Mastering Middlegames book, Ramesh RB Calculation, Shankland Calculation, and Dynamic Decision making, My 60 Memorable games once I am done with this and tons of Blitz + Analysis, I WILL Be at the 2300 FIDE Level  and once 2026 ends I will send a message on this forum. 

Good afternoon!

I said to my teammates that I will cross 2100 FIDE classical (current elo 2013) 31.12.2027. They gave me 50:50% chance 😑😑😑😑

My plan is to train 3 times per week for 2h + playing and analyzing league games once per week + some light fitness training 2 times per week for 35 minutes. I will also play 2-3 Swiss classical tournaments per year and a lot of rapid Swiss tournaments with my friends and in the free time I will mainly focus on top quality sleep and relaxation and I will just enjoy being in the chess community because I think it is privilege, that most people dont have.

Petrosian64

Rossolimo doubt in Bxc6 line.

I recently faced a tricky a4 move in a game.

The game continued as follows: 

1. e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 g6 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. 0-0 Nf6 7.h3 Nd7 - In the course it was mentioned that now we are going to transpose to our main line with ...Nd7, ...e5 followed by ...b6 and ...Nf8-e6. 

But my opponent played 8.a4

This move order confused me initially bc in the course, under the early 0-0 chapter, we planned to play 0-0, Ne8, Nc7, Ne6 (or Bg4 then Ne6, or e5 then Ne6).  But in my game after 7. …Nge7 8.a4, our N is on d7. So are we supposed to go …Rfe8, …Nf8, …e5 and then …Ne6 or was there something better?

Can someone please clarify the plans for us in this line.

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Thank you “Little Bobby” for this line and it is a very intresting option with a4 for white.

I can only give a few answer but here we need GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan expertis or GM Avetik or chessmood team.

For the specific moves against 8 a4 play a5 a give sample line but we need to analyse it after 9 Na3  Qc7 (I think before we try to with our setup with Nf8 e5 Ne6 ideas before we play Nf8 we need to control e5 square also we need to close the center before make slow maneuvering play). It is also important prevent white open up the position10 Nc4 ( 10 c3 is intresting also) e5 11 Be3 b6 12 Qd2 h6 ( important to stop Bh6 ideas for white) Ba6 ( with the idea of 0-0-0 Avetik explains in a video about a4 and a5 that gives idea of 0-0-0 cause in other line white can play a3 with b4 ideas.

So what do GM Hovhannes Gabuzyan say? if this is a okey line?

It is intresting to analyse 10 c3 cause it is difficult and white gets easier positon so maybe im wrong? 10 c3 e5 11 Be3 b6 12 Qd2 h6 13 Nh2 (Maybe with idea of f4 but im not sure) Nf8. So it is important to understand positions better. 

Event(pgn)

Hello, 

 Just quick request if IM David Shaniya could provide us the pgn for the January 24 event. It will help understand ideas better. Thank you

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Redirected this to him, and will see if that is doable :-)

hello :)

I will share it during the week 😉

Please add alternative options in daily puzzle

Today's (27-01-2026) daily puzzle was from Troitzky. In the end of the puzzle I played Nd6 instead of Ng7, both leads to Mate in 2 but it said it's wrong but it's the exact same - next move Nf5# 

So, please consider this feedback and add alternative options. Thanks!

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FEN converter from image

I just started using chessvision.ai. From what I see there is no fee, and I can use it to convert positions in my ‘bugs’ to FEN and it will set the position up on lichess(which I use) or on chess.com (if you  prefer) To me it is useful if I cannot figure out a solution , I can at least see the correct move sequence and hopefully that will impriint the useful ideas in my head-hope this is helpful to others as well

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saving favorites

has it been discussed to add the ability to save a particular position / section of a course as a personal favorite? 

for instance, game 38 of the 100 classical games should be a must save for any french player.  i guess i should for now just create an internet browser folder with my favorites, but thought this might be a fun (easy to add?) feature.

thanks for your considerations! 

cheers,

Nathan

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Chessnut

😊

Hi Team!
What do you think of the Chessnut range? Advantages/disadvantages? Would you recommend this purchase for a 1400-1500 rated player? If so, which model? Thanks!
Mitch

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Lichess study - Mistakes (why I lost)

I want to use the Lichess Study function more/better.

I have been thinking about making a study (or studies) for the games I lost with the reason why I lost them.

My idea is to organise them by tactical mistake, time issues, strategical, …

Right now I have put some categories in a test study so it was easyer to show you.

My idea is to add the game right before I made the mistake so I can go over them from time to time (when I e.g. want to study a certain tactic topic. I will also review my mistakes in that chapter.)

I would add them right under the specific title ofcourse.

Besides those studies, I also have a study for whitemood openings and one for blackmood openings.

And I am also thinking about a study for my lost games, where i post the full game for review. But that would be a study for each time control.

Is this logical? Managable?

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To be honest, I am not sure if it's helpful or not.

On one side sounds reasonable to classify, but it looks very time-consuming :-)

If you are enjoying it, and it feels helpful, keep doing :-) 

Scotch Game Shankland Line

Hello! I have a question in our spicy line with h4 with the Scotch Game. In the variation 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 ed 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc6 bc 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8. h4 f6 9. c4 Ba6 10. Rh3 Nb6 11. Re3 and Shankland gives the move 11...f5, saying that white will lose a pawn either on c4 or h4. He ends the line there, claiming the White has to prove the compensation for the sacrificed pawn. My engine suggests to just go b3, give up the pawn, go Bb2, and a weird sequence of moves that leads to (according to the top line of my engine) an [about-equal] endgame where we having 2 rooks and 2 pawn versus Black's LSB, Knight, Rook, and one pawn. What does GMs Avetik and Gabuzyan think about this? Thanks, Ashwin

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And to keep in mind most of us and our opponents aren't 2700, so the question is how easy is it to find the right moves for both sides or have the line in your prep.

Ashwin, what book or course are you referring to?

Also, can you tell us what's your rating?😅

I checked this line and as you say b3 it is a good move since it threatens to play e6 or g3,  we can play Bb2 maybe Rh3 if Qxh4 and together with Bb2 we can put lots of preasure in the KS. 

Of course, if we follow engine lines to the end all games will end in a draw, but we never faced this line and if we do, normal moves like b3 and Bb2 are the first ones that come up. 

I am sure that you will be more prepared than the opponent because they will be very unfamiliar with these structures if they manage to remember the right moves. 

Hello A D,

The question you are asking is super deep and advanced. It's impossible to record and cover very deep engine lines, and if our students want very deep analysis we suggest them to work on that with the engines on their own.
The knowledge we provide in the courses is good enough to build a healthy foundation and understanding of the lines. But super deep engine line move-by-move preparations is not what we are aiming for, as it will be out of interests of 99% learning in Chessmood.

Thanks for understanding,
Good luck!

only one game on chessbase 13 Bb2 Chekurov S- Vujic Mihailo 0-1 Eu-Ch U16 (6) 1993

A simplier line is 9 exf6 2. Agenda

GM Avetik 11 Re3 explains about this 13. 10...Nb6 and about 11.. 0-0-0 but not 11..f5

About Scotch 4....Bc5

Interesting for CM members is the following link : https://en.chessbase.com/post/a-fresh-idea-against-the-scotch Good read ! 👍

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There is 2 games mentioned in the article of GM Gabuzyan with white which ended in draws

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 exd4 4 Nxd4 Bc5 5 Nb3 Bb6 6 Nc3 Nf6 7 Qe2 a5  8 a4 Nb4 9 Bg5  h6 10 Bh4 d6 11 0-0-0 Qe7 12 f3 Be6 13 Nd4 0-0-0 only one game on chessbase now Ramirez Aucejo Hector- Gonzalvez Tamarit Ruben 0-1 Montserrat op ( 6) 2022-09-02

The computer want to play 14 Ncb5 with the idea of c3 little better for white. In the game 14 Nxe6 was played. Intresting to analyse this position more.