Chess forum by Grandmasters

Is playing Daily Chess the best way for improving analaytical skills?

Hello everyone! I saw some articles on chess.com saying Daily Chess is very useful for improving analytical skills.

Replies

It depends where you play, how strong are your opponents, and if you get everything that you learned into the game. Look, I learn from chessmood courses every day, then I solve some puzzles on chess.com or lichess and then go for a seesion of my preffered time controls (3+0, 5+0, 5+3, 10+0, 10+5, 15+5, 25+0).

I can recommend listen to the latest Perpetual Chess Podcast with Andras Toth. Very interesting stuff about improvement and time controls in general!

I play daily chess, much less nowadays, because the games take too long to complete and the flow of thinking is kind of a broken.

For me the best way to improve analytical skills is to analyze any game afterwards. Most of the time for blitz and rapid games analysis  takes much longer, sometimes even up to an hour.

Quote from one of the Chessmood's  article :) 

Today, I saw the webinar of Time management held on 18 May. In that, Avetik sir said that he don't recommend playing Daily Chess because there is a lot of difference between knowing chess and playing chess.

The best games of January and the prizes

Hello ChessMood family, hello champions and future champions! 
Happy New Year and welcome to the "Best games of January" competition.
Under this post, we invite you to post your best games that you will play this month. 

The Prize fund is 350K Moodcoins which is equal to 350$.  

The 1st prize  - 150K
The 2nd prize - 100K
The 3rd prize-  50K
The 4th Prize- 30k
The 5th Prize- 20k

Good luck with your games and keep the Right Mood! 
#ChessMood
#Right Mood - Right Move 

P.S
Here are the winners of December: 

1st-  K H
2nd- Michael Larsen
3rd- Kourosh A
4th- Wenstin           
5th- Aayush Shirodkar

Replies

Cool Rook Endgame

https://lichess.org/rGAEWbXN/black

Fun start to the new year!  Played Bf8 as white :)

https://lichess.org/MqkYgHav/white

Scandinavian defense - 12 move mate.

https://lichess.org/ERj5hWqd/black#24

https://lichess.org/xcAfJ0SvzyCA 

Bad opening against AD won.

https://lichess.org/3unRb9gi/black#52

Played against squares

https://lichess.org/LjLPgVRoSNeg

Opening I messed up but later Zukzwang was cool I think

https://lichess.org/jQzLjwhXxkfU

Caro-Kann Defense

https://lichess.org/bSeQg8WQ#2

Coach, had a calculation blindspot. I did saw Bf2+ in this game but I forgot that he can't take my Ne4. Rest all I did was attack and attack and attack.

https://lichess.org/JStjLf7h/black#49

Slav Defense

https://lichess.org/dAMLCXKT/black#0

Queen's Pawn Game

https://lichess.org/mImu86HP/black#0

https://www.chess.com/live/game/3713810691

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6123726538

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6123785232

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/6131538317

This was a really interesting game.  By move 13 I had my opponent almost completely tied down

Scotch Game

https://lichess.org/mVJK9IWW#5

https://lichess.org/kvTZyEuq There are blunders but the person was rated 900 points above my rating and I got a checkmate in. The person may have been on auto pilot but a win is a win!

https://lichess.org/q95EtRgA

A crushing attack with a nice piece sacrifice!

https://lichess.org/jJs58xksKIan

It was simple and fun

 Quick!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6178190932

I really like our Scotch repotoire - I tend to have good results with it

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/6179942119?tab=report

Alright. This game is perfect. Flawless. Also probably my first ever for blitz. I loved today’s lesson webinar. You’ll see. https://lichess.org/Th4X0wyb/black

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6184486024

https://lichess.org/4hkIihmN

Crushing!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6186930991

I can not say a superb game but it's decent one because I found an attacking move g4!

https://lichess.org/e1a6qy9OeRKR

https://lichess.org/spW7H5cq/white#38

Amazing attack and king hunt in a variation of the Sicilian which is not included in the courses. I am playing black.

According to the lichess analysis, I had a perfect game here - no inaccuracies mistakes or blunders!

https://lichess.org/7ceGI76R/white

Modern Defense

https://lichess.org/yG26Kjzs/white#0

Caro can  1928 vs 2252 1-0

https://lichess.org/UB5z5WEb

He missed f5 but I won later by queenside expensation

https://lichess.org/1IlixTmP/black#49

Just rolling up the kingside - attack basically played itself

https://lichess.org/9CglQf4j4zsA

Miniature with grand prix

https://lichess.org/NCly8BTrmYQN

16 move petroff Miniature

Find noly move to save the game after Qg4 

https://lichess.org/fKczenSl2Y7G

Yes, i forgot line but later I played positional chess and won

https://lichess.org/DjUBCkJMg4W0

 Queen's Pawn Game

https://lichess.org/ExfcXiC7/black#0

King's Pawn Game'

https://lichess.org/7gVbfcSX#0

Sicilian Defense:

https://lichess.org/loWxVmtq#0

 Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/GrDNvNTC/black#0

https://lichess.org/dvfCV0lkyToI

trap in french from white side.

https://lichess.org/Uqv45uhMFqwS 

winning a nice positional game against Ginger GM ! ( GM Simon Williams )  

https://lichess.org/pvk5NJRMXRbH

Very pretty mate in this one

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6229221368

Two sicilians

https://lichess.org/rOQQaIIqEw6j

https://lichess.org/XOgaPkpS

more sicilians

https://lichess.org/KZ41p2hg

https://lichess.org/8S6nXUPl

https://lichess.org/HjF2gVHh/

https://lichess.org/YJpmhe93/

https://lichess.org/13xcQ9lu/

https://lichess.org/RPo7ac9F

https://lichess.org/XdFDpUBI

my favorite sicilians

https://lichess.org/5B6dWo5a

https://lichess.org/LWnFxhX8

GP fun

https://lichess.org/4eXuY4sSSW9V

Caro Kann Knockout

https://lichess.org/ZNypj97RQuuR

French positional win

https://lichess.org/xWGkSZER2pKI

Closed Anti Sicilian

Benko

Squeezing in Anti sicilian 

Anti sicilian attack

Queen's Pawn Game

https://lichess.org/6vlo55B3/black#0

 Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/QYls7V4Z/white#0

Scotch Game

https://lichess.org/kfiAUyqo/white#0

Slav Defense

https://lichess.org/phMXFbmI/black#0

Philidor Defense

https://lichess.org/5VXtZQKU/white#0

My Tal style game :) I'm playing black

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/6256534429

Anti sicilian attack with many mistakes, but the game itself was fun to play.

Modern defense

Roller coaster in Antisicilian :))

Quick punishment in French

https://lichess.org/NS2hWL2ubvxO

Nice co-ordination of pieces

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6261530102

King in the center

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6261575404

Power of Bishop Pair

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6261718441

Active play to save pawn on b7 and gave me point

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6262932268

Played with gusto :)

knowing openings is good true but sometimes I love to check my positional play so I played like this. Yes black may refute it in classical but online positional training is good

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6264161964

Miniature when I decided NOT to play with chessmood repertoire (blitz online rtg: chess.com=1871, lichess=1876). 100% accuracy 

https://lichess.org/IyfmmMlqwCLG

Powerful attacking game :)

I'm trying to change my style of play by trying to play games where I sacrifice material for unbalanced positions where (even if the computer disagrees with me) my opponents lose under heavy pressure

Those are the games: 

https://lichess.org/BzG6BbWQ (crushing the Trompowsky!! Thanks GM Avetik :)

https://lichess.org/SEEh6NwU (Sacking pieces for the action)

French defense 1978 vs 2172  1-0

https://lichess.org/mUZPeqy7#1

MMA choke in the Scotch, perfect game...

Blundered the whole rook on 9th move. But didn't give up...

Positional Scotch against FM

Attack in Caro-Kann

French with multiple mistakes from both sides

I do not post here many games because they have many misses, but this is one of these games where you feel very proud, after sacrifices, pressure and everything. It shows the power of development, fading advantages and having a passed pawn against an slow king side development. The Re3 was inspired by the game Carlsen-Radjabov of the Philidor course that I just finished watching before playing.

https://lichess.org/C77jfvZO2d43

Well, it seems that today I am playing with the right mood. After the Chessmood Accelerated Dragon opening played at lightning speed, and giving me the advantage, I kept the trapped knight on h6 the whole game...

https://lichess.org/gbhdoKGpv2f9

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6280396112

Thank you Chessmood for opening course lesson.

Bishop sacrifice for attack, difficult to defend...

https://lichess.org/cGk7abBKVGDE

fine positional domination ended with a deadly kingside attack  against 1...d6 2...c6?!

https://lichess.org/F0NqhKcZexrW

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6284342159

attack    

Passive Bc4 against Sicilians won

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6284463103

13 move Grand Prix

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6284507690

https://lichess.org/8526Mm2k/white#19

This was an interesting game

https://lichess.org/Sjy9htiQ

This was the second round game of our club championship (not rated) with 60+30 time control Due to covid, we had to play online. My opponent's ELO is 1851, mine is 1991. I was White.

The opening

I expected the 2. ... Nf6 line in the Scandinavian Defense. In his older games, my opponent answered 3. Bb5+ with the more solid 3. ... Bd7. In his more recent games, he played 3. ... Nbd7 4. c4 g6. For the latter, our course includes the following lines after 4. ... a6 (instead of 4. ... g6) 5. Bxd7 Qxd7 6. d3 e6 7. dxe6 Qxe6 8. Ne2 and 5. ... Bxd7 6. Nf3 e6 7. Qe2 Be7 8. dxe6 Bxe6 9. d4.

I liked the setup with d3 and Ne2 (and a later Ng3-e4) and to decided exchange my Bishop against the Knight on d7 even without a preceding a6. In the previous gams of my opponent, White tried to keep the Bishop but I got the feeling that Black's Knight was more active. 

The Middlegame and Tactics

I am quite happy with how I played the middlegame. I had active pieces, kept the pressure in the center, and prevented any major counterstrike of my opponent. We both thought that Black should not play f6-f5 and allow an exchange of the dark-squared Bishops. However, Shredder considers this a better move for Black on move 16 and 17.

On move 17 I considered Nc5 (instead of g3, protecting the pawn on f4) during the game and had the feeling that this might work. However, the variations were quite complicated and would have led to some danger for my king. So I went for the safer g3 assumes that I still had some advantage (the engine agrees on that).

The same is true for 24. Ne4. I had started calculating 24. cxb5 and was quite sure that this could be stronger. However, Black could get some counterplay on the b-line and continuing with Ne4 was a safer way to keep the advantage for me.

On move 26 I missed a tactic (26. Rxe7) but preserved a clear advantage with 26. Qc2.

The endgame and tactics

d6 on move 31 would have won faster. Again, I chose a move that seemed to be "safer" (31. Re7) and kept my winning advantage (the engine agrees on that).

Conclusion

After a well-done preparation, I had a plan for the middle game that was able to implement. There were no mistakes on my side that could have resulted in me losing my advantage. I missed one tactic, only. 

Queenside Majority

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6289617366

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6289412570

grand Prix Kill

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6291577177

Attacking Game!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6301810191

Cool Game!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6301896310

https://lichess.org/Ex7AgsRVtGh2 

This is a game I played on lichess.org. I am playing Black. In this game, on move 14, I made an exchange sacrifice for initiative. This is that game. Hope you will like it.

This is the pgn:

[Event "51st tournament"] [Site "https://lichess.org/jobZYRxp"] [Date "2021.01.21"] [White "johngalt1618"] [Black "chessplayer476"] [Result "0-1"] [UTCDate "2021.01.21"] [UTCTime "12:30:01"] [WhiteElo "2091"] [BlackElo "1891"] [WhiteRatingDiff "-9"] [BlackRatingDiff "+28"] [Variant "Standard"] [TimeControl "900+5"] [ECO "B22"] [Opening "Sicilian Defense: Alapin Variation, Stoltz Attack"] [Termination "Normal"] [Annotator "lichess.org"] 1. e4 c5 2. c3 Nf6 3. e5 Nd5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bc4 Nb6 6. Bb3 { B22 Sicilian Defense: Alapin Variation, Stoltz Attack } g6 7. O-O Bg7 8. d4 cxd4 9. cxd4 O-O 10. Re1 d6 11. e6 fxe6 12. Bxe6+ Bxe6 13. Rxe6 Qc8 14. Re1 Rxf3 15. gxf3 Nxd4 16. Bf4 Qf5 17. Re4 e5 18. Nc3 d5 19. Rxd4 exd4 20. Ne2 d3 21. Ng3 Qxf4 22. Qxd3 Rf8 23. Kg2 Qc4 24. Qd2 Qd4 25. Qa5 Nc4 26. Qc7 Be5 27. Qxb7 Bxg3 28. hxg3 Rxf3 29. Qc8+ Rf8 30. Qe6+ Kh8 31. f4 Qe4+ 32. Qxe4 dxe4 33. Rc1 Nxb2 34. Rc7 Re8 35. Kf1 e3 36. Ke2 Nd3 37. Kxd3 e2 38. Rxa7 e1=Q 39. f5 Qe3+ 40. Kc4 Qxa7 41. fxg6 Qc7+ 42. Kd5 Qd7+ 43. Kc5 Rc8+ 44. Kb6 Qc7+ 45. Ka6 Ra8+ 46. Kb5 Rb8+ 47. Ka6 Qb6# { Black wins by checkmate. } 0-1

And, this is the GIF:

https://lichess1.org/game/export/gif/black/jobZYRxp.gif

 Scotch Game

https://lichess.org/Y1bGjjf0/white#0

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/QTBFaV4T/black#0

Slow chess and I did atleast okay

https://lichess.org/TXJMEZ0QCDO9

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6312224475

B/b vs b/n endgame

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6316466247

https://lichess.org/dFQDE3pU52w0 

Having just finished watching the ChessMood Rossolimo video repertoire, I was very proud of this game! (Also incorporates "Daily Lesson #11" - using my bishops to annihilate white's queenside!) Enjoy :D

Caro win

https://lichess.org/QRJbh0KK3uQW

Power of Space

https://lichess.org/IlGbJsfUX0FN

Accelerated Dragon line which i forgot i think

https://lichess.org/vcCXZXXSMPw7

Scotch Game 

https://lichess.org/8MR6AlO9NaYZ

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/HeVvBorm/white#0

Philidor Defense

https://lichess.org/v49P58Wu/white#0

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/H61wWtI4/black#0

Totally outplayed him.

https://lichess.org/wEEwnXWBSuHX

https://lichess.org/mZ1qUsxEorHb 

Fun king walk!

https://lichess.org/UV5s4Lk0/white

Caro can 2003 vs 2202 1-0

https://lichess.org/8evXVpjy/white#53

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/rSPiB0X5

King's Pawn Game

https://lichess.org/KPTpIJBo

Knightmare in the middle of the board:

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6244143758

Power of the bisoph pair inspired by GM Hovhannes:

https://lichess.org/CwWu7HbrSJ5K

Trap an IM in London (98%):

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6241301723

Why never make long castle in exchange slav:

https://lichess.org/7mOidrc6/black#1

Importance of pawn structure:

https://lichess.org/0raDgEIw#1

Trap the king in the middle of the board:

https://lichess.org/AumestFFz3N5

Well played, nothing more to say.

Very Nice Game!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6342084291

https://lichess.org/xyAQQVYJ7zpk 

Scotch Game

https://lichess.org/Hc7uIpqk#0

Slav Defense

https://lichess.org/R5McGQZe/black#0

Russian Game

https://lichess.org/23jdwoHe#0

https://lichess.org/ukMHYaoT2OEg 

From move 23 great attack (98%)

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6342794021

Winning with Chessmood openings:

https://lichess.org/hz3ES1jK/white#33

https://lichess.org/bR1Jhcc4/white#57

https://lichess.org/YPXTkdMn/white

Winning with Modern Benoni:

https://lichess.org/zhwEtQ9N/black#52

Crushing Alekhine’s Defence:

https://lichess.org/2RzFyJA5/white#43

https://lichess.org/oxD0zBHZfrGW

Crushing the Scandinavian

https://lichess.org/yqT2piRx/white#43

Killing the Stafford Gambit

https://lichess.org/ER2uXohk/white#41    

.

https://lichess.org/VStXrxM9Jswb 

https://lichess.org/joslyzkF/white#47

https://lichess.org/JqNisagw/black#60

https://lichess.org/Q5g05QldConJ

Live Chess - Chess.com

I wont say it was super sound sac on f6 but I just wanted to use light weak squares.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6360509131

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6360572276

Caro Kann Win

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/hQctqXyj/black#0

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/4aYXbPr6/black#0

Very interesting Scandi with a minor piece sacrifice for the attack.

Crazy Game 

https://www.chess.com/game/live/6362663175

Zero mistake, all move green 

https://lichess.org/WDyogzLj/white#1

Taking advantage of what my opponent gave me

This game I won against 2257 and I was 1802. It was just attack and attack and then I made a tactic to win his queen

https://lichess.org/GYXBtrBz/black#94

This game I won his queen early in the game but it was very hard to convert but it went rather smoothly.

https://lichess.org/znwFxGVb/white#120

https://lichess.org/pNnPPqS8/white#49

10 move trap in AntiSicilian

Scotch pawn storm

Benko

English for black

.

.

.

Nice game but Blitz without increment really is not healthy for chess.

https://www.chess.com/game/live/6370246351

Caro win against over 2400

https://lichess.org/5WIx5I9sVl30

Crushed Black with the GP Attack.

https://lichess.org/k1l9kpMnromE

One more victory with GP

https://lichess.org/OEucdYmX/white

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/XDQPoysD/black#0

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/vrFpKYnS/white#4

Funny King Walk

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6393730093

Super bad against GP destroyed

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6393719121

 Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/tbp5rNIo/white#4

Win against 2400. I was lucky. Unfortunately this opening line is uncommon so it's hard to remember all ideas of advanced section but I tried my best.

https://lichess.org/hqBdZQAfxMs0

.

.

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/6397993978

Strange transposition to Scotch, afterwards it was one way ticket :)

My entry for this month..93% accuracy according to chess.com

I do not expect this to be anywhere good enough for you higher rated players but at 5 minute blitz for me it is...sick bro.So just give me a prize for once! Thank you for your kind attention & don't forget Right Mood Right Move...COGRO

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2021.01.31"]
[Round "-"]
[White "playe4"]
[Black "Nic19917"]
[Result "1-0"]
[CurrentPosition "r4rkb/4Np1p/pq3Pp1/2p1n1B1/2P5/3P1Q2/PP4PP/1R3RK1 b - -"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "B23"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Sicilian-Defense-Grand-Prix-Attack-3...e6"]
[UTCDate "2021.01.31"]
[UTCTime "01:21:14"]
[WhiteElo "1209"]
[BlackElo "1238"]
[TimeControl "300"]
[Termination "playe4 won by checkmate"]
[StartTime "01:21:14"]
[EndDate "2021.01.31"]
[EndTime "01:25:24"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/live/game/6400840762"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 e6 4. Bb5 d6 5. Bxc6+ bxc6 6. Nf3 g6 7. O-O Bg7 ± 8.
d3 e5 {INACCURACY (+2.82)} ({(+1.70) The best move was} 8... Ba6 9. e5 d5 10.
Na4 Bf8 11. b3 c4 12. Be3 cxd3 13. cxd3 Nh6 14. Nc5 Qc8 15. Bf2 Ng4 16. Bd4 h5
17. Qe1 Be7 18. b4 Bb5 19. a4) 9. f5? = {MISTAKE (+0.65)} ({(+2.82) The best
move was} 9. fxe5 dxe5 10. Be3 Nf6 11. Bxc5 Nd7 12. Be3 O-O 13. Qd2 Qc7 14. h3
f6 15. Rf2 Rb8 16. b3 Bb7 17. Bh6 Bxh6 18. Qxh6 Qb6 19. Qd2) 9... d5 ±
{INACCURACY (+1.82)} ({(+0.65) The best move was} 9... Nf6 10. Qe1 Rb8 11. Kh1
O-O 12. b3 gxf5 13. exf5 Nd5 14. Ne4 Bxf5 15. Nh4 Bg6 16. Nf5 Nb4 17. Qd2 Bxf5
18. Rxf5 f6) 10. Bg5 Nf6? {MISTAKE (+4.11)} ({(+1.36) The best move was} 10...
Qd6 11. Nh4 f6 12. Bd2 Ne7 13. b3 Ba6 14. Qe1 O-O 15. Rf2 g5 16. Nf3 Kh8 17. h3
Qd8 18. Rd1 Ng8) 11. Nxe5 O-O {INACCURACY (+4.48)} ({(+3.51) The best move was}
11... Qc7 12. exd5 O-O 13. Bf4 Qb7 14. dxc6 Qxb2 15. Qd2 Qb4 16. Be3 Ng4 17.
Rab1 Bxe5 18. Rxb4 cxb4 19. Ne4 Nxe3) 12. Nxc6 Qc7 13. exd5 Bb7 14. Nb5?
{MISTAKE (+3.45)} ({(+5.06) The best move was} 14. Qf3 Rac8 15. Nxa7 Rce8 16.
Nc6 Qb6 17. Rab1 c4+ 18. Kh1 cxd3 19. cxd3 Nxd5 20. Nxd5 Qxc6 21. Ne7+ Rxe7 22.
Qxc6 Bxc6 23. Bxe7 Ra8 24. f6 Bh8) 14... Qd7 15. c4 {INACCURACY (+3.07)}
({(+4.00) The best move was} 15. Bxf6 Bxf6 16. Qf3 Bxb2 17. Rab1 Bf6 18. Kh1 Kg7
19. Rb3 a6 20. Na3 g5 21. Rfb1 Bxc6 22. dxc6 Qd4 23. c3 g4 24. cxd4 gxf3 25.
dxc5) 15... Bxc6 16. dxc6 Qxc6 17. Qf3 Qb6 18. Rab1 a6 19. Nc3 Nd7? {MISTAKE
(+7.28)} ({(+3.78) The best move was} 19... Rae8 20. fxg6 fxg6 21. Nd5 Nxd5 22.
Qxd5+ Kh8 23. Rxf8+ Rxf8 24. Be3 Rf5 25. Qa8+ Rf8 26. Qe4 h5 27. b4 Rf5 28. Qe7
Re5 29. Bxc5 Rxe7 30. Bxb6) 20. f6 Bh8 {INACCURACY (+9.48)} ({(+6.37) The best
move was} 20... Nxf6 21. Bxf6 Bxf6 22. Qxf6 Qxf6 23. Rxf6 a5 24. Rbf1 Rac8 25.
g4 h6 26. Ne4 a4 27. R6f3 Rb8 28. Nf6+ Kg7 29. Nd7) 21. Nd5 Ne5?? {BLUNDER (♔
Mate in 1)} ({(+9.86) The best move was} 21... h6 22. Nxb6 Nxb6 23. Bxh6 Rfc8
24. Rbe1 Rc7 25. h4 Rac8 26. h5 Nd7 27. Bg5 gxh5 28. Qxh5 Rd8 29. a3) 22. Ne7#
1-0

Hi, I played the Anti Sicilian with 2.Nc3 and won this game after sacrificing almost everything.

https://www.chess.com/game/live/6402403705

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/tFhPUirA/black#2

Sicilian Defense

https://lichess.org/mgzfSp1a/black#3

Scotch Game

https://lichess.org/LLbpADlN/white#7

Caro Kann aggression even though i forgot theory

https://www.chess.com/live/game/6403368422

https://lichess.org/mFAtHu2C/white

The Stafford Gambit is unbelievable bad: https://lichess.org/7NkOqn7v/white#61 

Last game, the best game....

Alekhine defence 

https://lichess.org/sdgYY0j2/white#49 

An unusual Queen trap!

Nice Queen sacrifice

Hello Champions and future champions, hello ChessMood Family! 
Thanks for all your games. 
The quality of the games is growing and growing... 

The 1st prize goes to Meet Shah. As he commented "In this game, I sacrificed almost everything" -https://www.chess.com/game/live/6402403705  

The 2nd prize goes to Wenstin for his attack with happy pieces  https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/6131538317

The 3rd prize goes to Karl Strohmaier for his thematic attack with Scotch. 
https://lichess.org/MqkYgHav/white    

The 4th prize goes to Koek Woltek for his cool with Bh7 sac.  (the game is on the 1st page)

The 5th prize goes to Abhi Yadav, for his Rf6 exch. sacrifice and nice mat with minor pieces. 
https://www.chess.com/live/game/6360509131  

Additional 2 prizes are getting Sai Balkawade and Vladimir Bugayev for their cool attacks (10k each) 

Thanks, everyone for the games! 
See you in February! 

Tata Steel 2021 Drama - Alireza Firouzja vs Radoslaw Wojtaszek - R13

Hi Friends,

Extremely disrespectful and very unprofessional from the organizers to distract Alireza during the final game. They asked him to move! Alireza blundered soon after that discussion, and the game ended in a draw. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZPEH-T4kVA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUz4wVXwybQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BWYflxVoC4

Replies

I don't understand why they asked it? :/

Sopiko bullied Alireza? Holy... do you happen to have the link for that?

I don't accept what Arbiters did with Firouzja, they would never do this with Magnus!

2021 tournaments

Hi, dear Chessmood family.

I would like to read some options of you about this year's tournaments, especially like some big Open tournaments.

How do you think will such tournaments be organized or not? 

What about your country?

Replies

As said before unlikely before summer, looking more like at least autumn now.

There are online tournaments (open to international players) as I posted a few days ago in the 4NCL post. The 45 15 every two weeks closes for entries in a few hours, as well and the first game is tonight.

In India, the OTB tournaments are slowly starting. Some small OTB tournaments are there now.

We have a tournament very soon! and don't think that we are so excited about this :D

Memorization technique

Hi. While studying and watching the video courses I asked myself if there is any useful memorization technique to remember the opening lines provided in the courses. If you have experience with learning openings I would like to hear your suggestions or hints to remember the lines better. 

Replies

Hi Geitz

Coach has created very useful blogs on this topic.

https://chessmood.com/blog/how-to-memorize-chess-openings-variations

https://chessmood.com/blog/the-most-effective-way-to-create-chess-pgn-files

For myself, these approaches have worked very well, as it's better to understand the ideas rather than the exact moves. 

Hope this helps.

Hi Geltz!

It's a very common question, and I would like to support the answer Mik provided below, check out the articles and you will definitely find your questions answered!

Good luck.

I put the moves in Chess Position Trainer and train them daily, mostly 12 moves deep. 

Chess Training

When I saw grandmaster wrote I was training for 8 hours a day. I always ask how he divided his time among different aspects like studying openings, studying grandmasters games, solving tactics or others.

What is the ideal way for chess training for 2000+ chess players

Replies

3-4 hours of intensive training is enough

I am pretty sure most GMs are not so dogmatic in their training. When they say they are training for 8 hours, it doesn't mean 3 hours of endgames every day, and 4 hours on openings and and extra hour reviewing recent theoretical games. 

More likely, they set out a goal of learning something (an opening, a concept, a theoretical endgame, etc.) and spend the time needed to master it, then move to the next idea, as well as take a little time to review their learning over the last few weeks to make sure they retain what they are learning,

How to overcome overconfidence?

Hello! I am seeing that when I solve puzzles etc. when I see a move and looks like it's good, I am becoming overconfident and play that move and often gets wrong. How to overcome this?

Replies

I get the same problem, and it's one with tactical puzzles, particularly timed ones.

Often the solution is mate the king via a sacrifice or attack something and win something else. This means you stop looking at the rest of the position and the consequences of your actions.

You could try mixing in longer games or even study classical ones where you analyse the position properly to get you out of that habit.

I also found this resource useful:

http://www.neoneuro.com/downloads/chuzhakinssystem.pdf

@Sidharth Sreekumar

Hi Sidharth,

I suspect your problem could be that you are relying on pattern recognition alone to solve the puzzles, however pattern recognition is just one component of chess strength the other being accurate calculation. Essentially once you think that you have hit upon the right idea, the next step is to find an accurate series of moves to confirm and successfully execute the operation, and in order to do that you have to pay careful attention to the details. 

Do you really calculate everything to the end, with all possible variations? Writing down your variation without moving the pieces is a good method. If you then get a move you didn't expect, you missed something in your calculation. This video is helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzzyR_YIZz0&t=135s

Hello Everyone!

I have seen you guys discussing here Confidence topic about the concrete moves and game confidence will try to share my opinion. 

About the moves, confidence is coming to me in case if I calculated all possibilities of an opponent after my move since I figure out there is nothing that I missed looks like a good spot to be fulfilled with confidence.

In the case of a chess game, you should be confident always! Even if you are a beginner first step in beating someone really stronger is to believe that you can. I recommend never to be scared of an opponent even if you are playing GM as once the game started and you are over the board you can't be leaving until it's over, so why not believe and give your best shot?

Good luck everyone!

A variation in the Scotch (doubt)

Hello ChessMood Family! When I was checking using the reference in ChessBase I saw 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bc5 5.Nb3 Bb4+!?. There are 20-30 Games played by Top Players. Most of the White players are playing c3. What do you recommend?

Replies

I've asked this before, and GM Avetik confirmed that he has this line on his TODO list.

Damiano Variation trap in the Petroff (Nxe4)

[Edit - this is covered in the advanced section, but at least mentioned of the trap and what move to play instead should be in the main section. Any advanced details could be left for pro if it's really for 2000+ players, otherwise this whole part should be in the main course].

The coverage of Nxe5 Nxe4 cuts off too early that White is just a pawn up.

There is a nasty trap as I found out:

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4 4. Qe2 Qe7 5. Qxe4 d6 6. d4 dxe5 7. dxe5 Nc6

and now 8. Bb5 is the computer's recommended move to hang on to the pawn 8... Bd7 9. Nc3

9... Nxe5? 10. Nd5+ Qd6 11. Bxd7+ Kxd7 12. Bf4 Re8 13. O-O-O Kc8 14. Rhe1

9... Qb4 10. Bc4 O-O-O 11. a3 Qa5 12. Bxf7 Qxe5 13. Qxe5 Nxe5 14. Bb3

however if 8. Bf4? g5! and if 9. Bg3?? f5!! with e5 to follow  9. Bb5 Bd7 10. e6 is still better for White, but one would expect much more.

The video probably should be slightly extended to note the trap and correct play, since this will be seen quite often in the lower ratings.

Replies

Maybe even a quick section in abracadabra gambits?

Hi, the book by John Shaw, Playing 1.e4 by Quality Chess also gives the same line. Here is the whole line in the book. I hope that this helps in the meanwhile.

All of this, including the trap, is covered in "Advanced Section - More about 3...Ne4".

More Chessmood Opening Model Games

There was a pgn containing 100 Chessmood model games. It's very nice.

Can we add more model games to this pgn please? Thanks!

Replies

Was, where?

Attacking and Defending

Which is easy to learn and improve, what is your playing style?

Replies

Attacking is real fun and easy, just bring everyone to the party and enjoy the feast !! .... As they say, sac, sac , sac and mate :)

Although I defend good, and mostly when I face 2000-2200 online players, I make a draw after defending in the whole game... On the other hand, I enjoy fast attacks. But my favourite sacrifice is an exchange sacrifice when defending. 

learning to attack is much easier because there is a lot of material to attack, more than defense, I think I prefer attack, but of course both are very important.

Streaming

Hi everyone, I would like to know how many of you are interested in streams?

Do you watch streams and who is your favorite streamer?

Are there streamers among Pro members?  

I know one among our Pro members, she is my best friend too she has just started her journey and I recommend to follow her and support :)  www.twitch.tv/susikgaboyan 

Replies

I watch all ChessMood streams. I also will watch Twitch streams from time to time. I have watched Hikaru, John Bartholomew, Robert Hess, as well as a couple others. 

I have debated starting to stream my self. While I am not a titled player and less likely to get large audiences, I believe it would actually be good for the thought process of deciding moves, since we are speaking out loud our thoughts, we may be able to better fix the errors in the way we think.

Aww thank you so much <3

For fun:

CHESS BRAH (or chessbrah): Eric Hansen and Aman Hambleton.

Botez sisters

For serious studying:

"From 800 to 2400 on chess.com" (ChessMood)

Hikaru Nakamura, John Bartholomew, Sergei Zhigalko, Alexander Zubov, Zaven Andriasian and all chessmood streams.

One of the best streams for learning is Daniel Naroditsky Speedrun to 3000

(431) SpeedRun - YouTube

I have been following Twitch chess streams for years now. To clarify, I started Twitch chess before GothamChess(IM Levy Rozman), before Anna_chess (IM Anna Rudolf) and before GM Hikaru Nakamura had streams on Twitch. In fact, back then I used to chess stream regularly myself and I still very occasionally do still do my chess stream. Currently I follow one Chess Mood streamer (Susik Gaboyhan) that I know of but I maybe following other members that I do not know of. Perhaps someone should maintain a list of Twitch chess Chess Mood streamers? Do you Twitch chess stream? If you do, I may be following your stream, but some chess streams  are not as notable as others! Still gl with your stream if you have one & never forget, Right Mood Right Move on and off stream ;-)

I like Attila Turzo's streams and RB Ramesh's streams. Very useful for serious chess study. Links -

Attila Turzo: https://www.twitch.tv/attilaturzo

RB Ramesh: https://www.twitch.tv/gmrameshrb

ChessDojo is one of my favorite streaming channels, one of the very best in my opinion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuI6GHmu19s&t

- Entertaining

- Educational

- Fun

Unlock courses

Hello everyone. I am dhruvil. I have just become a new member of chessmood. Plz unlock courses for 2 days so I can see what's inside the course. If you will not unlock course I couldn't decide that should I buy  or become a pro member or  not? So my advice is to unlock the courses for 2 days so I could decide. 

Replies

Hi Dave,

I am a PRO member and believe me the courses are of high quality.

Havinbg said that the biggest benefit  to gain is when you also embrace the Chessmood oppenings repertoire, not just the ideas presented.

I'm a Pro member too...I want add that each course has it's unlocked videos, that show what is the course about

You can always try it out for a month and then cancel?  With your idea, people can just watch a course in two days, copy all the lines and then have a free repertoire where GM's put a lot of work in. 

@Dhruvil_Dave, GM Avetik has recorded a video on Latvian Gambit...you can check that out, if you like the content, you can consider PRO membership then

hi there!

All courses are unlocked for 32 h ... https://www.facebook.com/chessmood/

so you can check them out!

have fun! 

Dhruvil, it's one of the most surprising posts I've ever seen in ChessMood. 
No one ask you to become a PRO Member, and we don't sell you anything. 
It's your life your decisions. 

We didn't unlocked our courses, so people see how cool they're and become a PRO.
This was a gift from us. Hopefully you'll appreciate. 

Good luck. 

P.S 
You can't ask someone's password. It's not just unethical, but also when our system notices different IP addresses from same account, the account will be banned. 

4NCL tournaments

http://www.4ncl.co.uk/

The 4NCL is the equivalent of the Bundesliga for Great Britain (4 Nations Chess League). That doesn't mean that only UK / Irish players are accepted and there are entries from outside.

There are two online 45 15 congresses coming up (I believe the only requirement is if you're not an ECF [English Chess Federation] member you probably will need a FIDE membership as well as the need to pay an additional £5 for entry). I'm not sure how Scottish Federation grades are handled.

The first is the spring congress which is a game on Tuesday 7:30pm GMT every 2 weeks. This one starts this Tuesday so the deadline for entry is close. Note also the clocks go forward an hour in the UK on Sunday 28th March during the tournament (I assume the organisers will send a reminder).

The other is the 5th Online congress which is the weekend 19th-21st February.

Details, entry costs and timings are on the website.
Also note the fairplay rules prohibit streaming.

Time to unleash the Chessmood repertoire.

Replies

Bishop Pair Webinar Recordings Problem (29/1/2021)

Hello! Yesterday's (29/1/2021) Bishop Pair's webinar recordings is not working. It was looking like this (image below) for a lot of time and it is also showing started streaming 11 hours ago. Is the problem from my end?

Replies

Hi Sidharth,

This happens sometimes. After a Live event, Youtube (not chessmood) automatically encodes the file and also do the transcript for the subtitles, while classifying the video, checking if it is appropriate, etc. This is an automatic process that lately Youtube has implemented with a big delay. I think that Youtube is just overwhelming with so many videos uploaded and this process takes more time than it used to.

It is not a problem in your end, neither a Chessmood problem. That said, normally with this kind of events, when they last 1 hour, it takes 13-14 hours for Youtube to do their magic. After this 14 hours I am always able to watch any event without problems. Before this time, it is impossible to watch it properly or without stops many times.

I hope that this helps and since this happens often, we should maybe create some kind of sticky post...

Reasons why you love ChessMood

Hey ChessMood family,

Let's write at least one reason why we love ChessMood.

The first reason for me is that only cool and nice people are here! and many more about the courses...

Let's continue the list :)

Replies

1. fantastic courses where I have almost nothing to ask

2. forum with rewarded best answers

3. consulting blog

4. everyone is trying to help each other. Finally I see more posts in the forum and I try to reply as soon as possible.

are among the best features of our chessmood family

Because of...

1. The most compassionate coaches are here.

2.Courses are much more than they cost.

3.We get answers in a very short time when we have questions about courses.

4. The most friendly and warm atmosphere is here!

Quite unique concept on openings:

Well done video courses with basic and advanced sections

Show how the opening is applied against opponents of different strengths (streams)

Closed tournament on a specific opening with a webinar afterwards

Forum for further questions

Online blitz and goals

Hi dear chessmood family!

I would like to know how much is your current online rating (blitz) and what is your goal?

Replies

Well, to be honest - my focus is still OTB. However, I try to get better at blitz as a preparation for time trouble. For that, I found the last two closed tournaments very helpful as they showed me how easily I could loose "simple" endgames when short of time. So I will work on my blitz to get it to my OTB rating (+100) in Q1 2021.

2250 on lichess, just reached my top, plan is to get to 2400 this year.

My rating is 2200 in lc and want to cross 2300.

I want it to get 2000. I have 1910 on lichess (peak) and 1876 on chess.com. 

My long term goal (3 years) is to play consistently on 2300 Blitz/Rapid. Currently I am 1700  (lichess.org) and the first goal is to play on 1900 and above end of 2021.

After streaming I dropped my rating -150 points :D from 2450 to 2300 

My rating on lichess right now 2356 (2407 highest) and 2217 on chess.com (2371 highest), usually play3/2. I have some troubles playing in titled Tuesday, too much pressure, losing points there. And somehow playing in Bundesliga with the team feels much better :)). I don't have any specific goals, maybe it's not good, just trying to improve and learn new things in chess.

Chess and World Leaders

Hello ChessMood family,

Today I read an interesting question for me which made me think.

"If all world leaders played a chess tournament among themselves, who would win?"

What do you think? :D

Replies

certain world leader with nearly 250 GMs at his service might have good odds in this epic fight.

Alone or with the help of GMs? A lot of them don't even know how to move the pieces!

Bishops or Knights?

Dear Pro members,

While working on daily lesson material interesting question came to my mind.

Did everyone know in which situations bishops pair is stronger than the knight ones and why?

Feel free to share your thoughts and ideas, I will share my opinion once I hear from you.

Thank you!

Replies

Bishop Pair is stronger in an open game with pawns on both sides of the board. The Knights are better if they have secure outposts and the position is blocked. I must confess though, that the power of the Bishop Pair is often overestimated by commentators. Nakamura's endgame play in the following game made an impression on me when I saw it live:

Yep, we have watched your course on this topic :)

Will there be a section on how to avoid making poor decisions that will make the enemy knights stronger than our bishops? 

My thoughts on bishops against knights based on prior learnings: if knights cannot work together with nearby pawns to forge a positional stronghold, then they will lose to the bishops 10/10 times.

What do you think about John Nunn's books?

Do you like them? They seem to be no joke.

I've been reading Understanding Chess Endgames (finally almost finished after a long time) and it seriously kept my nose to the grindstone. It was supposed to be an introductory endgame book, but even reading 4 pages a day was taxing. Or am I stupid?

This guy seems to interpret endgames tactically, maybe his style is like that. And Dvoretsky seems to have endorsed Nunn's books.

Any opinions?

Replies

I love his books, in general I'm not a fan of reading books, but I remember that his books were pretty nice, he explains very well.

Hi KIm,

I have reviewed some of his books in the past, and I find them really interesting ones. He has a specific sharp style which is entertaining for me.

I love "Chess move by move" 

"Secrets of practical chess" is my favorite, I recommend

Best author ever! This guy knows how to write a chess book and his books have educational value. Most of the authors include random positions, random ideas with no structure. That is not the case with John Nunn! I admit I am a huge fan!

PS. don't read his book on rook endings unless you want to analyze 300 positions of rook and pawn vs rook  :D