Chess forum by Grandmasters

Robatsch (modern) defence

Team,

I'm coming across this opening quiet often and having a lot of trouble with it. How do you like to approach this opening? Any suggestions would be great.

Replies

The Modern is like the Pirc. In one of the streams I think Avetik recommend 1.e4 2.d4 Nc3 3.f3 followed by Be3-Qd2 with h4-h5 ideas and attacking on the kingside. 

Another system that I personally like is the Austrian Attack with 1.e4 2.Nc3 3.f4 4.Nf3 but this variation has a lot of theory and leads to very complex positions. 

Hi Kevin.  Try 4 BG5!!!  1.e4 d6 2 d4 Nf6 3 nc3 g6 4 bg5!  Why?  Strong move BG5!  Austtians lots of theory.  F3 ECT  black I think can go into Kings Indian.  And c5 Gambit by black is why samiech no longer played.  Read up on Bg5.  Called Byrne line.  Shirov as white played it in 1992 with an awesome game!  Marc

Hey Kevin1 The Material is ready already, will record it soon, when I am back from the USA. 

Anti-Sicilian with Nc3! - Help Needed

I played an online rapid game with white against a strong opponent in the following line:

 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.Bc4 Nc6 6.0-0 Nf6 7.d3 0-0 8.Qe1 Bg4 9.f5 Bxf3 10.Rxf3 Nd4 11.Rh3 e6! 12.Bg5 [12.Qh4 Nh5= is also just equal]

The game was eventually drawn but I felt I should have done better, however when I checked the course it turns out I had actually played the recommended line. Unfortunately even after long analysis I was unable to find anything more than equality for White after  12...h6! and I'm hoping the ChessMood team is able to find something I missed to strengthen White's attack and tilt the balance in his favor.  

Good luck guys.

Replies

After h6 Bh6 give very interesting game. But Rh6 is very dangerous. Black should find many-many only moves to make a draw. 
Also, 12.Qh4 is very dangerous. 

Overall this all Bg4 line is super dangerous for Black... 

Thank you for the question and analysis Kevin. Your posts and the coaches answers are always super informative, even if I can't remember everything :) 

I am crushing almost all only by knowing the ideas. I think the more we play the more it wil be easier for us to remember lines.

Play then check lines and miss

play and then check lines and miss

that's simple idea I use in my games and it works fine for me.

The Best Games of April and the Prizes

Hello ChessMood Family! 
Welcome to the Best Games of April contest.
Under this post, we invite you to post your best games that you will play in March. 

The Prize fund is 650K Moodcoins which is equal to 650$.  

The 1st prize  - 200k
The 2nd prize -150k
The 3rd prize-  120k
The 4th prize - 100k
The 5th prize - 75k

The winners of March contest are: 

The 1st place - Abhi Yadav
The 2nd place-  Magnum2019
The 3rd place - Fahad Rahman
The 4th place- Jay Garrison
The 5th place- David Hackinyan

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

Replies

I hope this isn't an April Fool's joke ;)

This is a perfect game on how to punish 1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.e5 ending with a pretty nice mate

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4664550421

Utilizing another lesson from the streams! Undermine the c5 pawn with an e5 push! 

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4666642246

I have to post my best game of march or april?

Beating Grandmaster Positionally with small tactics.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4668838811

1. TV concept applied.

2. Passive play punishment applied.

https://lichess.org/tNz5ypyMVCe8

Another Nd5 beginner victim. 

Cpncepts diagonal and weak squares exposed.

https://lichess.org/6Nf8DyuK

It's a 10 min casual chess.  

Concepts applied:

1. Power of two bishops.

2.Basic pawn sacrifice for long term queenside pressure.

3. Using his weak pawns in the endgame to make his king and rook super passive and in the end executed the nice idea "Rook Behind Passed Pawns"

Still trying to work on quality of my games

https://lichess.org/MzXDdnYcooyt

https://lichess.org/WBqbX3Tu/white

OK I missed mate in 1 but I won with good strategical game.And my opponent never get counterplay so This match is very interesting for me.

https://lichess.org/k3d

Sicilian defence

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4682789836

Accelerated Dragon https://www.chess.com/live/game/4682973613

After  long time I played a rapid game and crushed him not by calculation but just by knowing classics and intuition hehehehe.

Bad I need to work on calculation and I will but sometimes its fun that my intuition is improving too.

Playing this gamee as white.  Used the account of my bestie when she was in vcall with me and we were playing against different people. Just for fun I posted.

After Qf6 I wanted to play Nc3 c6 d4 exd4 e5 and follow the Morphy's game but I forgot that and when we made the move d4 the game of morphy came in my mind.

It's cool game and we punished his bad opening play like Morphy did.

https://lichess.org/jLx3Gc73#20

Could have been better...

Lost the game but still so much fun game

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4693928365

The Dragon...works...need to fine tune it.

Closed Sicilian....

Playing against weak f4 pawn. Bishop pair play. b1 was blunder by me in the end.

https://lichess.org/r9cKK9G7gu0f

Knight pair mate, I wanted to sac a rook so so bad so I did.

https://lichess.org/BplzUppMbyAQ

Played against IQP

Played on a rapid game...tried a sac early in the game and confused my opponent..

https://lichess.org/kFoUMGwM

I know it's strange to share lose game. But I was completely winning against Hikaru Nakamura.

22.Qc4 wins and 32.Bb5 wins again

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4682889404

My best April game with only 1 mistake, according to Stockfish 9+, using the Bd3 line to play against French.

Another Positional Game. During your 1 week free course. I watched daily commented games and it helped my positional skill.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4704077108

Using the 1.e4 2.Nc3!? series to beat a GM right in the opening! It was my game in the titled tuesday of April

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4691997310

After a long time played a closed game and total domination in queenside.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4708047759

Oh! I play with Scotch opening!!

Quick Win!

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/4703182111

My Best Game Ever!

Against Engine Fritz 16(2256)

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=LTaR/wkic2rvnWqxyuFf3pUG2ih1MpsudMjfN8OxdQ5lNvOWEfxY4dq1M37O4o+k

I crack the Sicilian with 2. Nc3 !

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4719464377?username=abhi_chess_gm

Sicilian b4!

I missed a quick win with a5 and mess up my opening repo but still I like the ending of game where he mised that Rxc7 is checkmate hehehe.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4719982407

Hi, i played a Benko recently and met this line(i suppose its not covered in the series). I won the game but will be very pleased if  GM Avetik can take a look at the game and give some opinions regarding the opening. (i am the black player)

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/4715681924

1. 1) Total rook domination in endgame. I forgot but I did saw a game on control of files. May be it's from (“Grandmaster Chess Strategy: What Amateurs Can Learn from Ulf Andersson’s Positional Masterpieces” by Jurgen Kaufeld and Guido Kern) and I saw how white played so well when he got control of important c-file. Here in my game I not only controlled e file but also c file and made his all pieces passive. This make me feel a bit proud.
2) I am learning Karpovian approach. So slow but keep position solid and do not rush. In my game may be strong players will find an easy win but due to time pressure I tried to play solid and safe.
3) The liquidation the end was also good and thematic for me. I was thinking not to allow any counter play so I entered in endgame with winning pawn endgame.
4) I also exploited so well his bad bishop.
5) A bit ok positional play!

https://lichess.org/7Fl2mzsm

Played Bd3 against the french as taught by sir. He takes it casually and played h5 g5 on the kingside. I managed to block the position which I was dreaming of. Then I exchanged by bishops for his knight(exchanging the right piece). And then my knights dominated the position.HE was rated above 100 points then be but I was never in pressure. An easy game where two knights dominated two bishops in the endgame.

Very Beautiful Game!! Ended By Very Nice Tactics

https://www.chess.com/live#g=4725487221

Another Nc3 Sicilian!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4729120097

Another Nc3 Sicilian Game!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4729150665

Knight trap!!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4729484839

Pawn grabber line.

Importance of e5 square and bad f5?

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4729530027

Learning aggression but applied in wrong time.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4731023993

Rf6=

Tremendous space advantage

naderfass vs TahseenMD - https://chess.com/live/game/4730003561

Taking out defenders

Check out this #chess game: BeginnerForFun vs TahseenMD - https://chess.com/live/game/4725536523

Too close...!!!

Check out this #chess game: jlaves vs TahseenMD - https://chess.com/live/game/4729802314

"https://lichess.org/xpFKbYzc

In the middle game, my opponent offered me a free pawn by mistake by I did not take it because I didn't want him to do something and exploited his weak squares. After the game, I realized that taking it was also good.

Game 1

Game 2

Chess is not all about winning. Sometimes loses also shows your cool games.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4737436402

I blundered a queen in the end.

Very Nice Game ---No Chance!

Clean Game!

Quick Win!

Pawn Sacrifice For Piece Activity!

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=L/Ctx4fHQo8zsMiaw5WLFfRgXs1BwVX1xgOcMZaiVFIbfXZ512kpzjxZYiQqyXAO

14 Move!

 Nice Mate!

Good Queen Vs Bad Queen!

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=XP2hNDTeK3bPucr34AONyinqLSr2rwfwc//Q86A5sRXnm+0HnMwrIl2GubeDcaq0

Piece Activity!!!

Cool Mate!

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=9aNNBdBqA9sGjVHYDKvRZApHdNrp/dGhYhJeWW04qOA7qhX4mD9dgl42Ab0SKQLn

Won a nice game in the caro kann exchange, felt that it would be nice to share.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4742278567

I was in an attacking mood and wanted to get into risky complicated positions. It was a 3 min game so I both sides have a lot of mistakes but im proud of the Qg1!! move! It even takes the engines a bit of time to figure this out!

 https://lichess.org/HiyY5jhp9W1B

I won a nice game in the Caro-Kann exchange line, got a good knight vs bad bishop.

https://lichess.org/koRg1phicP4O

17 Move--- 2nd Queen!!

https://www.chess.com/live#g=4747240638

Pretty Positional Game!

https://www.chess.com/live#g=4747503640

Bxc3 line I played in maroczy setup

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4747905392

Never Grab pawns in the opening heheh. I messed up lines but I took advantage of my lead in development.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4747931200

https://lichess.org/EJXQyL51#50

Attacking Grand prix

I crack the Sicilian with 2. Nc3 

https://lichess.org/Lfa82oqS

Good Piece Activity In Equal Endgame Wins The Match!

https://lichess.org/VNwMCGp96OJd

https://lichess.org/Rt8TlGhV/white

I did it but must have done better!

I drew with an FM in a simul.I sacrificed a pawn in the middlegame. Well he ignored my idea and I got sufficient counterplay. I could have won, but played badly in the end due to time pressure.

Same Color Bishop Ending!

https://lichess.org/pBZiNaEkYvex

a6 tempo down line. I am still learning opening but themetic e5 and then queen sacrifice was cool.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4756542872

I totally forgot that after Kf7 Ne4 will be check!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4757129747

a6 another victim, he violated basics of castles so he lost.

Bad liquidation by white so lost.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4756693721

Another game where I am play the Sicilian Dragon against an opponent whose mistakes I relied on. Tactics I used: 

Discovered attack, double attack & isolating a piece.

I today applied the concept which I learnt from Karpov's game and Tal's game. 

1. Played e5 on right time.

2. Rac1 to bother his development.

3. Improved all pieces with tempo

4. Took advantage of his hanging pieces.

https://lichess.org/UUrY8MuJ#17

cracking the stonewall by white side (extra tempo).

https://lichess.org/c5RIiiR9/black

it was bullet game (1 | 0)

Before going to the game I wanna share the concepts I applied in this game:

1. Chessmood Opening Caro kann exchange.

2. g3 key move with the idea of placing pawn on f4 and bothering his pieces with Ne5 and playing with space

3. Cool control over e4 square so no time for Ne4 and f5 for my opponent

4. Kg2 as explained in the course. I did not remember all lines but I knew there was a plan of kingside attack with Kg2. And guess why this plan works because black done nothing in the queenside so I was free to do my work

5. g4 and attack

6. After g6 final blow starts

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4760562948

d4 sidelines

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4760747043

Caro kann early crush

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4760817604

Quick  Grand Prix knockout.  Just 18 move mate!!!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4762518347

A victim of TV concept

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4762508008

GrandPrix rock. Even though i need to work on variations.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4768894260

An attacking masterpiece GP

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4768921649

I just learn the course Marcozy Blind. Against c4 or Nf3, its always appear problematic for me. 

https://lichess.org/Ob5iwJsg/black

Here is a good example of having better development and a target. Beaten an FM in 21 moves!

Concepts applied-

1.Bishop pair advantage

2.Weak square exploitation.

3.Sacrifice pawn for development.

https://lichess.org/vQlAtCtC/black

crushed an NM.I did not allow him to do anything and then slowly slowly organized an attack.

Following Avetik's advice for more aggressive e4 play, this game follows the idea of more aggressive play, long castle and kingside attack. I probably bungled the main lines but just starting to implement new ideas, from counterpuncher to more aggressive play.

https://lichess.org/nkM24aGm

Very Nice Attacking Game!

https://www.chess.com/live#g=4783115210

Crushed a Fide Master!!!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4781545171

King Walk From The Opening!

https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/game/?p=cf/DicWd70WilxYbjOMIZAvu0txePW6ywvk8bEwFXt+PLcOiksofzWwjs+1Q1zp5

Fortunate win against GM Vidit!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4778964453

this was April prize right? already 3rd May and no prize? anything went worng?

Great! 

Hello Champions! 
Hello ChessMood Family! 
Hello gangsters who are crushing their opponents with ChessMood openings. 
This month it took us longer to review your games, as there were more games and more quality and impressive games!  

It was amazing to see how much Abhi grew, Koek's fantastic attacks. 
How our new ChessMood PRO Members, who learn the courses not more than 1-2 months, but already dominate in the competition!  
It was impressive how Mate, Grigorios, Aayush and others are improving so fast. 

This month it was tough to find winners. And each month is becoming tougher and tougher. 
As there are more games and more quality games. 
Keep it, guys! It's fantastic!  

The 5th prize goes Sriram M, for his nice game in Sicilian and nice converting of the advantage. 
The 4th prize goes to Fahad Rahman, for his positional crush, which ended up with Qg7 checkmate. 
The 3rd prize goes to Abhi Yadav, for his Scotch game, Qc2! Novelty and then winning in style of Ulf Andersson. 
(By the way Abhi , had another fantastic games in Bobby Fischer style, especially crushing the Sicilians.)
The 2nd prize goes to Dark Lord for his Qg1!! amazing move! 
And the 1st prize goes to Keok Woltek for crushing the GM with ChessMood variation against Sicilian. 

(Keok had also other great games.) 

Congratulations to winners and everyone who improved his chess this month, no matter did he raise rating or not. 
See you in May's best games! 

With best wishes,
ChessMood Grandmasters 

right mood

I fully realize and appreciate the need to be in a good mood before the game but I have some  troubles in getting into the right mood.I have tried many ways but they don't seem to work.can any one help? 

Replies

You can listen relaxing musics.Also If you have time before the match you can do what you love.For example you can even watch a cinema if it will comfort you.

Punishing the Petroff

Here is my first Petroff I faced since I finished the course a couple weeks ago. I forgot a little bit, but still got an overwhelming attack!

Replies

Nice! 
After Kg8 were you going to take on e6 or to play Rh8!! followed by Qh2? :) 

How to analyse gameses

What is the best way to analyze your own games for a 1600 player

Replies

Check your games with engine to just find the blunders. 
The rest should be done with coach. 

Pirc with 4 Bf4

Are you intending 4Bf4 in the pirc?

That asked I will of course no burn out by the chess mood team

Replies

Very soon. 

2 more sections are added! :) 

wow what is 0-0-0 impressive!!!

Hey Champions!

We uploaded the last important section in Pirc defense when Black goes early c6.
https://chessmood.com/course/11-crushing-the-pirc/episode/1347 

COGRO! 

Analysis of Openings and Games

Just a note to let everyone know how impressed I am by Avetik's analysis of games and openings!

Ive come across many, many other online resources for openings and post game analysis and some are great...however Avetik has a consistent pattern of high quality that is not found in any other place!

IMHO its a winning combination of deep knowledge and a LOT of effort to come up with so much material!

Thank you Avetik and GM team!

Replies

Thank you very much, Ovi!! 
Appreciated. 
COGRO and Right Mood! 

Ovi, do you mind if we use this as a testimonial in our Website? 

Suggested opening and PGN

Hey there chessmood family, I'm a new Pro member and I would like to know if there will be a Course on the English Opening for white and for Black.

I'm keen on Mikenas variation for White as well as Botvinnik System and for Black, Keres or Karpov variation.

Thanks in advance, I'm literally devouring every course...all too good!!

Cheers and stay safe.

Replies

Hey man! 
Thank you for your nice words. 
It will be a course in English Opening for Black. 
But for now learn Maroczy Bind course. You'll get there 90% of time, against 1.c4 and 1.Nf3 

French trick problem

How to solve this c6 move......i cant find any idea here.....nd i deafeted after c6 move

Replies

Hey there Zahid, I guess that you played the opening in a perfect manner...until move 19th you were rocking and youir position was a dream for any e4 player against the French, I suppose your problems started after b4 and after his c5 move. Your rival was able to activate his queenside and after that was the struggle.

As I said, I guess your problems had little to do with the opening, but more with the middlegame. b4 was a sensible move which I think you didn´t evaluate properly. Your intention to close the queenside is understandable but probably Be4 was better.

Hope to have helped you with my opinion.

Cheers!

c6 is a very passive setup. You'll enjoy space advantage all the game. 
Better try is Nbd7 when Black wants to go with e5!? 

We'll add material about it today! :) 

Best May game

I am playing in an online, USCF rated tournament for our local clubs and look at this beautiful Bd3 anti-french! 

Replies

Thanks again coaches, your selections for the openings are always on point :) 

Here is one where I play against the Marczy! 

Nice games!

Prophylaxis vs restriction

Hello chess friends. My first post on this forum. Is there a difference between restriction and prophylaxis? Ie based on your definition and understanding? Maybe you can use the opening systems recommended to show 

thanks very much 

kayode

Replies

They are very-very similar, dear friend. 
If your rating is less than 2600 you don't need to go into this topic further. 

Morra Smith Gambit

Hello chess friends. What is the recommended way for chessmooders to play against the morra Smith Gambit

Replies

Hi Kayode

We play 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 Nf6 or 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 Nf6.

They hate that!

/Kim Skaanning

Hi Kayode!

Yes, as Kim mentioned, we can just transpose the game into alapin's system, which is very detailed analysed in the Gabuzyan's anti-sicilian course. But I believe that we can pose serious problems for white if we accept the pawn's sacrifice, and leave in the following interesting way for black:  1. e4 c5 2. d4 cd 3. c3 dc 4. Nxc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 e6 6. Bc4 a6!? 7. 0-0 b5!? 8. Bb3 Bb7!? 9. Re1 and here 9 ... Bc5! a very simple but at the same time strong developing move. Now black has an interesting Nce7 resource at 10. Nd5, forcing white to exchange his strong knight, and if 10. a4 b4 11. Nd5 black will not take the knight, but will play coldly with pawn on d6, ignoring all white’s ideas and continue to calmly go on remaining development moves with an extra pawn and depriving white of any significant positional compensation.

9.Qe2 is very stereotype decision here for white and black is already can fight for advantage after 9...Nge7!? for example 10.Bg5 (10.a3 Ng6 11.Be3 Be7 12.g3 0-0 13.h4 h6 14.h5 Nge5 15.Nxe5 Nxe5 16.f4 Nc4! Bxc4 bxc4 18.Qxc4 d5! (18...f5!?) it seems what black is clearly better ) (10.Rd1 Ng6 Nd5 Na5 Bc2 Rc8!? ignoring knight on d5 and it's very difficult for white to find a good plan here) 10...Na5 11.Bc2 f6 12.Bf4 Ng6 13.Bg3 Rc8 14.Rad1 Bc5 15. h4 0-0 16.h5 Ne5! Bxe5 fxe5 18.Nxe5 Rc7! position is still not so cleare but black objectively better and have a very good chances to win.

Dorfman method

Hi guys! I would like to know, what do you think about Dorfman method?

1) Is this method suitable for all kinds of chess players?  
2) What are the disadvantages of this method?
3) Do you use this method in your own practice?
4) Is this method relevant for study and understanding? 

I will be glad to hear any of your thoughts about it :)

For those who hear about this method for the first time, here is a brief description:

The Dorfman method is a two-fold scheme for finding good moves.

The static elements

The first fold is the static elements of the position. These are 4 elements in decreasing priority:

1. The king position: whose king is better positioned and protected.
2. Material correlation: material balance, and combination of pieces. For instance, Dorfman considers 2 knights + bishop as being often more effective than 2 bishops + knight since the former can triply coordinate on the colour of the bishop.
3. Which side will stand better after a potential trade of queens. This depends on which side has a more active queen, and whose endgame play is favourable.
4. Pawn structure. Central outposts, number of pawn islands, pawn weaknesses, pawn majority, doubled-pawns, domination of light/dark squares such as the grip provided with the Moraczy bind, etc.

Dynamic play

The second fold is short-term play provided by dynamic play, which roughly constitutes:

• Being ready to opt for extreme measures, such as piece sacrifices,
• Create threats,
• Preventing a king from getting castled,
• Drastic change of pawn structure, and liquidations,
• Quick pawn advances on either flanks.
• etc.

Critical moments of a game

The scheme then is basically: At each critical moment of the game, each player has to decide whether to play statically, i.e. to improve their longterm play, or play dynamically for short-term advantages to possibly stir up the static balance of the position.

Critical moments are defined as moments when there can be:

• a possible exchange of pieces,
• a change in the pawn structure,
• and the existence of forced sequences of moves.

The Method

At each such critical juncture in the game, the method says:

• Study the static balance of the position in order to decide whether to play dynamically or not.
• The balance constitutes comparing the 4 elements one-by-one between the two sides, starting from highest priority.
• One side is deemed statically better if it stands better in any of the higher priority elements. For instance, if king positions are about the same, but one side has a stronger material correlation, then that side stands statically better even though they might be worse in the 3rd and 4th elements of the static balance.
• The side with a favourable static balance should play slowly and find moves that further improve their longterm static advantages.
• Conversely, the side being statically worse, should opt for dynamic play and establish a short-term advantage, in order to ultimately stir up the static balance in their favour.
• Ideally, the dynamic play should aim to establish an advantage in terms of a higher priority static element. For instance, if we are statically worse because our material correlation (2nd element) is worse, then by playing dynamically we should try to worsen our opponent's king position relative to ours, i.e., establish an edge in a static element higher in priority than the one we're doing worse in. So in this example that higher priority would be the king position (1st element).

Replies

Yes it sounds like a good technique and should work out well

NEW ARTICLE: How to Become a Chess Grandmaster - Is it Easy?

Replies

Opened my eyes to the journey of becoming a gm

Coach, my eyes were already opened from 2017 when my first good mentor told me how he prepared against GMs and how he crushed them. I left him bec of financial issue. But we are still in touch. I know it wont be easy to achieve GM title and I do know it's not a joke. 

I am happy that I am not too old and I can work hard and learning smart work from your community too. So I know I will improve more because now I have proper guidence and I will achieve my goals

Cool! 

Scotch Opening

How to further prepare the Scotch after watching the course? Or is the preparation in the video course enough?

Replies

I've found it more than enough. Most people that play against the scotch seem to be out of book after move 6ish and you easily gain a sizable advantage. At worse, I've found myself in very complex games where I am pressing.  I LOVE the Scotch course on here.

Create a database of Scotch Games, and keep it up to date with the latest tournament games as well as your own. Pay special attention to the heroes that play our line regularly to see if any promising new ideas or problems have cropped up. The main heroes of our line in tournament practice include: 

GM Ian Nepomniachtchi 

GM Alexander Morozevich

GM Ivan Cheparinov

IM Thomas Beerdsen

Feel free to compile your own list and if you run into problems in your games don't hesitate to ask for advice here.

Good luck

Apart from the players that Kevin D mentioned you to follow, you may wanna take a look at Kasparov's games in the Scotch. Even though he didn't play the lines that are recommended in the course, he( apart from being an ex-world champion) was one of the experts of this line, so you will get a lot of ideas and plans by watching his games. I hope this will be useful for you as it was for me :)

No need to prepare further if you are not 2600+ Grandmaster. 
Scotch we covered very-very deeply in the main course and in advanced courses. 
What you need now, is to play, play and play! 
And at the end, if you have a coach, or someone better than you, who also knows these lines, ask him to check your games and help you with fixing the mistakes. 

Sicilian 2.Nc3 line is surprising strong against 2100 player

Dear Chess friends,

I am new to this repertoire, and wanted to test some of the ideas online. I was able to play this game as white and was surprised how much i was able to keep the initiative and continue to push my opponent back. [White "Kayode"] [Black "marcaliplayer"] [Result "1-0"] [UTCDate "2020.04.28"] [UTCTime "11:47:46"] [WhiteElo "1924"] [BlackElo "2107"] [Variant "Standard"] [TimeControl "180+2"] [ECO "B23"] [Opening "Sicilian Defense: Closed"]  1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 { B23 Sicilian Defense: Closed } 3. f4 d5 4. Nf3 d4 5. Bb5+ Nd7 6. Bxd7+ Bxd7 7. Ne2 Ne7 8. d3 Nc6 9. O-O f6 10. Ng3 Bd6 11. Qe2 Qc7 12. e5 fxe5 13. fxe5 Nxe5 14. Ne4 Nxf3+ 15. Qxf3 O-O-O 16. Nxd6+ Qxd6 17. Bf4 e5 18. Bg3 Rhf8 19. Qe4 Rxf1+ 20. Rxf1 Re8 21. Qxh7 Qe7 22. Qg6 e4 23. dxe4 Qxe4 24. Qd6 Kd8 25. Qc7+ Ke7 26. Re1 { Black resigns. } 1-0

Replies

yeah its true and it is even strong for 2300 if you have detailed analysis of all lines.

Super! 
Just a piece of advice. Don't take on d7 early. Let him to play a6 and spend a tempo on that :) 

NEW ARTICLE: The Art of Trading Pieces in Chess

Replies

Great article. waiting for the coarse. When will it come sir?

Very useful article. I am waiting for your courses about trading pieces.

analyzing your own games

What is the best way to analyze my own games in chessbase 15

Replies

Same as with CB14 or CB13 or CB12. Analyse without engine first, then compare it with engine analysis. Check for blunders and when critical position was reached. If you have a database it couldn't hurt to see how your game compares with others, in that way you may learn new ideas, strategies and typical recurring patterns.

You can analyse it from Engines

I have same problem.

The steps of analyzing as told by many GMs-

1.Write down the time in the scoresheet to know where you have time troubles.

2. Insert it in the chessbase.

3. Give some thought or psychological issues after the moves(optional).

4. check the reference.

5. Compare with the engine.

6. give conclusions about what you learn from the game at the end.

hope it will help!

Can I become GM

I am now 31. I am a college professor and researcher of Mathematics. Although I can spent 4-5 hours in a day. Can I become GM or at least a fide title holder like CM or FM, specially in this age? 

Replies

You should check out our last article - https://chessmood.com/blog/how-to-become-a-chess-grandmaster-is-it-easy 

It's possible to become a titled player but you need three things:

1) You have to really want it.

2) Study the ChessMood Openings and Classical Games.

3) Most importantly you have to play a lot and study your own games. Use this play and study routine to create your own feedback loop and make adjustments to your play accordingly.

Tip: Adult learners and academics tend to overthink things, this can hinder rapid progress in chess.  While learning how to do raw calculations is important, it is just as important to develop and hone your intuitive thinking, that is knowing what plans to adopt and moves to consider purely on instinct and muscle memory (Pattern recognition). Such instinctive play only comes from lots of experience playing lots of games, after that your subconscious should let you know when your position is becoming critical long before calculation confirms it,  call it your 'Sense of Danger' or 'Spidey Sense'. 

When you start effectively using calculation and intuition combined your chess results and understanding should improve rapidly. 

Tanmoy, I know a certain thing: if you have a burning desire of becoming a GM or any tirled player, you will achieve your goal very quickly. Anyone who has a burning desire, it's not difficult for him to make right decisions and find good coaches books etc. You should invest into yourself smartly, if you want it. Motivation and desire is the key to get our goals reached.

yes you can! follow your dreams and work hard!

1. Um, I think if you have a goal like why you wanna become gm then you already have motivation to do ex. So search your goals like why you wanna achieve the title. Be committed. Don't say like oh I wanna be a GM. Show self dicipline and be committed to achieve your goals.

2. Do study classics by heart. I am following 50% benefit rule right now so I can grasp books faster instead of analysis. I talked to Avetik sir about that. I asked coach how much I learn from a game if I watch it carefully and try to understand concept. He said you will get 50% benefit from that game and if you analise a whole game then 100% benefit. I replied 50% better for now because I am notin the condition to analise games well so before working on analytical skills I need to work more on classics so I can understand the positions well and my assessment will improve.

3. Importance of openings. Many people write yeah opening matters but why openings matters is sometimes skipped by them. Openings decided the long term middlegame plans. For example if you play Chessmood Grand prix then most of the time our main plan is to attack the castled king. On the other hand if you ignore openings then you will have no idea about where to place pieces, pawn structures and breaks, typcial positions, some known endgame position of that opening etc. So work on your opening ideas in depth and you will also do well. I prefer to learn openings 2 hr a day in lock down time and next day before you go to next lesson then always check the base file of previous lecture so you will not forget ideas because material is too much in chessmood openings so it take time to grasp concepts.

4. Endgames- I learnt from Avetik sir that classics matters for below 2000 level and if you only know basics of endgames and some basics positions then you will do very well. But yeah it does not mean ignore endgames. If you think you need to learn more then go for it. 

5. Be motivated. No matter people will laugh on you or make fun or you or call you anything just try to ignore them and focus on your goals. This is what I am doing too. People laughed on me when I started my chess community to help beginners and see now I am hellping a lot people.

6. Find a good study partner or mentor for your rapid growth . Acc. to Avetik sir, a good mentor is a mentor who cares for your dreams but not care for money.  So sad that most people only care for money and can do anything for money. I do met a gm recently who is only worried about his sales and his way of talking showed me that he is greedy man. It's great if you achieve a title but if you can't help community or if you become greedy all time then you won't do well.  So, find a very good mentor who care for your goals not money.

. Apply all above concepts and if I miss something then let me know.  Yes, title of GM is not so easy to achieve but not impossible task too. Yes I do read Avetik's sir article but even before reading that I knew that getting 2000 is not tough but after that road will be tough but yeah my first goal is to get 2000 then I will think to hire super mentors like Avetik sir so I will improve faster.