Chess forum by Grandmasters

New Antisicilian Course

I have a question on the new 2..g6 course. I used to play this line as well with white and in the final position of the dxe5 line, in the endgame after Qd4 Nxc6 Qxa4.. i used to play with Be3. Are you sure that Bd2 is better? To me Be3 feels much more natural, controlling the c5 square and with the idea of going somewhere b3 and c4.
Can you give a little more insight in the position? Thanks!

Replies

Hey Nicolo.
Yeah, Be3 is fine too, but it's more important to put it on a5 and control the d8 square. 
Also with that, you leave e half-open line for your R on e1. 

Daily Game 65 - How to start the attack?

1. White to move, how to start the attack?
2. To go with Queen somewhere, or not to do? That's the question.
3. Can we play Re5? What do you think about pawn endgame? 

Feel free to share your thoughts. 

Replies

July Challenge WINNERS!

Dear friends, the July Challenge has ended and here are the winners

1. "The Champion of July" award goes to ChessMood PRO Member Nicolò Pasini who raised 223 points in the last month!

The prize - 1 Month Membership

Congratulations, Champion!

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Game 67 "Long Term Compensation"

White to move, the knight is attacked, where to go? 

Replies

My first thought was to play e5 and counter attack his knight, but after looking at a few lines, it didnt work out well for me. So I started looking at knight moves. Retreating the knightto a2 or b1  looks bad. e2 hangs the e4 pawn. So then I looked at b5, but after axb5, Nxb5 Qc6 giving my opponent full compensation for my sacrifice :/...

So through process of elimination, I looked at Nd5! 1. Nd5, exd5 2. exd5+, Be7 3. Nf5 and thing might get uncomfortable for my opponents king.

Full disclosure: I have heard in the past Nd5 is an idea used against the Najdorf and other Sicilian set ups, so I didnt spend long on the other moves. 

The champion of July and the Prize

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My online ratings are

My current USCF rating is 2003!

This is my chess.com stats. My current FIDE RATING (July) is 

My current Chess.com rating is 1800. (file attached) and my current USCF is 1803.

I have not been focused on my rating for a few weeks, as I have been more focused on just gaining better and deeper knowledge, knowing the rating will have to follow my understanding (Learned this from Coach!) but I also like to compete, so here we go!

I also just like to compete with my fellow members, so when I win, I will donate my prize to second place :)  Good luck everyone! And keep the right mood while playing!

FIDE 1853 https://ratings.fide.com/card.phtml?event=4275330
Stats on chess.com attached

I think we should have different challenge for live and online rating 

At the moment this is my rating on Lichess and chess.com:

https://lichess.org/@/Cheebahund

https://www.chess.com/member/rogerrein

Lichess:

Bullet: 1440

Blitz: 1663

Rapid: 1804

Classical: 1817

Chess.com

Bullett: 1257

Blitz: 1459

This is my ratings

Where? 

Hi all!

I have joined the ChessMood family today, so I might be a bit late to the party.

Does Bullet Rating count as well? I have increased 216 rating points on chess.com in bullet (though my blitz rating has suffered a lot during this time as I focused mainly on bullet chess).

Arnav, send us screenshots 

Hey Champions! 
Who is the champion of July?
Who claims that he raised rating? 

Please attach your screenshots, the winner will be the one, who raised his ELO the most :) 

My rating has grown tremendously. I'm currently the number 1 ranked player just ahead of Caruana. 

No ARNAV, it's not counted :) 

I attached my after screenshot to the same post as my original screenshot

Growth for this month! from 2080 to 2303!

The Hero of July and the Prize

ChessMood Family!
As we have a very tight-knit community, and many of you help each other, anytime you get help from someone, you can send nice words to that person here.

At the end of the month together we will vote to find the person who had the most impact on your success (you can't vote for our instructors ? )

The Hero of the month will join our PRO Members team for 1 month for Free!

Replies

Very easy:) Poll :) 

Jay Garrison gets the award from me. He hops online and takes time out of his schedule to help talk me through games and he also helped me understand Chessbase. Adarsh Tripathi also reached out to help me with Chessbase. I love my chess family!

I vote for Jay as well!

Thanks Arnav!

Thank you!

Thank you guys! 
It seems, Jay Garrison is the Hero of July :) 

Game 63

In the first position, white played f5.
What are the pros and cons of this move? 

In the 2nd position, white to move, what to play? 

Replies

Pro, has created a nice outpost for the knight

Con, has activated Black's dark squared bishop

Game 63.

1) Pros : Limiting the activity of Bc8... Opening the c1/h6 diagonal for our bishop... Allowing exchange of dark squares bishops via f4... Allowing a rook lift on h3... Weakening e6 square if Black plays a plan like ...c5-...b5-...Bb7... Allowing a pawn on g4, without playing h3, which doesn't permit rook's lift... Cons : Weakening e4 and e5 squares on a semi-open file (important positional factor)... Opening the b8/h2 diagonal on the White King... Losing the advantage of majority 4 vs 3 on the Kingside in the famous King endgame of Ruy Lopez exchange variation...

2) I believe White's idea is to obtain a passed pawn on the e-file, so I begin with 1.g5. If Black doesn't take I can continue with h4-h5-h6 to open lines on Black King.

Game 62

White to move. How to continue? 

Replies

Game 62.

Kings are on opposite sides, so it's important de take initiative on the opponent"s king. Nh6 is badly placed and can't defend on the queenside. A plan like 1.Na4-2.Qc3(tempo)-3.Nc5-4.Qb4 is interesting... If 1.Na4 b5 simply 2.Nc3 (2.Qc3!?!) the black king is even more weak. 1.b4 is also interesting to open lines on the Black King 1.b4 Bf3 2.Rf3 Qb4 3.Rb1 but I believe Black can defend with 3...Qa5. 

Grunfeld

Hi coach and everyone!!,

Is Grunfeld better to learn then modern Benoni if I don't play Benko?

Thanks,

Marc

Replies

Marc, did you check the webinar I have sent you the link?
Grunfeld is also fine. 

Best Games of July and Prizes!

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This game was played yesterday against a 1720 USCF rated opponent. 

Nice moments: 

13.c4 - Closing the position and neutralizing my opponent's two bishops advantage. Blockades the opponent's doubled pawns. "Restrain, Blockade, Destroy" - Nimzowitwch

After that I decided to bring my pieces to the best possible positions due to my opponent's lack of counterplay. Example: Move 26-29 (Bringing my king to the queenside in order to help support my rook and prevent any possible infiltration along the d-file. 

32.Ne1 - My knight is headed to d3 where it will increase the pressure on the c5-pawn. My opponent only has 3 pieces that can defend the pawn while I have four. That was the downside of having the two bishops advantage. (They control opposite colored squares). This move also provokes ...g5 which is my opponent's only source of counterplay otherwise it would be a slow painful death. However ...g5 creates another weakness on the kingside leading to Black having two weaknesses. (Maybe 3 if you consider the d-file. 

Here is a Game that is crushing with ChessMood openings and is in July!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/3831301010

And another quick knock out!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/3831875940

Gonna be tough competition!

It's just 1+0 game:) But it was a nice attack :) 
https://www.chess.com/live/game/3835059238 

https://www.chess.com/live/game/3834281787

Event: Marshall Chess Club Weekend Open, Round 1
White: William Yen (2160)
Black : Joshua Ethan Chong (1889)

Time Control: G/90 +30

1. e4 e6 2. Qe2 Be7 3. d3 d5 4. g3 Nf6

5. Bg2 c5 6. Nf3 Nc6 7. O-O O-O 8. e5 Nd7

9. c4 d4 10. h4 Qc7 11. Re1 a6 12. Nbd2 Rb8

13. b3 b5 14. Nf1 bxc4 15. bxc4 Nb6 16. N1h2 Na4

17. Ng5 Nc3 18. Qh5 Bxg5 19. hxg5 Nb4 20. Ng4 Bb7

21. Nf6+ gxf6 22. exf6 Kh8 23. Bf4 Qc8 24. Be5 Nxd3

25. g6 Ne2+ 26. Rxe2 fxg6 27. f7+ Nxe5 28. Qxe5#

Not the most precise and technical game, but I think the ending is aesthetically pleasing :)

awesome

Nice Attacking Game + Exchange Sacrifice 

[Event "2019 World Open"][Site "?"][Date "2019.07.04"][Round "3"][White "Rivers, Ryan"][Black "Kevin"][Result "0-1"][ECO "A57"][WhiteElo "1871"][BlackElo "2003"][Annotator "klhoc"][PlyCount "72"][SourceVersionDate "2018.12.22"]1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. e3 e6 6. Nc3 exd5 7. Nxd5 Bb7 8. Nc3Be7 9. e4 Bxe4 10. Nxe4 Nxe4 11. Qa4 (11. Qd5 Qa5+ 12. Ke2 Qxb5+ 13. Kf3 Qxf1)11... Nf6 12. Bf4 O-O 13. O-O-O Qb6 14. Nf3 axb5 15. Qxa8 Na6 16. Bc7 Nxc7 17.Qa3 Ra8 18. Qe3 Ncd5 19. Qg5 Nb4 20. a3 Nc6 21. Ne5 h6 22. Qe3 Nxe5 23. Qxe5Bf8 24. h4 b4 25. Rh3 d5 26. Rg3 Kh8 27. Be2 Bd6 28. Qe3 Bxg3 29. fxg3 bxa3 30.bxa3 Rb8 31. Kd2 Qa5+ 32. Kc1 c4 33. Bf3 Rb3 34. Rxd5 Qxa3+ 35. Kd2 Rxe3 36.Rd8+ Kh7 0-1

Punish your opponents

https://www.chess.com/live/game/3853861248

This is one of my best game to crush French defense with Bd3 line.  I trade off my dark square bishop (bad bishop), then start a kingside attack.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/3854101888

[Event "CCC Bastille Plus-Score #42"][Site "?"][Date "2019.07.14"][Round "2"][White "?"][Black "Kevin"][Result "0-1"][ECO "A58"][WhiteElo "1936"][BlackElo "1989"][PlyCount "46"][SourceVersionDate "2018.12.22"]1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. c4 c5 4. d5 b5 5. cxb5 a6 6. Nc3 Bg7 7. bxa6 Bxa6 8. g3O-O 9. Bg2 d6 10. O-O Nbd7 11. Re1 Qa5 12. Qc2 Nb6 13. e4 Nfd7 14. Bd2 Nc4 15.Bg5 Nxb2 16. Bxe7 Rfe8 17. Bxd6 Bxc3 18. Re3 Bg7 19. Bh3 Nc4 20. Bxd7 Nxe3 21.fxe3 Bxa1 22. Bxe8 Rxe8 23. Qxc5 Qxa2 0-1

Correction, this is a Closed Sicilian Crush

https://www.chess.com/daily/game/231679302

Accelerated Dragon breathing fire!

https://www.chess.com/live/game/3869591186

Another Accelerated Dragon

https://www.chess.com/live?#g=3869639721

Punishing our opponents

https://www.chess.com/live/game/3871571913

I will also put my game :) :) 
https://www.chess.com/live/game/3872810388  

Stepan Avagyan Memorial 2019 

Game 4

05.07.2019

Hasmik Kochinyan-Sergeev Nikita

1 e4-e6 2 d4-d5 3 Bd3-Nf6 4 e5-Nd7       5 Ne2-c5 6 c3-Nc6 7 a3-Qb6 8 b4-cd        9 cd-a6 10 Be3-Be7 11 o-o o-o 12 Nf4-Rc8 13 Qh5-Nf8 14 Rd1-Ng6 15 Nc3-Bd7 16 Nce2-Bf8 17 Nh3-Ne7 18 Ng5-h6 19 Nf7-Kf7 20 Nf4-Rc8 21 Ng6-Be8 22 Qf3-Nf5 23 Bf5-ef 24 Qf5-Kg8          25 Qf8-Kh7 26 Ne7-Qe6 27 Nc8-Rc8   28 Rc1 

(1-0)

Punished by death! Or Checkmate, whichever you prefer :)

https://www.chess.com/live/game/3880929728

Fun attack, sacrificing a rook!

https://www.chess.com/daily/game/225118790

Hey Champions! 
It's time to find the winner! 

The game, which gets the most likes till the end of 01.08 will be the winner. 
Let's vote :) 

Game 60

White to move. What plan to choose? 

Replies

Either Qg3 or Ng3, if Qg3 white can play bh7, or Ng3, nf5 pressuring the g7 pawn and bringing in the queen??

Another forced mate lost :(

I put my Queen on e8 giving it to Blacks eager Rook :(  see if you can solve the mate. I did it when I looked at it without any pressure. I wanted to cry.

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Many mates! 

1.Rf8 Bxf8 2. Qf7 Kh8 3.Qxf8

1. Qf7 followed by Qxf8

Brad, just solve a lots of puzzles in chesstempo.com

Sicilian Line

Ok so I experienced something new and I went and looked at the course and maybe I missed the answer but I don’t think so.  1.e4 c5 2.c3 Nc6 3.d4? How should I respond to this? I was taking my time thinking and my opponent got impatient and wanted to abort the game. I aborted I didn’t want to give White the middle. Thanks in advance. I tried to post this under an all ready created forum question for this but it wouldn’t let me add to the questions topic.

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Hey Brad! 
It's Alapin variation - The 1st section of "Crushing Sicilian" by GM Gabuzyan - 1st section.
He offered 2...Nf6, as white played 2.c3 and can't play Nc3 anymore.
So the plan is to attack the center. 

The Champion of July

Hey Champions! 
Who is the winner of July? :) 
Please post the screenshots of the raised rating in the link below.
https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/the-champion-of-july-and-the-prize

The one raised the rating the most will be the winner and gets 1 month FREE Membership in ChessMood Pro. 

Replies

The Winner of "Best game of July"

Hey Champions! 
It's time to find the winner! 

The game, which gets the most likes till the end of 01.08 will be the winner. 
Let's vote in the link below :)
https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/best-games-of-july-and-prizes

Replies

HI sir

My name is Varun i am from INDIA.my rating is 2251 since last four years.how to improve my chess game.my aim is to become an IM till next year.what books do you recommend to read.how many hours should i practice daily to reach my goal. 

Replies

Hey Varun! 
Welcome to our team. 
Yesterday I saw, you are quite good! :) 
Please take a seat for a 1-1 call with GM in chessmood.com/events, there we will discuss everything. 
Before that check out our chessmood.com/we-recommend page for books. 

Typing in pgn format.

Ok my question is if I was typing this how would I type time control? Would I type where it said variant? Or would I type it some other way?

[Event "FICS"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2019.07.30"]
[Round "?"]
[White "PROLONG"]
[Black "Spirochete”]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "-"]
[BlackElo "-"]
[Variant ""]
[PlyCount "91"]

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You don't or you can put it in the game notation using text before move 

I mean the info before all the moves it adds a place for site and event but nothing about listing time control. There isn’t even an option for this in chessbase.

The Biker dude chess adventure... 20 + years in the making

 Hello my chess mood family .  I wanted to share my return to the chess tournament scene  with you all from the perspective of a 20 year plus lag in between the last one .   And what better way to do it then through Facebook and live  broadcast .   This brought together a lot of different aspects that were  not expected by me , such as more than slight case of the nerves because everyone I felt was better than I was .  And I tried to prepare using the teachings from the coach ,As to play his openings and put my learning to the test .  I wanted to thank you all for joining me on this, and that if you haven’t had a chance to looked at it, and don’t mind wasting a little bit of your time you go to my page on the Facebook and see some of the videos . it’s not long but it is after reviewing it rather silly,  my wife says that I can’t keep what’s  in my heart .  The outcome was not what I had hoped for but the experience was worth more than I expected .  Other observations would be that you just can’t prepare for everything,  the  Qc2  response in the Benko was unexpected and one of the lines that I did not review or could remember about and get into a position that I just wasn’t as comfortable .  The last game the one in which I won in round four is a perfect example of the coaches saying that when they play something that is weird or in your opinion not good that you should punish it I had the opportunity to do so and it turned out well .  I Gotta figure out how to put the games and here I will try to attach the PGN and you can go over them . probably nothing that’s worth seeing I did not play to my best . I’m going to write that off as very nervous and did not concentrate well but thank goodness the round four was better .   So  to those of you my brothers who are like me and if you’re older like myself you can get better with the coaches most valuable instruction .  It works I am a living witness to that .  I want to also add that my competition in this section of the tournament was just about everyone was at least 200- 400 ELO points rated higher than me. Wow,  talk about trial by fire OMG!  But still when I asked them how did you rate my play everyone said I played very well ... that was such a welcome surprise .  Will post the games in the next entry .   So my brothers keep the right mood and always look for the right move ! this is your brother the old biker dude after the next just event .

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Thanks for sharing.. Watched a few of the clips that Avetik shared on fb. Was fun to see the enthusiasma and comraderie with your fellow chessplayers! Always hard to come back after some inactivity/chess rust. Once you start gaining more experience in the chessmood openings for sure your results will keep improving! 

Way to go Eric! I was able to watch a couple of the clips! That was great! I look forward to your upcoming events and I hope our paths cross in St Louis in Sept!

Here is the pgn.

Here

Here

Awesome work! 

Great Job, Mr. Ortega! 
I feel you fully lived that day, with 100%! :) 

St. Louis Premier and Amateur adventure

As I mentioned in the FB chat, this weekend I played in the St. Louis Premier and Amateur tournament (amateur section based on feedback from the community).  Overall, I would say it was an awesome experience. I had only joined this site a few days prior to the tournament so I don't actually play any of the openings recommended, but I don't have a large chess community/system to share the experience with so I thought I would post on here.  

I was rated about 1480ish and first round they had me as "unrated" so I played a 1506. I played 1.e4 and he played the Caro-Kann, and I played the two knights variation. I was able to get a large advantage in the opening, but typical for me I ended up losing some of the advantage. I got into an endgame and was able to convert, thankfully.  

Second round I played a 1715 and he played 1.e4 and I responded with my 1...c5. I wanted to practice the Najdorf, but unfortunately he played 2.c4.  The game wasn't that eventful, and it eventually dwindled down to a rook and pawn drawn endgame.  

Third round I played one of the top seeds who was rated 1930ish.  I have always been told against higher rated players you should strive for complicated/imbalanced positions, so I played the Ruy Lopez and through the course of the game I gave up two minors for a rook and two pawns. I thought I could generate some dynamic play, but in the end I lost. I am excited to learn the Scotch though! 

Fourth round I played a 1630ish who was about 12 years old (super intimidating) and he played 1.e4 and I finally got to practice my Najdorf! I really enjoyed the game, and at one point sacrificed my rook for a knight and pawn and dynamic play. I thought I had a great attack going, but eventually it ended in a draw as well. 

Fifth round I played a lower rated player around 1240 who was having a decent tournament (I think he beat a 1550ish player) and we had a decent game. I opted for a KIA set up since I didn't want to go into Sicilian theory (not really comfortable playing the open yet) and I was able to solidify my kingside and then switch to a queenside attack. I won an exchange and basically carried that to a winning endgame. 

I have a ton to learn from these games, but overall I really enjoyed the tournament experience and I am excited to play more.  Hopefully I can improve and convert some of these draws to wins! 

Replies

Hey Matt! 
Nice posts :) 
Scotch and Anti-Sicilian with Nc3 will be your strongest weapons soon :)
And GM Gabuzyan now is preparing a course for Najdorf :) 

Right Mood - Right Move! 

Way to go Matt! I look forward to seeing all your future successes! 

Yes, that’s they way to do it. Pulling for ya! The old Biker Chess dude

Game 59

In both positions White to move. How to continue? 

Replies

Game 59.

1) Maybe Black's last move is ...Nh7 to threaten ...Ng5 or ...Bg5-Be3 and ...f5, so the pin on the d1/h5 diagonal is annoying. The idea will be to play 1.g4 to fight against the pin, and not allowing a further ...f5. After 1.g4 Bg6 2.Nf5 trying to get the pair of bishops. The general idea is to play after the previous moves a plan like : Qe2-Bd2-Kg2-Rh1-Rag1-Kf1-h4 obviously depending on Black's moves.

2) To be honest, I find this one difficult, but I have tried to keep the right mood ! difficult,  maybe because Ra1 and Bc1 are still at home ! After a long search, I noticed particular factors : like ed5 with a fork on c6 and e6, there is also a fork on e6 and g6 with a well-timed f5. So 1.Ng7 Kg7 2.f4 (tempo) ...ef4 (if Knight moves 3.f5) 3.Qf4 with the idea Qh2 to penetrate on the h-file. After Qh2, Bg5 is also a threat (eliminating a defender) and giving the f-file for the Ra1 to join the attack. The moves like ...Qh8 or ...Qg8 are not good because ed5. Also it will be diicult for Black to play ...de4 somewhere, The White Bishop can return on c4 with effect...