A Fact

What do you think?

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yes 

there are 10^120 possible games in chess whereas number of atoms are 10^82 if I am right

Wow, that's crazy.

Visualization in Chess

Dear Pro Members,

While working on the courses I am facing a different situation when I have to put some arrows on the board and tell about things happening on the board. I got curious how many moves can you calculate and after how many moves are you still able to clearly visualize the positions?

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If the line is forced I can usually go as deep as necessary, my problem comes when they are too many branches and deciding how deep to go in each branch and how to manage my time efficiently. Also when to stop calculating and start evaluating and how to decide between equally tempting options. I  passed through a phase where I tried to consciously use Kotov's method of calculation as laid out in his book 'Play Like a Grandmaster,' but it cost me many points and I concluded his method was flawed and much too rigid to be effective in practical play.

Edit: The book could have been Think like a Grandmaster instead of Play Like a Grandmaster now that I reflect on it. Thanks Jamie.

I think visualization depends strongly on player strength. So if  the courses are meant for a broad range of players it could be worth to include some arrows or even show the variation on the board in the most critical variations. As for myself I can usually visualize 8 plys right. From 8 plys on I may begin to mess it up, depending of the complexity of the position

Can we have an article about visualization and how to improve it? :) 

After 6-8 plies it start to get foggy - forget pieces far from my focus point.  The horse start to get problematic even in my focus point. Difficulty in perceiving especially diagonals. 

2021 I will work on visualization. But for now it is usually at most 6-8 plies. Independent of complexity.

Would be nice with a course or an article.

To know the colour of the squares could be one part of training visualisation.

On https://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-visualizer-square-colors.php you may train just that. On that site you will also find two other ways of training visualization.

Concentration

Hi ChessMood family,

I think concentration is one of the important factors in life and in chess as well.

I want to know what methods do you use to distract yourself from unpleasant things and focus on what you really need.

Are there methods to train the brain for better concentration?

Thanks in advance.

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chessmood has an article about it. Have you read it?

Maybe... Physical Training....
1. Yoga
2. Mediation
3. Brain Gym
4. Improve Endurance & VO Max

Chess Diet Nutrition....
1. Fruit for Brain
2. Food for Brain
3. Pills for Brain Nutrition
4. Caffein  

Internal and external conflicts are the source of energy dissipation and prevent Natural flow of energy. You do not need any pills, self hypnosis, self suggestions, alcohol, delusion, etc. (they are limited and cause long term dullness and self destruction). Just listen to Cello! Know Thyself; seeing the truth (not according to any system or anybody else) will end conflicts, and brings peace.

@WIM_Siranush_Ghukasyan, @Krystof_Mikulas_Travnicek, @Heri_Darmanto, @Kourosh_A 

Thank you all for your help and helpful advices. :)

I was hoping you would have some advice for us. :)

Why is it dangerous to play bullet?

Dear Pro members,

Was thinking about bullet game issues. I am sure many of you like to play bullet and probably very often are playing. But from a learning perspective, I think it's gonna be not so good and I will explain my opinion, but firstly I would like to figure out what do you think about it? Do you also find bullet games dangerous and why?

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If you play Bullet you think less... And thats not good for classical games... 
The second reason is that even if you play TOOO much of Bullet AND get a rating of 2900 online, Bullet doesnt make a GM... Classical games do.

I can't play fast enough for bullet. It can be good training for low clock time and spotting important things quickly. The problem is too much can encourage play on autopilot (and its nature encourages either long sessions or using it as a break from something else). The other thing is bullet would be good for practising openings if it wasn't also about playing awful but tricky moves to waste the openents's time. The latter point is perhaps the most significant problem.

I could argue too much blitz is also bad for your chess as well (perhaps not to the same degree). It's great for practising openings and working on tactics and feel for positions, but deep calculation is out. It also sometimes gives the illusion that dubious or tricky openings are sound when they'd get taken apart in long games, something I worry about some liens in the opening repertoire here given most/almost all of the demonstrations and model games are blitz.

I recall an article years ago about different time controls.

It argued bullet was terrible for improvement and essentially does nothing for you.

Blitz is OK especially if you are using it for opening training etc.

Rapid it argued is also very bad in that its too long really for volume of games regarding openings and too short to really calculate properly.

I think it was Dan heisman who wrote the article and he essentially said that only something like 30+30 was worthwhile.

I dont really know the validity of his statement or if he had anything to back it up and alot of what he says is a bit old school and outdated. I actually had a lesson from him many years ago and it was the single worst coaching experience of my life actually. From someone who had likely had hundreds of hours of coaching (for poker not chess). That said he may well have a good point here.

As for myself I am terrible at bullet and hate it because I get in this almost drug addicted state where I play tons of games in a row just getting a hit and not really playing chess just moving pieces.

my opinion in one picture :D

I think bullet is dangerous for <2200 players for all the reason mentioned before. Players >2200 know openings much better and calculate much faster, and have a much more developed intuition, so it could be useful for them to some extent 

In my case, I never played bullet until joining Chessmood, I was very slow in Blitz and I tried to get some speed, playing bullet helped me to be faster. That's it, now I am faster at Blitz. The other thing I did is practice openings very fast with bullet, but without caring not even for one second for the result. I am playing bullet when I am tired and have some spare time to test my recently acquired openings, and I even analyze the openings many times to see where I went wrong. But for sure is not good to develop a proper thinking process since you do not have time. What it can be good for is for implementing a plan that you know in the opening and following it through. When you are tired your mind kind of goes on autopilot mode - if you know your opening and have the plan well learned-, it's a good way to test it. That is how I use bullet mode.

I feel bullet is at least worth experiencing (hey, Chess.com is even hosting official Bullet Championships, with cash on the line). For some, I reckon it can even be used for training. After all, it's just a quicker version of blitz.

But moving instantly doesn't seem to be a great habit, especially as Classical is the 'real chess', just as slow food is the 'real food'.

I like playing bullet so much, and I think sometimes I play well, but anyway playing bullet is not a good idea to improve chess skills. Bullet is only for fun and nothing more.

So guys will share now my opinion as well.

I guess many of us are enjoying bullet, but from learning perspective it's spoiling our chess as we are playing with a huge feeling of adrenaline (because of low time) and it doesn't allow us to think properly and test our just learned variations.

If you are very experienced player with high elo you can try time to time play bullet to have a fun, but players who are just learning on working on chess level it's gonna a  trigger for negative outcomes in classical games.

Crush the Sicilian with 2.Nc3 (lecture by IM Rosen)

I enjoyed this lecture by IM Rosen. The lines he shows are very much in the spirit of (but not always identical to) our Anti-Sicilian repertoire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnm7yXtx6yw

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I am gonna watch this, thank you.

Philidor 3... f6

How to play against this move which I faced in blitz and has almost 200 games in the database. I'm guessing the idea is to strong-point e5 and later decide on d5 or f5 depending on how White plays. It wasn't so easy to break it down in blitz, though it scores very poorly (probably because the Black player is usually weaker to play such an offbeat move). The cost of course is a bad bishop on f8.

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3…f6 is a weak move, as it makes Bf8 bad, takes away the best square for Ng8 and really weakens the black King, therefore, White should continue with 4.Bc4, strongly pointing into the black King position!

Hey David!

Definitely its not a move to be worried about!

This is killing bishop on f8, but as well weakening a2-g8 diagonal where white bishop will be placed very well! I think whites games os very easy, bishop will stay strong on c4, you can 0-0 play nc3 while black will have problems playing 0-0 as it's unclear how to develop the kingside!

"The Power of the Bishop Pair" course

This course https://chessmood.com/course/Bishop-Pair-power reminded me of a very painful game played by me, if you don't know yet, I will say that I am a big fan of the two bishop advantage and usually I play well when I get it. Once a disaster happened to me. I felt that this was my worst lose. My opponent's rating was 300 less and I got this position for White. I could manage to lose this game :D I was completely tilted and so disappointed that day. The problem was that I was too sure that I will win the game anyway, I lost my concentration, I didn’t think at all, I was sure that my opponent would make a mistake and I will win very easily. Now I look at the position again and still can't believe how did I lose it :D Btw I didn't blunder, I lost slowly slowly :D

A small advice,

Never think like Susik :D

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Of course, we can all relate to losing ;) It doesn't feel good, although I guess we do learn from them. Almost all positions have a risk of losing I think.

I can see why you think that is was painful to lose this one.  When it was not due to a fork, how to lose it? But these things happen...

Was it played in Turkey? You could lose this only in that tournament :D

1+0 Bullet chess

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Don't make me feel bad every time when I want to play bullet lol

Benko Gambit Endgames

For those of you with Chessbase premium account, there is an interesting video on endgames resulting from the Benko structures:

Benkogambit (chessbase.com)

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Thanks for the information. 

Scandinavian 5... Qh5? gambit

Might be worth having a section on dealing with this, or at least in Abracadabra Gambits.

1. e4 d5 2. exd5 Qxd5 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. Be2 Nc6 5. h3 Qh5?

6. O-O Nf6 7. hxg4 Nxg4 and now I played 8. d4 (d3 better?) and got into a mess after the dubious e5 and 9. d5?? rather than 9. exd5 where Ncxe5 10. Bf4 covers h2. and if 9... Rd8 10. Bd3. If instead 8... e6 intending Bd6 then 9. Bf4 Bd6 10 Qd2 O-O-O 11. Bxd6 Rxd6 12. c3

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Wow, I see this gambit for the first time :)

Instead of 12.c3 you have a better move 12.Qg5!

Did you check it with the engine? seems this sacrifice doesn't work

Nb6 or Nf4?

Which one would you take? :D

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If it was 3 minute blitz I would take Nf4. But as it is I would take Nb6 :)

Now already Nb6 :D

Webinar tournament coverage on the 25th

Just checking this event is definitely going ahead given it is set on Christmas Day and whether it would be sensible to postpone it? I think, 'Honey, I know you've been slaving over Christmas dinner all morning, but do you mind if I take it upstairs to watch chess?' might not be a highlight of my marriage, so if it is going ahead, I would more than likely be watching it later. I suspect others may have other commitments as well.

Since it's 3pm here and that's usually the time of the Queen's Speech, will there be an alternative speech given by GM Gabuzyan? Queen's accent optional :)

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Ps. My wife said it wouldn't be the highlight, it would be the end :)

Question about Grandmasters

How do you think, what country has the most number of Grandmasters?

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I would say Russia overall. If we take into account GM/inhabitant, I believe Armenia would be in the top 5 of the list

Russia for sure.

Chess Opening for my Style

Hi I am Colden. I am rated around 1600. My style is turning attacks from my opponent around on them. I am currently playing the Caro-Kann. Is this the right opening choice, or are there better ones for this style?

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If you like to counterattack, then I think the Sicilian is the best weapon. Do you know the Gran Prix attack? Have you checked the chessmood courses? The openings can fit such a repertoire like yours until you become an IM. 

https://chessmood.com/blog/5-reasons-to-play-sicilian-defense-for-black Did you read this article? 

1.e4 e5  and 1.d4 d5 ( queen's gambit declined) are my suggestion for 1600 ELO.

They are the best for learning and practicing chess basics, (center etc.), and you can play them up to GM level, because they are rich and give you variety of options as Black.

Caro-Kann and Slav are very solid and reliable as well, but 1.e4 e5 and 1.d4 d5 are better for learning chess and getting better; You will improve faster.

I dont know of you have looked at it but the queens gambit accepted is very underrated

It can lead to quite dynamic play especially in some of the nf3 variations if you choose bg4 as a response.

It's also pretty sound as well, plus you avoid lots of move order stuff and pretty much always get into it outside of random queens pawn openings

Slav is also very solid and QGA often leads to a lot of slav type positions due to the structure.

Yes! Sicilian will be the best choice for you. Myself I play Sveshnikov, but I am gonna learn this 

Accelerated Dragon course from ChessMood.

Alcohol and Chess

Let's see how many of us drinks alcohol? :D

Do you like it or not? Have you ever played a serious game when you were drunk? 

This happened to me several times, especially before the important games, I didn't drink a lot, just a little to make me feel a little less nervous lol.

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first of all, I am 10 :D second of all, I never plan to Drink as its bad for health....

I do not think alcohol is the best thing for not being nervous before the game, but I do not want to sound like a father ;-)

I am sure other relaxation technniques like meditation, or simply listening to your favourite quiet music on headphones before the game is much better.

I have never drunk alcohol before a game. It is much better have a beer or a glass of wine after the game, with your team mates or even the opponents (if you are over 18 and with moderation)

I once had some drinks the night before a serious morning game. It wasn't best, as I had a slight headache. 

When I reached my first wgm title in the last game I was drunk deadly the day before and I slept 2 hours in the night and the game was 11 am :D 

I avoid drinking before any match game. I think a small amount might help occasionally, but it's easy to go beyond that and your ability to concentrate and your reflexes generally decrease unless you've build up enough tolerance by drinking regularly. Afterward in a social situation drinking a little is fine (I get ill if I drink too much despite being able to).

I would echo the point about not using alcohol to steady nerves (same thing is why some people smoke). It can become a crutch and a dependence and there are other ways. One of the things I was getting at in my post about The Queen's Gambit was whether there was widespread doping in chess, particularly in the East, to either calm nerves, to relax or concentrate/focus better and whether it actually worked. Not advisable and perhaps having that as a plot point isn't a good idea as it might encourage a few to take tranquillisers to try to copy what they see (lots of stories of careers and lives ruined in the US, e.g. Hollywood).

I have several chess friends who have a bad relationship with alcohol including GMs which undoubtedly affects their health (some obviously in weight problems as beer has lots of calories). When you're away for days at a tournament, in the evenings there can be little to do but to eat, drink socialise. Also Alekhine was another who had a problem with drink, perhaps (although not known if)  it contributed to his death. So for me alcohol in moderation, and you controlling it, not it controlling you.

Some world champions suffered from  alcoholism: Alekhine and Tal!

Sometimes Tal had been carried away from the game because he was so drunk and Alekhine lost his world title to Euwe in 1935. How can it be good?

In our days we have many alcoholic GMs as well, I cannot mention their names here. Their brain gradually lost its sharpness and became old very fast.

Brain cells can rejuvenate in a "Natural" way if we put an end to any internal and external conflict. No need for anything artificial. 

The Power of the Bishop Pair

Dear Pro members

Happy to let you know that we have added 2 more sections in the course ''The Power of the Bishop Pair” 

Watch and hopefully enjoy :-)

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thanks 

Something to listen for your motivation

The Perpetual Chess Podcast is the reason why I have joined the ChessMood community, after I have listened to the episode featuring Avetik.

For all of you (like me) a bit older and wanting to get a master title, this episode is really fun to listen to:

Episode 204- FM Nathan Resika — The Perpetual Chess Podcast

Enjoy!

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thanks!

Cool! 

I remember Nathan from his days at the Marshall in the Village.  Really nice guy who worked hard to improve.  He was really good about going over his losses and he had a good coach, iirc.  

Chessbase repertoire feature

Hey Guys

I made a short video on this feature which is very handy. I made one error in the video in that searching a position from a game you played in the 'rep' database will not return a result unless the move played is main theory. So when your opponent plays a sideline you have to search the move before and then look at your 'rep' variation for the analysis. 

Hopefully this video makes sense and is clear. I have found this feature really handy along with replay training. 

https://youtu.be/PbwJHytxfE8

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Aww thank you soo much. This was very helpful, I use chessbase more than 10 years and I think for every chess player it's a must have program, but I didn't know a lot of features that you showed lol, thanks again.

@Robert_J. I guess whatever works for u. I tend to put all analysis into the sperate database and then copy across to the repertoire database once I am happy with it. Think of the specific opening database as a working base is how I see it and the rep database is almost like the finsihed article.

There will be some replication of course but to make use of the search and training features of a repertoire database its worthwhile and only a drag and drop in terms of extra work

Thanks a lot for this explanatory video. I knew almost everything but I never thought of comparing it with the games of the Chessmood GMS database. By the way, how did you downloaded the Chess.com games? They do not allow to download them in bulk, do they?

Thanks Jamie for helping with this short video. Have been working with Chessbase 16 and loving the new features. The Chessmood GM streams is what I was missing. Hopefully, I can download and create the reference DB to compare all the lines.

Thank you! I learned the `variations fold` feature from your video. It's Life changing! 

Thank you very much for the video @jamie_Wilby. Very useful tips!

Wow Jamie! 
You're doing super job! 
Not just how seriously you work with ChessMood, but also your kindness, sharing value with others. 
Thanks so much! 

Jamie, do you know, does chessbase offer the following feature: 
You download all your games and click "compare with repertoire", and it shows all the games you went wrong comparing to your repertoire. 
We're now working on adding nice features in ChessMood, which will help you guys to memorize the variation easier. The one I said, I didn't find anywhere, but I might be wrong. 

With best wishes,
Avetik 

ChessMood Logo with a christmas hat by me(LOL)

I made a ChessMood logo with a christmas hat because of boredom.It is not so good but I am not a professional about editing photos.I think it is funny lol

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This is a very cute idea! :) 

Aww that's so cute <3 :)

I like it :-)

Wow!

Nice-nice!!! 

Where were you and what did you do in the battle?

Yesterday saw Chess Mood team doing battle in lichess team battle 13A.

CRR was there, where were YOU?!

Fellow Chess Mood warriors, Chess Mood team needs you!

Come & help Chess Mood win these battles. Right Mood,Right Move COGRO!

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I had the same question, you're right we need them :)

Oh! 
Richard, as a PRO Member, you can participate in both teams you know? 
We have 2 teams - ChessMood and ChessMoodPRO (for only pro members and our coaches)