Chess forum by Grandmasters

With Scotch

After 1. e4 e5  2. Nf3  Nc6  3. d4  exd4  4.  Nxd4  Nxd4  5.  Qxd4   many of my opponents played  

5. ....   c5.  Here what is best plan for me ?

Replies

um here I like even Qd1 back because black already have weak square on d5 and a2-g8 diagonal is super weak in long term so I like to play Positional Qd1 but also interesting to play Qe3 Bd2 0-0-0 and f4 Be2 g4 plan

what's our repertoire against Closed Sicilian

Hello chessmood family

I use  repertoire of chessmood currently

And I play Accelerated Dragon,but when I study "Crushing All the Sicilian's Sidelines"

I found a problem about 2.Nc3 line

Video recommend 2...d6 becuase after 3.Nf3 ,we can transfer to Najdorf

For Najforf player,it's nice.

But how about Accelerated Dragon player like me?

because I don't know how to play Najdorf,I think 2...d6 is not a good idea for me.

Will a repertoire course like 2...g6 or 2...Nc6 for Accelerated Dragon player against 2.Nc3?

Replies

me too I faced the same issues!!!

Tricky move order against our sicilian repertoire

Hi, ChessMood family!

I would like to ask, how we should react for black if after 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 d6 white can try trick us and play 3.Nge2!?. Now if we go for example 3... Nc6 or 3...g6 white can go 4.d4 and transpose the game into some kind of open sicilian, but not in accelerated dragon... You may say what we can go 3...Nf6 and after 4.d4 cd 5.Nxd4 a6 it's a pure transpose to najdorf variation, wich will be covered soon, but the main part of the trick is that white will play 4.g3 and already we outbook from our preparation becouse our knight on f6 already and we can't develop our peaces in french like formation (e6 - Nge7) against closed sicilian setup as GM Gabuzyan recomended :( Additionally if after 4.g3 we will play 4...g6 white still can go 5.d4!? and transpose the game into dragon variation (yes it's a dragon, but it's not accelerated dragon unfortunately) in fiancetto system, wich as for me a little bit nasty to play for black side...

Replies

My humble opinion: I would play 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 and in most cases followed by g6. An early d6 in second move is not a good choice because in some variations you have to play d5 and you will lose a tempo. I would rather play d6 or d5 after e6. It depends on white's move order. I think it's better when d5 is supported by e6 and played in 1 move.

3.Nge2 is an attempt to trick out ONLY-Najdorf Players. There is a Chessbase DVD by Tiviakov that explains how use this move order to trick out ONLY-Najdorf players this way, pull them out of their preparation, and force them to play other sicilian systems.

Blitz, Rapid or Standard time control chess

Hello Chessmood friends, and GM Avetik!

I have a question:

Which format should I choose to improve my chess skills, and why?

Blitz, Rapid or Standard time control chess, or a combination of all of them?

Replies

Std Is More Important As All The Major Tournaments Are With Long Time Control(Std)

But... Blitz Is Also Important (Not As Important As Std)

 If You Playing A Game(Std) After 3Hr You End Up In A Endgame With Low Time 

Blitz Will Help A Lot!

I Prefer Std+Blitz Is A Good Combination

As Per Me Bullet Is Not So Good it Played For Fun(No Improvement)

Blitz, Rapid or Standard time control

Hi Chessmood friends,

Blitz, Rapid or Standard time control?

Which one is better? 

Replies

IMO g15/10 is the most effective for online settings. 

Move of day?

Replies

Haven't watched the video yet.Now going to watch it. But yeah thumbnail of Qh8 was so cool. I wish one day I will make moves like that too.

Thanks for providing contents like that for us. I lost my motivation after so much loses and no one helped me in better way. Even my past mentors were not like you. Yes theortically they helped me by sharing basics but no one shared the value of learning Classical games. It's you, who told me abhi learn classics and you will win more  and yes because of you I am winning mostly all games.

Also online I search even classic player's content but no one's presentation is like yours. You make chess so simple so thanks coach for your support and valuable lessons.

Importance of bullet and blitz????????????

What is importance of bullet and blitz? I heard from some people it's all useless play classical. So if blitz and bullet is all useless then why it's super popular among grandmasters level.

For me, I am a big fan of 15/10 time control online because if i chose 60 mins time control then sometimes people waste my time by not resigning even in lost positions. I do play 3 mins blitz to check how much faster and accurate I am in case of opening prep. But i never play too much blitz. I play 5-6 blitz games a day.

Replies

by @alexchessmood

 if you don’t play a lot of bullets or blitz there will be time losses but you don’t have to play often

"Player who hates playing 1 min game is not seeing the whole picture. It's not because they will make a mistake but because their opponents will do, and they have to play on their opponent's mistakes".

                                                                                                                                 --------Hikaru Nakamura

I don't know how much truth is it. Can you help Avetik sir?

I think blitz is best if u want to check your intuition skills.  In past I played so many intuitive sacs which are memorable for me and in the end when i checked them with an engine engine did loved i

Correct me if I am wrong.

I used to play a bullet game before blitz because bullet is the best way to see if your net is working well or not....lol

My first and last rapid of this month

Bottom I am sharing game with notes. If anyone find any mistakes in my game then please let me know. I am hoping to improve my skills to the next level so all time I am worried if I make any single mistakes. I care for good game so I am working on my skills. Yes, in one day no one can become champ but in one day we will find right path to study well for future and become Champ.

I did not saw setup against g6 so I thought if mentor is not covering this line then there must be punishment.

Concepts I applied:

1. Development with tempo and bothering his queen.

2.  On 10th move when he made the move c6 I thought of the game of Dubov against Mamedyarov so I was not able to stop my hands and I made the move d5!. I hope this is accurate bec I followed the principle of open the game when we have two bishops and second his king is in the center.

3. Move 12th I played the Qa4+ because I was an alapin player or I can say below 2000 chess.com alapin expert. My score in positional alapin was always great so I knew whenever black loses the Light square bishop then the a4-e8 diagonal becomes super weak. Now after Qa4+ he will lose the right to castle or just Nbd7.

4. Move 13th, concept playing for initiative so I do not worry about pawns and due to @chessmood's benko gambit my fear of pawns is disappeared and also from Anti- Sicilian I learnt the power of initiative.

5. Move 14th, even if he try to grab two rooks then in the end he will lose the a8 rook. 

6. Move 17th, Nc7 forces him to give up the rook for the knight.

7. Move 18th, Rxb7 not only grabs the pawn on b7 but also creates a mating net  so he thought he can defend this threat with Ngf6 but he missed my move g4!!! and good bye to dancing queen.

Note: It's my first rapid game of this month so I shared my inside thoughts. Due to opening prep I had no time to play more rapid in last month. Bec lappy work make me super tired.

https://lichess.org/yGUqLRDslI5B

Coach, let me know if I missed something or you saw something better so I can work on it. I did not posted it for compliments but I do want to work on skills so I need to focus on improving my skills. 

Thanks!

Replies

Revision of Lines?

Any method which GMs use to revise lines and memorise them for long term? 

For me I grasped most of the ideas which I studied in past and still doing revision of lines but issue comes when line never comes on board. For example 

e4 c6 d4 d5 exd5 cxd5 Bd3 Nc6 c3 Nf6 Bf4 Bg4 Qb3 Qb6 Qxb6 axb6 now Na3 allows e5 and gues what I forgot this line bec last time I saw this line on board is like 2 month ago and only one game of gabu sir in which he was also struggled bec some lines are not coming on board.

Revision of one chessmood full opening takes minimum 3 days for me. Except Scotch and Anti Sicilians.

My current approach:

When I miss lines I go to pgn files and check and I try not to do the same mess up again. But yeah in case of ideas it's easy to remember but in case of lines it's so tough. Still I am trying my best and I wanna memorize the lines before my upcoming event in Jan. I  am preparing for below 1900 section so lines matters .

Any tips by experienced players are welcome. 

Replies

Most important thing guys, I am not focused on memorizing moves. I focused on ideas always but now I am hoping to go to next step. I know I am not super experienced but still I am eager to learn in best way and I do know it takes time and afforts.

Question about Modern Maroczy Bind

In the course Modern Maroczy Bind, in section 2, It's not a death draw, you came to the conclusion, that after the bishop changed, the position is over for white. But I thnk after c5 the position is lost for black. So I am not so sure what to play in that endgame. If someone could help me it would be really nice.

Replies

can u please share the position?

ChessMood Family, need your opinion

Hey ChessMood Family! 
I have one good news, and I would like to hear your thoughts and recommendations. 

We' are going to add two courses. 

1. About planning in chess. How to find a correct plan? How to process it? 
It will be around 14 sections, more than 20 hours! 

and 

2. About exchanging the pieces. 

What are the reasons to exchange a piece? There are more than 20 reasons, like "Exchanging the defender", "Exchanging opponent's active piece", "Exchanging for square" and others. 

Both will be big courses (more than 20 hours!) 
Last months we have spent lots of time searching for material and finding the best examples. 
You'll be amazed by the courses... 

Now I need your thoughts. How to name the courses? :) 

Something like "Art of Exchanging" or "Art of Planning in chess?" 
Maybe Science of ... 

What do you think? 
Your thoughts are very valuable to us. 
Just share them :) 

Replies

I think you are spreading yourself too thin Coach. Finish the Opening Series first, don't leave too many loose ends undone. Pirc is finished, but Modern and Pirc go hand in hand so I think that the Modern ( Robatsch Defence) should be the next logical project, further reinforcing all those nice attacking ideas you taught us in the Pirc Course.

The Art of Exchanging is a good title. Maybe " Right mindset planning" for the second? But you also need to add some more opening courses for black, and get back the Najdorf variation. I also prefer Scheveninngen variation against classical Sicilian, but the material and variation are long, deep  and hard to learn for the average player. Finally, will these courses be only for pro or will there be unlocked videos and how many moodcoins will they be worth?

Not sure about the title but I think-1."The art of planning in chess "and 2."The art of exchanging the right pieces"  are good titles. I think these titles would be good enough because of the quality of the material would be promising and useful. Don't judge a book by its cover. For me, the content is more important than the title :).

 I Think The Name Should Be Like

For Exchange ---- "The Beauty Of Exchanges"

and For Planning --------" The Secret Of Planning"

Just idea! 

I am simple so my words are simple.  

Arts of planning:

Art of exchanges.

But if you seriously wanna rank your keyword then go there and search there keywords that are less competitive. Try this!!

https://app.neilpatel.com/en/ubersuggest/keyword_ideas

Great news coach! I think these courses will add a lot of value for Chessmood members. It is becoming a one stop shop for chess improvement! I am looking forward to the courses.

I agree with Abhi - I like "The Art of...". For exchanges maybe even The Skill of Exchanging in Chess.

Both 'The art of Exchanges' (A course by GM Boris Avrukh on Modern Chess) and "Art of planning" ( A 2006 book by Neil McDonald) are already title that have been used. While I am sure you could use them as well, I have a feeling you are looking for inspiration on a unique title for these courses.

Here are my ideas, and I hope you are able to use them to help you find the titles you are looking for!

1. Plan to win the ChessMood way!

2. Know your 'why' when trading!

These are just off the top of my head, and I will post an update here when I think of more, as I am sure my subconscious will continue to think about this :) 

Thanks guys, for all your ideas! 

ChessMood's Art of Planning?

Finding the Correct Plan would work for me.

Avetik sir I have another opinion to improve the website!

I think the website should update quotes by great chess player and successful people so that we can always stay motivated and make the right moves in life and in chess in the right mood

I think you should make  endgame courses! you have opening but no endgame! endgame is more important! If you get an advantage in the opening( LETS say, pawn advantage) and then when you reach the endgame your advantage of the pawn is of know use if you don't know how to convert it!

When are the courses coming :)

I think that since you're doing the hard work of creating the plans and studies, your name deserves to be there. Who knows, they might even become legendary in the future when people realize their value?!

Hence The Avetik Right Mood, Right Plan and

               The Avetik Right Mood, Right Exchange

sound like decent names to me....

An idea for streams

In the streams, would you consider taking the time after games to review and analyze the moves, explaining in more detail?

I was wondering if others would also find this useful, I think I would.

Is maybe something you could try out and see if people preferred? 

Replies

um that's a nice idea. But for me I get most of the ideas during he make comments. But your suggestion have point too.

New Trendy line in the Maroczy

Hi Masters!

What do you think may be thge best way against the "trendy" line in the Maroczy h3. I've seen a world class expert like Iturrizaga getting heavy problems to equalize. Thank you for your advice!

Replies

Yeah this line is a problem and I already mentioned it sometime back in another thread. I can't remember if I gave a recommendation for Black or not, I will need to check the archives. 

What a discussion and what answers!!! 
Thanks, Manuel for a great question and Kevin and Kim for answers. 
Kim, b6 idea against e5 is nice, however Manuel is right, White will just play Rfe1 and will slowly continue pushing more. 

Kevin, are they all your analyzes? Or your seconds?? :D 
Recently, I asked our coaches team to analyze h3 more. 
They sent me an analysis absolutely similar to your with a4 Qa5. 
Man, seriously, if you are really around 2200 player, you would be a Grandmaster long ago, if you have spent all that time instead of analyzing openings so deep, but on middlegame... 

Anyway, fantastic analyzes, with a human hand and strong engines. 
Thanks for your great answer, Kevin. 
I also think that a4, Qa5 is the most aggressive way. 

In Summary, guys, Maroczy Bind is very easy to learn for players below 2200 level. 
But if you are on a higher level, you should check out Modern Maroczy Course. 

Thanks, once more, everyone! 

Gratefull with ChessMood Family, Love the process!

Hey to all chessmood family, i just want to share with you some of my homework since one month on working with the courses, I want to recognize that my english writting is not the best but Coach Avetik ask me to share with you all this training method to improve. 

I just started training with chesstempo app, and playing more seriously on the web, i have a routine of hours per day with the clasical game and the repertoire plan that GM Avetik gave me when we start, so this is my litle progress that im proud to share.

Im so thankfull with the chessmood Family for being such good group of learning, and specially with GM Avetik that he is allways with the best wat to treat students. 

I use Excell, chesstempo and play (not much playing because im starting the courses and its more studying) but taking serious the process, with discipline, effort and the best right mood i want better results with next months,  

Im Heinichess in Lichess, and HeinichessPY, ill be glad to have new friends and play more games. 

Replies

Really helpful! Thank you for sharing!

After spending some hours studying the theory I have come to the conclusion that if I haven't sacrificed a pawn in the first moves, or a piece, even the queen, then I probably don't remember the variation correctly  :D

Your tactics on chesstempo is impressive too :) 

Hey John! 
Thank you very much John for sharing it. 
I bet it should be super useful for our other Family Members

Woah, nice improvement. Good luck sir!!

Thank for sharing your study plan John and great results! Do you have a daily routine/plan you like to follow ?

Czech Pirc

Hello Champions! 

I am happy to tell you, that we are uploading a NEW course - Czech Pirc. 
We have analyzed many ways to play against it, and now we'll show you the strongest one, which is at the same time very easy to learn. 

https://chessmood.com/course/pirc-defense-czech-variation  

The first two sections are uploaded. 
Enjoy. 
The rest are coming soon. 

If you have any questions related to this course, feel free to ask.  

Replies

Thanks coach! I face this a lot in Blitz and bullet!

Hey champions! 
Section 3 is uploaded! 
https://chessmood.com/course/pirc-defense-czech-variation 

Inspired play by GM G!

Hohvannes was on fire today in the stream!:) Very helpful. Thank you very much, learned great ideas!!

Cheers to all!

Replies

His games are always useful. Especially, when he make mistakes he never feel down. He is a true fighter and because of him I saved many losing games. 

I learnt how to fight till the end from his games.

I learnt a lot about middlegame planning especially in case of winning weak pawns by fixing them.I

I also learnt some beautiful combinations.

His best skill in blitz is fighting spirit and Never give up attitude and also amazing commentary skills at high level too.

My funniest Chess Dream!!!

Replies

I dont Know how to play when Black plays

I Got Promblem When Black play the move 8...a6 in Crushing Sicilian

[Event "?"]

[Site "?"]

[Date "????.??.??"]

[Round "?"]

[White "?"]

[Black "?"]

[Result "*"]

[PlyCount "14"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Bc4 Nf6 5. Nf3 g6 6. O-O Bg7 7. d3 a6 *

Replies

I think that should play a3, opening a luft for your light sqared Bishop in order not to get trapped, or delay d3 move so that you can move thw Bishop back if black plays 8. ... b5. If black doesn't play a6-b5 you can continue the attack on the kingside with Qe1, Qh4, f5. I hope I covered your question.

Hey Dipak. Are you a PRO Member? We covered a few times during the Webinars. 

Repertoire against 1.Nf3 and 1.c4

Hello GM Avetik, could you make a complete repertoire for black against 1.Nf3 and 1.c4 please!

Replies

It's the Marocy Bind Fianchetto. It's not a complete repertoire but it covers the mainline. 

Hi Atruro if you want to have a stronger repertoire against 1. c4 and Nf3 check out my suggestions:

Against 1. c4 I prefer the symmetrical london system with 1. c4 c5  2. Nf3 Nf6 3. g3 g6 where both sides fiachetto their kingside bishop and castle kingside ( 3. Bg2 Bg7 4. 0-0 0-0 ) then getting a dragon variation pawn structure with pawns on d3-6 , e2-7 , f2-7 , g3-6 and h2-7. Here the main ideas for both sides are to play d4 or d5 opening the centre. Of course, I believe that the symmetrical engliah does not fit  in a attacking playing style. You can also watch the Maroczy bind, which can occur feom Benko Gambit ( 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. Nf3 cxd4 Nxd4 4. Nc6 c4 5. Nc3 g6 6. Be3 Bg7 )  or from the English opening and Sicilian defence.

Against 1. Nf3, usually white is transposing the game into Queen's gambit declined , which can arise after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 which is a very big opening but if you want to learn a lot you must try it. Or you can choose the Grünfeld setup which can be adjusted to any openings starting with 1. d4 or Nf3 It goes d5 Nf6 g6 Bg7 0-0 b6 Bb7 c5 echannging some pawns if necessary and the playing Nc6.

Or if white is transposing to other openings  you can learn King's indian defence arising from  Nf3 ( 1. Nf3 Nf6 2. d4 g6 3. c4 Bg7 4. e4 0-0 5. Nc3 d6 controlling e5 and c5 sqares not allowing white to push in the centre 6. Be2 classical var. in here white can choose other variations as well  Nc6 7. d5 Ne7 ). I love King's indian and you can watch Kasparov's and Petrosian's games to get a better understanding of this opening. 

Hi Arturo! 
The complete repertoire is coming. You'll get Maroczy Bind 90% of time if you play 1...c5 and 2...g6. 
The rest we covered during the webinars. 
But anyway, the course is coming. 

Files for Mac

Hey Champions! 
Help, please :) 

One of my students uses Mac. 
On which software can he open the PGN file them I send him? 

I try lichess, but there is some bug, very often when I try to upload the files it says error bla, bla, bla...
What other software do you use for Mac? 

Thanks in advance! 

Replies

Chess Openings Professional has a "lite" version for the Mac.  This would accomplish that easily.  I think the cost is $67.  www.bookup.com    

That question was asked on www.chess.com and the best reply was 

if I understand you correctly & you are having trouble just opening your .pgn files, then I may have the solution:  If you are using a text editor such as Notepad (but any text editor will do) then open your .pgn file by browsing to the folder where it's stored but remember to select the 'All Files' option in file-types, otherwise, it won't display files other than .txt files!

Then you should be able to see the file you want & you can open it in the text editor. Next, copy the entire PGN data to the clipboard (Ctrl+A to select all & Ctrl+C to copy). 
Finally, open the Game Editor on this site & paste the PGN text into it. You should then be able to see your game, step through the moves & see any annotation in any language.

For example, I constructed the following diagram/game using PGN data that I compiled with notes I translated using Google Translate (unlike you, I can't read Russian):-  https://www.chess.com/forum/view/game-analysis/opening-pgn-on-mac

and perhaps the simple solution is https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chess-pgn-viewer/id1251365291?mt=12

I just came across this as well.  Again, it is not free but if I had only access to a MAC, this is where I would probably go for chess. 

https://www.hiarcs.com/mac-chess-explorer.htm 

There is also Stockfish for the MAC.  I would think that you could read a .pgn file here also.  It is free.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/stockfish-chess/id801463932?mt=12