Chess forum by Grandmasters

Space matters in chess xixixi

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Hey you can see middle games of chess mood. In almost all of them there is importance of space control. You will understand space concept very well from it

Ahbi, I watched the Maroczy bind free video course yesterday, where GM Avetik explains in a fantastic way the space disadvantage both with the white and black pieces and how to control it. This would be very useful for you.

Knight vs Bishop!

Hey Chessmood Family!

Many players state that bishops are stronger than knights, others have the opposite opinion.

What do you think which side is better and if there are some conditions?

Feel free to share your opinion and ask questions!

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Knights for closed positions or attacking with Queen. Bishops in open or soon to be open positions with Queen’s off the board? That’s at least what I have heard.

GM Gabuzyan, I believe that each piece has its pros and cons. For instance, bisgops are better in open positions and in the side that has space advantage, especially in the endgame, because they can move quickly from one to another edge of the board. On the other hand, knights are better in closed positions, such as stone wall formations, sice they are very useful for maneuvering. I have broken the chinese wall with 16 pawns on the board with my knights against a 1600 player once and managed to win the game, although a piece down. Personally, I like the knights more that the bishops because my opponents can't calculate my multiple attacks and knight moves so properly than the pins from the bishops! Anyway, I also like to checkmate both with knights and bishops :)

Be careful when you touch the f pawn

Here is a short miniature :) 
If you have such games too, feel free to share it here :) 
https://www.chess.com/live/game/3763567825 

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IF White knew their openings and basic chess principles, this probably would not have happened!

1.f4 Bird opening is a fine opening but White needs to be careful.

1.f3 Barnes Opening is just a bad opening  and fools mate can follow eg  1.f3 e5 2.g4 Qh4#

1.e4 e5 2.f4 the Kings Gambit, is another fine opening for White, if White is aware and understands and is careful to guard against the potential king weakness f4 brings.

There are many other "hoody/ie" blunders of similar proportions... How about this classic opening error hoodie blunder:

Djordjevic vs Kovacevic
Bela Crkva (1984)
Trompowsky Attack  ·  0-1

Is this a minature forum or a f-pawn forum.  Here's a nice minature.

https://www.chess.com/daily/game/243730914

Here is another 20 move miniature

http://view.chessbase.com/cbreader/2019/12/27/Game941821703.html

Opening repo with d4

Hi guys I hope you all are doing well in chess. I have a question regarding some lines. So I need some suggestions.

 I am a positional player but I do play e4. I am a alapin player against Sicilian and my score is quite +80%. 

Today  I decided to switch to d4  because I wanna learn more pawn formations and d4 is both tactical and positional I think.

I need suggestions about which setup to choose against

1. Nimzo Indian ( I like to the games of  f3 e3 line played in recent top chess ) is it okay for me?

2. Against direct f5 on move one. ( I played Nc3 against direct f5) Is it fine approach? My point is to get e4 as fast as I can. 

3. King's Indian ( I never studied any games of this lines so pure beginner in this field. I need a promising positional setup not super sharp because I am still on the way to improve my calculation level and due to lack of time I think I can focus on positional chess first and when I will get more time after my future job I will start focus on calculation.

4. Against slav or semi slav ( I normally play exchange queen's gambit )  and my ideas are clear about the pawn formations and pawn levers and typical ideas.

5. Against Gruenfeld? ( I never studied this line but I like the games of Russian System) I do not know plans but I like my pawn center and then passed d pawn . Any suggestions about it?

6. I am a benko gambit player from black's side and I do not know which setup is fine for white against benko. I prefer to play the e4 Bxf1 Kxf1 g3 Kg2 Nf3 Re1 Re2 lines. but still thinks it's passive so I need an idea against it. I also do not like to play passive positions like legendary Kramnik can . I meant g3 Bg2 ideas I do not like because I can not play e4 and another thing is sometimes black's pressure along a6-f1 is tremendous and force white to play e4 and then he black attacks the d3 square and so on. So that's all I know.

I do not know if there are more lines still left against d4  .I seriously need help because I have bunch of books but I need promising ideas. All the variations which I like above is because of the lastest GM's games except against dutch I learnt the idea of rapid e4 from some nice positional lessons of Varuzhan Akobian.

Thanks for all the future suggestions. I am happy to be the part of this family.

Another crutial thing is that I am only 1465 FIDE rated and another thing is online I am above 2000.I do not play events due to lack of time but preparing at home and hoping to come back to events one day and also there is no club near to my home. Nearest club is 200 miles from my home. So this bothers my level .

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I know sir but I already mentioned my current time issues regarding study. I have no time to study books on middle game or attacking chess or endgames because I barely have an hr a day for study so I wanna pick one variation of opening and hoping to understand ideas and plans for both sides so when after my job I will use my full time for middle game and endgames not on openings.

That's my point.

Although I agree with your point too. 

I think your wasting time studying openings.

That's why I said I just wanna learn some structures and general ideas of new openings.

So i will feel fine whenever i need to switch

I do not forget the importance of other phrases of game.

But seems like u guys misunderstood me.

Ahby, when I play the sicilian with the white pieces, I play 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 .... The reason is that if 3. d4 for white, you can learn more variation than the Alapin...

On the other hand, with the black pieces, king's indian defence is one of the most solid openings with 3 advantages:

• the kings goes immediately in safety

• you can improve your maneuvering skills and use of knights, because it usually goes to closed positions

• use of half-open lines and g7 dark-sqared bishop, which can arise from benko gambit as well

Hope that I motivated you to leaen the king's indian defence.  In addition, agamist direct f5 (dutch defence type positions), I choose exchange queen's gambit or the London system, which is an opening quite easy to learn.

What's your rating, Ahby?

Αhby, I have very recently downloaded chess.com and thats why my ratings are low there around 1500. But in lichess, whixh I have been playing for 3 months, I have Ultrabullet:1730  Bullet: 1760  Blitz: 1630  Rapid: 1480  Classic: 1540

I also play the chess variants, 3 check ia my favourite but I can't find good opponents. Send me your lichess name so that I can follow you and challenge you. My is giorgoskehagias509

Sparring partners needed

Hello All,

My kid(12 year old) is for whom I have subscribed to pro membership herein. On our 1-1 call with GM Avetik, his suggestion was to get sparring partners(casual or rated games)  against whom to practice the openings he is learning on this platform(currently Scotch with White & Acc. Dragon with Black). His suggestion was to put it out in the forum as this community can build up on the knowledge gained herein.

His lichess ID is Mkvs715_Chs and hope to see some challeges coming in. 

Thanks

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Hi Sriram M

I am happy to play/practice with any Chess Mood member, as this is the exact same advice I had on my 1:1 call with GM Avetik Grigoryan.

Your kid (boy or girl, or whatever-cryptic handle..just like mine), I see has a high rating already for rapid & blitz on lichess and is clearly much better than myself at these time controls (my rating 1450 approximately at 5 min blitz & my handle is CRR). Do you actually supervise while they play (ToS)?

I wonder if we get to play Chess Mood tournaments at lichess with other Chess Mood members? Do you know (I forgot to ask Avetik)?

As yet, I have not completed any Chess Mood opening course, but I have started a couple and I am just getting to make posts and find my way around here and hope to learn & improve.

Anyway, what timezone are you in, so, if you like, I will know when I can challenge and we can play? I am in UK (so GMT for me). If you do not want to play me, as I am a lower rated player, I understand. I think I would prefer to play unrated training games anyway, so that should be possible. Let's hope we find some sparring partners & can get some good practice in. I look forward to your reply.

Hello Siriam, I am happy to pracrice the chessmood openings with your son, although I'm not a pro member. My lichess ratings are around 1750. Thank you for sharing this.

For all those on 

Chess.com, the ID is :   RightAtom

Looking forward to sparring partners (chessmood family)

Anti-Sicilian Questions #1

1. e4 c5 

2. Nc3 d6 

3. f4 Nf6 

4. Nf3 Nc6

Computer suggest to go Bb5. would this be the variation? If they play Bd7 or Qc7 then Bxc6 has less value in my eyes because your not doubling up your opponents pawn. What game plan should we go into for this scenario? 

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Chessbase 189 actually has a good article about this. The article suggests after Bd7 or Qc7 to retreat to Bc4. So, what's the point? After Bd7 or Qc7, it is no longer so easy for black to play the typical e6-d5 plan because Black's control of the d5 square is not so absolute now

Hey Kevin! 
I am agree with Jeff! 
Actually Nc6 is not so good, because that knight is important. 
For Black better is to start with g6,Bg7 as you can see in Gabuzyan's course about Sicilian Sidelines. 
The idea is, if we go Bb5, Black plays Bd7. Changing the bishop not the knight which fights for important d4 square. 
So Bb5 is a good move! 

P.S Kevin, my big advice: use engine only for checking your games and only check if there were blunders.  

Webinar Questions

Webinar Question

1. How to access Webinar in lichess? When i log into lichess , I go straight to the Study mode, How do I get access to the live Video?

2. I do not have a Chess.com account so if there is a webinar on Chess.com, again i get to see it as a Study in lichess, no video stream?

3. I see the recordings on Youtube, so I see that the stream is on Youtube, yet how can i access it?

Kindly guide.

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Hi Sriram

I get a notification of the seminar/webinar at the Chess Mood events page and that has a link to join & so clicking that opens the YouTube seminar to view!

BtW: I have previously reserved my webinar seat from the ChessMood events page.

I am not sure on your other queries, but I hope this helps. GL!

Hey guys! 
Richard, thank you very much for your answers and help. 
Sriram, in the event section (https://chessmood.com/events) you can go the event, and there will be a link to the live event. 
Also when the event starts, there should be a link on the bottom of the website. 
You didn't see it? 
If not, please contact our support team https://chessmood.com/contact, our girls will help you to solve the problem. 

By the way, do you use FB? I'll add you to our closed group in FB, where I also post the links of events. 

Isolated Pawn Formation Based books?

What book you guys prefer in order to understand isolated pawn positions and their ideas?

Avetik sir said to me study chess classics to improve your strategy. I got it but I also wants to know a book on this specific pawn formation because IQP arise in many openings positions and it's like a common structure for me to face nowadays so I need help.

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Don't concentrate on just isolated pawn, Abhi. 
If you start to explore classics, you'll see many games how to play against isolated pawns and many other ideas as well. 

This book covers a ton of pawn structures, including the isolated pawn. I say use this plus the streams and studying games to really understand these structures! 

https://www.chessable.com/chess-structures-a-grandmaster-guide/course/14540/

Happy Christmas!

Happy Christmas to all at Chess Mood! Have a great time and with some holiday chess (but take a small break from chess to be with family and friends).

Season's greetings and peace and love to all my new friends here! :-)

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Merry Christmas!! 

Benko Gambit is alive!

Many people think that Benko Gambit is a bad opening, especially because of 12.a4 line.
But we have 11...Qb6 improvement! 

Today I just played an excited game with that move. 
https://www.chess.com/live/game/4131952033
Nice one yes? :) 

The whole course is here: https://chessmood.com/course/benko-gambit

To crush with ChessMood openings or to be crushed- it's a choice :) 

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I love Benko and I studied only few dvds and one book and I love it.

I really do not care what people think. If the opening is solid so I love to play it.

Generally I like wild and complex positions, which require confidence and huge calculations. That's why I like to play benko gambit with black. As a refered previously in the f pawn conversation, I like to play king's gambit and bird opening with the white pieces. Qb6 is a very interesting continuation; I will try it. I have also studied the free part of the course 1 week ago. It is the first whole course I will unlock with moodcoins for black.

How Long Can you Calculate?

Hello ChessMood family!

My question is how many moves are you usually able to calculate, please next to answer also mention your rating!

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I would like to ask how to improve calculating skills. I can calculate maybe 3 when I do right but sometimes miss calculation. Rating 1412

Dependings on the situation. With forced moves I have calculated as deep as 12 or more moves. In a normal position I usually can calculate 5-6 moves. My Rating is just over 1800

I can calculate 5 moves ahead if forcing lines.

But in quiet positions I only focus on positional factors such as pawn structure, pawn levers. I only can see 2-3 moves ahead in quiet positions but I can recognize where my pieces needs to go.

I am just 1465 FIDE rated and now I am unable to study.

I play almost everyday games on chess.com and lichess and my ratings are around 1700-1800 in bullet and blitz  1650-1750 in rapid and classical. It depends on the part of the game: opening, middlegame and endgame. When I am not under time pressure I can usually calculate up to 11 when I am going to give mate, but generraly I can calculate from 5 to 8 moves.

Playing on the left and Right side

AI Alpha Zero gives us a new approach by playing on both the side of the board. Though there were some grandmasters who played such games but they fail or did't get much popularity as this chess engine has achieved so far. So according to human perspective whether it

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Sometimes I play both on the queenside and on the kingsside. When I play for example the Najdorf variation of the sicilian defence with the black pieces  I keep my king in the centre of the board, on e7 sqare, protected by 4 pawns and my dark-squared bishop. And advance both on the 2 sides of the board. This is terrible for my opponents. When a player doesn't know how to defend accurately when he has to eliminate two attacks and knight sacrifices, he gets sick and resigns. In addition, sometimes in the dutch stonewall formation with black pieces, after castling queens-side and bringing my king on d7, protected by the wall and 2 bishops, I think it is uesful to advance on both sides. I think this is a good example for players on how to organise full-side attacks. What do you think, players and GMs, about my opinion?

There are many openings and positions that you should play on both sides.
Modern Benoni for Black is a very nice example. 

Killer Bd3!

My first game of this main line ever. I tried to apply the concept of advanced french course because I think I understood key points so it's good for me to practice all things .

Take a look and kindly tell where I went wrong or was it good game?

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4323828300

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Good job, everything is perfect! 

What's the Right Way to Prepare for the Chess Game

Hey Champions!
We have this topic in our Blog.
https://chessmood.com/blog/grandmaster-tips-the-right-way-to-prepare-for-the-chess-game
If you have any questions, comments or you just liked it, feel free to share your thoughts here. 

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Great article GM Gabuzyan Hovhannes.

It really helps to share that crucial information...i never prepared before but with this kind of advise..

I see the need really and be well ready for the fight in case you bring a knife to a Gunfight

Stronger Players use Gun type of resources from Opening to Endgame

...thanks so much...

Scotch 8.h4?!

Hi,

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 ed4 4.Nxd4 Nf6! 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8. h4?! Qe6 if 9.Nd2 a5 10.g3 Nb4 11.Nf3 Ba6 12 c4 (Vacaturo-sargissian, Helsingr 2019) Nb4 13.h5Qc2 14.Rh4 c5 favors Black slightly and if 9.g3 Nb4 10c4 Ba6 (game is Tomczak-Kramnik), Batumi 2018 11.Bf4 d5 12.a3 Bxc4 13.Qd1 Qf5! 14.Bc4 dxc4 150-0 Nc2 16.Ra2 Rd8 17. Qe2 Rd3 is winning for Black despite the tripled isolated pawns!!  Kaufman writes of 8.h4 (In fashion, don';t ask me why!!)What to play as white??  

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Lesson number 1. Don't follow analysis blindly!!!  any how....

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 ed4 4.Nxd4 Nf6! 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e5 Qe7 7.Qe2 Nd5 8.h4 Qe6 9g3 Nb4 10 c4 Ba6 11.Bf4 d5 12a3 Bxc4 13.Qd1 Qf5!!14.Bxc4 dxc4 15.0-0 Nc2 16Ra2 Rd8 17Qe2 Rd3 is winning for black!! ok so maybe the -1.23 or so that stockfish runs isn't totally winning, but hey you cant take the knight due to Rg3+, very nice (as Borat would say)!!

Now 9.Nbd2 a5 10g3 Nb4 11.Nf3 Ba6 12.Qg6 h5 Qc2 14Rh4 c5 favors black a bit Queens will be exchanged.  No more attack for white and may have to defend  stockfish -.30 or so like 2 bishops vs Bishop and knight advantage.  So0 I guess back to Ruy Lopez or Guicco Piano!!???

Sorry for the errors before!!!

Marc, this opening repertoire is for players below the 2600 level, not for preparing a match against Carlsen :) 
In your level, be sure, that noone will come so deep. 
I am streaming it all the time, playing h4, and you'll not find any game, when any of opponents came so deep. 
Don't go so deep in the theory my friend. Spend more time on Commented Classical games course. It will help you with chess understanding and you'll make easier decisions when you play. 

Tempo and transpositions

I follow normally all super top events like Grand Chess Tour. I do watch live commentary in which GM's explains ideas for both sides but I can't understand one thing that when white is tempo up and when white is tempo down and how to understand that white is playing reversed openings or black is playing white's reversed openings?

Is it advanced concepts? I am just curious. 

Example: Ok it's a reversed King's Indian and white is tempo up so I feel so confused.

2nd question;

How to stop your opponent if he tries to transpose your opening into a new and different opening. For example today I was playing a game. I was black.

Move orders:

e3 c5 

d4 cxd4 

exd4 d5 

Now it's a caro Kann structure. Even though I never studied caro kann I got these structures. I do play caro kann exchange as white so I got good position and played fine minority attack and won. But I am just curious that why it happened?

May be i need to work on basic pawn formations and their general plans so I will atleast handle transpositions like that.

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I think in this position u can play c4 and go for panov attack

c4 Nf6

Nc3 e6

Nope, you did fine.  it's cool book I know. I will again read it in order to improve my isolated pawn play because it;s my weakness and I wanna solve it.

If you are looking for books which explains about IQP strategies, there are so many books

Winning pawn structures by Baburin

Isolani Strategy by Alexander  Beliavsky

Weapons of chess by Pandolfini 

Chess structures by Mauricio Flores Rios

There is a nice chapter on IQP in My System by Nimzowitsch

There is a video course PAWN STRUCTURE MASTERY with IM Mat Kolosowski 

Abhy, I usually get transpositions from one opening to another. Most common is the transposition from frech type strctures to queen's gambit declined, an opening, which I have studied and use extensively. It is useful for me since I use Tartakower-Magagonov system with black.

Another transposition which I face quite often is from queen's to benko gambit with white. Something is going on here :). Anyway, I crush my opponents with this opening. 

Finally, I haven't studied so much Carro Kan defence but I get into good positions. (Have studied Karpov's games).

Abhi, there are many openings that you can get with white with reverse colour. 
About 1.d4 c5 2.e3 better not to take cd4 and open the bishop on c1. 
During our streams and webinar many times I've shown the right way playing with b6,Bb7. 

Importance of Endgames

Hello ChessMood family!

Topic I would like to discuss is importance of endgames. I noticed that many players are learning openings and middlegames with pleasure, but about endgames are not so optimistic.

What do you think, are endgames equally important and why?

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Yes! Endgame study is just as important as other areas of the game. Just knowing some basics (K+R mate, Opposition, King in the square, Triangulation, etc.) can win you many chess games. The more endgame knowledge you master, the better you will become at transitioning from the middle game to a winning position. 

That being said, I find it extremely hard to stay focused when studying endgames. I have not found a method of study that keeps me engaged for a very long time. As a consequence, my endgame play is pretty weak, and needs a lot more work. 

I am eagerly awaiting the endgame courses ChessMood will be producing soon, and hoping it is a much better way for me to study this very important part of the game.

Hello GM Gabuzyan,

I personally believe that most players have weaker endgame than middlegame and opening, because you do not have ro memorise long lines, motifs or tactcs. In addition, engames need better understanding of the position and ideas pf how you can win. For instance, a pawn and rook endgame is difficult for most chess players rated under 1800. 

I have studied many endgame studies, with a preference to Otto Bláthy' s ones, both in the suren channel and in a book I have. Chess is a game of brain, where creativity is the first weapon that you may have. If you aren't creative enough, tou can't reach high ELOs.

I don't have that vast theoretical and opening knowledge (I was helped very much from your courses)( and my ratings around 1750 prove this), but I think I am better in the endgame. Sometimes I also have problems with my endgames, especially in very closed positions. I need to be better in my endgame, waiting for your engame courses ;)

Play the opening like a book, the middlegame like a magician, and the endgame like a machine. ~ Mikhail Tal

Super!! Guys, we are preparing a big course about endgames. In 2020 it's coming! :) 

Question About opening versus 1 c4 and 1 Nf3

Will you give courses for black versus 1 c4 and 1 Nf3 in the near future

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You can play c5 against either. Playing c5 give opportunities to transpose into either Sicilian or Benko depending upon white's choices. If white simply refuses to transpose then the black pawn structure will still be similar to a Hyper-accelerated Sicilian. If stays along English lines then there is nothing wrong with the symmetrical English for Black.  

yup, it's also giving me trouble so much nowadays.

Yeah, Franck we'll make a course for 1.c4 and Nf3, but for now you can go 1...c5 and mostly it'll be transposed to our courses, especially Maroczy. 
This happens 95% of the times during streams

Big compliment

I Will team chessmood give you an compliment for the call with grandmaster and the level of courses.

you are in one word super!!!

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yup they are amazing.    

Hehe :) Thank you guys :) 

Suggestions?

https://www.chess.com/daily/game/244019022

Kindly check my mistakes and I am not an e5 player. I played unrated against her in order to help her in practice italian because we both dont know it well.

I love accelerated dragon and czech pirc but just wanted to know where I went wrong in this game and what about d5 early in my game?

Rating 1465.

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