Chess forum by Grandmasters

Sicilian 2... Nc6 3. Bb5 Qb6?!

Simply put, what to do after

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Qb6?

Replies

Well, at my level, I'm looking at things rather simplistically but I'd probably be looking at Nf3 and then 0-0 to exert more influence over the centre and to protect my king.  Black has brought his queen out early rather than developing and so this should allows us a chance to get ahead in development.  

I'm not sure how much value the Bishop on b5 has and it necessitates keeping the Knight on c3 to defend it - that's 2 pieces going nowhere so I'd also consider Bc4 to target the f7 pawn at some point (even though this means moving the same piece twice in the opening). 

I like 4.Nf3, too. Followed by quick 0-0. Black moved his Queen out (too) early, thus wasted time.

So I would always keep an eye on opening the center with Bxc6 followed by d4.

I think it's important to stay flexible- often times we're having closed structures with d3, but whenever 

Black plays strange moves like Qb6, which waste time, we have options to open the position.

By that our lead in development gets maximum influence.

The main ideas of the line is to play Bc6, f4 and make the Bc8 bad.

I know against Qc7 Nge2 is recommended followed by f4 and castle. Just wondering if we do the same things here.

Caro

Morning. Wondered if someone stronger than me can help explain something I'm clearly missing in my knowledge! 

r3kb1r/pp1bpppp/2n2n2/3p4/3P1B2/1PPB4/1P3PPP/RN2K1NR w KQkq - 1 9

Played caro and got the following normal position The computer seems to suggest b4 as the strongest move for next 4-5 moves when i reviewed the game. But it's not obvious to me why. It's not critical as lots of good moves just curious really!

Cheers! 

Replies

Hi Duane!

This is an easy question, please let Avetik answer you by watching the 3 videos of the Section 10. Model Games - The Endgame 

https://chessmood.com/course/caro-kann-defence/episode/2010

💪This is the variation that Avetik prefers by far and we all had very good results and simple plans to follow. Check it out and happy study!😀

Nimzo Indian Preparation

Hello everyone,

can anyone please suggest some material for Nimzo Indian with Black,

I'm very much struggling to find a good setup against white's d4

I was struggling with Balck for e4 also but with ChessMood's many options such as accelerated dragon, Maroczy bind and others really helped me and now I'm a Pro Member, 
got my membership just now today, looking forward for great learning experience here on chessmood, 

looking forward to solve my problems as a Black against d4

Thanks in advance!

Replies

Dear Onkar, welcome to the family!

Did you try the Benko gambit? This is our main option against d4 and it complements very well with the Accelerated Dragon. https://chessmood.com/course/benko-gambit

If you did not, please watch the course and try to play. We do not propose the nimzo indian as our main repertoire for Black, therefore we do not have any course on it.

😅If you still want to learn it, we can try to provide you some suggestion, but it is not our expertise and it is a very complex opening.😀

french defense.

are they going to be a more advanced cours about the french defense ?

Replies

Yes there will be. Thanks for your interest but we never provide any release date. We take a lot of time in selecting the best lines and this course is going to be very important. We always try to do our best and we expect to publish it this year, but we cannot say the date. 😅

I believe so, but i dont see any coming out. Think they should be coming out soon!

you mean the French attack 😅

Ruy Lopez-specific training partner wanted

If anyone is bored and has free time to burn, please do me a favor: Challenge me on chess.com to an unrated daily game, pick the white pieces and play the Ruy Lopez. I really need to learn to combat the Ruy. My username: piedraven.

Please don't feel pressured to of course - do this only if you have too much free time and want to kill some. You don't owe me anything!

Replies

I'll gladly play! The ruy lopez is my main opening.

Daily Puzzle

Hello! Just a quick note: I think on today's daily puzzle after c3+ Bxc3+ Kc2 is not the only move, all king moves are winning as well.

Thank you!

Replies

Hey there,

Check out the comment by Chessmood Odysseus at:

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/11-5-2024-daily-puzzle-answer

occasionally, i guess, this happens.

what to do before a tournament

What can we do before a chess tournament????

Replies

Hi there,

There are lots of ChessMood articles on tournament preparation.  Take a look here:

https://chessmood.com/blog/category/tournament-preparation

You should:

1. Get enough sleep
2.  Learn end games
3. Learn openings
4. Read  the rules of tournament
5.  Play puzzles
6.  Learn tactics
7.  Note down the moves played
8.  Learn middle game tactics

Thank you

I was recently invited to join a chess club on Chess.com.  I knew that many clubs arranged friendly tournaments, and that I would probably get to play some opponents who were much better than me, so I accepted.

Well, so far the vast majority of my opponents have been rated between 1500-1600 (my daily rating is a little over 700).  Needless to say, I have been getting absolutely thrashed!!

However, I am making progress:

• * In one game I came very close to mating my opponent but hadn't brought enough pieces to the attack (but that game has emphasised to me just how important this principle is).  And, of course, when I made a move that wasn't check my opponent seized the opportunity and that was it!
• * And then … I won a game!! (strictly it is only one leg of a ‘best of three’ but I'm taking it!)
•  

I realise that the chance of a tournament win is remote in the extreme but, in my eyes, I'm already a winner - I'm getting to gain experience against players that I wouldn't normally get to play in my Rapid games.

I'd like to use this post to say ‘Thank you’:

• * Thank you to the ChessMood team (especially Avo and Lily) for the courses and this forum.
• * Thank you to the experienced posters here who try to educate me in all things chess - especially Jake E., Armandas Ledas, and Chess Donkey.
• * Thank you to the experienced players who agree to play daily games with me sometimes so that I have at least some idea of what I'm likely to face in these tournaments. The ‘victims’ being Chess Donkey, IcelatedPawns and, especially, Cengia.

Replies

😁

I'm glad you are doing well and growing! This is what this forum is about: helping other Chessmooders grow! I'm glad that you found my advice helpful and worthwhile, and of course ill share more!

Man, I'm so happy you're improving! And especially with that enthusiasm!

I've seen big progress on your game, and I'm sure if you keep the attitude the results will be uphill.

Oh, and thanks again to you for playing daily games with me and for standing my boring openings😂

I'm thrilled that your progress has manifested itself in such an exciting win. Is it weird to say that I'm proud?

It's a shame we can't upvote forum posts, because I'm sure you would have so many from joyous readers like myself. Congrats

Hold on to your hats - I've just won a second game against the same c1500 player! 😎 (I've no idea how this tournament works but I'm enjoying it, win or lose!)

It's a bit messy but if you're curious …

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/daily/672317463?tab=review

And a quick question … how is it that my pawn b4 move (16.) is considered a ‘blunder’ when it was an essential preparatory step for my ‘great move’ of Bb5 (17.)?  To be fair, I suppose the 16. move is looked at in isolation and as it wasn't a forcing move there was no guarantee that I would be able to make the 17. move.  Still quite pleased with myself for spotting it though!  I guess I just need to focus now on similar scenarios but with forcing moves …  

PS: Just found a tournament summary page and it has a section titled ‘Biggest Upset - 714 defeats 1509’.  That's me that is!! 😂

Larsen Attack. Positinal difference

I playd the larsen attack. After my opponent blundered e4 Bxg7 

exf3 I played the Inbetween move Bxc6. The computer is saying the Position is better if I keep the tension and doesn't trade on c6. 

As I dont really understand the problem after trading even tough I looked at it for so long now and I just have assumptions, i would love to hear the opinion on these Positional differences from you guys.

Thank you.

Replies

Dear Elias,

It's not as much about the tension but is more about the pair of the Bishops.

When you trade your opponent gets the advantage of a Bishop pair, and better chances to control the Light squares. Also in some situations, the pawn on d5 can get under the attack - as without the pawn on c6 it's unprotected. 

On the other hand, you can keep the pin on the Knight and may be wait for the opponent to waste time on a6 - afterward deciding whether you want to trade or not.

Good luck :-) 

Please help 🙏

Hello chessmood family!
I am a 16 year old boy who is improving his chess without any coaches. (My only coaches are you, hanging pawns from YouTube and some books.)
I am currently studying in class 11th and the college is preparing me for JEE ( an extremely hard entrance exam for Indian institute of technology).

Spending of money for chess coaching is impractical as I do not have much time. (Though my love for the game makes me study it)
I joined a chess tournament recently and had very bad results though I woke up at 4 in the morning for weeks to study chess.(Though I am pretty sure that I lost many games due to slight sickness because of weather change and tiredness of overnight travel)
I prepared English opening and scored 3/4(I was tired in the game I lost, though I had good attack).

One thing I noticed that all the high rated players in the tournament played D4. My repertoire against it is modern Benoni and i somehow ended up struggling in middlegame. I play it by ideas (my memory is bad too😅) and still couldn't win a game.
Also, I am currently unrated. I learnt chess an year and a half ago and have been working it myself enough to bring fear to my rated opponents. (My rated friends in tournament, who are also my past opponents wish that they are not paired against me)

I hereby request you to please help me by suggesting a good book on modern Benoni 
Please consider my love, dedication and hardwork worthy of gaining knowledge and help.

I have great boosters, me and my parents. I don't have much of any other boosters but I would like chesmood to be my coach, after i start earning myself through chess.
Please help me by suggesting me about a good book on modern Benoni.

Thank you in advance,
Amogha V N
A young chess mastery aspirant.

PS. Endgame and attack is naturally easier for me, (thought it was a rare combination, so I just typed in) 

Replies

Hi Amogha,

I'm only a beginner in chess but, from what I understand from the BlackMood courses, the recommended defence against a d4 opening is the Dutch Defence/Attack.  You'll see it listed in the contents section here:

https://chessmood.com/course/blackmood-openings

If you keep your eyes open you'll notice that ChessMood often celebrate various events by allowing free access to the courses for a limited period so you could take a look then.

Do you play chess online too (at Chess.com or Lichess.org)?  You could practice the Dutch online and ask questions in the forum if you have any problems.

Hi Amogha!

The Benoni is a very difficult opening that we recommend normally to players above 2300-2400. 

We do not recommend it to other levels because it is very complicated and there are many nuances. 

I do not like any book on the Benoni and I cannot recommend them. What I like a lot is the course on Chessable done by the Catalan GM Alvar Alonso on the Benoni, very good course with fun and well worked lines. Also he recommends in his course that if you are missing tactics and your calculation is not so good, you should not play the Benoni. 😅Avetik having played the Benoni for most of his career also liked the lines. 🙂

now dont quote me, im not a benoni player, but I think sometimes u need to memorize lines. i recommend playing something that u can rely on ideas fully like the french and queens pawn

Ho to play against KinAre there any recommendations based on the chessmood repertoire of openings to play against King's Indian attack ? Nf3-g3-Bg2-0-0-Nbd2-a3 etc...?

Are there any recommendations based on the chessmood repertoire of openings to play against the King's Indian attack (as Black)?

Replies

We play c5 and we can play a dragon setup, or the botvinik setup.

Chess update: 1500 rapid on chess.com

It's been a while since I last posted but… after months where I didn't play much online (only daily games), just otb at my local club, I'm proud to say that I've started playing and training online and after just a few days I've gained 60 points and crossed 1500! Can't say how much thrilled I am. But the best thing is not the rating I've gained, is knowing that the work you're doing is paying off. So thanks everyone supporting me and I'll keep you updated!

P.S: a special thanks to Shouldhavestucktopoker for playing with me daily games!

Replies

Way to go, , Cengia!

I could have sworn I posted to this thread but … I can't see my comment! 🙄

Anyway, congratulations again on hitting 1500.  It just goes to show that your hard work is reaping dividends.

And you are very welcome for the daily games.  It's clearly helping both of us - see my ‘Thank you’ thread.

difference between adult improvers and children

Hi, 

some days ago i listened to the 

chess angle podcast episode 110 ( This week's guest is International Master Michael Rahal.)

and from min 50 or so (min 46 onwards was also interesting )  .. with the adults and children and teaching ideas concepts ..  

learn and know more chess and get better but not easily improve chess rating etc .. 

it resonated somehow with me but 

i am curious about what your opinions are about that topic 

michael 

Replies

😀

forgot the link 

https://www.thechessangle.com/ep-110-im-michael-rahal-on-the-challenges-of-adult-chess-improvement-more/

Interesting, but not nuanced enough IMO. It's right on the over-focus on rating, but there is something about getting past a long time plateau and taking a look at what's going on from an experienced point of view there. There might be no magic pill, but often you're held back by less things than you think and eliminating those roadblocks can make differences. Whereas a kid, they might say they want to be a GM or a World Champion, but they haven't hit a plateau yet, and even if they have they want to play chess. The message that I heard is this IM doesn't have the skills to help adults get off such plateaus (tailoring to specifics rather than general chess education is a lot harder).
 
There is also survivor bias that often strong club player adults are the few that are left, but there are lots of kids, many who will not get anywhere or give up. Thus teaching kids who want to play it's possible to have ideas about how strong they get, when you need to also look at all those who didn't.

I don't think the previous segment is right on openings, players at 1800-1900 are often very opening knowledgeable (maybe not widely, but they have pet systems some of which they've played hundreds of times over decades) and if you don't know enough then you're not going to get a playable middlegame as these days principles are great, mindset is important, but there are too many times understanding what works and what doesn't is important as a few misplaced pieces or not knowing how to play a specific middlegame can be the difference between having equal chances and grovelling from an inferior position. On the other hand learning too deeply (rather than to get a feel what might happen) is a problem with adult learners especially with the time constraints (not also something you can generalise either). As for peaks and forgetting what you looked at, adults generally don't play enough, often focus on too much, and there are individual differences. Also a big part overlooked is looking after your health so you are biologically younger for longer. Many chess players are simply 'unhealthy' in both how they live their lives and how they spend their time while frequently away at tournaments.
 

Chessmood Tournament

Hi Chessmood,

Are the tournaments finished which were played earlier on lichess.org?

If no, can you tell when will we have another tournament

Replies

We were not hosting many tournaments lately but here it is the latest one:

There is a prize tournament! 
1000 dollar Prize Tournament
🗓️ Jul 13 
⏲️ 15.30 (GMT) 
⏳ Time control 3+0 

https://lichess.org/swiss/vqorE4jL

Prizes sponsored by Moon Club, ChessMood, and @ then00biestn00b

*MUST HAVE 50+ RATED GAMES TO ENTER*

Good luck!!! 

Another Scotch Game question.

In the section about The Craziest Variation ever, And in the video Hero Pawn instead of 16.fxe5 black plays d5 attacking the queen? I don't know how to play there, Can somebody help me.

Replies

https://chessmood.com/course/scotch-game/episode/1340

Start at minute 2:45:

..16..d5 17.Qa4 Bb7 18.Nd2!

Suitable rating range on chess.com for challenges

Hi everyone!

What do you think is a sensible rating range to choose for your opponents when playing on chess.com?

I'm usually choosing opponents who sit between -50 and +100.

But do you think the upper range should be more?

Interested in seeing your opinions.

Thanks

Replies

I use -100 +200.

I believe it is the best as you get to play all sorts of opponent ratings.

The - end could be even lower as it is imposed at to play against lower rated players. It may be frustrating to lose, but it is the best way to strengthen what you have learned.

Additionally it is a great way to show that you are truly better than them and you deserve where you are now!

I use - 100 + infinit hoping to play against a gm for fun 🤣

i like to change it often. normally i play -25 infinite to improve when playing against stronger players, but occasionally I go infinite infinite to test out my skills and my performance, like an actual tournament. I prefer going the latter when your about to play a tournie tho

Analysing SLP games?

Hi everyone,

I don't know if this was mentioned in the course (feel free to point it out if so!), but is there an objectively better way to analyse SLP games? 

Stockfish cannot be reliable in such positions since they don't have the practically best moves, so I mostly don't trust it. 

But I also find it hard to deepen my understanding of concepts without an engine. “Maybe it would've been better if I sprung a trap here in this way". “Maybe I should've actually traded here”. How would I objectively reach such conclusions myself if the engine doesn't believe in traps and would nearly always support trading?

Thanks!

Replies

May I answer with a question: What are you trying to gain when you study SLP games? If you're simply trying to find potential to make traps, then studying tactics and mating patterns is probably more productive. Perhaps I'm being shortsighted, but it seems to me that studying lost positions is not terribly productive. 

I believe it is significantly more critical for your growth as a chess player to instead analyze your losing mistakes. Instead of looking back at your games and pondering “How could I have swindled my opponent, when down a piece?”, instead ask “When did the game slip from my grasp?” and “Did I commit a calculation error, miss an opponents tactic, or make a fatal positional mistake?”. It is likely more beneficial long term to fix your mistakes rather than worry about losing a lost position. Saving lost positions is all about creating chaos and giving yourself chances, which you can't really count on. A lost position is indeed lost.

I realize my answer isn't really what you're looking for. I apologize, but my stance is that there are more valuable ways to spend your study time. That being said, if there's a particular game you would like to share, I would be glad to help analyze it and provide my thoughts.

Dutch attack Bb4 Qb3 a5 line

Hi guys I believe in one of the streams or videos GM avetik shared a line after Bb4 Qb3 in Dutch attack instead of Qe7 that was mentioned in the blackmood opening course I believe he suggested a5 instead as a tricky idea to trap white queen. un I can’t seem to find the video anymore! Does anyone know which video this is? Thank you!

Replies

The art of exchanging the bishops -webminar

Hi friends !

Im looking at the step-by-step course for white. Now im learning the line where black plays c5 and after our c3 they play c4.

In the video GM Avetik points there is a webminar called 

 "The art of exchanging the bishops" but I cant find it.

Can someone point me the url please ?

Thanks in advance !

Fernando

Replies

Forget to tell, the opening is the ftrench, e4 e6, d4 d5, Bd3 c5, exd5 exd5, c3 c4, Bc2

Proof that chess.com game review is bad.

Those pieces don't have the same value… it's a bad trade giving the good light square bishop against opponents bad light square bishop. 

Replies

I think the main problem with it is not that it gives bad advice, but it gives too much advice. If it stuck to the really big bloopers where the ‘AI’ has more hope of interpreting the move and giving useful advice, then it would be far better and useful for the weaker players it's trying to help.

yes..  lichess analysis is also free