Chess forum by Grandmasters

1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 with Bg5

Im wondering what the best way to play is after 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5

Torre Attack

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Exchange French Bb5 by white

Hi, Im not sure what to do after e4 e6 d4 d5 exd5 dxe5 Nc3 Nc6 Bb5. i dont know how to react as i can’t with the normal bd6 Qd7 setup in the french attack video as Bd6 hangs d5 pawn. Do I castle kingside or queenside here? Thank you all for any suggestion!

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If possible I would like to bring this question back to life. I've been crushed several times by this pin like an idiot :)

The videos mention Be2 or Be3 as the most popular responses by beginners, but actually what I see from other fellow beginners is that ALWAYS if a knight can be pinned, they will pin it (even with funny consequences in the grand prix attack against the Sicilian). 

So what happens to me all the time is 1.e4 e6 2.Nf3 d5 (they play like against e5) 3.exd5 exd5 4. d4 and now, if I play Nc6 their next move is ALWAYS Bb5. 

Should I provoke the exchange, castle short, and keep my bishop pair, or should I delay Nc6 until they moved their light square bishop, so as to avoid this pin?

Thanks! 

7 Q

my question is that in case we have more than one options to the 6 questions then which one should we give priorities and in which order

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How to maximise score in puzzle racer?

🤔

Hello, Chessmood Fans! I have a small question for all of you… How to maximise score in puzzle racer on Lichess.org ? I need help… Please reply! 


Thanking you in advance!!

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I suggest you should practice a lot of puzzles by taking enough time. Puzzle racer is a lot about realizing the best move as soon as you look at it. When you solved a lot of puzzles your brain memorized the patterns even though you dont realize it. If your brain starts the instinct mode after you solved a lot of puzzles you might get the answers of puzzles related to what you did earlier almost immediately. And if that doesnt work then play bullet. But you will sacrifice your chess for that

If you have not yet done the Tactic Ninja and Mating Matador courses, then work through those - they will make a big difference.

The problem with puzzles at speed is that you take in a fixation, but have you seen everything? Often you might well have solved the puzzle based on a pattern, but haven't seen all the elements. This makes the actual correct answer what you think the ‘second best option’ is but you're unaware it because your brain has told you the solution and you're rushing to enter it. There is some improvement you can do to take more in, but I think it's only useful up to a point. The main practice is to notice patterns quickly and effortlessly. In a real game you mostly get time to actually calculate out if the pattern works, where as with certainly below 1700 rating puzzles in this and puzzle rush it's the obvious move that's usually the winner rather than some hidden flaw you need to work around or abandon it because of.

Any Course Reset Option?

Hi, 

I was wondering if there was a way to reset or re-start your progress in a course?  I haven't found an option or a way to do it, but I'd like to restart a course to track it from the beginning.  I previously did random courses while I was on a trial before becoming a member, but now I'd like to track it from the start as a member and following the lessons in order.   

Any ideas?

Thanks

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Dear Garry,

At the moment we don't have such an option to reset the progress in courses but might have this in the future.
However, if you need that a lot, as an exception, I can ask our technical team to do that manually for you one time.
Can you please mention which courses you would like to reset?

Hi Garry you can track your progress in each course manually. In each course lesson there's that checkbox on the left. You can just uncheck all the boxes and that would “reset” your progress. Whenever you finish a video lesson, that lesson's box will automatically be checked again. This is what I did when I wanted to restart a course too.

Hope this helps,

Alex

Daily puzzle mistake

There is a mistake in today’s daily puzzle. If I checkmate by a rook instead of queen, it shows to be wrong but its not actually wrong

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Ok so I will write this again:

Whenever in Daily puzzle you have multiple working promotions: the correct answer will always be the most forcing one. For example, if you can promote to both queen and rook, queen will always be correct.

Hope this helps!

CANNOT BROWSE

CANNOT BROWSE VIDEOS PAWN ENDINGS U 2000   DISTANT OPPOSITION ONWARDS   SAYS VIDEO DOESNT EXIST

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Looks like several videos don't work. I have been looking in Tactic Ninja and BlackMood Openings  ☹️

Please some responsible people please respond

Hey Champions,

I was informed by our technical team that the issue is resolved; however if it's still existing for you, please let me know :-) 

1.Nf3

Hello,

could someone please summarize for the non Pro members the recommended transpositions for the 1.Nf3 opening lines towards the ChessMood repertoire?

Many thanks and best regards

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I play c5 and either Botvinnik setup or a transposition to the Dragon/maroczy.

Yeah, The Botvinnik starting with 1…c5 is pretty good. Check out the course on the English Opening.

Alternatively, you can go 1…e6 and get a Dutch Attack… =)

Hi everyone!

I am looking for a convenient sports betting app in Uganda. What can you recommend?

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BlackMood vs Larsen's Opening 1. b3 d5 2. e3

Hi all,

One of the first times I played the BlackMood openings, my opponent played the Larsen's Opening. I wanted to follow the course, so I played 1. b3 d5, with the intention of bringing the bishop to b2, but my opponent played 1. b3 d5 2. e3, which made that impossible. I played the Stonewall anyway, but without developing my light square bishop first.
Do you have any ideas how I can play this next time? I could play e4, but then I would run into a theory that Avo wanted us to avoid?

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I wouldnt worry about it too much, as you will likely almost never face this again.

When facing a surprise, just play according to opening principles and your style. Since you know the Stonewall structure, it makes sense to just play that. Again, dont worry about it, Ive been playing chess for 4ish years and have never faced that and chances are it will be a long time before you face it again.

The Stonewall should be fine. You could also consider putting your f-pawn on f6 instead of f5 to counter Bb2. The setup with e3 and b3 is not really aggressive enough to demand a specific response.

I think this line is interesting too, if you want to gambit a pawn:
1. b3 d5 2. e3 e5 3. Bb2 Nc6 4. Bb5 Ne7 5. Bxe5 a6 6. Bxc6+ Nxc6 7. Bb2 Qg5

It should be fine and if you continue to have problems reach out to me on lichess, I have this openiing, b3 all figured out I'll teach you the common ideas and some goals wanted to acomplish. My account is MasterZaheem

WOOHOO 1500

I should probably not be running around singing ‘We will, we will flag you’ but oh well…I'm a giant child haha. I gave up on growing up.

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New article: The Power of Long-Term Thinking in Chess Improvement

When he started, he was behind.
For years, he never even made a podium finish in his age group.

Yet, Noel Studer went on to become the youngest GM in his country!

Not because he was the most talented. Not because of crazy training.
So what made the difference? 

In today’s article, he shares a powerful lesson from his journey:
https://chessmood.com/blog/long-term-thinking-in-chess-improvement
 

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Hi Noel 

I'm completely agree with you …..haste is a bad partner 
Cheers
 

Thank you for this article Noel, as the saying goes a black belt is just a white belt who never gave up! I still struggle with obsessing over my rating so I'll work on sticking to my training, letting go of attachment, and focusing on long term time horizons moving forward

Absolutely related to my issues in chess … 

uh, … 

and my ‘issues’ from day-to-day  :/

My father told me once that “Sport is life in miniature.”  I liked that.  It feels similar here, eh?

Thanks for the article, Noël.  I enjoy your courses, too.

Yes, after reading this article i went and checked my lichess account. A few days ago i lost 3games in a row in my coaches tournament i felt so bad. the next day i won 2 and lost 1 but still my rating just went down. I recovered a little in the last few days but 1557 was what i regretted. now when i check i can see in 2024 nov-dec i was stuck ing 1000 odd. So guess what that sadness that i rapidly dropped just went. I raised 343 rating points in lichess in 4months and six days. that is till now 3/20/2025

I'm back!

I got my pro membership after 2 months of intense adversity and struggle and now can play chess again! 

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Welcome back, Tyler!

All the best 😊

Welcome back!

Hey Brother, welcome back!

I enjoyed seeing your growth as you were advancing pretty fast - good luck, and happy to see you again :-) 

Has anyone faced the Caro-Kann Defense: De Bruycker Defense (1.e4 c6 2.d4 Na6)...?

https://www.chess.com/openings/Caro-Kann-Defense-De-Bruycker-Defense

It seems to me like an ugly opening variant (might fit to the Opening Avengers course…). However, I wanted to ask if anyone has faced it before and what is your experience and/or recommendation about it (as White)….? 

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Dear Angelo,

2…Na6 is terribly bad idea as it's against all the opening principles.
You can continue with 3.c3 and after d5 just capture - playing with typical exchange carocan ideas.

Bug in the RocknRolling with Black

In the Accelerated Dragon section of the RocknRolling with Black course, the 21st and 22nd games are the same, and the quizzes of these 2 games are the wrong quizzes; it doesn't feature any part in the video. I hope that the bug will be fixed soon.

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HI Kamikeize!

Thanks for letting us know!
We have fixed the issue. 

French isn't suiting me!

Me, won tons of games as white scotch attacking them! Game starts and after long I'm black! My opponent is a super strong player stuck in low rating. e4 e6!
I start French went on well but soon I realized MY KING IS NOT SAFE! White king castles short. No way to attack! And white tries to get a pawn breakthrough! My king cannot castle because I thought the closed center was very safe and moved my king! soon the center opened and I had to sacrifice pieces to keep my king safe temporarily! Soon not enough pieces or pawns to protect so my king started running to opponent's camp. Gladly I was able to trade one of my bishop for a rook and all opponents minor pieces.
So better but still bad. It was,
white queen-my queen
white rook-my other bishop
about 5 white pawns- about 2 of my pawns
And of course white king- my king
I took my last chance and gave a check from the back-rank, if rook blocks I can win if king runs almost no hope. And my opponent put the rook down<well i guess playing with low rated players can mess up you're strength>. So bishop check, queen checkmate!
Now where was I? Yes! so there I got lucky but in other games with ones stronger than me I felt lack of space and a lot of problems!
So could someone please recommend some good openings that plays well against the opponent who asks me to play scotch please?

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Maybe some kind of dragon? I play c5 and immediatly g6, but you can also play Nc6 first. Jozarov (an unknown chess youtuber, around 36k subscribers on youtube) has a whole playlist about 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6, you can watch some of his videos about it if you want to. But don't study everything because he has 50 videos or something around that :)! 

can you send some games of yours as i also play french for both side so i can help you improve in the opening because changing the opening without knowing why it is failing would make you stuck to same game play.

but on reading your problem you panick quickly and overexaggerate the problem without considering the real chances any opening would not give you a better position but a position which is complex for both side so you should not apply that your position is weak instead try to take advantage of resources you should see model games of the opening you play. 

in this case of french (dream variation) try to first place your pieces to good square and try to avoid exchanges or pawn exchange do not try to open up the center or break the center instead try to flank the opponent with tempo in the most cases and next thing centre cannot open in french unless you mess up something big i think you should study that mistake back a while ago i was also making the same mistake by playing unneccessary on queen side and in the centre when there is no need which opponent give chance to open up the centre and  there are couple of blogs too which can help you to understand the position

but instead of improving you want to just want to play for fun feel free to try pirc defence as the sicilian would also be a problem untill you solve your current problem.

i would provide the neccesaary help if you want to improve so please dont lose hope quickly

can you share your chess.com id or lichess id with me

i would analyse the games with aim chess and then send you the report

New success story - How our 74-year-old student raised 350 points in 4 months!

At the young age of 74, our student Gian raised 350 points in 4 months!

“I’m too old.”
“I don’t understand English.” 
“I miss tactics.”

He could’ve made these excuses.
But instead, Gian chose to make changes and transform his game. 

Here’s exactly what he did:
https://chessmood.com/success-stories/gian-carlo-di-martino

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Congratulations Gian!  That is remarkable progress for anybody, let alone somebody who has to make use of sub-titles for the courses - an admirable feat.  😎

Compimentissimi Gian!!!

Devo ritrovare la voglia e tu sarai di ispirazione!

Continua così💪💪💪💪💪

Great Work Gian!!!  An inspirational story especially for this 61 year old.  All the best, Bret

Gian! Fantastic! 
I sent you an email to your inbox. Check it out :) 

Claudio, thanks a lot for helping to translate this amazing story! 

Thanks! My Dad is 52 and already feeling over the hill. Good to read about your journey to improvement.

Complimenti signor Giancarlo, alla sua eta' questo miglioramento e veramente ammirevole! Continui cosi! Io sono un 44enne Siciliano che vive in uk, se vuole mi puo' aggingere su chess.com come amico. nickname: lunemberg79. In bocca al lupo!

Congratulations Gian.
I showed your story to my dad, who's in his 60s. Now he's thinking about learning chess along with his grandson (my nephew). 
And thank you Claudio for helping out with the translation!

Wow! Truly Impressive!! 

Great job! And success is not a destination but a journey which can go on forever, there's always more to improve. I expect another few articles because of you
‘The old new FM’
‘Became FM to IM in a 1 year’
‘GM! Goal accomplished!’

Blitz Trickery

Here are two games where I swindled my opponents in a blitz game. Both were rook endgames that I should have lost, but I managed to claim 1.5/2 points.

This game serves as a warning against unnecessary premoves. I figured I only had one trick left, and it worked like a charm against my relaxed opponent
https://www.chess.com/game/live/136200112436?move=131 

My mouse skills are nothing to brag about, but here I used my speed and intuition to force a draw in a bare KR vs KR endgame with 10 seconds versus 50.

https://lichess.org/ckqRSIIe#112 

Neither of these games are impressive, but they are a good reminder to never lose focus in the endgame.

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I'm always impressed when players are able to premove - I'm still struggling to make decent moves without premoving!  😉

Great job in the first game - at move 56 there isn't even the tiniest slither of black on the evaluation bar!!

The second game is a great illustration of how to use premoves to your advantage.

Why d4 sidelines, and not the d4 main lines? Chessmood, can you please post a course about the catalan defense, I am struggling on how to develop my c8 bishop.

Do you have any advice on what to play?

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Hello,

in the openingcourses the catalan is not mentioned, because the black repertoire goes for the Englisch or Maroczy,  I thi k.

Hope that helps.

Christoph 

Dear Agastya,

We do have already the opening for White and Black below and above 2000 level. We are not doing the courses on the custom requests - in the future we might have wider opening choice, but I can't tell you yet which openings we might include. 

If you will have any questions regarding the courses we have on the website, I would love to assist you.

Good luck :-) 

NEW ARTICLE: Which Chess Books? Openings? Courses? The 3 Golden Rules When Asking for Recommendations

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Great article @GM_Avetik_Grigoryan!

If you don't mind, I would like to know this answer from you

I am 1628 fide rated player

I am a crazy opening and engines fan and focus on openings very heavily and try to out prepare opponents

I do read pawn structures (from udemy and ChessBase) and attacking play, but  I still get inferior positions sometimes because of lack of opening knowledge or I sometimes mix up moves in positions that I may have drilled it the same day

My biggest fear (possibly), is I don't want equal positions directly without any fight 

I love to press opponents but sometimes get pressed myself badly

My style is more tactical in nature so sometimes I lose patience and get squeezed

As of now, I can spend 3 hours max on chess but after 2-3 months, as my exams are finished, I will give 6-7 hours to chess

I would be really grateful if you could suggest to me something

Great article. I think an advisor should recommend books according the style of the player.

I hired in 2019 a GM who played 1.d4 and as black 1.d4 Nimzoindian 1.e4 e6, so really we stopped talking about openings since I play the Scotch, the Najdorf and the Modern Benoni. He liked things to go slowly and I played in a rush, dropping the 1780 FIDE rating in 220 points.

I too would like to know this recommendation from you Coach Avetik!

I am 13 years old and I am a very passionate player.

I am 1900 USCF and around 1600 FIDE, though both should be much higher after the virus.

My goal is to become a top Grandmaster and inspire others to learn and play chess!

I can invest 2-3 hours on chess on school days and much more on weekends.

As for my style,  I like both attacking and positional chess, though I would say I like positional a little better. I love endgames as well.

Thank You!

P. S. As I mentioned in another forum, the National Online Scholastic Championships are coming up and I am hungry to win!

I also want a recommendation.

I am young and a very aggressive player.

I am around 250 because I play in a really fast motion.

My goal is to become a respected and a player people remember.

I can play 2-3 hours.

I'm not like a good positional player.

What should I do that is going to be useful to me right now?