Chess forum by Grandmasters

e5. In Pirc e4d6d4nf6nc3 e5!... is that variation in the course

This e5 variation seems like an endgame.. is it in the course. Thanks

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It's a Philidor transposition, it's covered there.

7 year old Blind folded full chess game!

My son is currently 7 years old and he has been learning chess for a year now. To develop memory and visualization skills, I tried an exercise that turned out to be surprisingly good. I asked him to tell me moves without looking. I knew he could tell me a few moves of the opening, but to my surprise, he actually told me all the moves of the game. I did record it and am sharing the YouTube link ( https://youtu.be/WNxAMWyTigA?si=8y31NPiSlEE5NKcc )  Of course, he might not be able to play an entire game with anyone blindfolded, yet I am wondering if what he did is something that other kids at this age would also be able to do if they have been learning for a year or if it is very rare. Your thoughts, please.

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Very impressive.

I imagine that it is fairly rare but perhaps more common with children than with adults (we seem to find it harder to remember things as we get older).  

I've seen Levy (GothamChess) play whole games blindfolded so it is certainly possible.  I have no doubt that your son will be able to do this in due course - he has certainly made a fantastic start.

Out of curiosity, does he use any sort of memory techniques to help him or does it just come naturally to him?  For example, I can recall the sequence of a shuffled pack of playing cards but I use a combination of memory techniques to do it.

New success story: Becoming an FM with Just 1 Hour of Daily Training

Do you feel stuck at a rating? So did Sandro Safar.

But with just 1 hour a day, he broke past his rating plateau and achieved his life goal—the FM title!
Congratulations Sandro!🎉

What was his routine like? What changes did he make?

Read the full story here:
https://chessmood.com/success-stories/sandro-safar

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Congratulations Master!

I definetly want to follow your steps.

Thanks for sharing your story.  

Very inspiring success story Sandro! Congratulations!! 

😁

hi sandro congratulations ....
greetings from a humble chess player

Great achievement brother 

Congratulations Sandro! A very inspiring story!

Congrats Sandro! Very inspiring story. Question: what time control(s) were your rapid games? Chess.com or Lichess.org? How did you choose your puzzles for warm-up? Thank you.

Jeff (Chessmood lifetime subscriber)

Congratulations Friend! Who knew just 1 hour training can make you FM.
Did you mention rapid as in Lichess, upto about 20 mins or chess.com upto daily?
Childish question: If 1 hour of training made you FM, then 1.30-2.00 hours could make you A WORLD CHAMPION GM right?
I definitely want to be a strong player like you! Hope I do. But I have to wait😆. 

Highly Interesting (and Instructive) Game of mine.

Ok so here is the thing:

I played this game today, it was 3+2 blitz, and I executed a nice combination. I was considering putting this in the best games forum, but didn't feel it was up to standard as 1. I sued the conversion poorly (low time). 2. I lost! … in a winning position on time. This has happened way more than I would like to admit XD.

Here is the study with my comments: https://lichess.org/study/zNkAqpm2/1YmzfRYX

This was very pretty soI felt I had to share :)

Any questions or discussions and I will try to answer below :)

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There were some lovely moves in that game! 😎

At what point would you say that you started making sub-optimal moves because of the time pressure? How do you imagine the game would have progressed if you had more time?

Oh, and I don't recall it saying anywhere that a ‘best game of the month’ has to be one that you won - and given that some users seem to post a ‘best game’ every couple of hours I think you should go for it! 😉

Nice combination! I'm impressed that you spotted the sacrifice so many moves ahead in a blitz game.

1.d4 Nf6 2. Nf3

I love the courses, the quality of teaching is amazing. I haven't been through all the opening material yet but had a good look around and was trying to find what line to play against 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3. Is there a video that I'm missing  on this or is it still to come? Thanks very much. 

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Hello!

I play the KID, but used to play the Benko so here is what I know.

I would play G6. If C4 then c5 with a transposition. If White plays for Bf4 then it's a London. If Nc3, then a Jobava (after D5).

The problematic line is g3. Against this I played Bg7 Bg2 0-0 0-0 and now d6. After C4, c5, it's an alright position. You can do some self analyse there and you will see many transpositions to Benko.

Upcoming Benko updates

Hi! 

I would like to learn the Benko this summer. 

If the new version is coming out in the next few weeks I'll gladly wait for it… is there an approximate realease date?

Thanks a lot

Andrea

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Hi Andre,

Benko updates course is under construction and will be recorded in the future, although for sure not in the next few weeks as its and enormous work, and as you can see we are also actively recording other courses as well :-)
Thanks for your patience and good luck!

…

Something new?

I hope the update will come soon.

Christoph 

Accelerated Dragon With Rxb2!

Hey guys.😊 Here is my game I am really proud of. 

These tactics are usually found in e5 variation but it is very useful to have this signature Rxb2 in mind when playing dragon because it can be very useful and the opportunity can show up anytime really.   

https://www.chess.com/game/live/123344632254?move=11

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Thanks!

Holy shit my adrenaline is high right now

I'm competing in a correspondence tournament and I just managed to SLPify a completely lost game where I carelessly threw my rook in the toilet. My opponent has no queen 😀

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While looking for a quality forum to discuss online casino tactics, I found this site and its service - https://rollandwin.com/forum/. I really liked this site, and that's why I want to recommend it to you! I have learnt a lot of new information on this forum, and that's why I would like to recommend it to you as well!

Query about attachments in the Classical Commented games course

Hi chessmood family .Today I downloaded the attachments of the strategic masterpiece commented classical games course.However I could not open it .it says you do not have a proper app for viewing this content .So what to do .what app will I need to view it ?

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Hey there,

We usually use chessbase - do you have that program? 

You can use "scid" or "scid vs pc" as alternative to chessbase, it's not as great as chessbase but it's free, open source and you can view all the games on the .pgn format that you downloaded.

https://scid.sourceforge.net/

https://scidvspc.sourceforge.net/

The Bird Opening (f4 - Nf3)

Is there a recommended defense against the Bird Opening in any of the courses?  I just tried looking for something but haven't been able to find a response in the courses I've checked so I wanted to ask.  Unfortunately, I've been coming across it a few times this week online and I just had an OTB game against someone who played it.  Maybe its becoming trendy for some reason.  Any suggested plans or setups against it?  Thanks fam!!

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vs the Bird is in Blackmood Openings:

https://chessmood.com/course/blackmood-openings/episode/6182

YAAAY 1900 LICHESS

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Congrats! Celebrate it!

The grind only gets tougher…

🙂

It will only get better from there

Witcher rap

I was bored one day so created this rap song with suno AI about my chess style

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJso40VCILU 

Looking forward for coach ‘Gangster’ Gabuzyan rap, that would be funny!

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Haha that's pretty damn good! 

Lol. Better than some of the commercial stuff out there.

If you're up for doing a Chessmood one I have an idea for the chorus

Chessmood

Right mood,

Right move,

Cogro!

Let's go!

X2 or x4

another attempt this time with rock

https://suno.com/song/5e2ee634-d1e0-43df-86c7-a80218ce3c83?sh=tYLgPFbEquHOm5oX

problem with queenless middlegame now

1,

I have huge problem with queenless middlegame ,and i don't know if any chessmood courses are for that or can provide skills for playing that actully . I just change my black opening to e4 e5 recently , and suffer against queen trade in middlegames ,especially early middlegames so any recommandations?

i check the bishop and rook courses in middlgame mastery it looks quite close but i am not sure for now

maybe classical courses also can be added to study that things?

2,

 i am also bad at endgames so i probably will study chessmood endgame courses. is there any practical endgame courses here please recommend,also is endgame skill mostly calculation? or that's mostly about endgame knowleage

3,

i play open sicilian and i am considering to change to chessmood close sicilian,is close sicilian suit attacking styles,is it quite easier to outplay not prepared opponents ? also is Nc6 Bb5 easy to play it actully looks hard for me .open sicilian is quite hard in main lines so i want to know can this provide more chances in my level 

4,

is middlegame mastery topic in chessmood about positional play? I see the silent stratagy course and things inside looks like many are the same as the middlegame mastery courses actully ,can somebody explain thank you

5, 

btw is e4 e5 opening a good choice as black ? looks hard because i never played it before,what do you think about it ?

a few questions,so thankful if you can reply

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Hey brother,

1. For the Queenless positions, as you mentioned, we have 100 commented endgames that should help you a lot to understand that endgames.

2. In the future, we are planning to have courses about practical endgames - now we have 100 games, and the Endgame mastery section

3. This really depends on how you feel and know the positions. I am very happy with my win rate, but if the opponents don't know much,it's even harder for them :-)

4. Brother in Booster and Middlegame mastery we might sometimes have similar topics, but we try to make the level of difficulty different - While in booster it's simplified - in the Mastery we might dive into deep complex details.

5. This is a funny question : - ) It's an opening choice and relies on your feeling to the positions - play if like them, and don't if not.

Daily Puzzle Display

I love the daily puzzle. Instead of looking for ‘mate in 3’, it is often "I'm in a losing situation, how do I get a stale mate'. The move components are somewhat obvious, but the subtlety is that one must play then in the proper order.

HOWEVER, I never get to enjoy my solution because when one makes the final move the board is completely covered by the ‘Good Job Screen’.  Is is possible to just have a small sign come but to leave the board visible so I can better appreciate the final position.  

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French Attack with the retreat Ng8 line

French Attack, 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Ng8 and now if 6,Qg4 what then for Black , 6 ..  ..c5 looks awkward with the attack on the g7 pawn so white can play &. dc.  Can we try 6.  ..Ne7 to aim at f5 but then 7. B g5 our Q is cramped and what is best for the Nb8?   I found this Qg4 on move 5 quite awkward and would appreciate your advice.                                                               

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Dear Derek,

The BlackMood repertoire is quite simplified and is meant for a U2000 rated level, while Qg4 is quite complex. I am on my own streaming this line on our private events and have never met Qg4 in the last 3-4 years. 

However, I checked the move, and I think one of the options is to play 5…h5 6.Qg3 Ne7 and if 7.Bg5 now Nf5 works as it attacks the Queen on g3 accordingly!

Repertoire for 2000+

Hello ChessMood Users,

I have played the Benko Gambit for 3+ years now. Sadly, almost no one goes for the Modern Benko Main Lines or the h4 variation, but insteas for one of the many sidelines. I am quite annoyed by the structures arising from the Benko by now.

Has anyone got suggestions against d4 against 2000+ opponents? Preferably something without heavy theory…

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This may be a bit counterintuitive, but I switched to the KID some time back, playing some “sidelines”, which were main line structure just without the theory.

I found it easier to learn than Benko, (and paradoxically less theory) and I can help share it with you if that interests you.

If you are interested, let me know and I will share my Lichess account.

How to handle queenside castling plan for 4...Bc5 Scotch?

Recently, when I play Scotch, Black plays queenside castling after 4…Bc5 followed by Nf6, Qe7, Be6. I am unsure how to continue the plan from White side especially because B tries to break the center by playing d5. Anyone have faced similar positions before? 

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Hey there,
 

At the end of this video GM Avetik talks a bit about the ideas, and if you check the next video as well he briefly explains everything 
https://chessmood.com/course/scotch-game/episode/634

Good luck :-) 

Sicilian setup

Does anyone know how to deal with this setup?

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It was a Grand Prix versus 2..Nc6, right?
The position you posted is exactly the reason, why in the advanced course 3.Bb5 is
recommended (1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.Bb5).
The problem for white is that black doesn't have any problems ;-) That's because they could 
play d7-d5 in one move. Grand Prix Attack is another story after black played d7-d6. Then it is really dangerous
in my eyes. 
In the position above I know 9.e5 and 9.Qe1. The latter being our normal Grand Prix move.
But the position is considered fine for black in any case.

Question from blog

Hi, what alternatives do you suggest? And at what elo range could someone possibly start playing that move without risk? Thanks 

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Well, that depends on where you are right now. The Blackmood course is good up to (and even over!) 2000 chesscom blitz. If you're higher some than that the sicilian acc. dragon is for you.

e5 in almost any sicilian is dangerous. You're severely weakening the d6 pawn and giving away d5 as an outpost. Unless youre trying to play the Sveshnikov, dont. 

Rise of Champions | Happy Pawns | Question

Hello Everybody,

I just watched the Happy Pawns video from the Rice with chamignons course and find it great.

I have one qustion left:

I can not get the difference between “Limit oponent's pieces” and “Protect squares and territory”. What is the difference here?

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