Chess forum by Grandmasters

Losing Rating/Plateau

Dear Chessmood family

2 days ago I was at my peak 1874, I really thought I could cross 2000, I was playing like a machine, when I analysed my games I was playing at 80-95% accuracy most of the time. Yesterday however, I was playing a ton of blitz to try to at least cross 1900, instead I lost 40 elo which put me around 1830. Today I was playing blitz all day, I lost more and more and more, now my rating is at 1760. I fear that I am plateauing, that the 2000 blitz elo might be impossible for me, today, I was completely winning in so many positions, yet I threw. How did I play so well 2 days ago and play so bad today? Please someone help me, this is really heartbreaking for me.

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Just lost another 30 rating now at 1748

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about your bad run.  It sounds as though you are playing on tilt - you need to stop and take a break, even if just for a short period.

While you are on the break, take a look at this article: https://chessmood.com/blog/5-crucial-steps-to-stop-bad-results-in-chess

Good luck!

This is what I suggest. I think you should take a break, and do some puzzles, or openings. Then you should basically improve and work on it. When you feel ready, you should play. 

You are just tilting, and you are not really improving. Playing tons of blitz without analyzing properly the games and without studying will not help you improve. You cannot play if you are not in the mood. Easy as this.

There are many articles in our blog related to this, but please read also Noel-s blog on this theme>

https://nextlevelchess.blog/no-more-tilt/

Plus look at the golden method for playing blitz by Avetik in the blog. 

Grand Prix after Bb5xNc6 dxc6 or bxc

�😄�

Hi dear ChessMood family.

My name is Fernando, im from Lisbon, Portugal, and this is my first post.

Im looking in the streams for material on the grand prix attack after e4 c5, nc3 nc6, Bb5 then black plays anything but Nd4. I would like to learn the plans after Bxc6.

Can you guide me to the place (url or name event stream) where this topic is discussed ? So far i cant find any , but the there so much material that probably im lost .

Anyway, thanks in advance 

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Hi Fernando,

it starts here:

https://chessmood.com/course/rock-n-rolling-with-white/episode/4118

The course is : Rock 'n' Rolling with White, chapter 4, anti- sicilian pt.2.

Here you see the ChessMood repertoire in action :-)

Closed Sicilian

Hi everyone,

after 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6:

We usually go in our Botvinik setup with ..e5 next. Only after 6.f4 we play 6..e6. The reason why we don't play 6..e5 in this case is that White still has the option to put his Knight to f3 and we always have to be careful with the f5 gxf5 Nh4- idea. 

If we play 6..e5 7.Nf3 and then go 7..exf4 (our normal reaction)

White gets a better version in this structure since his Knight on f3 is very active compared to the versions where it is on e2.

So far so good. Makes sense.

My question: After 6.Be3 we go 6..e5 preparing against the Qd2, Bh6- idea. This works out very well in my eyes.

But what after 6.Be3 e5 7.f4. Are we tricked a little bit? Sure, we could take on f4 being a tempo up. But I think time is not so important here and White's very active setup with the Knight on f3 later counts more..

I have a feeling that it's a rather hidden deatail:

6.Be3 e5 7.f4 Nge7 8.Nf3 0-0 and if here 9.f5 then 9..gxf5 10.Nh4 and now the point: 10..f4 (with tempo!!!) 11.gxf4 exf4 12.Bxf4 Ng6 and Black seems very fine. What do you think?

Thank you so much in advance!

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https://chessmood.com/course/crushing-all-the-sidelines-of-sicilian/episode/2548

Sorry thomas! I completely overlooked this thread! My bad, I think that the position that you are looking for is in the above link and the next 2.

Please check them out…

Good study and sorry again for the miss!😀

Kings indian defence for black

I am having a doubt regarding the kings indian for black. When should we play f5 break in the classical variation, fianchetto variation. I have seen Gms playing h5 before f5. What is the purpose of h5 move in the fianchetto variation. when do we play h5 as black. I always have a confusion with f5 and h5.When to play it first h5 followed by f5 or f5 followed by h5.. I want to know the purpose of the moves f5 and h5.

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Sreenath, f5 or h5 are moves that are played to attack on the KS but they should be very well timed and there is no general rule, it depends on concrete positions and calculation since you are going to attack. The center should be closed and then you can do these pawn pushes. I would recommend you the book Kings Indian Warfare by Smirin. You will see many examples of such moves and understand better the KID. This is the excerpt of the pdf. Lovely book for KID players, but do not focus too much on the variations or you will never finish, understand the main moves mostly. 
😁https://www.qualitychess.co.uk/ebooks/KingsIndianWarfare-excerpt.pdf😀
Also in this video he gives some advice for KID players:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqloLFtBKCs
 

Check, capture, or defend?

Hi there,

I'd be interested in feedback from other forum members as to how you proceed at this point (black has just made move 20 - white to play), and why.

a) Rh3+

b) Rxg7

c) Rxd8

d) Something else

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I think the best idea is to go Rh3+ followed by Rxg7 or directly taking Rxg7, Hope this helps!.

Hello,

Here 1. Rxg7 seems best as WHite wins the piece while also threatening Rxh7.

Rd1+ dosent yeild anything and as principle Rh3+ is bad.

This is because when trying to mate the opponent king you want to cut of the flight squares, not chase the king to safety.

However, It would be best if you could explain your though process here so I could try and help correct errors.

For example, (as a prompt if you are interested) why not Rxg7 now or after Rh3?

Today Puzzle

in today puzzle. choosing a bishop instead of a queen would've worked too

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Again, for all daily puzzles, with promotion there may be multiple solutions.

Whenever possible, choose the queen. If queen works, then choose queen. If bishop and queen work, choose queen.

Always double check of course, but when promoting, choose the highest value piece that works.

Hope this helps, and less of these questions start to pop up!

Chess Books

Hi Chessmood,

I have been using a lot of chess books, but many of them are not of my level.

The books which recommendations show have to be purchased. But I want books which can be downloaded online.

Could you please share some books for fide rating level 1500-1800 which can be downloaded for free in pgn form on chess base 16?📖

Thanks

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No, we do not share books or upload books from other authors, and neither should you ask for them in our forum. Thanks😅

Bug Report

Hey, champions! 

If you notice any bugs on the website, we'll appreciate if you could share them with us here. 

Sharing details (like screenshots, screen-recordings) will be even more appreciated! 

Thanks in advance.

With best wishes,
ChessMood Team 

P.S. 
Our team isn't big, so we ask your patience with fixings. Please, don't get confused, if the particular bug haven't been fixed immediately. 
But we promise, we'll do our best! 

Thanks again 
 

Replies

I believe it has been reported many times before, but I'm going putting the bug related to editing forum posts here. The bug concerns posts that have a blank line separating paragraphs. Like this. If I were to edit this post an extra black line would be inserted between the paragraphs.

As mentioned in the FB group, in Chrome the videos are displaying below the fold. The problem persists even after cleaning cookies, but in incognito mode, however, this doesn't happen.

On ipad , I can t move piece as usually in any puzzle ! I close the window , restarted the iPad and the problem is still there . When I grab the piece I want to move , it appears partly double and if I try many time , I sometimes succeed moving it

https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/puzzle-fixing

Hello. Im still having problems with the puzzle quizzes on my iPad. The dail puzzle and the mini quizzes work fine but the main puzzles dont work well. The pieces drag or dont move and the whole board moves sometimes partially off the screen. This all started a few weeks ago. I just tried marking matador and tactics ninja and neither one worked. Any ideas on when it might be fixed or is there something I can do? Thanks for your great site overall Rick janss

Marocy Bind course, game 12. Vodep - Scheffer A. Actually it is game between Vodep - Scheffner. It is misspelled in video course and took me some time to find the correct game. https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1364899

Today puzzle was the same as another day and didn’t give rewards again . if we want to replay older puzzles , there is a bug since since many months which is you don’t get the puzzle you clicked for ( at least on iPad ) today , I noticed a new bug and I took a screen shot of it . Double dates for different puzzles . This is obviously not a major issue but it does not give a good image of the site to my opinion and chessmood deserves better . My iPad is taking photo over 3 mo which I can t post … I tried to reduced the size of it and it s not working… anyway , the old puzzles offered were all différents but there 2 différents ones for 9 th of august and 2 others for 8 th of august …

🙂

Just a quick suggestion…I would like to do Tactics Ninja or Mating Matador puzzles on my android phone but the board is miniscule so its not possible….even with a microscope

I started a new tread named I m too slow and I just noticed Peter mentioned losing his first reply and when I answered Ben wi , I also lost the first one I did … anyone else having the same issue lately ? 

Embedded frames do not currently seem to work.  This issue affects course quizzes and training exercises (see a screenshot of the Tactics Ninja course) as well as blog posts (see a screenshot of “Blunderproofing her Game”).  This is happening on Chrome for Android as well as Firefox on Linux – I don't think it's browser-specific.  I see two X-Frame-Options headers being loaded when there should only be one (see screenshot of Firefox developer tools).  You probably just want SAMEORIGIN, not DENY.  I just noticed this issue today (in my America/Chicago time zone).  I'm not familiar with your server configuration (and it's not exactly my area of expertise anyway), so I can't offer any more specific advice.  Your engineering staff can likely fix this issue in short order, though.

Hi, I'm a bit puzzled. Since some days the progressbar of the courses I made is not in line with the reality, i.e. showing finished courses as unfinished. Will it be fxed?

Hello, would like to report that there are problems with the Rock N Rolling with Black videos and Blackmood Model Games? After watching an episode, the checkbox doesn't get checked, although answering the accompanying quiz questions does get recorded.

This has been happening to me for a couple of weeks already, I don't know if I'm the only one? 

Other course videos are OK.

Also sometimes a "Player error" message appears and stops the video. I have to replay it from the beginning.

Thanks.

Just a small bug: The positions 4 to 6 are identical with the first one in the quiz to the 99th game of the 100 commented classical games (and there is no confirmation of correct solving of 5 and 6).  https://chessmood.com/course/chess-classical-games/episode/6742/2585

pro chessplayer

I could have had a job in politics, i could have been an academic in a university,  i could have been a webdesigner, i could have been an engineer and could even have been a spy-but i chose chess as my number one profession in life.

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exchanging fianchetto bishop

hello,

playing as white in position below GM Avetik said in an old video that he wanted exchanging the black fianchetto Bg7 by Bh6. It seems to me that black bishop is weak so why white wants exchange it?  thanks

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Because is the main defender of the king. We can attack then with the pawn push and there will be holes Black-s defense with the weakened dark squares.

the white bishop is very weak as it is restricted by the d4 and e5 pawns in the centre whereas the black bishop does a good job defending the black king.

South Lakes Congress cancelled

In my home town of Barrow in Cumbria, England. At this time of year a chess congress called the South Lakes Congress is played but this year it was cancelled due to 20,000 (motorbikers) coming to our small town to celibrate the life of a deceased biker cheff called david myers - a tv personality.

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French attack missing variation

Hello! Was watching the French Attack simplified blackmood opening where after e4 e6 d4 d5 Nd2 Nc6, if white plays c3, GM Avetik recommends the move e5. Afyet exd5 Qxd5, I am not sure what to do if white plays Nf3. This isn’t covered in the simplified course and I am sure it was with the idea to keep the blackmood course simple and not too complicated which I think was a great idea. However, I’ve really been struggling after white plays Nf3 to find a plan and move to play and don’t understand the computer lines. Does anyone have any recommendations agaisnt this Nf3 line? Thank you! Also, I am excited to see this line getting covered by GM Avetik once the blackmood advanced course comes out!

Replies

Hi  Bomby😀, if you want your chess opening related questions to be answered by one of our GMs, please post them in the PRO Member channel. If you're not yet a PRO Member, you can upgrade your plan here at anytime:
https://chessmood.com/become-a-pro

Still this question is very easy since Ngf3 is just not a good move now. You just need to take on d4 and fight against an IQP with good position and clear plans for Black.😅

In French attack variation of 

e4-e6 , d4-d5, Nc3-Nf6 ,Bg5-h6 ,Bxf6-Qxf6 exd5 Bb4 

You doesn't shows us 

Bb5+ variation I faced many times this 

Please explain this

Course order

�😀�

In what order should one do the middle game courses in the Rating Booster section. I'm talking about the “Fearless Warrior”, “Spartan Shield”, “The SLP Method", “The WWP Pilot”, "The Scale Method", and the “7Q Method”. I only have limited access to the courses (one month), so I am looking for a course (s), that would provide me with general and long - term knowledge. I would say that my biggest weakness is evaluating and finding plans in positions. However, when I started on the 7Q Method course (which I thought would be the most beneficial course for me), each of the examples would begin with an evaluation of the positions, a skill which I have not developed yet. But I see that it is a course for effectively evaluating positions. What is your opinion on which course I should begin with? Should I start with “The Scale Method” or the “7Q  Method”? Or an entirely different? I'm eager to hear your opinions, and highly appreciates feedback, especially from people with experience about this, but also from everyone else. 

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What is ur rating/chess level? It is difficult to recommend courses without more information.

However my first recommendation for any level would probably be the tactic ninja and blunderproof courses as these are probably the areas in which begginers struggle most, and are the best for quick improvement.

hope this helps 👍

Hey,

If you haven’t already, try:

https://chessmood.com/chess-study-plans

They have several sets of guidelines depending on your rating:

Chess Improvement Plan for below 1,000 rated players 

Chess Improvement Plan for 1,001-1,500 rated players 

Chess Improvement Plan for 1,501-2,000 rated players 

Chess Improvement Plan for 2,001+ rated players 

Lots of good advice there. 

There is so much good information here that it’s easy to get overwhelmed!

From what you wrote about evaluation, and only a month of access, i’m guessing “The Scale Method” might be the way to go:

https://chessmood.com/course/scale-method

Truth in advertising … 

You wrote: “especially from people with experience about this, but also from everyone else"

I fall under the category: “everyone else.”

:)

Good luck.

June Game

Swiss Tournament G45/15 inc.

I had black and she was white. 

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New article: The 1 Thing Every Champion Has in Common

Losing is not always up to us… but being a loser is.

Whenever you think, "This is the end of the story," remember this 1 thing every champion has in common:
https://chessmood.com/blog/one-thing-every-champion-has-in-common

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Your blogs have kept motivating me for so long even when I am at my lowest. I do not have any inspirational stories of falling and getting up yet because right now I just keep doing worse and worse in tournaments. But this blog reminds me that Winners never Quit and Quitters never Win. I hope that one day when I look back on this blog, I will be able to share some of my stories of falling and getting back up. I would love to hear more stories like this as they keep motivating people like me inspiring us that through hard work, it is possible to do great things. Keep up the good work, Avetik and Family!

Cheers, 

Ashwin C

Scandinavian BF5 line

Hi, in this you say that Bf5 is passive and give C4 followed by Qd8, which is passive. What's wrong with Qe4ch followed by Qc2 swopping off queens though?

This queenless middlegame is definitely not crushing for white. White has a pawn center of course, but with accurate play black can equalize.

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Can you please provide the line?

I don’t fully understand what you are talking about.

played at steven Jones home club venue

I was at the warrington rapidplay and it was at the venue of british championship runner up, Steven Jones original club (Padgate Community Center), i got 3/6 in the major u1800 section. He was there.

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In the Lancaster intermediate rapidplay in february I got 6/6 it was an u1750 and i performed at an elo of 2427.

How to win in tournaments I play

I want to win tournaments and earn reputation but should I prepare myself and win

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Yes, definitely. However becoming better at chess and winning more tournaments takes time and effort, which is quite long-term. I would recommend checking out this section of the website: https://chessmood.com/chess-study-plans which gives you a guide personalised to your rating about which is the best path to chess improvement. 

In the short term, do daily puzzles. Train yourself. Maybe even do puzzle rushes on lichess.org / chess.com. However, be careful not to overtrain so that your mind becomes very tired. This will affect your chances to win tournaments. 

Confused by opponent opening

Hi there,

I'm pretty sure that I didn't play this as well as I could have done.  My opponent opened with b4, which isn't an opening that I'm very familiar with (and some of white's subsequent moves also confused me).

In a scenario like this do you desperately try to recall the ChessMood recommended moves (and fail miserably!) or do you fall back to general principles; control the centre, develop pieces, keep the king safe (which is what I think I should have done).

I was never really in trouble (according to the evaluation bar anyway!) but it did throw me off my game a little.

Bonus point if you spot (without the aid of an engine) the “Mate in 2” opportunity that yours truly missed! 🙄

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/111235257349?tab=analysis

PS: If somebody with better formatting skills than me would share how to add bold font and underline, that would be appreciated.  It never seems to work for me.  Thanks.

PPS: OK, bold now working.  Underline???

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Hi! It's the polish opening. btw your opponent was just playing random moves. you should fall back to general principles; control the centre, develop pieces and keep the king safe. 

Just in case you get confused about your opponents opening again, you can see it at chess.com 's analysis board. 

P.S. You can play Dutch against the polish or other side lines. :) 

I agree, your opponents opening was confusing, but only because it was bad. The moves f3,g3,h3 contained little logic. 

The opening 1.b4 is a “real” opening, and here's a helpful forum post about it https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/recommendation-against-1-b4 

Essentially, against 1.b4 I would recommend memorizing the Black moves e5,Bxb4,Nf6,Nc6.

As for this specific game, your opponent indeed played near random moves, and I think you capitalized well by establishing a strong pawn formation in the center. The computer gives you a sizeable advantage out of the opening, and I totally agree.

So certainly when you can't remember a specific opening, yes just fall back on general principles you’ve perfected. But now you have a reason to study this opening, so perhaps it's worth researching 1.b4 a bit so you don't get surprised again. Nice game!

Sicilian Sidelines PGN

Hi all,

Was just wondering if the PGN for the Sicilian Sidelines course will be released or if it has already come out.

Thanks!

Replies

Yes, Gabuzyan was working on an update and when finished it will be uploaded again.

😀