Chess forum by Grandmasters

ok, we had an actual knight annihilation this time mwahahaha

piedraven vs. fercosme | Analysis - Chess.com

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The 20th move hurt my soul a little bit haha

What should I do until all the sidelines appear?

I saw the Countering Sideslines d4 course and I really liked the variations offered and I recommend them and I had very good results, but when will all the sidelines appear, such as Torre Attack, Colle System, Catalan 3.g3 Setups,... And what do you recommend I do until all the sidelines appear?

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Dear Super Pawn,

We are going to have an expanded version of 1.d4 sidelines. 
We usually get the fianchetto systems with g6 - and conditionally play with d6-e5 ideas or d5 moves.
You can select a setup that is comfortable for you, and update your repertoire once we have the updated version.
 

I had a very nice knight annihilation lined up. My opponent blundered and it ended up not being necessary

https://www.chess.com/game/live/140774968394

Yes that's me, yes my blitz rating is in the toilet. Got me a nice case of blunderitis lately

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Scotch Game (Doubt)

In the Scotch Game, once the opponent traded everything and our Queen reached the center, if c5, GM Avetik Master recommended Qe3. 
Why not Queen d3 since in e3 the queen blocks the bishop, but at d3 the white-squared bishop doesn't want to develop anyway so the queen ain't blocking anything.. Please Enlighten Me.

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Hey Udayakumar!

I assume you mean the position after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nxd4 5.Qxd4 c5

Qd3 definitely isn't a bad move (it's actually quite good and you could play that as well).

Although, Qe3 won't be blocking our dark-squared bishop as you said, because we are going to fianchetto it with Nc3 b3 Bb2. 

There are also more practical advantages with Qe3. Avo explains everything in the course: 

chessmood.com/course/whitemood-openings/episode/3713

Happy Chessing!

Sarah

If you play Qd3 after this move sequence: e4 e5 Nf3 Nc6 d4 exd4 Nxd4 Nxd4 Qxd4 c5 then you prevent the rook from being fully active on the open file because you put your queen in front of your own rook.

TrainMood is coming ...

Hello everyone!

We're working on TrainMood - an upcoming puzzle platform that will go beyond typical tactics training to include strategy puzzles (positional play, pawn structures, weak pawns etc.). Students will be able to create custom sessions mixing different topics.

Our chess team is working on creating new databases for this feature.

While tactical puzzles are everywhere, strategy puzzle databases are rare. We're struggling to find good sources. Do you know of any:

• Strategy/positional puzzle collections?
• AI specialists who could generate strategic positions?
• Sources for strategic training materials?

Any suggestions would be amazing!

Thanks
ChessMood Team

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There is Strategic Chess Exercises, by Emmanuel Bricard (published by New In Chess), but it's on Chessable and I don't know whether you would also be able to use it. There's also a Youtube review of Bricard's book by Daniel King at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pE7GaINbgs&t=1s

Chessfox has a compilation of 40 positional tactics puzzles.

https://chessfox.com/list-of-positional-chess-tactics/

Alekhine defense, Chess Mood gambit

In the pgn file for the Alekhine defense there is the Chees mood gambit. 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. f4. 

Unfortunately I cannot find the videos where this gambit is covered. Can you please send me the relevant links. 

Best Regards, Kurt

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It’s in the white mood course under Alekhine.   I’ve played it a few times, pretty fun.

Hi Kurt,

https://chessmood.com/course/whitemood-openings/episode/3812

Resource to help me - get more out of analyzing my games

I am a very low intermediate (1100 Chess.com) sr player trying to get more learning value out of my analysis of my games.  I at least “go over them” now and see big engine discrpancies - and try to understand but – I don't feel I am really getting good learning value.   SUGGESTION on a good resource for this?  

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Good article by GM Noël Studer: https://nextlevelchess.com/game-analysis1/

What do you recommend playing after d4 with black?

I have a rating in 1950 classic fide and 2422 blitz chess.com. I like to play Benko Gambit very much (I like aggressive and dynamic play) but I would like to learn another opening that is solid and that I can play without any risk in classic fide tournaments.
I would have to choose between Modern Benoni Defense , King's Indian Defense and Nimzo-Indian defense.Which one do you think would be the best for me considering I play Benko Gambit and I like it very much,but I would also like one that is solid enough and I can play it anytime.If you have other interesting openings that are not here and you recommend them I would love to know.Could you also tell me what resources to use books/courses/videos.
For Avetik or Gabuzyan.

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Dear Super Pawn,

I do understand your thoughts and concerned. I personally apply Benko in both blitz and classical game and find it interesting, however if you are willing to add more openings to you reply after 1.d4 you can find some courses in the opening/s you want to learn.

Currently, our website offers only Benko for the 2000+ level and Blackmood repertoire for the U2000 level.
We might have some more options in the future, but I can't provide any info as it's not decided yet.

Scotch game question

when you play the scotch as White when you play with Qe2 and be3 after f3 g4 what should you do after Ne5? I think it’s a very strong response and haven’t been able to find anything on my own.

One of the positions I came across white to move

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Dear Paul,

In the given position, h3 is the best move - so you are defending the pawn on g4 - and now planning to continue the game with the f4 idea.
White is doing better in that position.

Training/Sparring Partner

Hi, I'm Spencer, living in the UK. My FIDE/ECF rating is around 1850 and I'm looking for a training/sparring partner with a similar/higher rating while studying here. I can play on lichess etc.

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Hi Spencer,

You'll have more luck if you post in the dedicated thread:

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/studysparring-partner-1362

Training puzzle wrong answers

Excercises/puzzles – ability to go back and see where my WRONG answer in the position led - so can see how to learn from that

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This would be a great feature, but I would imagine a ton of work.

For each puzzle, instead of 1 variation, now multiple (and of course you can’t possibly cover every move).

Still though, would be great I think!

Especially for the Daily Puzzles!

ww

How to play French Schelchter versus 6. ... e5

Hello Chessmoodians,

I'm new to the ChessMood openings and only ~1400 with them.  With White, I just faced 1. e4 e6  2. d4 d5  3. Bd3 dxe4  4. Bxe4 c5  5. Ne2 Nf6  6. Bf3 e5 .. without Nc6 first, so that I can trade the bishop like I just looked up in the Advanced Section.  

I continued: 7. dxe5 Qxd1+  8. Kd1 Ng4  9.Bxg4 Bxg4  10. f3 Bf5.  The engine says that these were the best moves for me, but they resulted in a position I found really hard to play with my king stuck.  Could one of you stronger players please recommend a better approach after 6. … e5?

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Thanks for your response, Chess Player.

However, that's kind of disheartening.  So, next time I play Schlechter against the French, I should just hope that my opponent doesn't see 6. … e5 or I need to play with a stuck king?  

To be fair, this opponent likely did not see it either as he has been banned for breaching Fair Play.  But, still, the move is there to be made.  I see it glaring at me in my daily drills now.  I guess I'll be going through some more lines of analysis for this game.

I don’t understand - isn’t white just a healthy pawn up?

5-minute research study on the factors that contribute to chess ability

Hello all!

I am a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland in Australia. I am currently conducting research on the personal characteristics that contribute to chess ability and am seeking volunteers to participate in a 5-minute online survey. If you are a currently active competitive chess player with a FIDE, ACF, USCF, or ECF rating and are at least 18 years old, it would be a huge help if you considered participating! If you are interested in participating, the survey can be found at the following link: https://uniofqueensland.syd1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2bBQZHJcKB1hDam

Thank you,
Christina

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ss

oh

Video subtitulado en ESPANOL

Buenas noches soy de Lationamerica y hablo espanol y desearia hacerme vip pero los videos no estan subtitulados en espanol, hay alguna manera de poder hacerlo para pagar mi membresia, espero me puedan ayudar. Gracias

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Por el momento, lamentablemente no ofrecemos subtítulos traducidos. Pero está en nuestros planes para el futuro. Especialmente con el desarrollo tan rápido de las tecnologías de inteligencia artificial, supongo que pronto podremos agregarlos.

Course about Material inbalances

Someone mentioned it in a video…, is there a course in planning about this. This is such an interesting topic, for middlegame and endgame. Rooks vs Minors or Knight vs Bishop, Queen vs pieces and so on… Keep up the good work 👍

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I am currently doing the Must-Know Endgame Theory Under 2000 course which deals with material imbalances.  They receive a more thorough treatment in the Endgame Mastery section.

Hey there.
Dear Thomas,

We might have a course on that topic. Planning to. Can't mention the dates because Imbalances are quite complicated and in order to creare a high quality course, it will take some time.

I have problems in Caro-Kann Exchange variation 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Bg4 7. Qb3 Qd7 8. Nd2 e6 9.Ngf3 Bxf3.

I had some problems in the following variation,I will leave two games below played by me in which I didn't know how I should have played to win.The first one is an online game on chesscom and the second one is a game from a classic fide tournament.I made some mistakes in the middle game but in general I don't know how I should play further after the following line 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. Bd3 Nc6 5. c3 Nf6 6. Bf4 Bg4 7. Qb3 Qd7 8. Nd2 e6 9.Ngf3 Bxf3.(can beat on f3 later).I looked at the Caro-Kann course and there is a model game but still not sure how I should play.
I would appreciate if I could get an answer.
To the Chessmood team.

(lichess study link - https://lichess.org/study/ihfsWyei/I7rmSKr3)

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Dear Super Pawn,

In those positions, White is aimed to play and attack on the Kingside.
The main plan is to bring the Queen Back - usually c2-e2 - sometimes differently, and try to launch an attack on the Kingside.
Sometimes we spend time on a3 - or Qc2-e2 to make Black's b5-b4 harder.
We do get these structures often during our live lessons. Did you also check Rockn-Rolling for White course? With the Caro model games?

New article: The Complete Checkmate Patterns List (with examples)

Champions,

While working on creating the Mating Patterns pdf, we thought ‘What if instead, we publish it as an article?’

This way, you can easily access all the checkmating patterns, with their definitions and examples. 
So you can simply check this list whenever you want to memorize or quickly refresh your knowledge of a checkmating pattern.

Here, we’ve covered every important mating pattern, including the Queen to the pawn, and also mate patterns involving different pieces.

Click here to check out the complete list of mating patterns👇

https://chessmood.com/blog/checkmate-patterns

Share your thoughts below.

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Nice. Would be useful for a few of these handouts on the openings as well. I do a lot of this work manually and it's time consuming.

When playing-I see a lot of patterns- wondering if if they lead to mate or not, and mostly think that its just risky and leave them be, but now i see they mostly do

I have only just seen this 😢. Very helpful. Thank you.

A very big thank you for all those who worked on that brilliant blog! It has been a big lifesaver!

At what time I should play ?

Hello, I would like to know at what time I should play online to be able to apply what I have learned (I have 2350 blitz chesscom,1950 classic fide) and where would be the best because in the articles written about the right time it says that in general you should play with increment, but at this level (2350) it is not easy to find people who play with increment. Is it a good idea to play only at 3 + 0 ? Or the time is too short to learn something from the game ?

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Hey Super Pawn!
Yeah, it’s true — 3+0 is super popular, and at some point, most players just stick to that. Especially around your level, it’s hard to find opponents with increments unless you’re playing at very specific times.

So if you’re getting good opponents at 3+0 — no problem, just go for it. The only thing I’d suggest is to make sure you review the games afterward. That’s where the real improvement happens.

And if you can mix in some 3+2 or 5+3 from time to time — even better. But don’t worry too much, 3+0 is totally fine for applying what you’ve learned — especially if you stay focused and don’t just flag for fun :)

About the Sicillian course

Recently I found a line in the sicillian course that I didn't find a great continuation for it      1-e4-e5 2-Nf3-Nc6 3-d4-cd4  4-Nd4-g6 5-Nc6-bc6 6-Qd4

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Dear Mohamed, 

Please provide more details and clarify your question, as I am not sure which side you are asking for.
Also, you did say e4-e5 - but wrote Sicilian. I assume you mean e4 c5?

Collaborative YouTube Nelson & Eric

GM Avo & GM Gabu,

The courses and content here are great, I have devoured so much content here and am so grateful for your instruction.   That said, there’s something truly special about the collaboration videos you’ve done with Nelson Lopez and Eric Rosen On YouTub.

The questions they asked and your review of their master level thought process is incredibly instructive.   I honestly think these videos might be better than some of the courses on the site, really incredible stuff.

Kory

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I have never watched Eric Rosen, but I do enjoy Nelson Lopez' youtube channel.  I wholeheartedly agree that the collaboration videos there have been really helpful to growing my understanding of ChessMood openings.  While I wouldn't agree that they are better than the on-site instruction due to not as much detail, they do go a long way for exploring the unusual concepts in the ChessMood repertoire.  It was definitely a great idea!

Ye its amazing to see how even an IM like Eric Roosen could still be improving with the same stuff chess mood teaches us.

Hey guys,

Thanks for your kind words, it's a pleasure to hear that :-) 

I didn’t find it on a quick google search (too many Eric Rosen videos out there). Could someone post a link?