The 1st forum, where all the questions will be directly answered by Grandmasters!

Hello ChessMood family, hello champions and future champions! 
Welcome to the "Best games of January 2021" competition.
Under this post, we invite you to post the best games that you will play this month. 

The Prize fund is 350K MoodCoins which is equal to 350$.  

The 1st prize  - 150K
The 2nd prize - 100K
The 3rd prize-  50K
The 4th Prize- 30k
The 5th Prize- 20k

Good luck with your games and keep the Right Mood! 
#ChessMood
#Right Mood - Right Move 

P.S
Here are the winners of December 2021:

Jay Garrison
Wenstin
Vladimir Bugayev
Khokan De
Aayush Shirodkar

Hello champions and welcome to the ChessMood team! 
We all are from different countries, different ages, have different professions... But one thing bounds us - the passion for chess.

Champions, we'll grow together and keep a warm relationship in our team. 
Please tell a bit about yourself in this post. 

#ChessMood_Family 

Hello ChessMood Family! 
Now I'm adding model games in each section of our course, so you have a better understanding of the positions. Some of them, I'll also add in the book, that I'm writing now (later about that.) 

Why did I write this post? :) 
If you played nice and instructive games with our ChessMood openings - please post here. 
I would be happy to add them as well. 

P.S 
The first course, where I'm going to add model games, gonna be the Scotch game. If you want to make a research in your games, start from the Scotch :) 

Hello, champions. 
Here you can find sparring partners. 
You can write, for example, 

"Hey guys, my name is Bob, I'm from the USA, my rating is 2000 I'm looking for a sparring partner." 

Or even more specific like "I just finished the Caro-Kann course and I'm looking someone to play a friendly sparring games". 

Good luck! 
Hopefully, you'll find good friends too. 

i am not a pro member but still i can see pro member forums

Good day! Hi, guys.I am Yong Zhun from Malaysia and my lichess blitz rating is 2334,rapid is 2266.     

I would like to find a traning partner. Pls help me thanks!

Is it a good idea to play more than one opening to improve? This would expose oneself to different types of positions, different pawn structures, plans etc. (e.g. 1. ..c6 differs considerably from 1. c5).
Would this improve my middle games strength, or should I rather aim to stick with only one opening and become an expert in this one opening only, understanding the intricacies of this opening extremely well?

The blocking tactic name is being reused for two different sorts of tactical operations.

The first is a block where a mobile unit, a pawn cannot advance because something is in the way and it captures a different way. There was a tactical book 'Alekhine's Block' which gave examples of of such tactics (whether Alekhine was the first remembered to play this, write about it, or the most famous who knows).

The second is preventing the escape of a piece, here the king (although encircling other pieces ought to be considered the same idea) which is a very different manoeuvre, and perhaps in warfare would be called pinning down (probably not a good name for chess because of the confusion), but I don't think blocking is good either. Encirclement or preventing escape is perhaps better.

I just encountered the following:

1. e4 e5

2. Nf3 Nc6

3. d4 exd4

4. Nxd4 Bc5

5. Nb3 Bb6

6. Nc3 Nge7

7. Qe2 a5!?

It appears this move actually playable. How do we best counter it?

Hi All,

New member here, was just going through the scotch opening theory in detail and didn't find the continuation for the move c5 after Qd4 (exchange knight and queen occupy the centre). It appears a good move as its supported by bishop and the only continuations I could figure out are exchange queens after Qe5+ or move the Queen back to Qd1. Can someone please help me on this ?

1) Would it be a reasonable idea to try to play into the Scotch via 2.d4, exd4 3.Nf3, at least on a level under 2000 ELO?
An advantage would be to significally reduce the amount of opening theory one has to learn by avoiding openings like the Philidor, Petroff and the “abracadabra gambits”, the disadvantage that comes to mind is that Black cannot only reply with 3…Nc6 (transposing directly into Scotch), but Black could also play 3…Bb4+ or 3…Bc5 or 3…d6.

2) Or maybe only trying to play into the Scotch via 2.d4, exd4 3.Nf3,  i f  one knows that an opponent usually plays the Philidor, the Petroff or an “abracadabra gambit”?

3) Any suggestions on some lines and ideas against the above mentioned 3…Bb4+ or 3…Bc5 or 3…d6?

I posted essentially the same below question sometime back on this forum but never received an answer, so I'm trying my luck once more. You can ignore the 2...g6 part of the below query if you wish, my question relates more specifically to the structure arising after b3 followed by c4.  :-)

Adapted from the chessable forum

Seasons Greetings Gawain,

I'm truly enjoying every minute of your fresh take on the 2...g6 Tromp, it seems like an extremely efficient way for KID and Grunfeld players alike to deal with this always annoying and popular White system.

I observed too that noted Tromp specialist himself Andreikin has also employed 2...g6 recently, which is a good theoretical sign. Be that as it may though, I was wondering how you propose we treat the structure when White prepares the c4 push with b3. Below are two illustrative examples of what White is trying to achieve, and this is the approach recommended by GM Antoaneta, Stefanova in her (Non-Chessable) Trompowsky course:

Georgiev,Ki (2680) - Horvath,Ad1 (2495) [D00]

22nd ECU Club Cup Feugen AUT (4), 11.10.2006

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.Bxf6 exf6 4.e3 c6 5.g3 Bd6 6.Bg2 0-0 7.Ne2 Be6 8.0-0 Nd7 9.Qd3 f5 10.b3 Nf6 11.c4 Qd7 12.Nbc3 Rac8 13.c5 Bc7 14.b4 h5 15.h4 Rfe8 16.Nf4 Bxf4 17.exf4 Ne4 18.Ne2 b5 19.a4 a6 20.f3 Nf6 21.Ra3 Qb7 22.Qd2 Ra8 23.Rfa1 Reb8 24.Bf1 Ne8 25.Nc1 Nc7 26.Nd3 f6 27.Be2 Qc8 28.Nc1 Bd7 29.Bd3 Qf8 30.Ne2 Qe8 31.Kf2 g6 32.Nc3 Kg7 33.Nd1 Be6 34.Ne3 Qd7 35.Qc2 Rh8 36.axb5 axb5 37.Ra7 Rxa7 38.Rxa7 Ra8 39.Rxa8 Nxa8 40.g4 hxg4 41.fxg4 Qc7 42.Ng2 fxg4 43.Bxg6 Qa7 44.f5 Bf7 45.Qe2 Bxg6 46.Qxg4 Qa2+ 47.Kg3 1-0

Stefanova,Antoaneta (2478) - Peptan,Corina Isabela (2439) [D00]

EU-ch (Women) 5th Dresden (9), 30.03.2004

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 d5 3.Bxf6 exf6 4.e3 c6 5.g3 Bd6 6.Bg2 0-0 7.Ne2 f5 8.0-0 Nd7 9.b3 Nf6 10.c4 Be6 11.Qd3 a6 12.c5 Bc7 13.b4 b5 14.cxb6 Bd6 15.b7 Ra7 16.a3 Qb6 17.Nbc3 Rxb7 18.Rfc1 Rc8 19.Na4 Qa7 20.Nc5 Bxc5 21.Rxc5 Nd7 22.Rc3 Nb6 23.Rac1 Bd7 24.Qc2 Rbb8 25.Nf4 g6 26.Bf1 a5 27.Nd3 Nc4 28.Nc5 axb4 29.axb4 Rxb4 30.Bxc4 dxc4 31.Rxc4 Rxc4 32.Qxc4 Be8 33.Nd3 Kg7 34.Qc3 f6 35.d5 Bf7 36.dxc6 Bd5 37.Nb4 Bf3 38.Qd4 Qe7 39.h3 h5 40.Kh2 Rd8 41.Qc3 h4 42.c7 Rc8 43.Qc5 Qd7 44.gxh4 Qd2 45.Kg3 Bb7 46.Qe7+ Kh6 47.Qc5 Qd7 48.Qb6 Ba8 49.Qxf6 Qd2 50.Qg5+ Kg7 51.Qe7+ Kh6 52.Qc5 Qe2 53.Nd5 Qd3 54.Nb6 f4+ 55.Kh2 Qd2 56.Kg1 Re8 57.c8Q fxe3 58.Qg5+ 1-0

Any insights you can offer on how best to counter White's plan of gradual queenside expansion would be greatly appreciated.

BTW, Fantastic job on Part 2, and as expected it was certainly well worth the wait!

N.B. - I copied and pasted the above from the chessable forum rather than attempt to locate my original post here. Looking forward to a reply this time around.

Thanks in advance.

Hello everyone :)

I wanted to know if Chessmood Grandmasters already planned (or did in the past) streams while playing Chessmood openings during Titled Tuesday or Arena Kings?

Have a nice day :)

In this variation (Veresov? I am uncertain) as black I know we likely play 2...d5 here, but after Bf4 I am unclear how to approach this. Normally I see 1.d4 Nf6 2. Bf4 g6 3. Nc3 d5, as in the course about Jobava line, but since here I already have d5 and not g6 I am not quite sure.  

Does anyone have a preferred set up, or is this in the material somewhere that I missed? I appreciate the feedback! 

Matt

I realise that there are lots of transpositions but one recently gave me some major concerns. My strong opponent initially played the Nc6 line but then g6 not Nd4. Seems like Black can elect to go different ways and has more flexibility than White. So e4 c5 : Nc3 Nc6 : Bb5 g6 :  I then played Bxc6 and he replied b/c6. I played f4 Bg7 : Nf3 and he responded with c4 !? I should have played d3 but played Qe2 and got d5 back. Anyway I got nowhere fast !  So my questions to the GM's and Pro-Members are 1) how do you reconcile Nc6 and Bb5 if Black just moves to the g6 ( or e6 ) lines? 2) Q1 is more pertinent when, as so often happens, Black takes on c6 with the b pawn. 

Hi

Recently I played a few online games.In both instances I got White and I played the scotch game and  both times my opponents played moves not covered in the course.

Eg : 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 ed4 4.Nd4 Bc5 5.Nb3 Bb6 6.Nc3 and here my opponent played Qf6. In the game I continued Qe3,Be2 and then went for Kingside attack but it did not work so well.

It would be very helpful if you could give some advice  regarding how to orient in these kind of positions.

Hello, 

I have a question on the best way to play the following position. I've tried 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 Nxd4 7. Qxd4 Nc6 8. Qf2 or even Qd2. 

In the stream today 12/7 and in Gabuzyan's webinar back in April (see link below) 

Coach, i don't find this variation en te sections, can you help me what we have to do ?1.e4 c5 2.Cc3 e6 3.f4 a6

Hi, in what software does Avetik make its videos, that it can make moves with figures of one color in a row?

Ex .: Opening Principles 101, 30. f2 and f7 weaknesses 25 sec..

Thank you!

I’m new and very excited to be here.  Last night I watched the Chess Opening Principles 101 video and was very excited by the portion about the knight sacrifice on move three.  I play a coworker several times a week and he frequently plays 1….e5  2…..f6 as black.   We sat down to play today and the game went like this.

1.  e4  e5

2.  Nf3. f6

3.  Nxe5. fxe5  here I told him what a stupid move he had played

4.  Qh5+  g6

5.  Qxe5+. Qe7

6.  Qxh8. Nf6!!!

And my heart sank because my Queen was trapped and I wasn’t smart enough to get her free.  Later in the game I desperado’ed her for the second rook.   Is there an easy way for me to get my Queen free after 6…..Nf6?  How should I have played this better?

I looked at Stockfish which says it’s still +6.5 after the Queen gets trapped.  It sure didn’t feel like +6.5 when I was playing it.  Stockfish provided very little insight.