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Chess forum by Grandmasters
French attack , 3.e5 Bd7 4.c4 ?!
I just got that as white and I took on c4 . Bxc4 Bc6 Nf3 . It the white mood line , white play 4.Nf3 after Bd7 and we continue a6 but in my game with c4 played first , i was not sure what was best continuation. If I play a6 , we transpose but is there a better answer with the move order white just did ? In my game , I went for h6 ( with the idea of Ne7 ) but my follow up was not efficient and I got a worse position .. the engine suggested Bxf3 but I would prefer keeping the Bc6 and after Qxf3 Qxd4 , complications can occurs..
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I cant edit my first post .. so I will make corrections in this second post.. 1.e4e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 Bd7 4.c4 dxc4 5. Bxc4 Bc6 6. Nf3 . In the black opening line , white play 4.Nf3 after Bd7 and we continue a6 but in my game with c4 played first , i was not sure what was best continuation. If I play 6.. a6 , we transpose but is there a better answer with the move order white just did ? In my game , I went for h6 ( with the idea of preventing Bg5 after Ne7 ) but my follow up was not efficient and I got a worse position .. the engine suggested Bxf3 but I would prefer keeping the Bc6 and after Qxf3 Qxd4 , complications can occurs..
Hi Denis,
As you mentioned a6 just transposes and that's the least we can get.
But I believe it can be better to go Nd7-Nb6 faster. Lately Ne7-Qd7 and make the ideas recommended in the course. In many positions lately, we may avoid playing a6, which will give Black a good tempo and faster attack.
Good luck.
Caro-Kann Headache
Hi Chessmood team! Recently in my state selections, I played our Caro Kann Exchange poison I got the following position: 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 Bd6 10. Bxd6 Qxd6 11. O-O Bxf3 12. Nxf3 O-O 13. Rae1 Qc7 As far as I am concerned Qc7 isn't covered and I was on my own so I continued with Ne5 Nxe5 de5 Nd7 Qc2 g6 my opponent built a complete fortress and I went on to lose as a result of overpressing in a drawn position. Thanks for the reply in advance Regards Amit
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Hi Chessmood team! Is something wrong with my question? Or the team accidentally overlooked my question? If there is something wrong with my question I am sorry. But please let me know why this question was unanswered when other posts are replied to with average Chessmood lightning speed. Regards Amit
Amit, not all questions are answered with lightning speed. Depends on the difficulty, some variations we need to talk with the team, check some lines, reach a conclusion, etc. There are many lines possible but we need to decide a good line and we cannot do this every day, we meet, talk, decide and we reply according to our schedules. Please be a bit more patient... 😅
Hi Amit,
After Qc7 you can go for Qc2-Qe2 which brings the Queen closer and also makes difficult the main b5 idea for the opponent.
After you can try to play on Kingside g3-h4 or another advancing option. That of course depends on the opponent's strategies as well.
Good luck.
Benko g3-line
Hi guys, I am currently working a bit on the Benko Gambit lately. I found a mistake in following suggestion in g3-line: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6 Bxa6 6.Nc3 d6 7.Nf3 g6 8.g3 Bg7 9.Bg2 O-O 10.O-O Nbd7 11.Qc2 Qa5 12.b3! seems to be playable for white still. Here apparently 12... Nxd5 is not good since 13.Nxd5 Bxa1 14.Bd2! drives the Queen back to d8 for example and then 15.Rxa1 leaving White a bishop and knight for the rook. The engine gives a big plus for white there. What is the best continuation for black after 12. b3? Rfb8 like in the normal plan but then White plays Bd2 or even Bb2 which seems annoying! Any suggestions?
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Hi SIgma,
There are possible moves like Rfb8, c4, or Bb7. We are planning to re-record and update the Benko course, of course with fixation of all possible mistakes.
Good luck.
New/updated Benko course: request and observation
I have a request for the new Benko course that Gabuzyan is about to record ( maybe recording has already started already): Please include a section about move orders. Even if it is a short section, I think it would be very valuable to examine the various move orders including 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5, 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.Nf3, 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 and any other move order tricks and subtleties. Perhaps also a brief note about 1.Nf3 for example. Also, I noticed the "Upcoming Updates" Benko video recommended the e6 line against the Pawn Return variation (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.b6 e6!). Nice recommendation thanks - I tried it out recently and scored a nice win over a 2300 player on chess.com. However I noticed one small issue: if we enter the Benko from a different order such as 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.c4 c5 4.d5 b5 5.cxb5 a6 6.b6 now the e6 move doesn't really make sense because we have already played g6. So it seems we need to learn another line vs b6, either immediate Qxb6 or Nbd7 as covered by Avetik. So the question becomes: should we learn two lines vs b6, for example e6 and Qxb6? Or should we just focus on a single line that can be used in all situations such as Qxb6?
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Hi Peter,
We will discuss the improvement ideas you suggested, and may possibly include some more options.
About the b6 line, both is fine. You can just learn the options without e6 move, or have 2 different options prepared.
Good luck!
Thank you
Just wanted to post something to thank both of you guys, you teached me so much during only 1 month, i can see my improvement in all the aspects of the game, thank you for your work.👍
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ChessMood Podcast
I did not see a thread discussing the new ChessMood Podcast but I wanted to comment on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVHyUzX5IQw&t=3643s GM Avetik - This podcast was Amazing! Very Very good job! I was blown away at how many great points were made and how relevant the ideas are to helping us all to improve our chess game. I have started a chess alter ego and I am going to order Todd's book to help refine it. I am very excited about this, it is so cool! Thank you coach for putting this together! Leslie
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Hi Leslie! Maybe you are referring to this post: https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/new-article-the-smiling-pillow-todd-hermann-and-the-thief
How to defeat High-Rated Players 1200-1999
Right now I am playing a tournament in Madurai ,India and This round I got a 1300 Rated player and I need to defeat my opponent can anyone help me please Note: My FIDE rating is 1125
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That's not a high rated opponent, although Indian ratings are usually much lower. Second it's not some magic trick to beat someone, you need to put the study time in. Winning is usually is a combination of more experience, better tactics, more endgame knowledge, but more opening position understanding and better technique. At this stage the best you can do is go in with a good mindset and if possible prepare for your opponent (look on any databases you have to what they play and make sure you remember what you learned before). Play confidently, and you might win. But it's a learning process and you have to learn to get better which will mean some defeats on the way as well as the victories. Good luck.
"Pause the video and think!" Pause and think, and evaluate your options and possible threats before every move!
To GM Gabuzyan's attention....
In the "Instructional classical endgames" the last example : Saidy-Fischer seems erroneous. In the game downloaded from CBase Megabase, the pawns on the queen side are on b7 and a6. In ChessMood example they are on b6 and a7. Fortunately this does not affect the instructional value of the example.
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What do you mean? this is the game: https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044602
French defense help
Hello all, I was playing a chess tournament, in my 2nd game my opponent took me out of the theory of the French Defense 3.c5 move. I was hoping for a review and a suggestion for the following line 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5 4. c3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Qb6 6. Be3 Nge7 7. Qd2 Nf5 8. b3 e7 9. c4 Bd7 10. dxc5 Bxc5 Thanks
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In our course we go for 3…Bd7 instead check it out because this line that you played is not covered.
https://chessmood.com/course/blackmood-openings/episode/3895
Firefox video display issue on PC monitor
Hi, Really enjoying Black repertoire course but have noticed when I am on home PC Win 10 running Firefox, the videos in each section are offset and out of screen. I can upload an image if you need it. My display resolution is 1920x1080. The problem does not occur when viewing course using firefox on laptop or other PC's such as work PC.
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Thanks Mitch for letting us know. We are sorry for the issues that you are experiencing. Many of us also use Firefox on Win 10 and we are not seeing this problem... Maybe you can try to restart your Firefox in the problem solving mode and check if still happens... If you could check your version and attach a picture, maybe we can help.😀
HI can you send me your browser extension names or screenshot of them?
Or if you can please check the same thing on the private/incognito mod of firefox, I think it can be from extensions or browser settings
The wolf of the street...
Section 13. When I want to go to the next video I get the following message : "Error Unhandled Video Privacy". It's very annoying because I must close the program after each video and restart. This on my computer.
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It's a known issue which is being looked into. You can refresh each time as a workaround. It's a recent issue that's started after thousands of successful video uploads. Your patience is appreciated while the fix is found as the Chessmood team work extremely hard.
Max Lange in Scotch
Hi all, I have a question, Is there a course that covers the Scotch Max Lange or will it be covered in the future?
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No, there is not. We go for the Scotch main lines and there is no plan to do a course on it.
😀
Question by Caro-Kann 5. ... e5!?
What is the right plan after the 5th ... e5!? ?
Yes, take it. But what's next?
Thank you for your ideas.
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We are supposing that you are referring to the exchange variation. If it is, then dxe5, Nxe5. Here is the key move, we propose to play Qe2!, because against IQP is very good to exchange Queens. If Qe7 then Bb5 or if Bd6 then f4... You can check the course for more details...
Half-Open Courses
Why The Courses Are Not Fully Open?
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They are when you are a Pro member.
French Attack vs exd5 with 4. Cc3
Hello Chess Friends, i have a quick question regarding French Attack vs exd5 (exchange). BlackMood Starter mentions lines beginning with 4. Cf3 but what if White plays 4. Cc3 first ? The point is that if black plays Fd6 the d5 pawn is no more defended. And if Ce7 first, then Fd6 is no more possible. And if Cf6, then f6 is not possible. The question is how to handle the attack setup Cc6/Fd6/Ce7/Fg4 etc if white is starting with Cc3 ? Many thks for your kind advices ! Have a great day..
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Well, if you want keep the setup with Cc6/Fd6/Ce7/Fg4 etc., what about e.g. 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Bd3 Nge7 7.O-O Bg4 etc., or 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.Nf3 Ne7 6.Bd3 Nbc6 7.O-O Bg4 etc. ?
Hi Haik,
Yes, is one of the best options. Check out this thread with the same question: https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/french-exchange-after-5-nc3-3467 Happy improving!😀
Concentration, Positivity and Joy
Hi all - I thought fellow students might be interested in this short story .. which showed me the power of the right mood, right move philosophy! Below is a game which I played last month for my club. I let this one go badly wrong in the opening, and I was close to becoming despondent. My team really needed to win this match and I had been really looking forward to the game, but now I had already messed up. :-( Then I remembered Avetik's words (which I had recorded in my bold/unbold google doc)... Concentration, Positivity and Joy ! I sat up and smiled, like Avo recommended. I walked around the boards, enjoying the fact that my team were playing chess and it was a beautiful thing. I sat up straight and decided I would fight to the end and enjoy maybe, just maybe, creating something I would remember. And it happened ! I found squares for my pieces, and they completed a crushing attack, all thanks to my positive approach and my opponent failing to be accurate enough. I know we cannot win every game, especially when we go wrong, but we can choose to stay in the game and choose to create our chances and choose to enjoy every turn of the battle. The rest is up to caissa ;-) Thank you Avo for your words. Before this I would have fallen into a hole of self hatred and distracting thoughts and just made the situation worse. This way I knew I would enjoy the game, even if it didn't work out in the end. For those that are interested, the game and my annotations are here (Chapter 16 of this study) : https://lichess.org/study/oLUgXvvR/CxAuMNWh#0 Perhaps other people have good examples of games where this mindset helped them stay constructive and deliver a comeback? Onwards and upwards and wishing everyone happy moves! Ben
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Very nice post and game ! Especially in a team competition , you should have been so happy with the turnover ! Thats a great example of a player relaxing after getting an edge in a game which is the reason why we should never give up ! What is the level of you and opponent at that time ? Did you knew each other before this game ? Psychological factors take a greater part in slow OTB compare to online .
Ole, ole, oleeee!!!!!
Thanks for sharing this, amigo!
Idea about a course
I have an idea for a course that i believe would be a great source of fast improvement for beginner and intermediate players. This course would be organized like Tactic Ninja and Mating Matador: each section has it's theme and practical exercizes about it. The themes would be practical situation that often occours in a chess game. Examples for beginners could be: - the weakness of b2/b7 (or g2/g7) pawns after the bishop stop defending them: how to exploit it, and when it's better not to take the pawn and give the opponent an open line - the fianchetto bishop staring at the rook on the opposite corner - the bishop on g4-g5/b4-b5 pinning the knight to the king/queen For intermediate players there might be typical piece manouvers, piece sacrifices or piece coordination patterns or pawn play patterns that i have no idea but the ChessMood teachers knows for sure and if they occours with a significant frequency it might be useful to train to recognize them.
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I think these sorts of things if I understand you already get taught, but as part of other things. Taking a b-pawn is a question about is it poisoned - can you get your piece trapped (fair number of queen traps), do you lose too much time for it, what other comp do you get. Not sure it's so easy to teach that specific thing in a course. Same for the pin of the knight, should it be pushed away (does that weaken the king or allow a sacrifice), is the knight worth more than the pinning bishop or not, so many factors. You can use programs like Chessbase to search for certain piece placements, but I kind of think for below 1800 at least aside from the simple ideas of tempos and king safety, such specifics probably will do more harm than good.
I need an advice :) Should we hire her? :)
In ChessMood all our new employees should also pass a test - survive 15 moves against Grandmaster ?
Lily survived 12 moves, shall we do an exception for her? ?
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That's a very open question. I think that would depend on the way she played. Did she show initiative? Did she dare take a risk? Was she inventive or passive? Sometimes you can read someones character a little from the way he/she plays.
Maybe you publish the game, so members can judge for themselves.
Giving another chance is appreciated....as we all make mistake....so let her try again...and see if she could survive....?
Did she show the right mood while playing? Did she keep the right mood while losing? If she did then make the exception!
However, if she threw the king at you when she lost, what would she do if you didnt hire her? Better think long and hard about this :)
You should have let her play white
I think we should
everyone deserves a second chance :)
Maybe another try for her! If she played genuinely badly then no but if she blundered something in an equal position then yes.
Smart chess board
Champions, hello!
Do you have any of these chess boards?
https://playchessup.com/
https://squareoffnow.com/
I'm thinking of buying a gift for a friend. Not sure which one is better.
Any thoughts?
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I'd say the square-off chessboard is better. However it is ultimately your choice. I personally like the square-off board, (don't forget the pieces😀). Whatever decision you make Coach Avetik, I wish you good luck with your present. Sincerely, Pengcheng
I suggest getting the DGT Centaur: https://dgtcentaur.com Or DGT Pegasus for online play: https://digitalgametechnology.com/products/home-use-e-boards/dgt-pegasus Either one of them with their respective carrying bags for easy storage and transportation :)
Thanks a lot!
Decided to go with Square Off :)
Hi, I had the square off foldable and was very disappointment with it and returned it after a few weeks. During online games, it would not recognize piece that I had moved and I lost many games moving peice back and forth from original and desired position trying to get board to recognize new position. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. The flow of the game gets destroyed and in some cases time runs out if we are at end of game. It does not have absolute piece position detection either. I have been awaiting chessone development in hopes of an electronic board that actually works. On an aside, loving your approach to teaching openings. The amount of variations, how you explain things and the length of videos really makes it easy to absorb and remember the idea's and lines. My coach recommended the site (I can message you privately- you know him) and I am very satisfied with the content. Just wanted to let you know. -Mitch
This question took me on a journey into smart chess boards in YouTube. If budget is not an issue, the best atm is Chessnut Pro. https://www.chessnutech.com/products/pre-order-for-chessnut-pro
SLP in Open Tupinamba
Hi. As some of you know I am having a hard time OTB in the Barcelona Open Tupinamba. After winning for 1st.time in rd.6 Wenesday 3, that's few hours ago I had the most tragicomic OTB in my life. I blunder the exchange in a hand slip, because I wanted to play Rf-d8 followed by Nf-d7 just to kick out his unpleasent Ne5. And when I was going to play the move I found that I was holding the Nf6 instead of the Rf8. So Nh5 was forced and this cost me the exchange. I say I am going to play some more moves because resigning now would be a miniature. and then I had an idea looking at the position. I calculate a little and so that my idea was a complete bluff but he didn't looked as a tactician but positional senior so I bluffed, and bluffed and bluffed and at the end he went for it missing the repetition checks that gav e me the draw. He expected Qg3+ and he covered with the greedy Be4 to Bg2 but the saving check was not on g3 but on e3 checking through the diagonal and his greedy Be4 couldn't cover anything. If he played something simple like Qd2 I could resign but he didn't. If somebody interested you can go over the game in this link: https://lichess.org/study/uoPmDEhv
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GG! This is the illustration of why it's important to keep fighting 👊! Good luck with the remaining games 👍 PS: I would recommend making another account / hiding your real name as your lichess account violated the TOS. This could go against you when opponents are preparing against you for a game and discover that.
