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Chess forum by Grandmasters

Marocy with 7..Nd4 ("modern way")

In the recent Racing from 2000 to 2700 GM Gabuzyan played against Marocy Bind and commented “let us play modern way with black" and after Be2 he took 7…Nd4 8.Qd4. I cannot find whether it is covered in the course? 

Replies

Hello,

That is covered in the modern Maroczy course and here is the link https://chessmood.com/course/modern-maroczy-bind

Good luck!

BlackMood Dutch Attack vs London

I’m trying to understand the BlackMood Dutch Attack vs the London. 

 

In the PDF file for the Dutch Attack, on p. 3, the diagrams labelled Plan 1 and Plan 2 both appear to show a position after White has made 6 moves but Black has made 9 moves. It seems that White could easily prevent Black from reaching the position shown if White gets all their moves.

 

E.g., let’s say we try to get to Black’s position as shown in Plan 1.

 

1. d4 e6 2. Bf4 f5 3. e3 Bf6 4. Nf3 b6 5. Be2 Bb7 6. O-O d6 7. c4 Ne4 8. Nbd2 Nd7 9. Nxe4

 

or

 

1. d4 e6 2. Bf4 f5 3. e3 Bf6 4. Nf3 b6 5. Be2 Bb7 6. O-O d6 7. c4 Qe7 8. Nc3 Nbd7 9. Nb5 

 

and so on.

 

I.e., the plans shown don’t seem to be realizable unless White wastes a bunch of moves. Please help me understand.

Replies

If there is an answer to this question, someone please tag me. I came to the forum to say a similar thing, except it's with almost all variations of the Dutch. I'm having a much harder time with the Dutch than any other opening recommended by ChessMood.

Hi Jon,

To better understand this structures I would recommend you to check the Blackmood model games and attend or watch the streams, as very often we are getting types of positions you are speaking about, and you will see the practical solutions happening in the games.

Answering the why question; why i want to become chess Master

After reading the article of coach Avetik When  i came to know that answering the why question is important since then i tried to generate the answer for me. I came up with several answer at different time point. However i was not satisfied with any of them. So i was wondering what is the answer for me. Today morning while i was thinking again regarding this a sentence came to my mind “ Chess is my life line” and this is the answer of my why question. I know its solely personal for each individual just want to know your thought on this. Is this could be a  strong why which will motivate me? 

Replies

Hi Shahinur,

May be this can motivate you enough, but my opinion is - if this words were going to inspire you enough may be you wouldn’t ask a question here? In other words may be you can think about something stronger?

Again its just my opinion, as this question is very individual.

good luck!

Playing White Sicilian with 2...e6 and later g6

In many games, I run into structures where my opponent plays an early e6 and g6. I cannot seem to find any videos from the Sicilian courses or the Model Games Rock n Roll course, but I run into this set-up quite frequently (2300 lichess blitz level). One example from a game tonight:

  1. e4 c5
  2. Nc3 e6
  3. f4 Nc6 (Sicilian part 3 assumes d5 in all lines)
  4. Nf3 Nge7

    From 4…Nge7 I cannot find any Chessmood line from here. If 4… d6 I can easily play from part 1 with g3, Bg2, 0-0, h3, etc. I have in fact been doing this set up, but I cannot find any videos that discuss it with this pawn structure. Game continued as follows:
     
  5. g3 d5 (now part 3 could have come into play, but with g3 I have committed to Bg2)
  6. d3 g6
  7. Bg2 Bg7
  8. 0-0 0-0 and a normal game was played.

I see this delayed set-up time and time again with e6-g6. Is the g3-Bg2 the proper way to play? Should I have done something different earlier?

If the g3-Bg2 set up is correct, how should we play against the e6-g6 pawn structure? I have often played with h3-g4 and pushed for f5 or Qe1-h4 and Ng5, but these often feel forced and don't always work all that well. Thanks in advance for the feedback!

Replies

Check GM Avetik our coach games online. 

https://lichess.org/rZATCwEn

https://lichess.org/@/Avetik_ChessMood

Thank you Erik for help! You found a nice game! 
https://lichess.org/rZATCwEn#33 

That h4, Rh3 was strong :) 

Zachary, I think this Qf2 idea is very interesting. 

Opening Doubt

I was playing my game when my opponent played the following sequence 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 g6 3. Bg5

I had no idea what was happening. I thought that I got the trompowsky but according to lichess it is Torre attack. Is it really trompowsky or is it some other opening. Also is it a very dangerous setup or can black do something against it.

Thanks

Replies

Yes, that's the Torre Attack.

In my eyes it's a potentially dangerous system, but only if black doesn't know what to do.

How did your game continue? 

Modern Maroczy 7. f3 line

Hi ChessMood GMs and community,

 I'm going through the modern maroczy course and just went through the 7. f3 section. I'm interested in the mainline position after 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 d6 7. f3 Nxd4 8. Qxd4 Bg7 9. Be3 O-O 10. Qd2 Be6 11. Rc1 Qa5 12. Be2 Rfc8 13. b3 Rab8. You covered multiple moves but I don't think you cover 14. g4 which is given by the engine. Do you have any comments about what to do in this position. It seems that in the lines you give, white doesn't play g4, but it is possible in this position as well as on the next few moves. My understanding is that g4 prevents f5 which is a thematic break for us, trying to create a weakness on e4. For example, after 14. Na4 Qxd2+ 15. Kxd2 Nd7, 16. g4 is given here as well. Even after 16. Nc3 a6, 17. g4 is given here too. In all places, g4 is either the first or second choice from the engine and it makes sense since you discuss g4 being a typical problem for us in these lines. If you could give some plans for us from the black side, that would be great. 

Thanks!

Replies

Hello,

g4 is a possibility for white, however, that move is not super concrete, and black has options like a6 or h5 or many others. Even b5 which is a pawn sacrifice can practically be very interesting from the Black's side.
As you might have seen in the forum policies our goal is not to provide super-long engine lines, instead, we are trying to offer practical to-play positions.

Thanks!

Alapin Variation. A question to GM Gabuzyan.

Hi Coach;

Actually I'm learning The Alapin Variation and was creating a pgn. In Section 2 - 4. Nf3 Video 5.d4 - 7. … d6 we arrived at this position:

 

We were hoping to fight against isolated pawn and in the video the choice was to go Be7 and castle because White doesn't have a concrete idea. The problem it seems to me (Using an egine of course), that White can force exchaging his isolated pawn with our e6 one and maybe we should delay e6- 0-0 and play another move to keep someting we can play against it.

Here is the line where White can force exchanging pawns:

12... Be7 13. d5 Nxd5 14. Rd1 O-O 15. Nxd5 exd5 16. Rxd5

Again I'm not saying the position is bad. It's totaly equal. It's only that White got rid of his isolated pawn.

 

And here is the line where we could maybe keep something:

12... Qb4 13. Qc2 Be7 14. a3 Qd6 15. Qe4 Nd5 16. Nxd5 Qxd5 17. Qxd5 exd5

Here we also have a weak pawn but at least the White's one is in a dark square, so our bishop will ba an attacker and White's one a defender.

Is there any difference coach or am I missing something?!

 

Replies

Hello,

this looks like a natter of taste. The things is when you trade on d5 and get your pawn there, d4 pawn is no longer a weakness as you also get pawn in d5. In both scenarios Black gets at least an equal position which is a good result out of the opening.

Good luck!

French attack 3.e5 Bd7 4.c3 a6 5.Bd3 Bb5 6.Bc2

How to continue when white keeps his good bishop this way and next pushing back our bishop to d7 after playing a4.

Replies

Nobody is going to play 3…Bd7 unless you pay him/her.

In all the French advanced I played in my life black goes 3…c5 a 100% times. For this you play c3, to defend the attacked d4.

I think it's just the drawback of the opening and engine knows how to punish Bd7.. But i can tell you i played two games already OTB against players 2000-2100 elo and they both did not even think of this plan. :)

So i would dont be worried too much..

Hi,

One of the options I tried once was to play a5 and keep the Bishop on a6 after white plays a4.

7q Method

Dear all,

 

I have a question on question # 6, example 2. In this position, the following idea came to my mind, starting witht he move b5: This will fix the weakness on c7 and offer a secure outpost for Bc6 which again will control the e8 square (thus securing the e- file for the rooks).

I understand, that a4 is a more active plan but I do not see the mistake in the above outlined plan. But, obviously you can only implement one plan…So, where is the mistake in this reasoning?

Replies

1.b5 with Bc6 looks nice, but then what? 
You can never really target the c7 pawn. 
While playing a4,a5,a6 White has a very clear plan. 

GM Avetik Book

Hello everyone, GM Avetik has said multiple times that he wrote a book, but when I searched it up, I found nothing, do you know about it? 

I'll be greatful for your help, Thanks!

Replies

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/new-book-by-avetik :)

NEW ARTICLE: To Succeed at Chess, Start with WHY

Hey Champions!

We have this topic in our Blog.
https://chessmood.com/blog/to-succeed-at-chess-start-with-why
If you have any questions, comments or you just liked it, feel free to share your thoughts here. 

Replies

Nice article on the dreaded (but ever so important) why question!

(Does size matter so much? How big is yours [your why] may not be as valid as the quality of intent of yours? Have you ever seen a "mustard" seed [or any seed] grow into a full size plant? Why does that happen? Does one seed have a greater burning desire than its other fellow seeds? We all want to reach our full potential, but conditions are not always right for some to do so unfortunately.)

Still, this why question, is the bane of all parents at some stage with young children.

When it comes with (or goes with) love though, it is indeed very powerful. Give them roots & give them wings & they will grow up to do great things! I can testify to & verify that to be true. It even applies to chess coaches and chess students!

I am not a good chess player, but as I change my mindset on this & play more I will improve (& my "why" is my own and special), but I was a good sportsman (especially at Squash rackets) in my youth. My son is a very good chess player,  as he learnt good chess by simply playing good chess as a junior (age 8-16yrs). I fondly remember one of my friends, who was a good squash payer, playing many games with me, as squash training & being competitive and encouraging to improve my play & we both had good fun with this and I improved. Later, I took professional coaching, but this was never the same and not as much fun, so even though it was useful, it was quite different.

It would be nice to replicate this "serious, yet fun" mode with some other good chess players for my chess training too, but so far I have found nothing as good, but this site helps! Maybe one day here I may find a kindred spirit to share chess play &  improvement with. I have just started enjoying interacting with one particular good chess player on his Twitch chess stream & I am learning to improve from this which is excellent!

Well, may we all aim for & reach the stars & fulfill our dreams & goals with our own unique special "why", but remember, chess is a game, which we are very blessed to play and study with these fine resources.

Right Mood, Right Move..

COGRO ChessMood family...best wishes and much love to you all  :-)

I started play chess when i am at grade 6. Nobody teach me how to play it..i just watch my grand father when playing..im not talented like other's but i felt fun playing it..one day there's a tournament in our town, i want to participate but my uncle wont allow me because he though im not good at it..that's the start i took a chalenge, i watch every game of some elite chess player in our town and study it before i sleep and after some weeks i defeated those some of the elite and also i defeat my uncle..im now 35 i want to be the number of my town but there is one that i cant defeat badly..it turns that were even or sometimes i have lost to him..when this pandemic come this chess mood appear in my wall, free for 7 days...i only watch some of the video because i dont have computer, i only rent in the computer shop..but in that little time i crush my opponents 10-0...im so happy but after that he study my moves with the computer and i cannot defeat him like the other day because some of the line i did not watch it...and i cant proceed to pro because i dont have any paypal or credit card... My goal is to become number 1 in the city and become a GM someday.. and i want to prove to my family that i will fulfill my dreams without there support.. for now i only solve those puzzle everyday but i cant solve it in the first attemp... Thank you chess mood...someday i will become pro member..thank you so much..sorry for my grammar..

A good teacher teaches and a great teacher inspires!

Thank you Avetik sir for this wonderful article.

Waiting for the next article:)

Amazing article! Start with why and find your why by Simon sinek best books I have ever read.

I liked this article and some of the other articles you have released on lichess and chessmood. I can't afford a coach so this for me helps to work on my chess psychology and just the way I view life in general

longterm why: reach 2000 fide, why? im always dreaming, that I can Play that good, that I can be on the transmiton board on a good tournament, after i will walk with my dad and analyze :D.

shortterm why? being that good, that I can Play in the chessmood arena/ tournament and win chessmood estential. why? I want to watch some grandmasters courses, but my family isnt that rich

The link sends me to 404…

That was a great article! It helped me really understand the mindset I should have not only in chess improvement but in every goal I have in my life. Everyone must ask this question to himself in everything he tries to accomplish in his life.

I am new to this platform and I found it by luck, by a blog posted on lichess about the 10 days where all courses were unlocked. I said to give it a try for these ten days as I have not the money to afford any expenses about chess. It was one of my best decisions in my chess journey. I stayed even after the end of the offer. I have not watched many courses as I can't buy them at the moment but your articles keep me motivated and helped me understand not only the right way to study and improve my chess, but also the reason why I want to do this, the mindset I should have. I hope that one day I will manage to buy a course through mood coins. Thank you for all your help. Keep up the great work!! 

Any ChessMood members in Chicago?

I’m in Chicago on business for a couple of days and have some free time tomorrow (Monday, August 21) evening. Anyone want to meet up and play a couple of games?  Or advice on a chess club near downtown?  I’m only about 1200 USCF. 

Replies

Doubt in the Attack with the Scotch Game course

Hi, I had a doubt in the Rare and Passive Moves section of the ‘Attack with the Scotch Game’ section. In the game 1 with Nd4 video, after Qd2, a6, h4, Bxh4, can White play g5, trapping the h4 bishop(instead of Qh2) ??

Replies

Hi, yes g5 is possible but Qh2 is far more powerful and aggressive as far as I notice. In the Qh2 variation even if the bishop gets defended with g5, you play Bg3 and then f4 no matter what opponent plays, challenging the defender of the h4 bishop and winning it on the next move, or weakening the king even more after f6 or h6, wich is basically game over(the attack is way too strong, especially on the h file wich will be opened eventually after something like Bxh4 gxh4 Qxh4) . Also if he does anything else (not g5) we can trade queens and head into a winning endgame, or even play Bg3 again, not trading queens and keeping a strong attack (after this I think the best move is g5 again but we do the same think, I might be wrong though) . So after Qh2 you win a piece and the king is also very weakened, or the attack becomes way too strong with various h file threats and very weak king and tactics everywhere. On the other hand after g5 he has the desperado Bxg5 wich slows down the attack a little bit because after Bxg5 f6 the bishop has to move and now a second rank defence is available with Rf7. It is still totally winning but I think that with Qh2 we give our opponent less chances to defend the attack and save the game in the endgame while being a bishop down, , wich is totally possible(for example R+B VS R is a draw with best play) . I can be totally wrong and the best move might be g5 because of some ridiculous engine defence after Qh2 but I think I am right. You can analyze it with an engine or ask in the pro members forum to get an answer by a grandmaster (if you are a pro member) to get more valuable answer than mine but this is my opinion on this position. Hope this helps.

Thanks for your response! I guess that Qh2 and g5 are both very strong and either of them can be played.

Middlegame Advice Pls

Hi all 

My biggest weakness is the middlegame and my biggest mistake is I drop pawns for free. Can anyone recommend a book video and etc. on how to study the middlegames  especially for Scotch, French and Dutch 

thanks 

Replies

Hi Steve,

since it's about middlegames resulting of ChessMood openings, you could

maybe watch the Model Games sections.

They might improve your feeling for the - among others- resulting middlegames.

Hi Steve,

What you mentioned is not an issue to solve in a single video and here is what I will recommend.

For the middlegames in the mentioned openings we have WhiteMood and Blackmood model games, in the simplified Chessmood openings section, where I am commenting on the middlegame ideas, and as well we have there lots of best games from the streams.

Regarding dropping a material you can check the Blunderproof course, and as well it's good to have a strong tactical vision to notice the resources on the board, so the Tactic Ninja course, will be very helpful as well.

Hi All 

Thanks for the advice. I will do It

When to go full SLP mode

Hello Chessmood family, I was wondering when to activate full SLP mode, like once I am a pawn or couple of pawns down or only to activate it when I am a piece down? I thought after I played this game https://lichess.org/ce6suduS#74 that I probably shouldn't have went all in SLP as I was only pawn down?

Replies

the scale method

Dear Cm coaches, in the section 2 Material at point 4. test of the scale method course, there is a mistake on counting the material : one rook has been ignored in white camp (the 3rd position of the test)

Replies

Yeah, we're already aware of the issue.
Actually, GM Gabuzyan later re-recorded the video, but we happened to upload the first option by mistake.
Anyway, we've already fixed it 🙂

How important is experience?

You hear all the time, even our dear chessmood GM's mentioning “experience.” Many people say things like, even if an older player's rating is lower now, they have lots of “experience” which makes them harder to beat. Or, “I didn't have that much experience at this point, so I did this or that” (Something around these lines was said by GM Avetik in game 2 of in Avetik's mind). IM Andy Woodward, age 13 years old, said in an interview I think something like ‘even at this high rating it is very hard to play against older players because of their experience.’ Really, how would you define this experience (is it playing stronger players, more games, does online count, etc.) and how important is it? A blog about this would be awesome, but also interested in everyone's opinion.

Replies

When someone has “experience”, they generally have a good understanding of what plans to choose, a strong intuition that can guide them through difficult situations, and are able to evaluate positions correctly. However, at the end of the day, it really depends on who played better chess.

What is experience and the advantage  of it? - it's hard to pin down.  More time = more experience? Playing for an hour for 10 years, is the same time as 4 hours a day for 2.5 years. It's hard to compare.

Playing for fun but never learning or analysing - is that experience so useful? Played a lot Vs someone who played less but had a good coach?

Do they understand how to play good chess Vs just push the pieces about. Or if they are an encyclopedia of knowledge, can they apply it?

So many variables.

If anything I worry more about juniors who are highly coached, improving and often underrated. I do respect long time players though.

Jobava London Doubt

Hello Chessmood family, 

I was going through the Jobava London course and then I noticed something interesting for white suggested by the engine: d4,nf6,nc3,d5,bf4,g6,e3,bg7,nf3,0-0, be2, c5,dxc5, nbd7, b4, ne4, nxd5!? Please could you let me know what we do in this variation? 

Thanks

Replies

Or maybe ne4 is inaccurate?

By the way Thunder, please could you be so kind to change your nickname and remove ChessMood from it?😅 Otherwise the users may think that you are part of the Chessmood team and it can be confusing. Thanks in advance! 😀

French Attack exchange variation

My question arises after this
1.e4 e6, 2.d4 d5, 3.exd5 exd5, 4.Nf3 Nc6, 5.Be2 Bd6, 6.O-O Ne7, 7. Nc3

The BlackMood Openings starter course discusses the aggressive setup with Bg4 and Qd7. But after 7. Nc3, I worry about Nb5 - trying to exchange the knight for our bishop on d6. Is this something to worry about (is it prudent to play 7…a6), or should we let white exchange if they want to?

Thanks! <3

Replies

I am assuming you mean 6. …Nge7 rather than 6. …Nce7 right? Anyway I checked a game data base and black scores well in this position, 57% of the time black wins. Both options score well a6 is less common but scores a little bit better than Bg4, 56% vs 57% win rate. The computer likes the move a6 best. the computer doesn't dislike losing the bishop pair but in practice against human opponents keeping the bishop pair is better. The moves to reach this position by white aren't really common though so this seems like a bit of a rabbit trail. (Unless you know someone who plays this as white).

Hello!

I play the Exchange variation against the French defense and here are my thoughts.

I think that 7.Nc3 is a dubious move in this position because after 7…a6 the knight is sitting there doing nothing: it is only guarding the e4 square but black isn't fighting for that square (black knight is not on f6), so there is nothing to guard.

Furthermore the e2 square is occupied by the bishop so there is no easy regroupment on the kingside for the c3 Knight.

Summarizing: after 7.Nc3 I think a6 is a pretty good move 😀

Accelerated Dragon Course

In the Accelerated Dragon course Advanced Section “7. Nc6 with f4 Video 9. Some complicated lines for advanced players” from minute 11:00 to the end of the video to the end GM Avetik explains how to continue from the position below.

Here he gave us gave here 27. …. Qc2 but with very complicated lines and a lot of fighting. Stockfish in Lichess said 27. …. Qxd3 with mate in 24 moves! I don't see the mate and even on Chess.com it wasn't clear. But White can't do nothing here! Engine gives 28. Nb5 or 28. Rc1 as best replies. They are totaly losing! I've won easily the two lines against the computer ion Lichess and Chess.com. 

Continuation on Lichess: https://lichess.org/rajP9fRY/black#53

Continuation on Chess.com:

[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "?"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[FEN "1r4k1/4pp1p/2p3p1/2Q5/6P1/2NBn3/P1Pq3P/K6R b - - 3 27"]

27... Qxd3 28. Nb5 Nxc2+ 29. Kb2 Rxb5+ 30. Qxb5 cxb5 31. Rc1 Nd4 32. h4 Qe2+ 33. Ka3 Qxg4 34. Kb2 Qxh4 35. Rc8+ Kg7 36. a4 bxa4 37. Rc3 Nb5 38. Rc8 Qb4+ 39. Kc2 a3 40. Kd3 a2 41. Rc1 Qb1+ 42. Rxb1 axb1=Q+ 43. Kc4 Nd6+ 44. Kc3 Qe4 45. Kd2 Qf3 46. Kc1 Qe2 47. Kb1 Kf6 48. Ka1 Ke5 49. Kb1 Kd4 50. Ka1 Kc3 51. Kb1 Qb2# 0-1

 

Replies

Hi Ilias, 

Your idea looks like an improvement and probably wins easier. However, this position is super-super deep and definitely if you are just trying to learn the openings, no need to dive in such a very deep analysis.

Thank you 🙂

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