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Chess forum by Grandmasters

Doubt in Sicilian Line

Hi ChessMood,

I was going through this line- e4,c5,nf3,g6,bc4,bg7,0-0, e6,c3,ne7,d4,cxd4,cxd4,d5,exd5 and I was wondering why the engine suggested exd5, giving us the IQP as well, whereas I thought nxd5 would be better as we don't have the IQP? Also is there a specific reason why you recommend the accelerated dragon in the black mood openings instead of hyper- accelerated because isn't the hyper accelerated just a cheat opening to escape the theory of the rossolimo and later transpose into the accelerated? 

 

 

Replies

CM recommends the acc. dragon (allowing the Rossolimo with 3.Bb5) and not the hyper acc. dragon (2…g6), as White then would have at least 2 good lines playing either 3.d4, cxd4 4.Qxd4 +=, or 3.c3, which is also good for White and a difficult variation for Black, as Black has already played g6.

Dear Chess Player, 

The line you mentioned is not in our openings, and usually we don't analyze the other lines here. You are very much welcome to ask questions from our lines, although very deep engine analyses are not appreciated. Even though our variations are clear, often we try to make good practical choices and offer easier positions to play.

As an exception, I would tell to you that in your mentioned variation instead of c3 white can get an advantage with the d4 move which opens the position. Since Black has played g6 their bishop will go to g7 and square on d6 would be pretty weak.

Good luck 😀

The most underrated question...

Hi Chessmood team! 

 

Recently I have noticed that I am thinking in a scatter-brain way and hence taking a lot of time and then of course blundering in time trouble

 

So the question from the above observation is : How do GMs like Avetik sir and Gabuzyan sir think from any given position (both positional and complex) in a 90 min classical tournament game ? It would help more if you could write the time taken for each step . Kindly recommend me some books on this topic too.

 

Always appreciate the effort made for us members! Super excited for the upcoming courses!

 

Regards

 

Vedant

Replies

New article: Inside the Mind of GM Vladimir Akopian

Champions,

Recently on the ChessMood podcast, we interviewed GM Vladimir Akopian, a titan of the chess world, who’s won 3 world championships – the U16, U18, U20; has helped his country win 3 gold and 2 bronze medals at the Olympiad and coached many strong Grandmasters.

In conversation with host GM Avetik, Akopian shared many stories and deep insights, including:

✅ What was it like to train at the Botvinnik Kasparov School 

✅ The advice Botvinnik gave him before the World Championship 

✅ Akopian’s matches with Garry Kasparov and the mindset that helped him to get a positive score against the World Champion 

✅ How he got arrested on his way to the chess olympiad and much more… 


You can read the article here👇

https://chessmood.com/blog/vladimir-akopian-interview
 

Also you can watch the full episode on Youtube, Apple Podcast, and Spotify:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tqlSHnnI6E

https://podcasts.apple.com/am/podcast/chessmood-podcast/id1685445424?i=1000618594673

https://open.spotify.com/episode/55QAdhXiIm8VrNhr1NXcz5?si=qgUeWDwHQuW1G6qAtrrdFg&nd=1

 

Replies

Thank you, that was very interesting! 👏

Nice interview!

Very nice to get some insights in how it was back in the days.

Thank you so much.

Excellent article.

I bookmarked it to read it “deeply” later.

Regards.

Modern move order missing?

In a rapid OTB tournament someone played 1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Be3 Nd7, this doesn’t seem to be covered in the course, I played g4 anyways but I was wondering if there was a way to directly punish this, the engine recommends Qd2 but I think Black can then play a6 and he has played a standard modern avoiding the Pasini variation 

Replies

Please, update your name on your profile to not reflect "anonymous user" otherwise we may have many users with the same name. Thanks in advance.

Sicilian with 2. .... e6.

Hi,

I had a game with 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. f4 Nc6. I've studied all fifth courses of Main Sicilian. Could someone tell me at which line belong this?! Maybe I'm missing something but I can't see! I played here 4. Bb5 as in Sicilian with            2. …. Nc6 but opponent could answer with Nge2.

Replies

Yes you are right Nge7 is a normal way for Black in this position. You should go 4.Nf3 instead of Bb5 and it will transpose to the lines of the courses, for example…d5 etc. There are literally many options for Black and we covered the most common ones like g6, d6, d5… 😃

Tournament in a month advice

Hi, I've got an important OTB 25 +10 tournament in a month against some people that have online chess.com ratings around 2300 and 2400. My rating is around 2150 chess.com rapid and I have watched the majority of the step-by step-white openings for white and only Benko gambit for black (excluding the advanced sections). I also have finished around half of the rating booster courses.

 I am on my summer holidays so I have a lot of time to go deep into ChessMood Courses! I was just wondering whether I should try and learn the Sicilian and get my openings very strong before the tournament, or whether I should prioritise finishing the rating booster courses, or something else. 

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated 👍

Replies

😀We talked about this in the office today and since you will not win the games in the opening, you should prioritize your calculation and tactic skills instead in this case. Of course if you have plenty of time and good capacity for retention and memorization, why not? You can try to add one more opening but if you already have a good opening, we would not prioritize learning a new one instead of working on more fundamental skills. 😀

Subtitulo en Espanol

🙂

Buenas tardes le saluda Victor Chaponan desearía migrar a esta plataforma, que me encanto, pero no domino el ingles por eso es que desearía sub-titulos en espanol de todos los videos y asi poder aprender mas, espero me puedan responder, Gracias

Replies

Hola Victor,

Muchas gracias por tu mensaje. Mensajes asi nos dan ganas de continuar trabajando.

Esperamos en un futuro poder ofrecer subtitulos en varios idiomas, y el espanol sera el primero. Ya lo tenemos en mente pero es mucho trabajo…😀

Sicilian 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3

I couldn’t find this line covered, I guess 3… g6 is a good option to avoid transpositions to open lines that aren’t the accelerated dragon, we can also try to “punish” it with 3… e5, what would you recommend?

Replies

It's in the beating anti Sicilians Bc4 course. Yes g6 going for a transposition is the move.

Dutch Attack in action-best games in July

Check out this #chess game: villamartin vs pohkong777 - https://www.chess.com/live/game/83800893299

Replies

Middlegame principles

In your course “Opening principles” you recommend to study next a course called “Middlegame principles”, but I didn't find a course with this description.

Replies

We are working on it. Still not finished and not published yet… In the meanwhile I am sure that you will find many good courses. If you are interested in middlegame I recommend you The Wolf of ChessStreet, I am sure that you will find many interesting concepts… 

Is there a London course in chess mood.com?

Title

Replies

Since we do not recommend the London for White, we do not. 
We have a course on how to play against the London system in the Black repertoires.

How to avoid blunders when you have a winning position?

Hi, I have realised that most of my loses in games are because I blunder when I have a winning advantage. How do I fix this?

Replies

You should check our course blunderproof where Avetik offers all the necessary tips.

https://chessmood.com/course/blunderproof

Are you actually blundering, or are you just losing positions where the engine shows a big score for you?  A blunder means making an obvious tactical mistake.  Sometimes, in positions where the engine shows a sizeable advantage, the position can be very non-obvious and not so easy to play.  Can easily be lost by normal means without blunders.

Whats in the PGNs?

Hi, I’m considering to buy the monthly membership after these 10 days of free videos end, I’m already in day 1 and my repertoire has already improved, I was wondering what are the PGNs in the video courses that come with the membership about, are there all the opening lines in the video-course? Thanks in advance 

Replies

In the pgns there is the homework that you need to fill to have the full lines. We do not believe in providing the full lines, the student must build his/her own pgns after watching the videos. Our philosophy regarding pgns is explained in:

 https://chessmood.com/blog/the-most-effective-way-to-create-chess-pgn-files

😃

Black Lion

I have a question about whites play against the Black lion. As far as I understood from the white opening repertoire, we play 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3…This sequence does not match the recommendation against the black lion which is Nge2, g3, Bg2 b/ the knight already moved to f3 in move 2. Pls. help me find the right sequence, where am I wrong? Best Regards, Kurt

Replies

How does black enter the Lion after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 ?  If 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 Nd7 we delay Nc3 and play the sharp 4.Bc4! and it's not so easy for black.

Hi Kurt,

💪😀Can you please write the exact move order that you are referring to? Because without further details, we believe that Peter is right…😀 (As he usually is…💪)

Issues with Exchange French ?

😦

 

I like the the Ches Mood French set ups but I think the exchange system is a bit idealistic . I find White rarely plays the way suggested and I either get a very sterile position or come under attacking pressure first. For instance e4 ed : d4 d5 : Nc3 Nf6 : e/d ( duped out of our approach ?!)  e/d : . White can then play moves like Nf3 & Bd3 or e2 . If we try for Bd6 then our good bishop can be hit by Nb5. Plus if we try for Nc6 & Bd6 our d5 pawn is vulnerable to Bg5. If we aim to exchange our white squared bishop ( bad bishop) then with a bishop on d6 we can come under pressure down the e-file once White castles short or simply Qe2 +. We need time to untangle and castle long and don't have that time . Even Bb5 can be problematic if we play Nc6 once White commands the e-file. 

Appreciate some ideas here ??    

Replies

If they play 5.Nf3 then I personally like Bb4.  Often you can take on c3 when the time is right and play against the weak c3 pawn and also the weak c4 square.  It can also sometimes be good to combine it with Bg4.

Hi Keven,

This was debated on the following post:

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/french-exchange-after-5-nc3-3467

Remember that Nc3 on move 4 is replied by Nc6, on move 5 after usually Nf3 is Bb5. 😀

A brilliant move

Why this is a brilliant move? Can smb help me with this question?

Replies

😀Because White will have a massive lead in development even after losing the rook. In the best line the King side pieces will be undeveloped and White should be able to attack at least if he is a very good player. That should be the position resulting: (See the pic)😀

About french Attack

Dear sir!

after 1.e4 e6 d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.E5 Ng8 white plays 4.Be3 how we should continue here

in blackmood opening this was not mentioned and often players are playing this line.

thankyou so much sir 

Replies

Seems to be a rare move played only about 2% of the time.  The computer says Nd7 which makes sense because Be3 temporarily stops the typical freeing move c5, and Nd7 allows us to play c5.

Scotch Advanced - 14. Qc2 (22.b4)


Dear GM Avetik,


thank you for this wonderful idea (22.b4) and the brilliant analysis. 

 

I learned so much more than "just" a variant and got a deeper understanding of opposite-colored bishop endgames.


Recommendation!


Heartfelt


Matthias 

Replies

😍🤩Lovely comment Matthias!! 😍😊

Super! 
Thank you very much :) 

Indeed, through our courses, including openings, I tried to teach chess overall. Not just opening moves or novelties. 
And I was very happy to see this post. 

Thanks, Matthias! 

Search for key words

How can I search e.g. for key words e.g. for black lion? 

Replies

Hi Kurt! You can just write the word in the search box on top of the forum. Then you will find the word if it is on the subject of the post.

In this case if you write "lion", you will get no hits. I do not recall any post on the Black Lion, but in the Philidor course it is dully covered.

One of the things that is very useful is when people write the move order in the subject because you can find the post writing a concrete move in the variation.

😀Good luck in your search!😀

How to increase my Rating?

How to increase my Rating?

Replies

Your rating will only increase once you start improving your chess. So a better question should be "How to improve my chess". You'll find lots of articles about chess improvement here: https://chessmood.com/blog Check Chessmood's Study Plan and work seriously on what is important at your current level and you'll improve tremendously your chess (and also your rating as a consequence of your hard work 👍)

There are many ways to improve your rating, here are a few that I found helpful. 

  1.  Relax. I was studying all the time, and I wasn't playing chess, I was taking a test. It hindered my ability to be flexible. I wasn't playing the best move because I was trying too hard to remember the “right” move. 
  2.  Take breaks when losing. It is easy to want to end on a win, but losses bring about more losses. If you lose a few games in a row it might be time to take a break.
  3.  Play at the right time. If you are playing at 3 in the morning, then you will likely not be playing at your best. If you are playing while you are distracted, you might lose games you should have won.
  4.  Tactics. I know that this is one you will see in many videos/articles on this topic, but tactics are highly important. A lack of tactic knowledge might be the reason that you are blundering. Also, the way that you study tactics matters. I suggest studying puzzles by topic, rather than random puzzles such as on Lichess. 
  5.  Accept that it might take a little while to get better. Many people claim to have rapidly gotten a ridiculously high rating, but it might not be that way for you depending on how much time you have to study, and various other factors. 
  6.  Focus on getting better at chess and not rating. This one is easier said than done but know that if you are studying the right way, you will get better, and eventually you will see results. 
  7.  Remember that your value is not connected to your chess rating. I have heard many podcasts about people who quit chess for a while because they evaluated themselves based on their chess rating. 

    I hope that this helps, and if you need a sparring partner, my chess.com name is TheCheckmateDragon. 

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