Chess forum by Grandmasters

Hi everyone!

I am looking for a convenient sports betting app in Uganda. What can you recommend?

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BlackMood vs Larsen's Opening 1. b3 d5 2. e3

Hi all,

One of the first times I played the BlackMood openings, my opponent played the Larsen's Opening. I wanted to follow the course, so I played 1. b3 d5, with the intention of bringing the bishop to b2, but my opponent played 1. b3 d5 2. e3, which made that impossible. I played the Stonewall anyway, but without developing my light square bishop first.
Do you have any ideas how I can play this next time? I could play e4, but then I would run into a theory that Avo wanted us to avoid?

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I wouldnt worry about it too much, as you will likely almost never face this again.

When facing a surprise, just play according to opening principles and your style. Since you know the Stonewall structure, it makes sense to just play that. Again, dont worry about it, Ive been playing chess for 4ish years and have never faced that and chances are it will be a long time before you face it again.

The Stonewall should be fine. You could also consider putting your f-pawn on f6 instead of f5 to counter Bb2. The setup with e3 and b3 is not really aggressive enough to demand a specific response.

I think this line is interesting too, if you want to gambit a pawn:
1. b3 d5 2. e3 e5 3. Bb2 Nc6 4. Bb5 Ne7 5. Bxe5 a6 6. Bxc6+ Nxc6 7. Bb2 Qg5

It should be fine and if you continue to have problems reach out to me on lichess, I have this openiing, b3 all figured out I'll teach you the common ideas and some goals wanted to acomplish. My account is MasterZaheem

WOOHOO 1500

I should probably not be running around singing ‘We will, we will flag you’ but oh well…I'm a giant child haha. I gave up on growing up.

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New article: The Power of Long-Term Thinking in Chess Improvement

When he started, he was behind.
For years, he never even made a podium finish in his age group.

Yet, Noel Studer went on to become the youngest GM in his country!

Not because he was the most talented. Not because of crazy training.
So what made the difference? 

In today’s article, he shares a powerful lesson from his journey:
https://chessmood.com/blog/long-term-thinking-in-chess-improvement
 

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Hi Noel 

I'm completely agree with you …..haste is a bad partner 
Cheers
 

Thank you for this article Noel, as the saying goes a black belt is just a white belt who never gave up! I still struggle with obsessing over my rating so I'll work on sticking to my training, letting go of attachment, and focusing on long term time horizons moving forward

Absolutely related to my issues in chess … 

uh, … 

and my ‘issues’ from day-to-day  :/

My father told me once that “Sport is life in miniature.”  I liked that.  It feels similar here, eh?

Thanks for the article, Noël.  I enjoy your courses, too.

Yes, after reading this article i went and checked my lichess account. A few days ago i lost 3games in a row in my coaches tournament i felt so bad. the next day i won 2 and lost 1 but still my rating just went down. I recovered a little in the last few days but 1557 was what i regretted. now when i check i can see in 2024 nov-dec i was stuck ing 1000 odd. So guess what that sadness that i rapidly dropped just went. I raised 343 rating points in lichess in 4months and six days. that is till now 3/20/2025

I'm back!

I got my pro membership after 2 months of intense adversity and struggle and now can play chess again! 

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Welcome back, Tyler!

All the best 😊

Welcome back!

Hey Brother, welcome back!

I enjoyed seeing your growth as you were advancing pretty fast - good luck, and happy to see you again :-) 

Has anyone faced the Caro-Kann Defense: De Bruycker Defense (1.e4 c6 2.d4 Na6)...?

https://www.chess.com/openings/Caro-Kann-Defense-De-Bruycker-Defense

It seems to me like an ugly opening variant (might fit to the Opening Avengers course…). However, I wanted to ask if anyone has faced it before and what is your experience and/or recommendation about it (as White)….? 

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Dear Angelo,

2…Na6 is terribly bad idea as it's against all the opening principles.
You can continue with 3.c3 and after d5 just capture - playing with typical exchange carocan ideas.

Bug in the RocknRolling with Black

In the Accelerated Dragon section of the RocknRolling with Black course, the 21st and 22nd games are the same, and the quizzes of these 2 games are the wrong quizzes; it doesn't feature any part in the video. I hope that the bug will be fixed soon.

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HI Kamikeize!

Thanks for letting us know!
We have fixed the issue. 

French isn't suiting me!

Me, won tons of games as white scotch attacking them! Game starts and after long I'm black! My opponent is a super strong player stuck in low rating. e4 e6!
I start French went on well but soon I realized MY KING IS NOT SAFE! White king castles short. No way to attack! And white tries to get a pawn breakthrough! My king cannot castle because I thought the closed center was very safe and moved my king! soon the center opened and I had to sacrifice pieces to keep my king safe temporarily! Soon not enough pieces or pawns to protect so my king started running to opponent's camp. Gladly I was able to trade one of my bishop for a rook and all opponents minor pieces.
So better but still bad. It was,
white queen-my queen
white rook-my other bishop
about 5 white pawns- about 2 of my pawns
And of course white king- my king
I took my last chance and gave a check from the back-rank, if rook blocks I can win if king runs almost no hope. And my opponent put the rook down<well i guess playing with low rated players can mess up you're strength>. So bishop check, queen checkmate!
Now where was I? Yes! so there I got lucky but in other games with ones stronger than me I felt lack of space and a lot of problems!
So could someone please recommend some good openings that plays well against the opponent who asks me to play scotch please?

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Maybe some kind of dragon? I play c5 and immediatly g6, but you can also play Nc6 first. Jozarov (an unknown chess youtuber, around 36k subscribers on youtube) has a whole playlist about 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6, you can watch some of his videos about it if you want to. But don't study everything because he has 50 videos or something around that :)! 

can you send some games of yours as i also play french for both side so i can help you improve in the opening because changing the opening without knowing why it is failing would make you stuck to same game play.

but on reading your problem you panick quickly and overexaggerate the problem without considering the real chances any opening would not give you a better position but a position which is complex for both side so you should not apply that your position is weak instead try to take advantage of resources you should see model games of the opening you play. 

in this case of french (dream variation) try to first place your pieces to good square and try to avoid exchanges or pawn exchange do not try to open up the center or break the center instead try to flank the opponent with tempo in the most cases and next thing centre cannot open in french unless you mess up something big i think you should study that mistake back a while ago i was also making the same mistake by playing unneccessary on queen side and in the centre when there is no need which opponent give chance to open up the centre and  there are couple of blogs too which can help you to understand the position

but instead of improving you want to just want to play for fun feel free to try pirc defence as the sicilian would also be a problem untill you solve your current problem.

i would provide the neccesaary help if you want to improve so please dont lose hope quickly

can you share your chess.com id or lichess id with me

i would analyse the games with aim chess and then send you the report

New success story - How our 74-year-old student raised 350 points in 4 months!

At the young age of 74, our student Gian raised 350 points in 4 months!

“I’m too old.”
“I don’t understand English.” 
“I miss tactics.”

He could’ve made these excuses.
But instead, Gian chose to make changes and transform his game. 

Here’s exactly what he did:
https://chessmood.com/success-stories/gian-carlo-di-martino

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Congratulations Gian!  That is remarkable progress for anybody, let alone somebody who has to make use of sub-titles for the courses - an admirable feat.  😎

Compimentissimi Gian!!!

Devo ritrovare la voglia e tu sarai di ispirazione!

Continua così💪💪💪💪💪

Great Work Gian!!!  An inspirational story especially for this 61 year old.  All the best, Bret

Gian! Fantastic! 
I sent you an email to your inbox. Check it out :) 

Claudio, thanks a lot for helping to translate this amazing story! 

Thanks! My Dad is 52 and already feeling over the hill. Good to read about your journey to improvement.

Complimenti signor Giancarlo, alla sua eta' questo miglioramento e veramente ammirevole! Continui cosi! Io sono un 44enne Siciliano che vive in uk, se vuole mi puo' aggingere su chess.com come amico. nickname: lunemberg79. In bocca al lupo!

Congratulations Gian.
I showed your story to my dad, who's in his 60s. Now he's thinking about learning chess along with his grandson (my nephew). 
And thank you Claudio for helping out with the translation!

Wow! Truly Impressive!! 

Great job! And success is not a destination but a journey which can go on forever, there's always more to improve. I expect another few articles because of you
‘The old new FM’
‘Became FM to IM in a 1 year’
‘GM! Goal accomplished!’

Blitz Trickery

Here are two games where I swindled my opponents in a blitz game. Both were rook endgames that I should have lost, but I managed to claim 1.5/2 points.

This game serves as a warning against unnecessary premoves. I figured I only had one trick left, and it worked like a charm against my relaxed opponent
https://www.chess.com/game/live/136200112436?move=131 

My mouse skills are nothing to brag about, but here I used my speed and intuition to force a draw in a bare KR vs KR endgame with 10 seconds versus 50.

https://lichess.org/ckqRSIIe#112 

Neither of these games are impressive, but they are a good reminder to never lose focus in the endgame.

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I'm always impressed when players are able to premove - I'm still struggling to make decent moves without premoving!  😉

Great job in the first game - at move 56 there isn't even the tiniest slither of black on the evaluation bar!!

The second game is a great illustration of how to use premoves to your advantage.

Why d4 sidelines, and not the d4 main lines? Chessmood, can you please post a course about the catalan defense, I am struggling on how to develop my c8 bishop.

Do you have any advice on what to play?

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Hello,

in the openingcourses the catalan is not mentioned, because the black repertoire goes for the Englisch or Maroczy,  I thi k.

Hope that helps.

Christoph 

Dear Agastya,

We do have already the opening for White and Black below and above 2000 level. We are not doing the courses on the custom requests - in the future we might have wider opening choice, but I can't tell you yet which openings we might include. 

If you will have any questions regarding the courses we have on the website, I would love to assist you.

Good luck :-) 

NEW ARTICLE: Which Chess Books? Openings? Courses? The 3 Golden Rules When Asking for Recommendations

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Great article @GM_Avetik_Grigoryan!

If you don't mind, I would like to know this answer from you

I am 1628 fide rated player

I am a crazy opening and engines fan and focus on openings very heavily and try to out prepare opponents

I do read pawn structures (from udemy and ChessBase) and attacking play, but  I still get inferior positions sometimes because of lack of opening knowledge or I sometimes mix up moves in positions that I may have drilled it the same day

My biggest fear (possibly), is I don't want equal positions directly without any fight 

I love to press opponents but sometimes get pressed myself badly

My style is more tactical in nature so sometimes I lose patience and get squeezed

As of now, I can spend 3 hours max on chess but after 2-3 months, as my exams are finished, I will give 6-7 hours to chess

I would be really grateful if you could suggest to me something

Great article. I think an advisor should recommend books according the style of the player.

I hired in 2019 a GM who played 1.d4 and as black 1.d4 Nimzoindian 1.e4 e6, so really we stopped talking about openings since I play the Scotch, the Najdorf and the Modern Benoni. He liked things to go slowly and I played in a rush, dropping the 1780 FIDE rating in 220 points.

I too would like to know this recommendation from you Coach Avetik!

I am 13 years old and I am a very passionate player.

I am 1900 USCF and around 1600 FIDE, though both should be much higher after the virus.

My goal is to become a top Grandmaster and inspire others to learn and play chess!

I can invest 2-3 hours on chess on school days and much more on weekends.

As for my style,  I like both attacking and positional chess, though I would say I like positional a little better. I love endgames as well.

Thank You!

P. S. As I mentioned in another forum, the National Online Scholastic Championships are coming up and I am hungry to win!

I also want a recommendation.

I am young and a very aggressive player.

I am around 250 because I play in a really fast motion.

My goal is to become a respected and a player people remember.

I can play 2-3 hours.

I'm not like a good positional player.

What should I do that is going to be useful to me right now?

e5. In Pirc e4d6d4nf6nc3 e5!... is that variation in the course

This e5 variation seems like an endgame.. is it in the course. Thanks

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It's a Philidor transposition, it's covered there.

7 year old Blind folded full chess game!

My son is currently 7 years old and he has been learning chess for a year now. To develop memory and visualization skills, I tried an exercise that turned out to be surprisingly good. I asked him to tell me moves without looking. I knew he could tell me a few moves of the opening, but to my surprise, he actually told me all the moves of the game. I did record it and am sharing the YouTube link ( https://youtu.be/WNxAMWyTigA?si=8y31NPiSlEE5NKcc )  Of course, he might not be able to play an entire game with anyone blindfolded, yet I am wondering if what he did is something that other kids at this age would also be able to do if they have been learning for a year or if it is very rare. Your thoughts, please.

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Very impressive.

I imagine that it is fairly rare but perhaps more common with children than with adults (we seem to find it harder to remember things as we get older).  

I've seen Levy (GothamChess) play whole games blindfolded so it is certainly possible.  I have no doubt that your son will be able to do this in due course - he has certainly made a fantastic start.

Out of curiosity, does he use any sort of memory techniques to help him or does it just come naturally to him?  For example, I can recall the sequence of a shuffled pack of playing cards but I use a combination of memory techniques to do it.

Highly Interesting (and Instructive) Game of mine.

Ok so here is the thing:

I played this game today, it was 3+2 blitz, and I executed a nice combination. I was considering putting this in the best games forum, but didn't feel it was up to standard as 1. I sued the conversion poorly (low time). 2. I lost! … in a winning position on time. This has happened way more than I would like to admit XD.

Here is the study with my comments: https://lichess.org/study/zNkAqpm2/1YmzfRYX

This was very pretty soI felt I had to share :)

Any questions or discussions and I will try to answer below :)

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There were some lovely moves in that game! 😎

At what point would you say that you started making sub-optimal moves because of the time pressure? How do you imagine the game would have progressed if you had more time?

Oh, and I don't recall it saying anywhere that a ‘best game of the month’ has to be one that you won - and given that some users seem to post a ‘best game’ every couple of hours I think you should go for it! 😉

Nice combination! I'm impressed that you spotted the sacrifice so many moves ahead in a blitz game.

1.d4 Nf6 2. Nf3

I love the courses, the quality of teaching is amazing. I haven't been through all the opening material yet but had a good look around and was trying to find what line to play against 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3. Is there a video that I'm missing  on this or is it still to come? Thanks very much. 

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Hello!

I play the KID, but used to play the Benko so here is what I know.

I would play G6. If C4 then c5 with a transposition. If White plays for Bf4 then it's a London. If Nc3, then a Jobava (after D5).

The problematic line is g3. Against this I played Bg7 Bg2 0-0 0-0 and now d6. After C4, c5, it's an alright position. You can do some self analyse there and you will see many transpositions to Benko.

Upcoming Benko updates

Hi! 

I would like to learn the Benko this summer. 

If the new version is coming out in the next few weeks I'll gladly wait for it… is there an approximate realease date?

Thanks a lot

Andrea

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Hi Andre,

Benko updates course is under construction and will be recorded in the future, although for sure not in the next few weeks as its and enormous work, and as you can see we are also actively recording other courses as well :-)
Thanks for your patience and good luck!

…

Something new?

I hope the update will come soon.

Christoph 

Accelerated Dragon With Rxb2!

Hey guys.😊 Here is my game I am really proud of. 

These tactics are usually found in e5 variation but it is very useful to have this signature Rxb2 in mind when playing dragon because it can be very useful and the opportunity can show up anytime really.   

https://www.chess.com/game/live/123344632254?move=11

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Thanks!

Holy shit my adrenaline is high right now

I'm competing in a correspondence tournament and I just managed to SLPify a completely lost game where I carelessly threw my rook in the toilet. My opponent has no queen 😀

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While looking for a quality forum to discuss online casino tactics, I found this site and its service - https://rollandwin.com/forum/. I really liked this site, and that's why I want to recommend it to you! I have learnt a lot of new information on this forum, and that's why I would like to recommend it to you as well!

Query about attachments in the Classical Commented games course

Hi chessmood family .Today I downloaded the attachments of the strategic masterpiece commented classical games course.However I could not open it .it says you do not have a proper app for viewing this content .So what to do .what app will I need to view it ?

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Hey there,

We usually use chessbase - do you have that program? 

You can use "scid" or "scid vs pc" as alternative to chessbase, it's not as great as chessbase but it's free, open source and you can view all the games on the .pgn format that you downloaded.

https://scid.sourceforge.net/

https://scidvspc.sourceforge.net/