Chess forum by Grandmasters

New article: How Being Rich Almost Killed My Chess Career

GM Gabuzyan almost lost his chess career due to a comfortable, problem-free life. In his latest article, he shares how a sudden wake-up call sparked the motivation to go from an average player to Armenia's youngest Grandmaster. 

His journey of overcoming laziness, pushing past comfort, and achieving greatness is a must-read for anyone facing their own challenges. 

Dive into his inspiring story now 👇

https://chessmood.com/blog/how-being-rich-almost-killed-my-chess-career

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The threat of the army worked first time so why not arrange this for the second time?! Best wishes for your next challenge. I hope to see less of you so that we can keep hearing more from you.

Excellent! Good point. And it is logical that I would like you to share the training habits. They will surely help me and many colleagues. I already died 70 years ago and now I am looking for motivation to continue progressing in chess. I hope your example enlightens me. Success in your new challenge. 

Excellent! Good Point. And it is logical that I would 

Hi GM Gabuzyian . Your story is interesting and any details on your training is welcome . For your new goal , I m confident that you have the will power to succeed . Like for anything we want to achieve , you need to aim for long term benefit . I advice to stay away from the quick miracle diet as the body need time to adjust . Good luck ! 

Please mind your health and lose that weight dear Hovhannes. Chessmood would be a duller and less inspiring place without you. 

wow very intrestnig i very much realate to you

what a fantastic honest open post! 

Really impressive writing!!!!  all the best for your (and our!) next goals.   

Thank you for your heart-felt and motivating story, GM Gabuzyan. Your honesty will help me and so many other people. 

Writing about your weight-loss challenges, if you choose to do so, will undoubtedly help many people with their own weight challenges. 

Really enjoyed reading about your personal journey to GM, and what motivated you to succeed. The photo of you and GM Avetik as kids is great. You have been very honest about the challenges ahead as they relate to your weight loss journey, and I am sure that both passion (and fear) will be very motivating in this journey also. Wishing you great success, one step at a time. All the very best! 

Thanks, all of the psychology topics from chessmood has changed the trajectory of my life

You are an inspiration, my friend! It's a good reminder that big a big advantage plus a small drive equals little progress while even a small advantage plus a big drive equals crushing it. You were in SLP mode and you came out on top! I have no doubt you will do the same with your new challenge.

p.s. I would love to hear both…The training tips and your new goal. 

Hi Hovhannes,

The ChessMood approach is really the best thing I have experienced for improving chess. Professionalism in a kind of cosy environment. High quality content and I will have difficulties to learn from a chess book again! I am convinced that you find the right mood and motivation especially knowing what is at stake! I wish you all strength to come out on top!!!! Any training tips and health journey progess updates are appreciated as I will learn from both!!

Great read - thanks Hovhannes and wow great story !

Good luck in your new challenge. In case it is an inspiration, I have over the last two years prioritised health over all else.

I read that if you need to fill a jar with rocks, you must put the biggest ones in first and then the smaller ones will fit in too. Once I realised that my health is the biggest thing of all, because it powers everything (including what I can be for others), I prioritise it. Yesterday I rescheduled a meeting because something happened in the family that meant I would lose my daily workout, and so I needed to find time for it. And why not. 
 

Now with this new strategy of exercise/diet/sleep as my immovables, I find I can do more than ever. I hope you can find the same strategy to make yourself even greater as a person by succeeding in your new challenge !

Excellent article! It's sad sometimes we can't find the fire as easily as when resources are stretched and time is limited T.T

And yes, of course I'm curious to learn the training techniques your coach taught you!

It is so good to see that you are comfortable sharing your experiences with the Chessmood Family,hope you live a happy chess life

A great article Hovhannes.  It is not easy to overcome laziness and distractions, I know!  I am at a very different stage of life than you were and hoping to reach a rating of 2000 by the age of 60.   Can I do it??????   14 months to go and currently about 1500 on chess.com 

LOL I feel ya man: attracting beauty queens for groupies when I was 20 and rated 2000 did kill my chess career.

Nice subcommunication: let women know you're wealthy by framing it as a problem while also letting them know you're a GM alpha dog!

BTW chess is solved.  

ha ha  I was literally very speed in chess and always makes blunder now I am recovering it

WAIT A MINUTE! 120kg? How did bro get there?Sorry but bro is fatter than my mom haha

Move order problem

Hi, I'm enjoying the starter repertoire for White but am confused about how to handle a certain move order. We want to play the Grand Prix against the Sicilian. However, after e4 e6 d4 c5, Black has tricked us into playing w/ 2d4 as we do against the French, and then taken us into a Sicilian where we would prefer the pawn to stay on d3. Any thoughts on how to handle this?

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https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/e4-e6-d4-c5-977

Hi, it is discussed here for example.

So, 3.d5! is the way to go.

positional chess and middlegame roadmap

Dear Coach, I am thinking about subscribing to chessmood. I have heard of a lot of great things about chessmood. When will the “positional chess” and “middlegame roadmap” courses be posted on the website? And when will the advanced French and Dutch opening courses be posted on the website?  Thanks a lot,

Tony

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Dear Tony,

Thanks for your interest but we never provide any release date. We take a lot of time in selecting the best examples and this course is going to be very important. We always try to do our best and we expect to publish it this year, but we cannot say the date.All the courses that you mentioned should be released this year.
 

😄Also in the Classical Commented Games and the Daily lessons there are many, many positional tips and tactics explained all the time, check them out too. 💪
May the Chessmood Force be with You!😁

Mistake in Endgame Roadmap Video

I noticed a small mistake in the Connected Passed Pawns video of the Endgame Roadmap.

In Section 1 video 11 at 1:19, Avetik shows capturing the e6 pawn first, but this will actually lead to a draw. Best is Ke5, then Kf6! capturing the g6 pawn first.

https://chessmood.com/course/chess-endgame-roadmap/episode/5005

Here's a lichess study showing the position and evaluations:

https://lichess.org/study/KSqDXhXE/NaM16uqS

Loving the videos and just wanted to point this out for him to add an update so others don't make this mistake :)

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Need Guidance in tournament preperation

I have an important tournament ( youth finals ) in about december 27 , I have practiced alot of puzzles and finished the courses calcman , attack like a viking , 7q method , pawn endgames , Blunderproof , tactic ninja etc etc…but even after all this now only I noticed I don't have a proper opening..so I started practicing new  openings for white and black , is this a good decision or is this gonna affect badly on me? Simply said I'm afraid my lack of memorised opening lines will backfire on me badly..and I don't exactly know what to do in the final days of preperation..please help :")

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🙂

It's great that you're putting in a lot of effort to prepare for your tournament. It's understandable that you're feeling a bit stressed about your lack of opening knowledge, but don't worry too much.

Here are a few things you can do to help you prepare for your tournament:

   Focus on the basics. Make sure you have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of chess, such as tactics, strategy, and endgame technique. These are the most important things to focus on in the final days before your tournament.
   Don't try to learn too many new openings. Instead, focus on learning a few simple and reliable openings that you can play both as White and Black.
   Play lots of games. The best way to improve your chess is to play lots of games. This will help you get a feel for the different openings and positions that can arise in the game.
   Relax and have fun. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Just go out there and enjoy playing chess.

Here are some specific tips for preparing for your tournament:

   Review your games. Go over your recent games and see if you can identify any patterns in your play. Are there any openings that you're struggling with? Are there any tactical mistakes that you're making?
   Practice with a friend or online. Playing chess with someone else is a great way to improve your skills. You can also find online chess servers where you can play against other players of all levels.
   Get a good night's sleep. It's important to be well-rested before your tournament. This will help you to focus and play your best.

I hope these tips help you prepare for your tournament. Good luck!

Pawn structures, types of centers, etc

Hi there, Chessmood family!

I was wondering if there is any course about pawn structures, types of centers (open, close, fixed, mobile,…),Carslbad structures, minority/majority attacks, how to play against isolated pawn, how to play against a bad piece (such as the french bishop), all this type of important things that go beyond tactics.

Thank you very much for your comments  

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Most of those things are covered in the Classical Games courses, although it might not be organised according to the specific themes you listed.  For example a classic Carslbad game is Bobotsov-Petrosian but you wouldn't guess it by glancing at the course where the description only says “Never Play Without a Plan”.

Actually, that's an idea for ChessMood: index the Classical Games courses according to different themes.  I think this could be a huge value-add and is a lot easier than creating a new course :-)

🙂

You may read books like, Pawn Structure Chess by Andrew Soltis,Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide by Mauricio Flores Rios,The Power of Pawns: Chess Structure Fundamentals for Post-Beginner Players by Jörg Hickl etc. Or you can refer to certain chessable courses covering them. Or the classical games given in here.

Alternative line for Scotch game

Hey Everyone !

Recent I played this line in blitz tournament and I am little confused about assesment this position.

I choosen this variantion because I like sometimes surprise my opponent in opening and whats more importent for me this was played few times by our Coach GM Gabuzyan. So I strongly believe it. 

I dont remember all my game but I wanna focus whats we have after opening for sacrifices our pawn.

I see pair of the bishops and very weak pawns in my oponnent side, but how to play positions like this ? 

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I also look for an alternative for scotch opening. 

I score quit well with what we have in the courses but it cecomes a little bit boring.

The Ruy Lopez is a lot of theory, perhaps the Italian can be an add on? 

Or perhaps the Ponziani?

Is there a recommendation and / or course for that?

Best Regards, Kurt

Hey there, 

Can you post a position which line are you referring to please?

null error when important Whitemood pgn files into Lichess

Hello, I do have null error messages when importing the WhiteMood pgn files into lichess. When clicking through I miss several chapters including French and Caro-Kann. Am I the only one with this issue?

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I believe this is due to Lichess interface because it does not support the introduction of null moves.

With Chessbase there is no problem to open the file.

The only thing that you can do is to delete the part with null move(s) and then upload it again.😀

Importing pgns to lichess sometimes is not so easy as it seems…😀

I am on iPad and chessbase is not supported on it , but the app chess studio is doing almost the same for me and you can access it offline ( lichess online only ) . Lite version is ok but full version was only 5$ last year . 

My disastrous game!

I was black pieces and lost in the opening. I've watched the BlackMood starter course but my opponent played something different:

1. Nf3 e6 2. d4 f5 3. Bg5 Nf6 4. Nbd2 b6 5. e4 h6 6. Bxf6 Qxf6 7. exf5 Qxf5 8. Bd3 … After 13 moves, my queen got trapped.

Any ideas for what I could/should have played to be more stable and reach a decent middlegame? Thanks, Anthony

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I think i got it
1. Even if it is your good bishop you should have exchanged it instead of moving the knight because their bad bishop was starting to get better and better
2. Do not develop your queen early without a powerful base or working opening. in the one GM Avetik Grigoryan sir was showing the base was so powerfully done(base i meant opening and variation attacks defenses)
3. something a pawn can do you did with a queen. If you captured with a pawn they could not put bishop there to attack
You send the rest of the moves and i'll give the rest answers if i can do so

how to buy courses

Hi, i don't know if i'm in the correct section, if not i'm sorry.
how can i spend moodcoins to buy a course? i read that i can buy a course, but in the course page i can't find a way to do it.
Can you help me please?

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Hi there,

Try this:

1. Go to the Courses page and pick your course
2. Select the option “Or get lifetime access”
3. Select the option “Buy the course”
4. In the right-hand section titled “Choose your payment method” the last option will be MoodCoin.

Remember that $1 = 1,000 MoodCoin.  So, if the course costs $300 that is 300,000 MoodCoin.

Need to earn some more?  Details are here: https://chessmood.com/moodcoin

The Legal Doping in Chess

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thats smart

Yes, I am 61 and in pills, so after 2h of play OTB I begin to sense tiredness and energy slipping through my fingers. After 3h of play I am so tired I can't even calculate two moves ahead. So I invented my own legal doping. Before the game I go and buy a big bottle of Coke. I like it and has caffeine. Some players do the same with coffee or tea. I carry the bottle in my bag and when I begin to sense tiredness I drink it in small sipps. 😅

It helped a lot but getting that “mood” is hard. 

I have pain which can be very distracting, but have found meditating does help - another reason to meditate a little before a game. I do play better when I'm in the moment and not fretting about anything, including results. Just hard to get there - I suppose, like everything, consistency is the key. 

I tried it and i lost but no blunders! or bad moves! Just gave the best fight after losing i felt so good. I never felt the good even when i win. I believe that loss is a great victory for me. Just a few problems when i got out of the good mood when i was bishop down probably why i lost

French attack vs Schlecter after 4.c3 e5!

Hi ChessMood Family

I have a question on plans after 1. e4 e6  2. d4 d5  3. Bd3 (Schlechter) Nc6  4. c3 e5.

If White develops the knight (5.Nf3 or 5.Ne2, I believe it does not matter for the question), and we then play …exd5, let’s say White declines to gambit and enters the IQP structure with 6.cxd5. 
 

Is the following a consistent plan for Blackmood?  6…dxe4  7. Bxe4. Then get our bishop to b4 with check, to accelerate development and allow Nge7 protecting the other knight, castle and off we go against IQP?

Or is there anything else to consider at U2000 level? And does White’s knight position make any difference to this idea?,  as I am seeing both Nf3 and Ne2 in my games. 
 

Thank you very much in advance for your expert input!

Ben

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Hi Ben,

The difference in the Knight's development to e2 or f3 is not super affecting the position, I would just mention that if the Knight is on f3 sometimes The g3 pin is reasonable. U2000 level you will hardly ever get deep theoretical complications, and the goal here is to develop - locate pieces well in the center, Blockade or attack the IQP.

Good luck :-) 

Puzzles Standardization

Hello,

Why are the puzzles not standardized? For example, the Skewer section of Tactic Ninja. On some puzzles you check the king then the king moves away and you capture the piece behind it (3 ply). On other puzzles you give a check and the puzzle ends (1 ply).

This is not only for tactic ninja, but across the board for all courses I've done so far. It would be nice if the ChessMood team could work on puzzle standardization and let it play out until the end (3 or 4 ply) instead of finishing it with just 1 ply. Or the other way around.

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Would you sacrifice your queen in this position?

Hi all,

It's white's move in the game below.  White is well ahead in material having a queen vs black's rook, and having extra pawns.  Note that white's king is currently trapped by black's h3 bishop, making a rook back-rank mate a distinct target for black.

Do you:

a) Take the rook (black will take the queen) and look to promote a pawn, or

b) Keep the queen and look to win with what you have, or

c) Keep the queen and look to promote, or

d) Something else

Thanks :)

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/daily/731104831?tab=review&move=55

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I would have done exactly what you did, which is defend the bishop with the queen and keep pieces on the board. You probably could have been slightly more precise by playing Qa5-b4-xd4 instead of Qd3, to be ahead as many pawns as possible, but that's being picky.

Even though opposite colored bishop endgames tend to be drawish, I am confident that there would be enough pawns that I could win with the queen sac. But I feel planting the bishop and queen and sending the a- and b-pawns is the simplest. 

Good question, and nice game! Have you been playing the Jobava London a lot?

Sacrifice...

Hi everyone i am studying and randomly see this…

https://chessmood.com/course/calculation/episode/6854

This is very cool sacrifice and this destroy my mind(about caculate)

How about you?😊

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Haha i found a song in a course

Look,this is a video in the course:

Calclman - Calculate Like a SuperHero

And if you watch this video:

https://chessmood.com/course/calculation/episode/6853

At 0:48,he said:concept

Yo it is a concept

Ono,Two,Three,Yeah, she's in love with the concept
As if we're all just how she imagined
'Cause we're in love but just don't know it yet
Well, tell me how I'm supposed to see the magic…

This is a part of XO by Eden

Haha…(idk why i am laughing)…😑

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New article: Legal cheating and my top secret

Hey friends! 

I was afraid to talk about this. 
I’m still afraid. 
But I drank lion’s milk today. 

Many will not understand. 

Many will laugh. 
Hopefully, not you. 

This is my biggest secret of productivity, high focus and achievements.
I use this when I’m low. When I need creativity. When I need to win. 
When I need to perform my A-game.  

Whenever I’m stuck, I do this. 
I cheat.   

I cheat at GYM, at chess, I rob airlines. And I do it E.V.E.R.Y D.A.Y. 

LEGALLY! 

Call the police or click the link below: 
https://chessmood.com/blog/legal-cheating

For your growth and fun life, 
Always honest with you, 
Avetik “cheater” Grigoryan 

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The art of visualizing an outcome or situation is excellent sports psychology. Back when I was running competitively at university, our coach would have us close our eyes and "run" the course in our brains before the race. We knew the turns, hills, straightaways, and more inside and out so that when we were "visualizing," we would dream/see ourselves performing with the best possible outcomes. The art of "visualizing" is way more than "fake it till you make it"... it is a tried and true method of preparing our mindsets for positive outcomes with confidence and focus.

Great read. I hear your voice alot when contemplating moves. I find the timing of this article ironic, just this morning I was thinking of your motto of constant growth and my own thoughts invaded with "If youre not improving youre regressing " I think this is true of alot of things, especially chess. Anyway I starting thinking of approaching and overcoming plateaus while working to improve and a Naval quote came mind. Something along the lines of success or improvement being related to scaling a mountain and getting 2/3 of the way up only to find youre on a dead end path and you must go back down and find a new path to the top. I thought Avetik would enjoy Navals thoughts, no surprise you talk to him regularly! Anyway thanks for the article and all you and your teams hardwork. Keep it up!

What a wonderful, creative use of imagination! This is very inspiring and I'll play with this in my own thinking. Thanks so much for writing this beautiful article, Coach Avetik!

Great article! It was rather an unexpected reading for me because, believe me or not, I do the same in chess, but with your voice. It doesn't matter whether I play on Lichess or OTB, I start commenting and thinking in English (even though it's my 3rd language) with your accent intonation and phrases. It's funny and helpful at the same time! I showed Chessmood to some of my friends, and now when I play against them and they make a mistake, I immediately start mocking them by saying "and this was a BLUNDER. Black's position is COLLAPSING now!" Also when they a bad piece (e. g. a knight in the corner of the board), I say (in English and with your intonation) "look at this knight! It is very UNHAPPY!" Or when I get a really strong bishop, I say "now the bishop on g7 is a MONSTER!" All of that irritates them so much and helps me to win 😀 (sorry, I'm a bad friend) And I also speak with Gabuzyan's voice in my head (in my 3rd language, once again) when I calculate complex lines, and it helps me as well! Or sometimes when I get tired of translating the thoughts in my head to English, I imagine I'm my favourite chess caster GM Sergey Shipov and just start calculating and estimating the position like he does I don't know how it works, I thought there's something wrong with me and I should visit a doctor, but now after reading this, I'm calm already 😀 Thank you for the article once again!

This is extremely powerful! You're literally giving away life secrets 😀

Respected GM It is true!. Once I read the book called" Art of Chess by Madison"', and felt as if he was teaching me the opening lines and won a territory Championship in 2008. Kudos R Raman

Hello GM Avetik . I found very interesting this article ( like all the others ) . I was doing an inferior version of it , a little bit unconsciously but now I will try it more seriously to see if I can use it to perform better . I did call the French bishop a monster after the c4 dxc4 variation recently in a post analysis online .. I will try with you and GM Gabuzyan as a start ! I have otb tournaments coming up and I m not fully prepared as learning new material take some time to digest but with my 2 new GM friends in my head , I can only do well ! 🤫

Awesome. Thanks for sharing Avetik, appreciate it!

Nice blog

I do this. I let the ‘reptile’ in me take over when playing blitz. I have learned the hard way that if the blue insularis viper in me doesn't want to play…there will be tilt.

Just read this and laughed at Elliott Bisnow. I know Elliott and was previously the Managing Editor of the publication :)

i do imagine you giving me advices Avo when i need to play my A game. i don't have a coach but you are one to me. especially after i watched 365 dailly lessons and 100 classical games with you ( and others gms)

WCC Championship!

The World Chess Championship has been in progress for two weeks. Ding Liren of China just struck back against 18yo D. Gukesh from India to tie the score up 6-6. If they split the last two classical games, they will play a tiebreaker of increasingly faster rapid games.

Any thoughts on the match so far? Is the score what you expected? Who do you predict is the favorite to win the match, at this moment?

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Funny story:

Originally I sided with Gukesh.

However, my heart rooted for Ding, as became apparant in game 1.

Anyways, I predicted (after game 1) a 7.5-6.5 score I'm favor of Ding.

I may still be proven right, but I doubt it.

May I install ChessMood on a third device?

I am a ChessMood member and currently have CM installed on my Windows PC and my Lenovo ThinkPad laptop.

I'm considering getting an iPad ‘Air’ 13". Can I install ChessMood on the iPad as well?

Thanks for any input. And Happy Thanksgiving!

Brian B

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Anyone, please?

I thought chessmood is just a website, which shouldn't require any downloading?

I believe you should be fine on any number of devices, but I am certainly no expert.

Game 5 Gukesh-Ding French exchange transpo to CM theory?

https://lichess.org/study/LF4x850G/IAPVNb4a

What do you think guys? 

After 6.c3 we're definitely back into what chessmood recommends, but in OTB/online I had this position many time and 6..c4!? is also played by stronger players, esp before white 0-0, so we dont have Re1+Bf1 idea

In my pgn I have some analysis like 8.Qe2+ like it was played in the game or 8.0-0 + b3 ideas, 

but can someone from chessmood GMs explain how would they play next, what's white's plan, cause I often get very dry and even worse positions as white from here. Thanks

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Anyone?

I also noticed that, I think most people missed your post however (me included.)

I do hope you get a response!