Chess forum by Grandmasters

Attacking the Petroff Defense

I am currently viewing this course and enjoying it so far and would like to offer the suggestion of renaming it Attacking the Petroff Defense, instead of simply the Petroff Defense which is a bit dull. Also please cover the following line relevant to the course which has been neglected in the DVD's and Books i've seen and read on the topic: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Nc3 Nxc3 6.dxc3 Nc6 7.Be3 Be7 8.Qd2 Be6 9.0-0-0 Bxa2?! or !?

Replies

Hey Kevin! 
The plan with 0-0-0 will be covered in the course, as I said in the introduction part. 
I am going to offer you a not traditional way to play against this plan. 
Stay tuned. 

Kevin as Avetik told did you not watch the video of the course after Be7 there was Bd3 Be6 and Queen to e2

Unable to find Black Opening (King's Indian Attack)

Recently, I was preparing for the Black Opening, and in Sicilian sidelines lessons, I was unable to find a chapter for a repertoire against King's Indian Attack.

I went through Section 2 of the closed system lessons (Sicilian Sidelines). But in KIA setups, White develops his b1 N via Nbd2-f1-h2, which is the main idea of KIA. This is not discussed in the course.

Why can't white walk into KIA with the move order : 1.e4, c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d3 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5. Nbd2 followed by 6.0-0 7.Rfe1 8.Qe2 9.Nf1 with the typical ideas of KIA Kside Attack with h4 and Nf1-h2 stuffs.

Please let me know where I can find it or if the lessons are being prepared.

Replies

Hi Aswin! 😀
This transposes to our usual English structures and Rfe1 Qe2 makes no sense against our setup. 

1.e4, c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d3 g6 4.g3 Bg7 5.Bg2 (which you forgot to mention) d6 6.0-0 e5. Then we will play Nge7 first and then remember, f5 can be supported by h6, g5.

I suggest that you check out the English course and learn the main ideas since are totally related.💪

Thanks for the puzzles

Just a quick post to say thanks Avetik for the extra puzzles added to Tactic Ninja. I'm going to retake the course some time this year and do all the puzzles with a 3D board and pieces

Replies

Thank you Voran!

Much appreciated! 

You can start right away to retake the course, no need to wait!😁

Books

I want to share my chess-library with others … Is there any virtual space on your site where we can upload our pdf-s ( so the others can downloaded ) ?

If there is a need for such “action” ( and, if it is legal, of course ) …

Replies

I'd expect for most titles it's not legal due to copyright.

Dear Dulijano,

Although we appreciate your good intentions, Chessmood is not a site to share chess materials that you did not create. 

We only publish the content that we create and we are responsible for.

Thanks for your understanding.😀 

Grandmaster

What is the shortest possible time that someone had became a Grandmaster?

Replies

Hello, 

According to my research, Abhimanyu Mishra is the youngest Grandmaster, becoming one at 12 years and 4 months old. He started learning Chess at 5.

To Chessmood

Hey chessmood I found a youtube channel called ChessCube that seems to be uploading your video courses i'm assuming that this isn't associated with you 

Replies

Thank you for informing us. We'll see what we can do.

Very much appreciated.😀

Analysis board

Can we get a chess board to input moves for opening prep?? any tips on my making my opening prep easier to study will help as well. Iv been playing a game then looking up course immediately after wards 

Replies

Try putting all your preperation into a Lichess study. Its very easy to look up, and not very time consuming.

Is there a mistake in "Endgame Roadmap - Your compass to navigate in the Endgames"

Dear Chessmood Family, 

On my computer I tried a puzzle on one of the trainings in “Endgame Roadmap - Your compass to navigate in the Endgames”, at the end of the section 3: Win pawns. On puzzle 10 I tried all the moves I could think of, but none were correct so I tested out the position on the engine and it said White was better but the puzzle is for Black. Did I miss something or is the puzzle incorrect?

After Kf7 Rb8

Thank you for your kind input!

Replies

It does look like the puzzle is for White and the solution is 1.Re8 Kf7 2.Rb8 and if Re7 then 3.Kd2 so the white rook goes after Black's queenside pawns while the black rook cannot penetrate.

Thank you :) 
The puzzle has been fixed :) 

Pre-empting a discovered check

Hi all,

In the game that I've linked to below my opponent has just made the move Rd8.  My fear in this scenario was that black would make the move Nb3 - giving a discovered check and enabling the knight to capture my rook on a1.

* None of the king's moves appealed to me

* I considered blocking with Nd2

* I chose Rd3 - this blocks the check and enables a rook exchange (I figured that although I was only marginally ahead in material I did still have a rook and this should give me an advantage in clearing up black's greater pawn numbers)

While reviewing my games I look to see what Stockfish recommends (unless it is one of those crazy 20-move sequences that I'm never going to spot so I ignore them!).  In this scenario it feels that the best move is Nxf2 - capturing black's bishop.  I realise that I lose a pawn this way but surely that is preferable to losing a rook!?

I'd love to hear what move you would make, and why …

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/103897852819?tab=analysis&move=59

Replies

There is a very specific reason why Nxf2 is fine. You correctly foresaw that after …Nb3+  Ke2 …Nxa1 black has won the rook. But in this position White has the stunning Rc3 with the plan of Rc1 to capture the trapped knight! There's nothing black can do to keep the knight, so you come out ahead in material. I don't think I'd see this in a game, especially when avoiding the discovery entirely is so natural.

Good question, but the stalemate saddened me ;)

My Best SLP!!

https://lichess.org/Eu731bOT/white#97

Replies

Lol

Nice one!

https://lichess.org/dOUKEjmb/black#50

Wow, Nice game!!

Not good, but fighting spirit in slp mode: https://lichess.org/NMJ2sV8W/white

Suggestio - puzzles

Suggestion for puzzles: if you make incorrect move do not automatically move to the next puzzle, instead allow to retry. I bet that 95% of users anyway return to the incorrect puzzle and try to solve it.

Replies

We do this on purpose Ink. The reason is to avoid creating the mentality of try and fail and try again. In a chess game, this does not exist!

You only move when you are 100% sure of your move, there is plenty of time. 

If you fail, just go at it another day, or at the end of the puzzles. You are alone with the puzzles, but the try and fail approach is the worst thing that one can do when solving tactics.

Try to develop this mentality of being a 100% sure, when you solve a problem correctly you know it, you can feel it… 
Keep up this good feeling!😄

Issues with chess.com playing platform

Hey ChessMood family, 

I've been observing something for months now, and now I can kind of confirm this hypothesis of mine. 

Below a certain elo on chess.com, it seems not worth playing because almost 50% of the players are using cheats ‘on-and-off’. From my experimentation on new account on chess.com (as a ~1500 elo blitz player), I actually frequently drop games to 700-900 elo players as they play just as good as 1500-1700 elo, or better, but they also play in a weird way that doesn't have a ‘human touch’. When you look at these players' profiles, they have like thousands of games with 50% win rate, but the game I experienced from them definitely does not reflect that. I would report these games I feel were off, and to my surprise, few days later, I would keep getting messages from chess.com that these accounts have been closed and my points have been returned. 

I went back on lichess to play (1900 elo 3+2 blitz) and the games were actually easier and felt like a human player was playing the moves. 

Anyways, I know GM Avetik recommends to play on lichess to begin with, but I liked CC because all the streamers played on it, but I think unless you're also 2200+ elo blitz on CC, probably better to stick to lichess for a less frustrating playing experience. 

Anyone else experienced anything similar? 

Replies

Here's an example of what made me finally realize the severity of the situation. This game here, white's best move was to sac his rook to avoid Rh1#. A 900 elo player did so in 3 seconds (pretty consistent with almost all his moves in the game). Heck, I'm 1500 and I wouldn't have sac my rook that quickly, and so confidently. 
 

Improvement suggestions.

Hello guys 

My Name is Vedant
I am from India
I am 13 years old
I have a FIDE rating of 1814 (a bit stuck after my massive +272 in one tmt)
Lichess rating of 2350(present) and 2417(Peak) as I fluctuate a lot these days. the reason is I play online blitz like 3+2 for fun
Joined as a Pro Member in June 2023

Openings: My White openings are interesting. Most of them are Chessmood recommended 
With Black, I play Chessmood lines except d4 where I play KID

Strength: I can grind equal endgames and I like playing with imbalance. My calculation is good for my level 

Weakness: In a position with no imbalance I usually go to create imbalances and more often than not it is wrong. I often miss my opponent's resources which leads to me creating a bad plan (as seen in the first game when I missed g3!). 

Psychology: In tournaments whenever I lose a crucial round I lose my motivation for the next rounds which result in the whole tmt being ruined and I often get overexcited while am winning in the game

Time management: It is pretty ok, I usually have a 5-10 min advantage on the clock or at worst I am down 5-10 mins on the clock than my opponent
What I am working on: I am also working on this book by Dvoretsky, recognising my opponent's resources these days to improve my alertness for my rival's ideas
To train my openings I usually play with my training partner. I am also trying to learn some classics from the 100 Strategic Games course

At present,  I have quite some knowledge about classics or Instructive ideas/plans played by the masters

The amount am working: But all this only makes my training up to 3 hrs while I can put more work hours in.

Why I wrote this post: I am just clueless about how I should improve and what resources I should work on

Some of my games so you can get a better idea of how I play

https://chess-results.com/PartieSuche.aspx?art=36&id=5183424

https://chess-results.com/PartieSuche.aspx?art=36&id=5183142

https://chess-results.com/PartieSuche.aspx?art=36&id=4926871

Looking forward to all the suggestions
Vedant

Replies

How and where to practice endgames??

I can often practice my opening and middlegame online, but oftentimes, the games would not go to the endgames, and if it does, my brain would be fried enough because of the middlegame😅😅😅
So any tips?

Replies

Hi Berney, 
On some simple endgames, you can find and practice them with endgame tablebases (lomonosov, nalimov,etc)
for more info about these tablebases, look here: https://www.chess.com/blog/Rocky64/adventures-with-endgame-tablebases 
Alternatively, and what i do is play with sparring partners! You can find them on the forum or request one.

How to find an opening I do not know in the courses?

Hi co-students,
I am training Scotch as White and French/Dutch as Black so far. I am a beginner.

Today I was playing my first tournament and was confronted with the following as white:

1e4 d5 then I played 2 exd5 Nf6.
How could I find this opening in the courses to learn about this response 1 ….d5 more.
Thank you for your feedback.

Joachim

Replies

Hi Joachim,

The 1. e4 d5 opening is the Scandinavian opening.  You can learn more about this in section 7 of the WhiteMood opening course 

https://chessmood.com/course/whitemood-openings

Tactic Ninja - some more errors

I wrote a few in the comment to a comment from previous post, but it doesn't seem to be read yet, so I'll post 'em all here.

 Skewer - 8. Test, 1st puzzle in quiz. It is unsolvable.

 Discovered Check 5. Training, problem 2, there are actually 3 answers. Seeing as in the videos Avetik focuses on the position rather than strictly on the theme, this needs to be addressed.

Double Attack 4. Training, problem 1. I think the …f5 fork doesn't work if White plays, say, Rgf4.

Double Attack 4. Training, problem 3. If Black replies …Rg5 they are threatening to skewer OUR knight.

Replies

Also Double Attack 4. Training, problem 5. There is no tactic, looks like an error trying from Black's view.

Dear Inguh,😄

Thank you very much for your help. We already took note of your previous posts and it will be fixed when possible. Please do not start new threats with the same problems because it can be confusing. 
In fact, could you please use the dedicated thread for problems issues_
https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/puzzle-fixing
This is the right thread to post technical problems related to puzzles. Then it is easy to keep track of it. Kampsahapnida!
💪

Hi Kim :) 
Thanks for letting us know.

Double Attack 4. Training, problem 1 - anyway we will take on e4

Double Attack 4. Training, problem 3 - Fixed

Double Attack 4. Training, problem 5 - Fixed

Discovered Check 5. yep, the Queen must be on d1, Fixed!

 Skewer - 8. Bxc5 is the solution

Pregame tourney prep

I have to imagine there's an article about this, but I want the public's opinion. What do you do to mentally prepare in the half hour before a chess game? Puzzles? Opening prep? Clear mind of chess altogether? Got a big weekend tourney tomorrow, wish me luck!

-Jake

Replies

😀

Honestly, I try to relax before each game, maybe drink some water… Maybe also do some puzzles to get your mistakes in there, and don't stress too much about it.. Good Luck!

try reading these : 

https://chessmood.com/blog/grandmaster-tips-the-right-way-to-prepare-for-the-chess-game

https://chessmood.com/blog/how-to-win-chess-tournaments-7-key-principles

https://chessmood.com/blog/the-right-way-to-prepare-for-a-chess-tournament

there are some useful tips on preparing for games and also for preparing for the entire tournament

good luck!

Mistake in the France defence for white

Section 1

We got the following position and it was recommended to play, Bg6, which is lost after N:e5. According to the engine, correct move should be Qg6

Replies

How should I spend the money??

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Let's go

30-day money-back guarantee

• Access to all 500+ hours of courses and weekly updates (value = $15,000)
• Downloadable PGNs & homework
• Access to all 10,000+ quizzes
• Access to all live training
• Access to all group lessons
• Access to the “Pro members” channel on the forum
• Access to the PRO Members’ community
• Access to “Play vs Grandmaster” events
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• Deeply personalized study plan
   

I am considering of bying one of the Pro Members, but it's a bit expensive. Is there anyone that can help me to consider what to bye?

All the best, Kingston.

Replies

Hi there,

Only you know your financial situation and how keen you are to improve your chess skills.  I'm afraid that nobody else can really help you to make this decision.

You could start off with the Essential subscription and see how things go - I'm sure you could upgrade to Pro at a later date if you decided that you wanted to.

Error on Quiz Tactic Ninja 21-Promotion

This puzzle is meant to be played with white, not black.

Replies

Yes! But before Nb7- this is the move to be found.