Chess forum by Grandmasters

Dutch London

I've just faced a strange but dangerous sideline of the Dutch - London

1. d4 e6 2. Bf4 f5 3. h3 Nf6 4. g4 and here I played fxg4 and got into trouble. Should I have played 4. … d5 and gone into a weird stonewall? If so what should be black's plan?

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Dear Norbert,

In that position White terribly violates the opening principles as they are not fighting for the center - I think the most attractive idea is to play with 4…c5 and try to fight for the center.

The 4…d5 you mentioned is also decent - however further play depends a lot on opponent moves - just follow the right opening principles!

Possible problem with board????

When I do the quizzes and training in tactic ninja, the board is dark and I can't see the squares. Is that normal??

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Hello, maybe you are using some browser extensions with dark mode?

Responding to Modern with 1...e6

I have had a few games as white where my opponent plays a Modern Pirc via 1.e4 e6 2.d4 g6.  I can't exactly respond with a Grand Prix setup because I've already played d4.  Any particular tips?  Maybe I missed a line in Whitemood or one of the advanced courses.

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Hey Andrew,

This is something I probably have never got - because together e6 and g6 are badly weakening the squares on the Kingside - you can take a look at Hippo defense, where GM Avetik shows some structures with this type of development.
Here is the link https://chessmood.com/course/whitemood-openings/episode/3829

Scotch Response

In the Scotch Opening, after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Nd5 7. c4 Nb6 8. Bd3, how should White respond to 8...d5?

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Hey there - 9.cxd5 cxd5 10. 0-0 leads to a pleasant position for White - due to better development and the pawn on e5.

Model game gone wrong

https://lichess.org/study/XbqFMap3/VSowmEFo

I played this game using the blackmood recommendation against the advance French, with white playing 5.c4 (criticized in the course but the engine likes it). I tried the plan suggested in the course but got stomped (this is a serious OTB game - English county chess, 90 mins each plus increment, my opponent is ECF 2064 and I am 1927). I'm wondering if people here can point out what I am doing wrong conceptually, as I'm struggling to draw conclusions from what the engine is telling me, other than these points:

• I regretted Nd5 rather than exchanging the light squared bishops when I had a chance, and the engine agrees in terms of its top choice, but says Nd5 is also totally fine.
• I thought O-O-O seems risky and the engine agrees (preferring Rc8 to defend c7, which I considered during the game but rejected because it looks ugly), but it is also totally ok with O-O-O which matches the Chessmood plan.
• The engine dislikes Rdg8 because it wants to play Kb8 and bring the rook to c8 to defend c7 (with an alternative plan of taking on e3 and playing f5). I guess that makes sense. Same on the following move, even after moving the rook it still wants to bring it to c8. I guess the question here is how to judge that it is necessary to delay the attacking plan and play defense instead?
• Finally, g4 was a losing move for concrete reasons, but at that point the game was already feeling very desperate despite engine assessment of only +1.0 (at the end my opponent missed something which prolonged the game, but I could have resigned on move 26).

In all, my opponent gave a nice demonstration of how to dismantle the Chessmood plan - a reverse model game? 😳

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By move 10 your position was fully equal – you had good squares for your pieces and a permanent target on d4. White's only real trump was his space advantage. In a solid position with less space you should look for favorable exchanges that minimize your space disadvantage and retain your positional advantages.

I think think the conceptual problem with your plan of castling on opposite sides in this particular game is that white's attack will be much faster, due to the fact that your pawn is on a6, giving white a nice target. You had no equivalent hook on the kingside, so your attack was always going to be slower. In the ChessMood variation where GM Avetik mentions playing … 0-0-0, white is not close to starting a queenside pawn storm. His bishop blocks the b-pawn and he is undeveloped.

Instead of castling long, I like the plan you mentioned of 14… Rc8 followed by … 0-0. For example, 14.Rfc1 Rc8 15. a3 0-0 16. h4 (a Stockfish move) … Nxc3 17. Bxc6 Qxc6 18.Rxc3 Qd5.

White has no kingside attack in sight. He still has to worry about any endgame with his bad bishop and weakness on d4. Black's cramped position has been eased by minor piece exchanges, and he can continue with ideas like …Rfd8 and pressuring the d-pawn. Black is safely equal and can hope to outplay his opponent.

Of course there are other plans available, but I think castling on opposite sides in that game played into white's hands.

“I guess the question here is how to judge that it is necessary to delay the attacking plan and play defense instead?”

To me, this is key for transitioning to middle game regardless of opening line. Who is attacking when and where? Who is faster? The WhiteMood/BlackMood opening courses are designed to teach general strategies for moving into the middle game from the openings, which is incredible useful to those of us who don't have any idea of how to formulate a plan for attack. To help with this and simplify things, in the videos, GM Avetik quite often moves our pieces to show us a major potential plan without making any opponent moves! It took me a while to realize what was happening and why it was not working the same in my games. For example, I have noticed a video where we take two moves in a row and play continues from there. While this is absolutely great to help us learn and understand the positions, it also can make us overconfident in uncritically executing the attack because it was so easy in the course videos when we were given extra tempos where the opponent didn't actually move. I don't have any answers other than to think carefully about whether we have time to execute a given plan and try to understand who is faster in given positions as we transition into the middle game.

Cheers!

Death-defying SLP!!

Look at this madness! I was down 7 points of material and managed to grab a queen and win

https://www.chess.com/game/live/129955754013

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I broke the 1100 barrier in rapid! Yay!

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Congrats!  Onwards and upwards …

Awesome!

Deadly high-speed annihilation during an ultrabullet game!

Bye bye knight go sleepy byes now

https://lichess.org/Nidp4bLW

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Weird Sicilian...

Hi dear ChessMood Family,

how do I react the best to the following opening idea: 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c4!?

Shall I react like in the English course?

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Just to say a big thanks to Avetik

Had a free 15min consult with him recently and I have now finally begun the journey of improving past my 1000s plateau.

I reached 1083 last year and then went on intractable tilt that I never managed to get out of. I finally got up to 1091 today!

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Well done you :)

And well done Avo - your generosity to the ChessMood community, and beyond, never ceases to impress me.  Keep up the good work! 😎

Hey, congrats!

5.c3 Nc6 French 6.Nf3 Bg4 not covered

Hello CM family, Happy New Year!

I don't know what to do after e4 e6 d4 d5 Bd3 c5 exd5 exd5 c3 Nc6 Nf3 Bg4

6. Bg4 is not covered in the course, and stockfish says dxc5 is the best move and i am quite confused since the whole point of 5.c3 was to delay taking on c5 and only play dxc5 after black played Be7, where they have lost a tempo. Could a more experienced player help explain how to deal with 6.Nf3 Bg4 please? Thank you so much!! :)

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I beat an IM in ultra. Unsure this counts as an achievement.

https://lichess.org/igKnrQR0

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Is that a bullet exclusive account? Haha, a really impressive win, congrats!

Beating an IM is always an achievement, well done!

when do you stream

i would like to watch you Gms play chessmood openings

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https://chessmood.com/events

Here you'll find all the coming streams (and all the previous ones).

Another Scotch Game question

After 8.h4! what if black plays Qc5, Because I faced this move in an otb game and lost, So what are your suggestions people?.

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Anyone?

Online tactics, where to begin?

After Tactic Ninja and Mating Matador I want to keep training tactics online and offline.

For offline, when I have the time/possibility I will use the Step Books but during a commute or when I don't the time/possibility for a book I'm looking for an online option.

There are so many online options, I'm lost …

Lichess, chess.com, blitztactics.com, chesstempo.com, CT art (I have no idea what app to get for my phone, they have so many), …

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Hey 👋 

From my own personal experience I like to do chess.com and Lichess puzzles.

I think both of the options have more than enough puzzles to solve, and are a good option to improve your tactical vision. However, the most significant difference between these two is that chess.com allows you to solve only 5 puzzles per day without having to pay for premium, while Lichess lets you solve as many as you want for free.

But honestly, I don't think you can go wrong with any of the listed options. Since you already have the courses on the tactical patterns and motives here on Chessmood, you mostly just need to solve as many puzzles as possible to also use the knowledge in practice. And I think almost any chess puzzle website meets this expectation.

My deadly bishops

https://lichess.org/IK84iYEB/black

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Happy new year!

See ya all in 2025, hopefully it's a good year for everyone!

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The same to you!

WooHoo!!

Since I joined

So the new year is there, it's been also around half a year I joined ChessMood on my regular princing level, and I just finished a tournament, so I thought I'll take a little bit of my results since I joined a tought about what to work on from there. 

When I joined, my elo for my chess federation (Quebec's federation) just stabilized at 1486 after the Canadians Championships under1600, where I got 6 out of 9.  I knew that I had problems in endgames and lacked knowledge in positionnal chess, but had a good opening repertoire and tactical sense. I had decided to work on my weaknesses, especially the endgames. I also knew that I liked study openings and and I should forbid it to me, because if I did not I would dedicate too much time to that non-essential part of my game. So I began with the endgame roadmap and the essentials endgames u2000. Later, I've since done the pawn endgames as well. … and then I cheated a little bit :P and took a look at the chessmood repertoire and toyed a little bit with it is faster times controls online, just to take a feel. I was kind of a gift I've made to myself for the dedication I had to endgames. But it's still not my priority and I will go back to rook and queen endgames before working more on any new repertoire. It will be the same idea: opening study is a gift after a good work on endgames and positional chess. 
Meanwhile, I also worked on the blunderproof, spartan shield and the strategic and engames masterpieces. 

I had two classical and one rapid (20 minutes) tournaments. In the Montreal Open, section C (u1600), I got 4 out of 5, missing the victory in the last game with a miscalculation, a little bit to impulsive, wanting to get a second pawn up to quickly and missing the fork at the end of the line. But it was a good result, my federation rating went up to 1498. In the rapid tournament, I got 4 out of 5 (three victories and two draws). And in the classical tournament that just ended, the Santa Claus Tournament (Tournoi du Pere Noel in french, yes it's the real name), section B (under 1800), I got 3 out of 5, beating a stronger player and a weaker one, drawing two stronger players, and loosing to the second strongest of the section. Overall a goot result and my rating will go up over 1500 after that, but a little bit frustrating, because I had crushing positions it the two drawn games, so a full point lost. Again, there was blunders becauses of impulsives moves (against the stronger player I won, but I won anyway, and again a stronger player where it cost me the half point). After that I remembered something from the Blunderproof course and began in the last game to write my time on the note sheet before playing a move. I will try to do it more systematically from now on, since I know impulsivity it one of my weaknesses. In this last game, I went to a queen endgame two pawns up, but at some point could not manage to escape the checks from the opponent's queen, lost one of my pawns, I was tired and scared I would blunder the game at some point and since I did not see the winning plan I offered a draw, wich my stronger opponent quickly accepted. The computer analysis show that the position was totally winning for me at that point, and I began to study this endgame to try to understand how I should win it. So that's also why queen endgames are on my list. I hate queen endgames, there are too much moves to calculate.

Apart from the tournaments, I should note two special games at my local chess club. In this club, I play with the three strongest players, I suppose I am officially the fourth strongest in the regulars. But there is a big gap with the three bests. Since almost two years, I had never won a game against any of them. But in october, I got my first victory against the third one. And in december, a won a game against the strongest. They are still better than me. But I'm getting strong enough to be a challenge. 
 

With my sparring partner, we began to give themes on our sessions, so we work on thing that are on our minds. We take turns in deciding the theme. So far, we've made IQP games, exchange slav games and fantasy caro-kann games. I like those more targeted sessions. 

So what's next? still be working on the endgames, searching for exercises, doing the rook and queen endgames courses, still go throught the masterpieces too. I think I will need the course on the navigating winning positions and the new silent strategy course. Maybe at some point I will go back to the chessmood repertoire and began to play them in tournaments, but it's a big maybe. I need to work on all the other stuff before. 

See you in a few months to see how it went! ;) 

What about you? what about your year? what are you working on and what's coming up?

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I feel I have a bit similar situation, but a bit different in some one. 

I really love to work on openings. Because of this I have went through all openings in Chessmood and created my own PGNs with all possible comments from videos. As a result I now have my old repertoire and new one (based on chessmood). Moreover, starting playing Sicilian with Black lead me even into more darken woods… now I have started to play not only Accelerated Dragon, but also Najdorf. I can choose opening based on my opponent, however, now I am playing too many different openings. That is good and also bad. I feel my tactics is also ok, of course, need to sharpen it by daily or at least weekly tactics. 

In general I have decided to stop any opening studies/courses/videos dedicated only for openings (except my own game reviews and preparation for OTB game) and focus only on Endgames and Middle games. 

I am ~ 2000 FIDE, I made huge progress in understanding, thou my ELO have stuck a bit. 

Support group for a process-oriented 2025

In his recent blog post (https://chessmood.com/blog/6-steps-to-improve-your-chess-in-2025), GM Studer recommended switching to a process-oriented mindset for 2025. 

Even though I'm a novice, I'm keen to start from this point (I'm already worrying about my rating way more than I should). He suggests finding ‘people in the ChessMood community who want to follow the same mindset in 2025. Hold each other accountable and motivate each other when you feel bad because of a lack of results.’

Not sure if someone has started this already, but is anyone else up for this?

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Time control

Making a study plan I have 2 days of play+analyse.

At the moment I only play 15+10 games, as this amount of time suits me pretty well. Most of my games end with me having 10 seconds to 3 minutes left.

After reading some more blog posts here and chess related things on other websites I see many promote Blitz timecontrols aswell. Mainly 5+3.

Should I alternate one day 15+10 and the other 5+3 for training?

In the end, as everyone here, the goal is to improve in general. To become a better chess player, overal. Not just for a specific tournament or time control.

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