Chess forum by Grandmasters

Daily Puzzle Confusion

In the 2/27/2025 daily puzzle I'm wondering why Rb7 doesn't work with the point to go Ra7 and after he takes its stalemate.

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That was my “solution” too. But Black is not obligated to take the rook, can just move the king.

Motivation for chess and life

Lets discuss how our mind works during a game and in life! Lets be motivated

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Who have heard that the word “ sweat in peace” well if anyone here has worked for the army i bet he/she know the meaning of that. In army training they give insane training for the soldiers so that the upcoming war is not so challenging for them. Also i have a little story for u guys ..

The story of a young baseball player. 

When he is batting he could not even see the ball!  Ball came in lighting speed and beacause of him his team lost. The next day he is the best baseball batter! Whats the secret i guessed it “sweat in peace” after he lost he asked his dad to throw the ball at maximum speed then the next day arrive and baseball is like crystal clear for him!!   So work hard in peace time and that will pay off in the work time!

“Concentration is the key to success ”  

We need to keep our eyes on the prize i bet everybody heard that but today i'll try to open a inner layer that u before did't see.

a teacher put a piece of wood in a classroom. The piece of wood winch is bigger in lenght but the sides are shorter. Then teacher ask a child to go within the piece of wood without loosing balance the child did it easiliy. But lets imagine that the same piece of wood was placed between two buildings.  Can we still go within the piece of wood whitout falling? Of course not cause we are afraid of falling and that factor stops us from crossing the piece of wood. Make sense?  Not only in chess but also in life we get distracted by many things. What we need to do is only think what we are doing. Not what happen if or the result. THE KEY IS TO THINK ABOUT NOW

SLP Rating climb and more!

Lets discuss our skills in slp!

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My real rating is chess.com 2219 Rapid and my SLP rating is 1842   (madchessdilshan) slp profile and lets analyse our slp games and discuss more

Lets share each other their SLP profiles

Ruy Lopez Puzzle

I recently played a blitz game where my opponent played an interesting sideline in the Ruy Lopez. I ended up getting demolished, but only because I overlooked the best move in a critical position. In the attached diagram, Black has sacrificed a pawn for active pieces. What is White's best move? This is an advanced puzzle, where the goal is not necessarily to win a piece but instead to limit Black's play and achieve a nice position.

Feel free to discuss answers below. I'll post the answer in the comments eventually.

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Simplistically (which I realise probably isn’t what you are looking for!) black’s Nf4 move combines with the bishop on b7 to apply pressure to the g2 square immediately in front of our king. There is no immediate mate threat but white could safely remove the g2 pawn, leaving our king vulnerable.

So, one of my candidate moves would be f3 to block the b7 bishop.

Another would be Qg4, threatening the f4 knight and the g7 pawn which would weaken any castling move in the future and also threaten the h8 rook.

I just realized you have already shared the answer, and I will say that it was my first thought. Intuitevely, allowing a piece on d3 is eh. Basically the whole queenside would be stuck for like 10 moves for just a measly pawn!

Modern Maroczy 11. a4.

Hi coaches!

In Modern Maroczy Bind course, in the first section which is very important we play as it is showed on the coming gif with that idea of pushing 11. …. a4 with 12. ….. Qa5. But what if White has the idea of playing 11.a4 himself blocking our main plan. Maybe I'm missing something but I don't think it's mentioned in the course (I even looked at Maroczy Bind course thinking that it was a transposition to any line there). The problem is that even the engine likes that move and it's not easy for me to find any clear good continuation in the same spirit of our course.

Thanks!

.

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11.a4 seems very anti-positional to me. Black's knight will have a safe home on c5 and white will have lots of weak squares to defend. I would play 11… Be6/12….Nd7/13…Nc5 and look for chances to exchange your light-square bishop for white's knight, getting a nice endgame.

Dear Ilias, 

That idea terribly weakens the squares on b4 - it fixes the pawn on b3 as a static weakness, and Black will be doing great with a Knight transfer d7-c5!

getting better

Hello all. i am 1907 uscf and i am wondering how to get to 2000 uscf. 

Thanks

Joel

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Talk to Your (Happy) Pieces Course?

I heard about a reference to a “Talk to Your pieces” course here on ChessMood via Noel Studer – does anyone know if that course exists?  THANKS I am a new person

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Question on Kinder variation after 5.Be3 Ne7 6.f4!

🏆 Hi ChessMood Team ! 🏆 

I played the “Kinder” variation of the French attack recently (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Ng8!).

In the Blackmood videos, Avo talks about responding to 5.f4 with c5 & Nh6 now that the diagonal is closed).  Or responding to 5.Be3 with Ne7, so that the coming Nf5 hits White's bishop with tempo and allows c5, ruining White's pawns.  

But my opponent played a tricky move order:  5.Be3 Ne7, 6. f4!  This confused me because I was not confident to play a 6.c5 sacrifice.  I played 6...Nf5 anyway, but White's Bishop predictably went to safety on 7. Bf2, and now the c5 push is not so clear.

What do you think is the most thematic French Attack way of handling this move order?  

FWIW, I have come up with the following, which involves sacrificing a pawn on c5.  (In some subvariations Black can win the pawn back on c5, but this full line shows White keeping the c5 pawn) :

5.Be3 Ne7 6.f4 c5! (anyway, saccing the pawn) 7.dxc5 Nd7 (looking to win back the pawn after Nf5) 8.Bb5 (pinning the knight) Nc6!  9. Bxc6 bxc6 10.b4 (finally securing the pawn) a5 11. a3 Ba6 (the point, Black is a pawn down but has solved the light square Bishop) 12. Nge2 (to enable castling) Be7  13.O-O O-O  +/=   

White is up a full pawn in the above but Black has better pieces I think and can look at f6. 🤔 

Is this any good?  Any better ideas? Is there any way to get c5 in without a sacrifice?   It seems that 5.Be3 then 6. f4 are quite logical moves for White so I think this is worth planning for.

Thank you for your thoughts !   😀 🙏

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Dear Ben,

Usually, U2000 this variation of Nc3 happens rarely, and the specific sequence you mentioned is even rarer, however, if you still face it, I would recommend after f4, to play with Nf5 and h5 - if Bd3 - g6 to recapture on f5 with a G pawn. And after that playing with b6-Ba6 ideas. I think it's very practical. 
 

French Attack, Classical, Steinitz, Boleslavsky Variation

In French attack, Classical, Steinitz, Boleslavsky Variation, (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Nfd7 5.f4 c5 6.Nf3 Nc6 7.Be3 Be7 8.Qd2 O-O 9.Be2 a6 10.O-O)
What is the purpose of 9. ...a6? What would happen if I didn't play this move?

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Dear Yuya,

The variation that you have mentioned is not from our opening repertoire.
I would be very happy to assist you with any questions related to our variations.

Future Courses Ideas

ChessMood !

The best chess courses site. I have nothing to say. The courses are wonderful, the explanation is the best, the training examples are carefully chosen, the courses ideas are amazing, the user interface is magnificent.

I have only one thing to add (Not a bad thing, just relax 😀 ! ), as previously said in the title of this article, “ Future ideas ”, the courses about openings are numerous, the same goes for the endgame, and the section of “In Grandmaster's Mind” and “Rating booster”. However, for the middlegame section it's the opposite, a few and uncompleted courses, even if the middlegame is far more important than the opening phase, and there is so much course ideas when it comes to the middlegame play and concepts.

“Playing in open and closed positions”, “Improve your middlegame play”, “Crucial middlegame concepts”, "Improve your positional play", “Various middlegame strategies”, and many other courses ideas.

So what I'm asking is focus more on the middlegame courses, without forgetting about the other sections, and complete the unfinished courses.

Nothing more to add about this great, amazing, instructive and fun website.

All my respect, appreciation and love to the creators, coaches and developers  of this website. ❤️ 

Thank you for taking the time to read this article and I hope it was useful. 🙏

                                                                              THANK YOU ! 🙏 

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Check this https://chessmood.com/courses?scrollTo=#middlegame-mastery

Brave Chess

🤔

Hi, I was just watching the ‘Brave Chess’ video in the Blunderproof course. It gives an example where White blundered a mate in one: 1…Qg1 checkmate according to the video.

But actually that move is not even a check because the White king is on h2 and the Black Queen can't move backwards…

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check again

Hi,
good point! I agree.
Maybe the rules should be modified: A check (under normal chess circumstances) must be parried. 
If that is not possible, we define it as a checkmate?! Without the modification …Qg1wouldn't be mate, like

you pointed out.

Course

From where i have to start?

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Ratting booster

YAAAAAAAY

Well my struggle with tilt lately had a happy ending. I made it to 1400 chess.com! Yes that is me on my alt; it's my little arcade purely for bullet and blitz

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Congratulations! 🤩 🥳

Can't win with the Dutch

Hi, I'm a 1400 on Chess.com. I've enjoyed the Chessmood repertoire but can't play the Dutch ATTACK. I often get games with 100% opening accuracy for the Scotch and the French ATTACK. Does anyone have any ideas for why this could be happening? Also, if anyone wants to spar with the Dutch ATTACK, I'm game.

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I must admit I had similar problems when I was 1800ish, and so switched to the Sicilian and Benko (then later KID) which worked much better.

Simply try to understand the ideas, sparring games is always a great idea, and if you want, you can experiment with new openings.

French Bd3

Hi

I recently played the following line 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3 Bd3 Nf6 4 e5 Nd75 c3 c5 6 Ne2 Nc6 7 a3 and here all the analysis we've been given follows Qb6 by black. However in this game black played 7. ..a5. I castled then played Bb5 but got crushed on the queenside. 

The move 7. … a5 seems to cross all the plans we were shown in the courses. Can someone explain how it is best to proceed here? Should I exploit the hole on b5 or aim for kingside activity?

Any advice would be appreciated.

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a4 seems reasonable here followed by Na3,Nb5. this also stops black's plans in the queenside with b5,b4. if you successfully stop black's counterplay on the queenside you will have very good potential for an attack as you can easily advance with f4,f5 while black is left with no clear plan. While this position is not yet winning for white, white has a clear advantage due to their space advantage as well as their potential for a kingside attack. 

hope this helps, Samuel

Dear Norbert,
 

You don't need to focus on the Queenside.
A3 pawn limits all Nb4 ideas. So you get a clear game on the Kingside.
Play with 0-0 - meet Qb6 by Bc2 to protect the d4 pawn. Sometimes going to Kh1 - to escape from Diagonal where the Queen is located, is reasonable. Playing with f4 seems like a great and easy plan.

There are other options as well, but what I offered I think is the most practical one.

ChessMood Simplified Openings VS Step by Step Repertoire

Hi, I'm a bit confused with the recommendations available for the openings between the Simplified Openings Course and the Step by Step courses.  I have an OTB game coming up and my opponent plays the London.  I'd like to prepare something for the match because I currently play the KID typically against d4, but I don't really feel comfortable with it against the London.  The Simplified course recommends the Dutch Attack and provides a nice idea for the set up. I thought the Simplified course would be an introduction since it gives a lot of simple ideas to go up against a number of different openings from white. So I went to the Step by Step courses looking for a more thorough course on that Dutch Attack recommendation against the London, but the only course I see is the d4 sidelines which includes the London and Jobava along with the Trompowsky.  Is there not a full or more thorough course on how to prepare the Dutch Attack against the London? Or is the d4 sidelines better for me to study to prepare for my OTB game?  
 

Thank you, 

Garry P. 

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The advanced repertoire for black is different to the simplified courses. Personally, I really like the advanced repertoire against the london as it will surprise many opponents (the section in the course is also only 25 mins long) but if you usually play the Dutch then you could risk transpositions into unfamiliar territory if your opponent does not play the London.

Hope this helps, Samuel 

Dear Garry, 

In the future, we might also have advanced French and Dutch in the step-by-step section, but by now the repertoires are different.
Based on your rating/level you can choose which ones to play. Usually simplified are for U2000 online ratings, and advanced one 2000+ 

Question on London Counter in the d4 Sidelines

I just went through the course and I noticed there isn't any mention of white playing Bd3 rather than Be2. I understand that it is an inferior move than Bd3, but I do see it played quite a bit by people.  The engine seems to suggest to play c5 right away, but I was wondering if there was any lines or plans that could be offered within the course to better understand the ideas that are best to play against that similar to how the course provides it for the other moves.   

Any suggestions would be appreciated.  Thanks!! 

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Dear Garry,

It's impossible to cover absolutely all moves in all the openings, so we try to focus on the main/more common lines. 
If you can post a specific position, with a question I would try to help :-) 

Caro-Kann Na5 line

after 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.Bf4 Bg4 7.Qb3 Na5 8.Qa4+ Nc6 ; in the course, 9.Qb3 is recommended transposing to the main lines after 9…Qd7 or 9…Qc8 but what if black plays 9…Bd6 aiming to reach the Qd7 line with an extra tempo?

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sorry i meant after 9.Nd2 e6,10.Qb3 not 9.Qb3

Happy B

Happy 7. Birthday Chessmood 🎉🎊, very warm congrats to Avo and the whole team and big thanks for the intense streaming week especially to the very busy Gabu. I enjoyed it so much😃😃

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Dear Alan thank you so much for this kindest words :-)

Courses?

I'm a 1400 rapid on chess.com. Has anyone else been 1400 recently and had a course that specifically helped them. I think I'm going to work on the endgame courses, but I want to maximize my results. 

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Below 2000 all the courses in the rating booster section are very good, particularly the tactic ninja and blunderproof courses. The u2000 endgame course could also be useful for theoretical endgames or the endgame roadmap for more practical tips.

Hope this helps, Samuel