Chess forum by Grandmasters

Question on the Modern Maroczy Bind Course

Hello ChessMood Family,

I just had one quick question on the Modern Maroczy Bind Course. Recently, I saw an interesting idea in the 9.Bg5 line where after 9.Bg5 0-0 and 10.Qe3 Be6, instead of 11.0-0, White can play with 11.Rc1 followed by b3 and f3, so Black does not have time to play with a6-b5 because the pawn on e4 is already defended, which would have not been the case if 11.0-0 was played. Am I missing something, or how should I react to this line?

Thanks in advance

Replies

The line is just leading to a super practical Maroczy-style position.

I liked the 11…Qb6 or another idea 11…Rc8 12.b3 b5.

Scotch 8. ...h6 line

Hi all,

I have been going through the scotch course and was on the 8. … h6 line in the 4. …Nf6 section and was looking at this line,

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nxc6 bxc6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nd5 8. h4 h6 9. c4 Ba6 10. g3 g6 11. h5 g5 12. Qe4 Nb4 13. Nc3

where 13. …Rd8 is the best move, just threatening d5 again. This move isn't looked at in the videos. Engine gives c5 just stopping d5. The engine line goes 14. c5 Bxf1 15. Kxf1 Nd5 16. Nxd5 cxd5 17. Qxd5 Qxc5 18. Qxc5 Bxc5 and we get into this position which seems pretty balanced? Could you help discuss some potential ideas and plans in this Rd8 line or if I should deviate from this line? Thanks for the help!

Replies

Hey there,

I thoroughly checked the variation and I will share my opinion below, but some of the lines are going super-super-super advanced and that knowledge can be even advanced for even GM level. It's good to know the opening lines - but my friendly advice is not to analyze so deeply that it will never occur, and it is better to invest time in the other areas of your chess improvement 😀

Here is what I think: The endgame mentioned in your variations is preferable for white, as they have fewer pawn islands - so the structure is better.

Also on the 14th move, there are ideas like 14.Bd2 or 14.Be3 leads to practical messy positions, which can be quite interesting for the White's side.
 

Also on move 12th White can also try 12.Nd2 which is a very practical move, although you will need to analyze it by yourself.

Good luck!
 

Advice with Dutch attack vs Londo

Hi, chessmood family. I could use some advice here with using Dutch against London.

In some games, I found that after moving my knight to e4 I got it attacked by white bishop on d3, queen on c2 and knight from d2, while it is only protected by the pawn on f5 and the bishop from b7.

For instance, a game could go as follows:

1.d4 e6 2.Bf4 f5 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nf3 b6 5.Bd3 Bd7 6.O-O Ne4 (protecting the square g5 to avoid white move Ng5, as reccommended in the blackmood opening.

The think is then, white can move either Nbd2 followed by Qc2 (after c3 or c4). attacking our beautiful knight on e4. For instance:

7.Nbd2 Be7 8.c3 O-O 9.Qc2

I've arrived to this or similar positions a couple of times, maybe changing move order or some slight variations (see the attached image). But the main point is my knight on e4 is now attacked 3 times and defended only 2. In a recent game, I decided to protect it once more with d5. Though the module seems ok with this move, I feel that it should be wrong for our attacking plans, since the d5 pawn blocks de diagonal of our bishop on b7. An alternative would be capturing the white knight on d2, 9…Nxd2, but not sure how to continue after 10.Qxd2. maybe 10…Bxf3 ruining the white castle? Or 10…g5 attacking the bishop?  Any ideas?

Another think I have noticed is that blackmood repertoire and model games with the Dutch vs London considers the move Be2. But most of the times, I played against the move Bd3, which gives more control to whites on the important square e4 (which is where we want to put our knight). How does it changes our plans?

Thank your very much for your time reading and your ideas. They're always welcome 

Replies

against bd3 We still play Ne4 anyways, Bd3 is not a critical move.
you can look at this  threads

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/dutch-vs-london-be2-and-bd3

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/dutch-attack-vs-london-bd3-question

Also this video event where GM Gabuzyan analyzes the games
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VEz6DS1sW4

ps: i asked the same question a month+ ago and i'm reusing the answer!

in the short PGN you sent (1. d4 e6 2. Bf4 f5 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nf3 b6 5. Bd3 Bb7 6. c4 Ne4 ) you should play Bb4+ instead of Ne4.

the idea is to trade your bad dark square bishop with opponents knight… however you need to remember to take immediately if they play 7.Nc3 to ruin opponent's pawn structure. but if they play 7.Nbd2 you should wait {by casteling for example)  for your opponent to play a3 then take with tempo.  there is also this nice Ndf6 move in 3. a3 to prevent Bb4 (chessmood.com) 

Kasparov swore deep blue had human assistance

In 1997 a match was played between a computer by ibm called deep blue and then world champion Garry Kasparov. At the time it was a shock when deep blue won 3-2 i think but Garry swore the computer was having assistance. But what if theyre was no computer input at all and Bobby Fischer was relaying moves.

Replies

read deep thinking  by Garry Kasparov 

it was bobby Fischer all that time😱😟

The result wasn't that much of a shock to those of us who had been paying attention to progress in computer chess in those years.  In any case it was clear to most objective observers that there was no cheating/assistance going on.  Garry was in a difficult situation emotionally/psychologically, so I don't think anyone really holds those things he said against him.

I’m not sure what the argument is here.

Frankly, Deep Blue did not cheat.

It is neither productive for their team, or chess in general if they did.

Second, who would have helped them and actually beat Kasparov in a match.

Third, computers anyways got stronger (further evidence of Deep Blues win) so it doesn’t really matter.

Fourth, (this will be controversial) Kasparov is a bit of a sore loser. There are many videos of him being extremely rude to people he lost to.

At this point, all evidence points to it being an actual computer.

You can say otherwise, but you are grasping for air as they say.

We are basing the word of Kasparov, known to be sore loser and likely didn’t even realize how strong computers were at that point, against the Deep Blue team who also had spectator evidence.

Honestly, there is really nothing more to discuss here.

Garry Kasparov and Deep Blue (youtube.com) that is a link to a youtube video by rheinfeld on the issue

Beginner/Intermediate Player Seeking Advice On Openings

Hello,

I'm currently rated 980 on chess.com and have been playing chess for two months. I've been utilizing the Stonewall Attack as White and the King's Indian Defense as Black, which I learned from Robert Ramirez's Chessable courses "Counterblow" and "First Strike." However, since joining ChessMood a week ago, I've noticed recommended openings for both White and Black.

Given my need to focus on tactics, strategy, and endgames, and considering the recommendation to allocate only 10% of study time to openings for players under 1000 Elo, should I stick with my current openings or switch immediately to the ChessMood recommendations? How significant is the difference between continuing with the Stonewall Attack and King's Indian Defense versus following the recommended openings?

I want to make sure I am following the chessmood advice as closely as possible, I was just confused on what to do here. 

Please let me know,

Thanks :)

Replies

Hi Tyler,

I'm only a beginner myself but I think that you've probably answered your own question - you should devote most of your time to tactics and relatively little to openings.  Perhaps take a look through the unlocked ‘Opening principles’ ( https://chessmood.com/course/opening-principles )course and then focus on tactics after that.

So I decided to throw out what I have learned so far about openings and just stick to the CM openings and listen to the wise advice of GMs :) 

I recognized I have difficulties listening to one source and sticking to their system, so this is a weakness I have to work on to not think I am smarter than the coach and combine my own thing. CM knows best!

😉

Hi Tyler! Im not sure if i have kid and stonewall videos, but I do have a lot of chess opening books and videos! i can check to see if I have them!

As a beginner myself. I'll put into practice the advices I found here

Opponents weaknesses and how to exploit them chess.

Could you kindly guide me on the best course for strategies to identify an opponent’s weaknesses in order to gain an advantage? I am particularly interested in exploiting these vulnerabilities, highlighting weak squares, provoking weak points, and forcing the opponent into defensive positions.

Thanks in advance.

Replies

In the book How to Reasses your Chess by Silman is a whole chapter written about weak pawns/squares.
If you don't want to buy it (which I understand), here is a list from different weak pawns: isolated pawns, doubled pawns, backwards pawns. There is also a lot of content on youtube about these themes I think.

Question #1 is: “What problems does the opponent have?”

https://chessmood.com/course/chess-planning-7q-method/episode/6469

There are very nice examples- not only in this chapter but all over the course.

"My System" by Aron Nimzowitsch - This classic book introduces many fundamental strategic concepts, including the exploitation of weaknesses in the opponent's position.
You could maybe read this

important question

in The 2nd option and the paradoxical move (chessmood.com) at 05:35 why do we take the bishop and not fork the knight and bishop?

Replies

Let's break it down, the pawn you want to push for forking will be protected by your queen and your knight against white bishop and queen, but after white push his pawn to g4, your knight will be forced to move and leave your center pawn,🤔 then white bishop will take your pawn without problem!😊

I hope you understand it well💎😉

You are right. …d4 is the best move in this position, winnning a piece.

But: Black made 3 moves in a row- Ne7, Nf5 and c5. That is just to show a realistic follow up

for Black. You can assume that White will not blunder a piece. But then you will still have the Nxe3 option,

ruining White's pawn structure. 

In short: Avo just sketches ideas.

Does USCF ratings tend to be more inflated than FIDE ratings?

I was searching for this, but could not find any good results, so i'll ask it here - Are USCF ratings more inflated than FIDE ratings? I have seen National Masters at 2100 fide but 2200 in uscf rating. Is there a reason for it? Less FIDE tournaments in the US? Or another reason? 

Replies

It's a different system with a different pool of players.  It would be somewhat surprising if it produced identical ratings.

Traditionally people in both systems have typically has a higher USCF rating.  I imagine things have changed a bit since the recent change to FIDE ratings, and that is still playing out.  Players above 2K will usually have a lower FIDE ratings, but under 2K I'm not so sure.

Yes, it's commonly observed that USCF (United States Chess Federation) ratings tend to be slightly higher on average compared to FIDE (International Chess Federation) ratings. There are several reasons that contribute to this difference:

Rating Pool Differences: The USCF rating system and the FIDE rating system have different player pools. USCF ratings are based on tournaments primarily held within the United States, which may have a different distribution of player strengths compared to the global pool of players that FIDE ratings encompass.

Rating Inflation: Over time, rating inflation can occur in any rating system due to various factors such as more players entering the system, improved playing conditions, changes in competition levels, and adjustments in rating calculation formulas. USCF has seen periods of rating inflation in its history, which could contribute to higher ratings compared to FIDE.

Rating Floors and Ceiling: The USCF rating system has a rating floor of 1000, which means that a player's rating cannot drop below 1000 regardless of their performance. This can result in a compression of lower ratings and potentially inflate higher ratings. FIDE does not have a similar rating floor.

Different Tournament Frequencies: The frequency and availability of FIDE-rated tournaments vary globally. In some regions, especially outside Europe and parts of Asia, there may be fewer FIDE-rated events compared to the United States. This could lead to less frequent opportunities for players to establish or maintain their FIDE ratings accurately.

Regional Competition Strength: The strength of competition can vary significantly between regions. A player might perform differently in tournaments with stronger or weaker competition, affecting their rating in each respective system.

Regarding the specific case of a National Master being rated differently in USCF and FIDE, it could be influenced by these factors. A National Master at 2200 USCF and 2100 FIDE could indicate that their performances in USCF tournaments are relatively stronger compared to the global competition measured by FIDE.

In summary, while both rating systems aim to reflect a player's relative strength accurately, differences in player pools, rating calculation methods, and tournament availability contribute to variations between USCF and FIDE ratings.

FOUND THIS ANSWER ON CHAT GPT

Won an OTB tournament, thanks to CM!!

Hi, chessmood family

I won the over50 first prize in the OTB chess tournament at my university, thanks to the amazing chessmood courses: openings, tactics, ant-blunders, and it was also very useful in some important games the WWP course.

Thank you very much, CM team, it would hav'nt been possible without you! 

Replies

Excellent! Very well done. 👍 

congrats!! btw funny picture 😂

by the way why are you saying CM as they are Gms ? the difference is quite big 

Nice one! Keep it up Xesc! Felicitats!💪

Caro-Kann course mistake on section 5

In section 5 (4..Nf6), video number 2, 0:41
after e6, Nd2 is a miss, white can win a free piece (Bxb8)  because the alignment of the king and the queen (I verified with the engine just in case)

Replies

Yes, Avetik when recording the transpositions messed up the move order in this one. In this exact move order, yes, BxN is the best move. Well spotted. He just had to move the knight first instead of the e6 pawn to make his point. By the way this trap is also explained in the course.

Smith Morra Gambit

Hello everyone, I recently started playing the sicilian but I always panic when my opponent goes for the smith morra. Does anyone know a line I can learn against it? If it's possible, I would also like it if it is a line without a lot of theory. Thank you for reading so far. 

Replies

Hi Matteo,

If you are fine with it, you can just decline: 1.e4 c5 2.d4 Nf6. See here:

https://chessmood.com/course/crushing-all-the-sidelines-of-sicilian/episode/6784

After the expected 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 you are back in the Alapin- just in case you don't panic

after 1.e4 c5 2.c3 😜

Scotch #14 4...Bc5 Mistake?

From 3:54 on, didn't he just give white a free tempo or am I crazy?

As far as I can tell the line he gives is:

4…Bc5 5. Nb3 Bb6 6.Nc3 _?_ 7. Qe2 d6 8. Be3

Obviously missing a move for black here changes the whole line. You'll notice he says “after Qe2 let's say d6” but the last move on the board was Nc3 for white. Looking at the lichess database it seems like black usually plays Nf6 after 6. Nc3 but that move is given later in the video at 4:00.

Replies

He may have. It’s a bit confusing.

Howevwe what he is trying to show you is the main ideas of the line.

He is not feeding you lines to memorize, but rather the ideas that you should know.

Honestly, it dosent matter much with the idea of the video.

Alekhine Defense 4...dxe5 question?

After 4… dxe5 5. Nxe5 c6 6. Be2, what if 6…Bf5?

Avetik did not cover it in the course.

Replies

https://chessmood.com/course/rock-n-rolling-with-white/episode/5648

https://chessmood.com/course/rock-n-rolling-with-white/episode/5649

Sometimes it's the case that alternatives not mentioned in the main course 

can be found in the “Rock ‘n’ Rolling” courses. In your case see the two videos above,

where your question is dealt with.

My first French Attack after watching simplified blackmood openings

https://lichess.org/game/export/LcmyrSO8?literate=1

[Event "Live Chess"] [Site "Chess.com"] [Date "2024.06.12"] [Round "?"] [White "Lane959"] [Black "YVedant"] [Result "0-1"] [WhiteElo "1640"] [BlackElo "1644"] [Variant "Standard"] [TimeControl "900+10"] [ECO "C02"] [Opening "French Defense: Advance Variation, Extended Bishop Swap"] [Termination "Unknown"] [Annotator "lichess.org"] 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bd7 { C02 French Defense: Advance Variation, Extended Bishop Swap } 4. Nf3 a6 5. a4 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Be3 Qb6 8. Qc2 Rc8 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Bxc5 Qxc5 11. Bd3 Nb4 12. Qe2 Nxd3+ 13. Qxd3 Ne7 14. O-O h6 15. Nbd2 g5 16. Nb3 Qc4 17. Qxc4 Rxc4 18. Nfd4 Ng6 19. Rfe1 Nf4 20. Re3 b6 21. Nd2 Rxa4 22. Rxa4 Bxa4 23. b3 Bd7 24. c4 Ke7 25. cxd5 Nxd5 26. Rf3 Rc8 27. Kf1 Rc1+ 28. Ke2 Nf4+ { Black wins. } 0-1

Replies

Well played! 

Hello ChessMood engineers (Suggestion)

I love studying the courses but it is annoying when I click on the Courses link and have to search for the ones im working on. What about a page Where I can add a few courses im working on at the moment. It would be much nicer.

Thanks

Replies

Already exist. go to profile>My courses>favorite courses… just ❤️  a cours and you will see it appear there

model game pgn

Hello family,

Is there any pgn available with simplified black mood opening model games? I do not remember how to recover them?

Thank you for your help

Replies

Hi there,

Yes, there is a pgn file available.  It's in the ‘Attachments’ folder immediately after Section 24 - Epilogue.  Left-click on either the word ‘Download’ or on the down arrow next to it.

😅There is no pgn provided, but you can look for the games in chess.com but looking at the name of the players if you are interested in some. 💪 

WhiteMood Model Games

♟️

Hi Chessmood,

Can you tell when the other sections of WhiteMood Model games will be uploaded?

Thanks

Replies

Losing Rating/Plateau

Dear Chessmood family

2 days ago I was at my peak 1874, I really thought I could cross 2000, I was playing like a machine, when I analysed my games I was playing at 80-95% accuracy most of the time. Yesterday however, I was playing a ton of blitz to try to at least cross 1900, instead I lost 40 elo which put me around 1830. Today I was playing blitz all day, I lost more and more and more, now my rating is at 1760. I fear that I am plateauing, that the 2000 blitz elo might be impossible for me, today, I was completely winning in so many positions, yet I threw. How did I play so well 2 days ago and play so bad today? Please someone help me, this is really heartbreaking for me.

Replies

Just lost another 30 rating now at 1748

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about your bad run.  It sounds as though you are playing on tilt - you need to stop and take a break, even if just for a short period.

While you are on the break, take a look at this article: https://chessmood.com/blog/5-crucial-steps-to-stop-bad-results-in-chess

Good luck!

This is what I suggest. I think you should take a break, and do some puzzles, or openings. Then you should basically improve and work on it. When you feel ready, you should play. 

You are just tilting, and you are not really improving. Playing tons of blitz without analyzing properly the games and without studying will not help you improve. You cannot play if you are not in the mood. Easy as this.

There are many articles in our blog related to this, but please read also Noel-s blog on this theme>

https://nextlevelchess.blog/no-more-tilt/

Plus look at the golden method for playing blitz by Avetik in the blog. 

Grand Prix after Bb5xNc6 dxc6 or bxc

�😄�

Hi dear ChessMood family.

My name is Fernando, im from Lisbon, Portugal, and this is my first post.

Im looking in the streams for material on the grand prix attack after e4 c5, nc3 nc6, Bb5 then black plays anything but Nd4. I would like to learn the plans after Bxc6.

Can you guide me to the place (url or name event stream) where this topic is discussed ? So far i cant find any , but the there so much material that probably im lost .

Anyway, thanks in advance 

Replies

Hi Fernando,

it starts here:

https://chessmood.com/course/rock-n-rolling-with-white/episode/4118

The course is : Rock 'n' Rolling with White, chapter 4, anti- sicilian pt.2.

Here you see the ChessMood repertoire in action :-)

Closed Sicilian

Hi everyone,

after 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6:

We usually go in our Botvinik setup with ..e5 next. Only after 6.f4 we play 6..e6. The reason why we don't play 6..e5 in this case is that White still has the option to put his Knight to f3 and we always have to be careful with the f5 gxf5 Nh4- idea. 

If we play 6..e5 7.Nf3 and then go 7..exf4 (our normal reaction)

White gets a better version in this structure since his Knight on f3 is very active compared to the versions where it is on e2.

So far so good. Makes sense.

My question: After 6.Be3 we go 6..e5 preparing against the Qd2, Bh6- idea. This works out very well in my eyes.

But what after 6.Be3 e5 7.f4. Are we tricked a little bit? Sure, we could take on f4 being a tempo up. But I think time is not so important here and White's very active setup with the Knight on f3 later counts more..

I have a feeling that it's a rather hidden deatail:

6.Be3 e5 7.f4 Nge7 8.Nf3 0-0 and if here 9.f5 then 9..gxf5 10.Nh4 and now the point: 10..f4 (with tempo!!!) 11.gxf4 exf4 12.Bxf4 Ng6 and Black seems very fine. What do you think?

Thank you so much in advance!

Replies

https://chessmood.com/course/crushing-all-the-sidelines-of-sicilian/episode/2548

Sorry thomas! I completely overlooked this thread! My bad, I think that the position that you are looking for is in the above link and the next 2.

Please check them out…

Good study and sorry again for the miss!😀