Chess forum by Grandmasters

Scotch Game 4. ... Bc5 against 6. ... a5

I was wondering if any one has faced 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 ed 4. Nxd4 Bc5 5. Nb3 Bb6 6. Nc3 a5 as per my game below? https://lichess.org/BLpx5cL1/white#38 Any suggestions on where I could have improved or plan against this early a5 would be appreciated

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You played the opening well - even if the computer says you could have played Nd5 instead of Qe2. In my eyes, the problem comes from 12. Bc4. You develop a piece and follow the opening principles. But here, we have a position with opposite-side castling. Usually, playing with pawns is the right choice. So I would recommend 12. f3 instead, followed by pushing the h- and g- pawns. Taking on d5 (16.Nxd5) is not a mistake. But blockading the weakness instead of taking it is interesting. Like that, the opponent keeps his attention on his weakness and is not free from it. So you can work on the creation of a second weakness/front. After that, you lost control of the game because you allowed counterplay to your opponent. It's a difficult skill to work on, but it will reward you a lot! But I think you played the opening very well. 👍

Enough is enough...My blitz war against dirty flaggers begins

I mainly play 5-0 blitz & get a little irritated at the large number of games I lose on time to dirty flaggesrs, especially when I am trying new ideas/moves & yet very often have the winning advantage in the game, but get dirty flagged. So, enough is enough, as, I am no longer prepared to accept this & I will play faster to stop this, come what may. Very often the experienced dirty flaggers just make nonsense moves to avoid losing on time & to increase the chances that I will be taken by surprise & move too slow & lose when with the better position. I start with a win as Black against a dirty flagger playing the accelerated London as White. So I get double joy, at beating both the London & a dirty flagging London opening player! Happy chess everyone, especially, happy wins against dirty flaggers (whether you are a dirty flagger or not. Actually it is a blitz tactic to be such player to win at all costs...all depends on your conscience & at Chess Mood we play, "Right Mood, Right Move" which helps blow aside dirty flaggers! ;-)

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Go get them Richard!!!! 😁

Although you can also play with some increment to avoid being flagged… 😅 Just a suggestion… 

Hi if I may so, I think many are playing blitz with no increment not to "improve" but just for fun and/or to win. The point is: Flagging is part of their game. When I play 5+0 or especially 3+0 I get flagged all the time and of course the worst feeling is if I had a completely winning position. Now I very much prefer 3+2 or 5+5, we can practice our openings with more time to think in the middlegame playing better moves and less mouseslips and blunders. And I make sure to always analyze my games after that.

I've tried this approach. I think the points are: . Blitz mostly tests intuition. If you're running out of time either you're trying to calculate too often, too slow at it, and/or your intuition isn't up to scratch for such fast games. That said you can export your games and look at your time usage. Were these tough positions because you were losing, or could you have switched to intuition, or just played any healthy/sane move? . Blitz is often fun, and fills odd moments. For every annoying person that flagged me, either I was winning which is a good sign anyway, or I've flagged a number of people in positions I wasn't myself. I also use my phone which isn't fast at inputing moves. This is why I don't like chess skill on here to be equated to chess.com blitz (though I understand why). . Blitz is great to test opening memory / middlegame transposition and endgame technique especially theoretical positions or nearing them. It's a shame bullet isn't played with healthy openings else I'd get a lot more practice. . Some openings are better suited to blitz because they are hard to break down or tricky. The London is one of those, as is hippo structures. If you don't know enough, trying to do it over the board at 5 0 is hard work, and this is one reason opponents play them. Same for abracadabra gambits. Most of them wouldn't try the same stuff in a longplay game. . In the end does blitz matter so much to you? I'm more interesting in my longplay FIDE games.

Thanks all for all your great comments. I really like blitz chess over long time control chess. To be frank, I find long control chess boring & correspondence/daily chess, simply what??! I do not understand that to be chess, but perfectly accept it suits some players. Loads of people do not share my like of blitz (& I prefer no increment). I think blitz is a great test of anyone's chess playing ability, where speed & accuracy are key factors to wins (along with chess understanding. This is a hard test to master but can be very rewarding when you get those wins in new openings & with new moves & ideas).. As I say, usually I play too slow in unfamiliar positions & when trying new moves & ideas & I take too long to figure out the required moves & those that simply play fast get an edge over me- BUT NO MORE! I'm fairly confident that over the last few years I have spent too much time studying chess (as I like to learn as much about chess as I can) & not enough time playing games. So, this year I am trying to play more daily blitz games & put the dirty flaggers in their place (I know we all agree that being in winning positions in blitz & losing on time is frustrating, no matter how much positivity we can give those games & even these are valuable to some extent, but if I want to play blitz I have to try & master blitz & play fast too! Hopefully accurately also!). Let's enjoy all our chess as we want, as we are all different, but we all want to win (it is the aim/point of the game after all, but if you are happy not to win, then do so & let no one stop you. Except, ChessMood is here for us to learn to win more, so let's do it! ) ;-)

Chess Peace

Can we have a clearer view of the "Chess Peace" image that shows up in many of your videos?

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Chess Peace: Cartoons by Tony Sullivan 👌

https://www.chessforstudents.com/chess-peace-cartoons/ 

Check this out and you will find many….😀

In fact, the one in the picture is this one>

https://www.chessforstudents.com/chess-peace-by-tony-sullivan-published-on-sale-now/

New course: Attack like a Viking!

Champions,

Get ready to raid!?

Our course ‘Attack like a Viking is out!’

With GM Gabuzyan, you’ll set out on an adventure where you’ll learn about attacking in chess – from scouting the conditions before raiding to building your forces to finishing off the game!

Go raid the link below ?
https://chessmood.com/course/attack-like-viking

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Great! Have to check it out, cause I'm watching way too much olympiad atm ? EDIT: started watching it and found this hilarious moment

I just found this course and I'm working my way through it; I think it's excellent. How will the forthcoming Attack course - I think it's scheduled to be released at the end of the month - be different from this Like a Viking course?

Hi GM Gabuzyan, thank you for this really good course. one question on section 7. point 9 : is the move Ba3 here or earlier also a good alternative ? just to bring it in the center at least ?

I wanted to buy this course with my moodcoins but I don't see an option here of get lifetime access is it a PRO only course? Appreciate the response as always ?

Hi, Had troubles with this position and could not find what was wrong with my move. Turns out that the move I wanted to play was the top engine move, the solution's move was #3. (SF14) In addition, the final move in the "solution" was not in the top 5 engine moves so had problems finding it as well.

PGN files

How do I open the PGN files? Allen

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Chessbase is the main one in use, but isn't cheap. Chessbase reader is free, but you can't use many database functions. If you don't have Chessbase SCID is free.

- Chessbase ($$$) and Chessbase Reader (free) - Hiarcs Chess Explorer ($$) - There are also a number of mobile apps that do a good job, like 'Chess PGN Master' or 'Acid Ape Chess' - I also know that online sites like ChessTempo, Lichess, and Chess.com allow you to upload PGN files for evaluation and viewing. But as David already mentioned, one of the benefits of a PGN is to build your own database of games. So if taking chess study to the next level is one of your goals, don't just look for a PGN "viewer" (of which there are many).. but find something that imports the PGN files into a database for maximum analysis and usage.

Hiarcs is great if you have a Mac. It's what I use. For Windows, another free option that I've heard good things about is Tarrasch (http://www.triplehappy.com/). The advantage over Chessbase Reader is that it can be used to create/edit PGN files. The advantage over SCID is simplicity.

Hi Allen!
Most of us who study chess non stop use Chessbase and you have the free version Chessabase Reader but it does not allow to do all that you need.

In Lichess you can create studies, which is a good option too.

There are some pgn editors like:

https://chesstool-pgn.software.informer.com/

 which are free too, of course the functions are not the same but you can give it a try…

French exchange - preventing Nb5

Hello and apologies if this has been answered before. I had a game last night that went: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.h3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Bd6 6.Nc3 In this position, is it wise to play 6...a6 to prevent Nb5? This way of thinking seems to lose a pawn but I also don't know if I need to play Bb4, moving the Bishop twice. I played Nge7 as planned and my opponent never played Nb5, but it's been driving me crazy since I noticed it in my analysis. Thanks and once again, apologies if this has been answered.

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Hi Jules!

No need to play a6 at all. Let them come and take the bishop, Nc3, Nb5, Nxd6 to develop our Queen to d6. 3 White moves to develop our Queen it is a very good deal, one piece more developped on our side. If Nb5, I would just castle short and that's it, count how many pieces we have developped and how many has White if they go into this wild Bishop chase… This is a basic concept of the opening, develop as fast as possible and here White would be helping us. 

Today's Puzzle - Jan 29th

I have to admit that I didn't see where today's puzzle was going right off the bat, I just played (what I thought was) the best positional move... then a beautiful mate occurred. This was a pretty puzzle. Thanks for an excellent "birthday" puzzle.

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Survey

Hi All, I understand that there was a survey put out by Avetik. I'm watching the video but would also like to add an opinion to the survey. Anyone know where I could find it? Thanks

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Hi here's the link, from my email. It looks like the survey is still open! https://forms.gle/8xKBwnJc4YuFmB837 It was first announced in ChessMood's mailing list. If your email isn't in the mailing list yet best to join now this is another avenue for getting all the latest news and events. Best rgds, Alex

Bug in Daily Puzzle screen?

Hi Chessmood family, for the last two days I've solved the daily puzzle on the first try but didn't get the moodcoins. I just got the message "You are in a Right Mood today!" but no coins. I waited a day to try again to be sure. Anyone else have this issue? Thanks, Alex

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I did today's puzzle (this one: https://chessmood.com/daily-puzzle/05.03.2022) and didn't get any Moodcoins. Perhaps they are changing things around, or perhaps it's a bug. I'm not too worried either way, but then being new I don't really know what these coins are good for anyway :-) Btw, I thought it was a great puzzle! Well worth the effort to solve.

Thanks, this bug has been reported.

I think that this bug has been solved, can anyone kindly confirm that you are getting the moodcoins now?

I solved today's puzzle on the first attempt but did not receive any MoodCoins. I wonder why not. I solved it from my Android phone. Tomorrow I will solve from my laptop to see if that makes any difference.

I solved today's puzzle but did not receive moodcoins. Yesterday I also saw that the puzzle being displayed to me had flipped back to the prior day's puzzle for a while. That coincided with my timezone, as displayed on the events page, being completely wrong. I also noticed that my timezone was completely wrong when I solved today's puzzle.

This bug is back for me.

I got 'Congratulations. You are wrong!' today. I guess it's got a sarcastic side.

This morning's event

Is today's 1 on 1 event done, or were there technical difficulties?

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happy birthday

happy birthday

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avetik wish you a beautifull year ahead 😊

Modern Maroczy against f4

I played a game as Black against the Modern Maroczy where White played 12. f4 rather than f3 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. c4 Nf6 6. Nc3 d6 7. Be2 Nxd4 8. Qxd4 Bg7 9. Be3 O-O 10. Qd2 a5 11. O-O a4 12. f4 I was wondering what Black's plan is now? Does this now allow Ng4 ideas or to continue with Qa5?

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Happy 54th Birthday Avetik!

Just wanted to wish coach Avetik a Happy Birthday and all the best wishes!

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I know Avetik looks pretty beat up, but he is not that old! Avetik is a mere 34 years young, while I am 64 years old but wiser :-) Get some time in guys & ENJOY! Happy birthday Avetik! ;-)

Oops , small detail....34th birthday 🤣 But 54 years wise!

Play 1 on 1 with a Grandmaster

Hi folks. Does tomorrow's event require doing something in advance if we want to play Gabuzyan? Thanks!

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You will get the link before starting the games.

For participating, you will just need to write your nickname in the live stream chat, so GM Gabuzyan recognizes that it's you and accepts your match request.

If your nickname ends with ChessMood, it will be easier. For example John_ChessMood or Any_ChessMood  

You can challenge playing with one of the following time controls: 3+0, 3+2, 5+0. 

The games will be in chess.com 

https://chessmood.com/event/play-against-grandmaster-01-28

To LiChess Players....

Many thanks if you can tell me if it's possible to adjust the level of the opponent as GM Gabuzyan does when streaming. For example select an opponent rated between 1500-2000 exclusively. If we can do that (it's possible on the french site Europe Echecs) I don't know how to proceed.... Thanks again for your help.😀

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Hi Jean, when you are at the main Li chess page , top left corner has "play". When you click that , you'll see "create a game" and will have all sorts of choices as to what opponents you will get to play. Just fill in the rating range, rated/nonrated etc and you'll be all set. Cheers

Help

Help, I'm trying out chessmood.com for the first time but the training chess board is only 1"x 1" on my cell phone. I only play chess on my cell phone and have everyday for 2 years, its tiny and too small for me to see. I have an android cell phone. Is there any way I can enlarge the chessboard to be as large as the full width of my cell phone? Just like chess.com and Lichess does. I need a bigger chessboard to be able to see and follow the instructor GM's properly. Any solutions? If not, I will quit trying to make chessmood.com work for me. The teaching is so good and clear that I am planning on going for the Pro membership. But if I can't even see the training chessboard then I will have to go elsewhere. Please assist as I want to join the community now! But can't if I can't see the training videos properly. ([email protected]) Much Love!

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I have an Android phone and when I use a combination of landscape mode and full screen mode and the board is quite big.

member numbers

How many members does Chessmood have?

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Happy Birthday Avetik Fri 270123 ENJOY!

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Happy Birthday Avetik! 🥳🥳

Happy birthday Avetik. I hope that you've had an easy day today. Eat some cake!!

Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday! I plan to subscribe in the future but i will take this opportunity to watch the Endgame Roadmap :-)

Black repertoire

Hi ChessMood family! I was wondering something about opening repertoires, and I noticed that there's a lot more white material than black material on chessmood. I was wondering would that mean that the black repertoire is weaker? Or is it that since the white repertoire is already so extensive that the coaches wanted to keep black material a bit less so it's less overwhelming to learn? Just wondering!

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I think there is a bigger choice of systems for Black to play against 1. e4 than for Black to play a single system against e4, d4, c4 particularly as the repertoire fits together and it was an intention to avoid theory heavy openings. If instead, they'd opted for the Najdorf against e4 (early version of Chessmood had some lines) and the KI against d4, then I think they're have been a lot more material for Black. Also both the Benko and Accelerated miss a number of lines out.

Good question! I think that the black material is less so that it does not become too overwhelming to learn since there is so much white material already. I do not think it would mean that the black repertoire is weaker.

I think one of the reason is that chessmood recommends to play 1.e4 as white. When you start with 1.e4 you have to be prepared against a lot of different replies, while black can specialize in a single weapon against 1.e4. I see in the section of openings for black, that most of them are dedicated to the Sicilian Defense, which is a reply to 1.e4. There is also a course to play against 1.c4 and against 1.b3 The only one i see against 1.d4 is the Benko Gambit, but white can avoid it, so it looks like there should be more against 1.d4

French Attack Classical Variation

I would call 1. e4, e6 2. d4, d5 3. Nc3, Nf6 4. e5, Ng8 the Red Knight Variation. The name comes from Alice in Wonderland. The Red Knight and White Knight have a truly bizarre struggle.

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Good one Randall!! 😁