Chess forum by Grandmasters

French Attack Exchange Variation

Hey guys,

Loving the French Attack!
I was wondering on the occasions where opponent castles long in Exchange Variation, what's the attack plan for us?

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I'm no chess expert but the attack plan for White can be  to create a pawn storm on the kingside. This involves pushing the f-pawn to f4 and then f5, breaking apart Black's solid central pawn structure and eventually starting a Kingside attack. This plan also gains space on the Queenside and possibly creates room for the dark-squared Bishop to come to b2.

Can I get the coaches in here to help? I face long castle using French Exchange quite frequently (1100 elo blitz). Can't do the attack set up with opposite castles =/

Brag: Finished 51,000 Puzzles

Six months ago I began a quest to complete 51,000 mate-in-1 puzzles. Today, I have reached that goal! I can say, without question, that it has made a massive improvement in my game (went from 1400 to 1740 on lichess). 

Additionally, going back into Tactic Ninja is so much easier for me now than it was before. Loving all the new puzzles in Tactics Ninja! Actually, I just love puzzles. Keep the puzzles coming!! :)

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Yes, I guess that you must love to solve puzzles after solving so many. Now you need to go for other types of puzzles, but don't lose the habit of working hard every day on chess! 😄

Paging Dr Avetik - this might or might not be suspicious

This site looks lifted from the SLP course. He uses the exact same terms Chessmood does. 

I appreciate that I might be overreacting. There are only so many ways to describe the same set of skills. If you ask me what a knight is and I say it moves in an L shape…did I plagiarize someone by explaining facts? But on the other hand ‘SLP mode’ is very much a trademark saying of Avetik's so…

https://summitschoolofchess.com/how-to-save-losing-positions-in-chess/

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This looks almost blatantly copied and pasted. All the article writer did was just summarize some points. They even used the same examples!!!!

Something is going on here…

Thanks for letting us know. We'll take it from here. 😀

The French Attack..

In the advanced variation of the French variation 3. e5 bd7 4. nf3 a6 5. c4 dc4 6. bc4 bc6 7.nc3 nd7 what should we do against d5?

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For me, i would trade everything with Bxd5 and if the take, we take back with the queen to provoke them with a trade, then castle long if they do take. This really just covers a barebones variation of the line, but i recommend you to do your self analysis on this variation.

How to play when opponent takes you out of theory?

I've been studying the chessmood repertoire and model games with commentary, and the games that go in that direction I generally win (unless I blunder x)), but lately half my opponents don't play the moves taught here. And then I went from knowing exactly what to do to not sure what to do and then I get out-played. Do you guys have tips on how to navigate in waters that are unfamiliar? 

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Shouldn’t happen much but when it does -

Use the Opening Principles (https://chessmood.com/course/opening-principles). 

My only exception is if it happens really often, (like nc3 on the french exchange) Post them on the forums as they might spark a conversation to how to play and guide you through that position.

need a chess coach on spot during June 10-20, 2024 at Almaty

Anyone is interested? Qualification: you need to speak English relatively well, so my kids could understand you. Our coach cannot accompany them to Almaty, so we are considering hire a coach on spot to help. Price negotiable. Prefer CM, FM or above level, titled players, or experienced chess coach with juniors. Please PM me here and then we can get in touch to explore the possiblities. Thanks. 

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If you know someone might be interested, please help forward to them. My kids will go to Almaty, Kasakhstan to join the Asian Youth and it would be good if we can find a coach on spot. Thanks a lot!

My deadly dangerous bishop. Thanks Gabuzyan

I wouldn't have thought of this before the bishop pair course. I always saw bishops as simply projectiles

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/daily/646706395?tab=review

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Well played.  That light-square bishop was a real annoyance for black and difficult to remove from the fantastic square that you found for it.

The French Attack

Hello guys…

Till date I played e5 against 1.e4.. The French Attack has complex type of positions that are not usually found in 1.e5..Do you reccomend me coming out of my comfort zone and learning this new opening..Will it help me improve in chess?

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Yup! I recommend to play the french against e4, If you don't like it, you could always find another one that might suit you. (sicilian, pirc caro)
If you really wanna improve, you gotta get out of your comfort zone. You might fail at first but the important thing is to focus on growth and not the results. More about this on here: https://chessmood.com/blog/detachment

One of my favorite quotes:

”Comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing grows there.“

Since you're asking this on ChessMood forum, it would be to play French since it's part of the repertoire. Or you know, Sicilian if you're 2000+ elo :P

How to not think about songs when you play OTB games

Recently when I play songs get stuck in my head and it is very annoying. How do I get them out of my head?

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Press skip until you find one that you like, or just mute…😄

No, jokes aside, and I hope that you understand that it was a joke, you need to work more on concentration and calculate regularly much more than you are doing. When you start to calculate more seriously, you don't have time for music. I would also recommend not to listen to music while playing chess at home… 😊 I also had and some times still have this during my games, but calculating exercices a lot at home helped me overcome this. 

The Grand Prix

Recently when I was playing the Grand Prix Attack against a 2000+ rated opponent (I am around 1800) in an OTB tournament I faced a problem in the opening.. 
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bc4 e6 6. 0-0 Nge7 with the idea of d5..After d5 I did not get a chance to attack on the kingside… What should my plans be in the positions where e6-d5 is played later on in the game.. I face this idea from 80% of the opponents against whom I have used the Grand Prix Attack

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Exactly this is the reason, why ChessMood recommends 3.Bb5 after 2..Nc6.

Actually, Bc4 is not so convincing when Black has the opportunity to play …d5 in one

move. It's something different, when Black plays …d6 and only later tries d6-d5 (= loss of

one tempo!)

See here: https://chessmood.com/course/crushing-all-the-sidelines-of-sicilian/episode/2081

I do highly recommend checking out the advanced Nc6 course.

https://chessmood.com/course/sicilian-defence-part-2
It will become highly unpleasant for your opponents!

Opening Question

Hi, in the Scotch Game Course, I am confused with two different options. 

After 4…Qh4, the course tells you not to play Nc3, but then the PGN file gives 5.Nc3 an exclamation mark.

What should I play?

Thanks 😃

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If Qh4 I think the continuation is Nb5, attacking the c7 square. If Qxe4+, Be2…

The correct and best lien for White to play is indeed 5. Nc3. After Bb4 6. Be2 Qxe4 7. Nb5 now and we get a position. This just avoids some of Blacks annoying defen es.

Scotch Game with 4 ...Nf6, where to castle?

Hello,

 in the Scotch Game with 4….Nf6 it comes to the following position

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nxc6 bxc6 6.e4 Ne4 7.Nd2 Nxd2 8.Bxd2 Be7 9.Bd3 O-O

Why is Avo recommending short castle for White now?

Are there any downsides, when I develop the Queen to e2 or f3 and then long castle?

I think my king is safe on the queenside because I would then start to attack

f3, g4, h4 ….

Thank you for your advice.

Joachim

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Nothing wrong with short castling - It's just that long castling is way more beneficial as you have a space advantage on the center, and with long castling, the a1 rook is developed and the f3, g4 and h4 attack works flawlessly.

In this case, short castle is much better I believe. The black rook has the half open b-file, and can potentially stir something up with the a and c pawns. After short castle, you possess all of the advantages, and black has very little meaningful play (escpecially compared with long castle.).

PGN files

I'd like to ask if the pgn files offer all the lines explained in the opening videos or is it some blank file where your go add your own lines since it says homework and I'm kind of confused. 

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it’s an in between of those things. It has the main moves and some moves leading to variations where you’ll put the moves. not exactly a full analysis but also not a blank pgn.

In each opening course (excluding some, they are working on those courses and files.) there are the pin homework. The homework is a semi filled pgn, where you have to enter what you remember. This is to engage maximum attention.

More about it here: https://chessmood.com/blog/the-most-effective-way-to-create-chess-pgn-files

Email change

My apologies for a non-chess query, but i want to change my profile's email address. How do i change it?

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Please contact the support team.

https://chessmood.com/contact

positional chess course

are you going to release positional chess course because i am waiting for it a very long time ago 

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Dear Jerome,

Thanks for your interest but we never provide any release date. We take a lot of time in selecting the best examples and this course is going to be very important. We always try to do our best and we expect to publish it this year, but we cannot say the date.
In the meanwhile you can watch the past webinar from Gabu on the same topic if you did not do it yet: 
https://chessmood.com/event/positional-chess-nuances

😄Also in the Classical Commented Games and the Daily lessons there are many, many positional tips and tactics explained all the time, check them out too. 💪
May the Chessmood Force be with You!😁

Course Request

Could there be a Q vs R course as part of the Endgame Mastery Section? It seems simple but I struggle to win 100% of these endings.

Thanks. 😄

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Me too me too me too

How to embed games?

How to embed games? I always see on best games thread, some games are embedded, without a link. How do you do this?

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You must create a .pgn file externally first.

Save it on your computer.

Then click on the symbol left next to the smiley and upload your file via this.

test

Best Game Ending Ever

Hello!

I would like to share the ending to a recent online rapid game. The game link is https://www.chess.com/game/live/107040710937, but realize I was dominated most of the game. 

In the pictured position, completely winning for black, my opponent blundered with 40…bxa6??  I'll pose this as a puzzle for the reader: What is the best continuation for White, to save an otherwise lost game?

The next two moves were some of the happiest I have ever played on a computer in my life. These sort of ‘once in a lifetime' combinations makes one appreciate all of the stalemate themes in the CM daily puzzles.

Enjoy!
Jake

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Nice one, yes, this is a perfect position to appear in any book for endings. Congrats!😀

Just on my way out so will comment later but for anybody else trying to follow the link - remove the comma :-)

Coach for my child

Hi ChessMood fam!  

I'm looking for a coach for my 8-year-old son.  His Lichess rapid rating is 1437, his USCF is 725, and his chess.com puzzle rating is 4204 (thanks Tactics Ninja!)  Basically, he's all over the place!  We've had a ChessMood membership for him for quite some time, but now he's really gotten into it.  He's recently completed Tactics Ninja and Mating Matador and is halfway done with 7Qs.  He's even created his customized PGNs for the White and Blackmood openings.  He's decided to get behind your lessons 100% and I'd like to support his investment with a coach, if possible.  He will spend 15 hours per week on chess games and study (bulk of games and analysis, as you've recommended).

We've connected him with a not-so-great coach from a great coach's school (a coach even ChessMood holds in high regard), and that didn't work out – camera off, hard silent 30-min tactics without much interaction, etc.

We've read great things about coach Edo Tokyo in your improvement case studies – does he work with mature/disciplined kids?  If not, is there any other coaches that you recommend?  If there are several, it would be great to have a chance to meet them each to assess vibes.

Warm regards, and thank you!

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Thanks Joshua for reaching out, we understand your request and we will contact you privately to see if we can help you in this matter. :-)

Frenck attack: Main line with 3.Nc3 and 4.e5

Hi everyone. Just wanted to tell you about a mistake I made in a recent game to prevent this to happen to anyone of you.

In the blackmood repertoire, the suggested moves for the classical line are as follows:

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.e5 Here, CH recommends …Ng8 (moving back the knight to its initial position, and continue with the typical plan for black with c5-Nc6-Qb6, since the white knight is wrongly positioned in c3 and cannot mantain the pawn chain.

My game continued with 5.Nf3 c5 (started the attack on the queen side).

And here it comes my mistake:

To 6.Bg5 I repplied with …Ne7??

With my knight on e7 the pawn on c5 in now hanging, so white can capture it with 7.dxc5. But it's still stronger for white 7.Nb5 with the idea of 8.Nd6+ and 9.Nxf7 double attack to the queen and rook.

Luckily, my opponent didn't see this line and just took my free pawn on c5.

The best move after 6.Bg5 I think is Qc7, controlling the b5 square and avoiding the attack with the knight. Any other suggestions?

So be warned and don't make the same mistake I did.

P.S. If you want to know, I switched to SLP mode and managed to win the game. 

PSS: I know 5…c5 is the continuation recommended by CH. But wouldn't it be better to delay the attack on the queen side and start with 5…Ne7 (to avoid 6.Bg5 attacking the queen) and then 6…c5?

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Sorry, in PSS I meant 5…Ne7 / 6…Nf5 and 7…c5 Obviously, we cannot make c5 with our knight still on e7 covering the bishop defense on the pawn

Good to note on this, if it was a real game i would probably play Qb6 instead of Qc7, just looks more natural to me😅
The Ne7-Nf5 plan might work, but i'm worried that they might play something like Ne2, then c3, making the white french pawn chain. While if you play c5 directly, you instantly pressure the d4 pawn ( i guess this is why Qc7 is the better move, cuz after the d4 pawn is gone, the queen pressures the lonely e5 pawn)