Chess forum by Grandmasters

recommended opening vs 1.Nf3 (2. g3, 3.Bg2...)

What is the recommended chessmood opening vs 1.Nf3. I understand that it can transpose to many different openings later on, so I guess we start with 1. .. Nf6 and if they continue with g3/Bg2 etc. J.

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I just copycat :)

https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/1-nf3

1...Nf6 or 1...c5 would make the most sense.

I play 1. Nf3 d5 2. g3 g6 and I will transpose to a Fianchetto Grunfeld most of the times, but one where White has lost his critical options of cxd5 because I basically go dxc4 whenever I can. Im not sure how consistent that would be for a Benko player though

If speaking about Blackmood we are going to choose the 1…e6 or if about the main repertoire we are choosing c5 setups with different transpositions.

Where are the course PGNs?

I'm an essential - not pro - member. I'd like to download course PGNs, especially the ones for the new Endgames Roadmap course. But I can't seem to find them anywhere. Can someone point me in the right direction?

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Hey, Not all the Chessmood courses have PGN. Usually, they provide PGNs for openings. They give the main lines and you have to complete them once you watched the full course to see if you memorized/understood everything correctly ?.

We provide the course pgns normally when all the course is finished and all the sections have been uploaded, never in between. Although it is true that not all courses have pgns, some have the quizz only. ?

Promotion idea

Why not offer say a few 6 month memberships as prizes to tournaments. In return ask they announce the prize at least once, add on the entry form if not too late and/or on the online entry for prizes / sponsors / prize donations, and ideally will leave a number of flyers with the other upcoming tournament info if you mail them. The prize could be a grading, junior or rated section prize where it's more likely to benefit to an improver. The idea targets would be large national tournaments that don't already have a 'competing' sponsor such as Chessable. For example Hastings: https://hastingschess.com/

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Not a bad idea. It would take some time and involvement in local tourneys though.

The first order of business is survival. Everything else is in essence secondary, if the business is not making a profit and/or the cash burn is an issue against agreed drawing facilities. However, for a niche hobbyist education business like Chess Mood, the input costs are likely to be low and the operating costs not high. So the strategic imperative revolves around how best to grow the revenue without a parallel increase in operating costs ? That leads to two potential business models or at least two marketing strategies. Namely --either focus on growing the customer base through cost effective engagement with the defined target market or segmenting the product offering and charging different prices for different levels of membership ( say Bronze <> Sliver <> Gold ). These are not mutually exclusive. Yet making the primary focus (and workload) on increasing and enhancing the existing product offering at the same price point IMO only works medium term if 1) you already have a very profitable business where customer retention is therefore key 2) all these incremental product benefits you are organising, enable you to develop a more successful promotional campaign and grow the customer base more effectively &/or charge more in the future. Within the promotional mix your idea David seems to have merit and is worth exploring. My son tells me that even some savvy IM's are making six figures ( $$$$$$) per year from Chess on Twitch. Maybe a Twitch profile with some feedback loop to the Chess Mood website is another idea. Or maybe that is just a time sink that deviates from what Chess Mood have as their mission. But it is easy to spend other peoples time for them !! So presumably the CM leadership will be working through how they want to proceed.

Question on Closed Sicilian (Nc3 and g3)

Hi all, I recently played a rapid game with an WFM in the Closed Sicilian: 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 g6 4.Bg2 Bg7 5.d3 d6 6.h3 e5 7.Nge2 Nge7 8.Be3 Be6 9.Qd2 O-O 10.Bh6 f5 Then I faced a fast kingside attack. White exchanged the dark-squared bishops, castled long and pushed h4-h5-hxg6 and doubled rooks on the h-file. I played Rf7 to defend h7, later White made a mistake and in the end the game was drawn. Here's what I understand from comparing it to the course Sicilian Sidelines (Nc3 g3) No.9 (6.Be3). 1) I should have castled long or just play Kd7. I think my opponent was waiting for me to castle short first before launching the attack. 2) 6...e5 was wrong because White hasn't committed the knight yet and can play Nf3, although Ne2 was played in the game. If White plays f4 and keeps delaying moving the Ng1, Black should play e6 to make f5 hard to achieve. 3) 10...f5 was inaccurate, Qd7 was better not committing the king yet. Is this a fair understanding of what Black should do in such positions? Thanks, Alex

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Hi Alex, 

Not really Kd7, the center is not very closed and the king can be dangered, you did play well with e5, if you check out the course you will see there are very similar positions, I would recommend thinking about Nd4 to attacking on c2 and trying to distract the queen with that threats.

good luck!

Chess Books Reading Partner

Hi guys, I hope you all are wonderful. I am seeking chess training partners to read some books which I mentioned downwards. Interested players can comment or share it with other strong players so I will get serious teammate for study. Thanks. Books list: 1. Improve your Practical Play in the Middlegame by Alexey Dreev 2. Middlegames Dynamic and Subjective Features by M. Euwe & H. Kramer 3. Aagard Strategic Play. 4. Yusupov Series. 5. The Complete Manual of Positional Chess Vol-1&2 by Konstantin Sakaev & Konstantin Landa Note: Books are gonna be complex so I suggest players who are online 2200+ or FIDE 1500 or USCF 1500+ are welcome to join. In short only serious players can join the study with me. All study we can do using three platforms Skype, Google Meet, Zoom. Note: You guys can also suggest any good book too for reading. I do respect my teammate's opinions about books or courses. Thanks for reading my post. I hope to get some serious teammates.

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Maroczy bind

http://view.chessbase.com/cbreader/2022/9/6/Game1776097625.html My computer is giving almost +1 in that line of the ACCELERATED DRAGON . i dont know where i could improve. Let me know if u have an idea. tx guys :)

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Black has an advantage in that position.

Hello Jonathan,

I am a bit surprised as playing for a long while that positions I always feel comfortable. As you might know in our courses the goal is to provide practically playable positions, where we explain the middlegame ideas and don't try to depend only on the engines as everyone can do. 

Secondly in the variation, you mentioned you missed the opportunity to transpose to the modern maroczy which is my personal preference. Either way both positions are Maroczy transpositions, and I recommend you to check that courses as well.

All the Best.

French Attack --- c4 ?!

Hi All -- As a long time French player I've morphed to the 'French Attack' lines. Most are fine but Bb5 against the knight on c6 can be troublesome in the Exchange Variation. However, a few players have played the Advanced with c4 and I've struggled, so would appreciate some ideas from the group. White seems to have all the play. e4 e6 : d4 d5 : e5 Bd7 : Nf3 a6 : c4 dxc4 : Bxc4 Bc6 : Nc3 Nd7 (?) : d5. Seems e6xd5 is forced then Nxd5 and it is difficult to unwind and develop. Recommendations welcome !!

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It seems like after 8. d5 exd5 9. Nxd5 the absolutely best move for black is 9...b5 according to the engine. White will respond either by retreating (10. Bb3 or 10. Be2), by attacking the queen (10. Bg5), or by attacking the c6 bishop (10. Nd4). Black's response will obviously depend on what white does there, and this has never been played in the lichess database so no idea which is more likely. White could also recapture with the bishop instead of knight, so a possible line would look like: 9. Bxd5 Bxd5 10. Qxd5 Ne7 11. Qc4 Nb6 12. Qe2 If you don't like 6...Bc6, there's always 6...Bb5 which the engine seems to prefer. I'm looking forward to the main French Attack course just for questions like this... there are a lot of unexplored sidelines.

Yep! After 9…b5 you can go, and if 10.Bb3 Nc5. 
The problem of 9…b5 is 10.Bg5 Ne7 11.Nd4!! , which seems cheating. 
Or you play against a Grandmaster. The course is for below 2,000 players. 

Alternative of 7…Nd7 is 7…Ne7, and if you're opponent is a cheater, it's the only time when you'll get problems after 8.Ng5 with some engine style sacrifices :) 

NEW ARTICLE: Connecting the Dots

Hey Champions!
We have this topic in our blog: 

https://chessmood.com/blog/connecting-the-dots 

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Good article.

1. To succeed you need something to model, and some way to feedback into the system when the results are those which you didn't want. Lots could be written on this process.

2. I can write a chess program (with a lot of effort) that could as good as me or better knowing rules to find tactics, opening variations, how to play certain endings... As soon as you give it something which isn't a clear case of one of those inputs, at best it can play a random move or based on some heuristic (which is what happened with these kids, not to mention they'll get bored and frustrated). The magic of a plan comes from not knowing fixed rules, but some feeling of having seen something before (which is also how Alpha Zero and the others work). Rules often can take us in the wrong direction, and when the feeling and the rules diverge, calculation or other judgement is needed). Thus studying games of those better than you - just playing your peers is a slow trial and error process. However there is still the missing piece of how to study, which hopefully will be a future article.

3. Finally without a good coach you have the problem about getting good feedback and being directed on the right track. See Why do you Lose post for some ideas there. I'll try to write a follow up to my investigation and how I aim to correct the issues when I get some time. How to learn from your mistakes is a good basis for another article. Analyse your games with / without a computer is pretty vague, but that's often as much detail given..

Great article coach! I especially like the relation your father had with your chess! I took my son to the junior chess club and tournaments locally & nationally and he became a very good strong junior player by playing lots and being very competitive (if he is intelligent too, he gets that from his mother ;-)..edit: He has never read a chess book seriously in his life! He won loads of books for winning his chess competitions & he gave them to me & I haven't read much from them either...ooops. ). He connected his chess dots and that took him where he wanted in chess (he only plays occasionally now, but is a damn fine player still.. reminds me of someone coach!? ;-) . Now all I need to do, is connect my chess dots too and get my chess improvement where I want. I think I am getting closer even if it has been a slow process for me & thanks for all the Chess Mood help! So, Right Mood, Right Move COGRO!! Go Chess Mood let's connect those dots!

Thank you for this very nice article sir. 

Lovely article. Thanks for sharing!

Listening in his interviews and streams I doubt Nakamura studied the classics. I think he didn`t know who was Smyslov. :(

When trained by Kasparov Naka said they diascussed a lot about engine variations. I think Naka best coach is Stockfish.

You were lucky to have a chess fan in your father. Carlsens father saw the burning desire of his little kid and instead of taking him to a chess school he hired one of the few GMs in Norway, Simen Agdstein. The rest we know, Agdstein amazed about the kids talent, his father taking him out of school and buying a van were they could travel across europe searching tournament aqnd opponents.

Nice article. Good thing to realise that I have connected most of the dots. And I think this is the reason why in one year I went from 1700 online to 1950-2000. 

Hey avetik as you told you were like 2000 at the age of 8, when i read this line in wake up from the bed and then face wash and read it again, 2000 at 8 i feel you should be in top 20 atleast and why it would take 10 more years to be GM ? Have you stopped watching classics after age of 8 or you played less tournaments or what the reason for 10 long years from 2000 at age 8 ?

Question on a position of the Attack like a viking course

Hi everyone! In the position below from the section "Expose the weak king", I considered a different order of pawn breaks, with the line going b4 cxb4 d4 exd4 and finally f4. In the video instead, we go f4 right away and only later b4 and d4. It's not clear to me what are the drawbacks of starting with b4, if any. Any input would be much appreciated! Thanks!

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Mistake (Rock 'n' Rolling with Black)

Hello ? Just to let you know that in Rock 'n' Rolling with Black -> 1.Accelerated Dragon -> Game 6 and Game 8 are the same. Sorry for the post but I can't comment in the Mistakes in the Chessmood videos because I am Essential member ^^

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Thanks Akiba?, dully noted and informed the tech team.

I will delete this tread in a couple of days.?

Best way to handle the Grob (1.g4)?

Hello friends, I recently faced the Grob (1.g4), I didn't really have anything prepared so replied with 1...e6 and just tried to play solid opening principles. What ensued was a lot of chaos. My question is what is the best Chessmood answer to 1.g4 and is there a way to keep our same 1...e6 first move and play a familiar Blackmood setup? Thanks for any replies and thoughts. Happy Chess to you! Leslie

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1...d5 is definitely the strongest move and gives black a clear advantage. You're immediately attacking the g4 pawn so already have the initiative and an advantage in the centre. White's idea is to sacrifice g4 and try to get into b7 by playing a quick c4 and Qb3, but it is simply good for black to sacrifice the b7 pawn and focus on quick development.

Dear Leslie,

1.g4 is very unhealthy and choosing central e5 or d5 moves will be the bet choice.
 

Sokolsky/Polish Opening ?

Hi-- what do you guys play against 1) b4 ? My default is e5 then take b4 if allowed then just get my pieces out. Is there a more Chess Mood thematic approach ?

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That's a great approach. So simple, and very sound.

Hi Keven,

1.b4 is not a sound move, you can play healthy central choice, your suggestion can be correct as well.

Good luck!

ChessMood Open with $20,000 prize fund!

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Wow!

I will definitely try to attend :)

I have a question. That is can I get fide rating from this tourney?? If yes how?

Someone please help me out

Chessmood open and opening  :)

Shahinyan, David- Quparadze, Giga   1:0

https://chess24.com/en/watch/live-tournaments/chessmood-open-2021/5/1/3

Wow! I can't attend because of school, next time can you make it online?

New success story: Vishnu Warrier: The champion nobody saw coming

Hello champions!

A few months ago, one of our ChessMood students participated in a tournament. His seeding was so low that he had little to no chances of winning. It was easy to write him off.
 

But he surprised everyone by becoming the tournament champion. 

What’s even more astonishing is that he did this while working a day job and taking care of his young family.
 

How did he pull off such an impressive feat?

He shares everything in today’s article, including:

✔️His journey of winning the tournament where he had little to no chances.

✔️The productivity hacks he used to make the most out of training.

✔️His ‘why’ behind improving his chess.

✔️The strategy he used to get out of losing positions in the tournament. 

…and much more!
 

Read the complete story here?

https://chessmood.com/feedback/vishnu-warrier

Enjoy❤️

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Excellent and inspiring story, well done Vishnu!

can u share ur games

Great Job Vishnu! Congratulations ?????? 2 requests if possible 1 could you share your excel tracker? 2 let me know please when your book will be released

Suggestion for Endgame Roadmap course

Hey everyone! Hope you're doing well. I have a quick suggestion for the Endgame Roadmap course I'm watching it now (even the basics because I want to improve as a coach and see if I'm missing something in my explanations), and I noticed that the exception to the square rule isn't mentioned. I'm not sure if this is on purpose to not confuse beginner players, but I wanted to double check haha My suggestion is to add a few seconds where you explain why the square rule doesn't apply in some positions (because the enemy king sometimes can't take the shortest path to the pawn) For example, in this position the black king is in the square, but doesn't catch the pawn because it can't go to the shortest path! :D

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Hi Sandro, ?

?Thanks for your feedback but as you said, this is on purpose to not confuse beginner players. It is very difficult to decide what to include and not in every course. In this course we teach the basics, there will be other courses with more advanced concepts too. ?

Any members here from Bangalore, India

Hi, I intend to form a group of chessmood members in Bangalore, who can catch up over weekends (in person), play games and generally talk about life, the universe and everything... any takers? Alternatively if something like this already exists, would love to be added in. Cheers.. Debasish

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Hi Debashish.
I'm from Pune, a little north of Bangalore. As far as I know, I don't think such a group exists. But it's a nice idea. You can take the initiative of forming a group. I'll be happy to join and catch up whenever I'm in Bangalore.

Thanks!

New course: Endgame Roadmap

 Hey everyone! 
 

The “Endgame Roadmap” is out! ?
The first sections are there, and the others are coming next week. 

It's not about theoretical endgames, and not subtle Grandmaster-level techniques. It’s about how to think in the endgames. 

After watching it, you’ll never be in the situation when it's endgame, and you just don’t know what to do, and from where start the thinking process. 

You’ll have kind of a compass in your hands, so you’re never lost in the endgames and always know the road ?

It’s a very unique course in its format, and we hope you’ll love it and take your endgame play to the next level. 
https://chessmood.com/course/chess-endgame-roadmap 

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Tricky order in Sicilian

Is this order covered in any of the courses: 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Nf3 g6 4. Bb5? Thanks.

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This is a Rossolimo where White played Nc3 a bit earlier than usual. From what I remember, the position after 4...Bg7 5.0-0 d6 is discussed a bit in the course (but the trendy 6.e5 isn't).

Dear Pablo,

Here we continue with Bg7 and if white decides to take on c6, after dxc6 we are getting transposition to the course.

Good luck! ?

i need help

i want to be a member but i can t because of my country

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Dear Nader, 
Can you please be more specific? or better still: contact our client support directly and explain with all the details your situation. We always try to help if possible. Here is the link for contacting us privately: https://chessmood.com/contact

Thanks a lot!? 

Scotch 8...a5

Recently I faced a lot of a5 in my game. I actually get a lot of pressure on my c4 and e5 pawn. May I know what is the idea of white in this position with g3 and h4 and what is white plan in the rest of the game.

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8... a5 is covered in video 36 of the Scotch course if you have access to it.