Chess forum by Grandmasters

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

Replies

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 😃

Replies

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. 

Replies

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?

Replies

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)

Simplified Sicilian and Benko??

Will there be simplified versions of the main black opening courses? Reading from your email list, I know that the advanced french and dutch will be releasing round this year, and has left me wondering if there would be simplified sicilian and benko - even if the release date is around 2030, I don’t mind! It might be good for new people coming to chessmood😁

Or are they simply too positional and advanced to be recommended for beginners?🤔

Replies

I believe that they will have a hard time simplifying them. They are sort of theoretical openings.

As far as I gathered, CM prefers the French and Dutch, and will likely focus more on those. But the main ones will still get updates. I personally find them amazing, especially the Benko! I would recommend to all 1700+ students.

I hope this helps!

Hi Cate,

As Armandas said, we will not offer simplified versions of the Benko and the Accelerated Dragon.

😀We will update these courses, but not simplify them.😀
By the way Cate, by 2030 you will have had to improve and to learn all the advanced courses since you will have improved a lot! I'm sure of it! 😍 

Starting with chessmood - change openings

Hi dear chess mood family,

i am just starting here - read a lot and watched a lot on the homepage. I am about 1900-2000 fide - my aim is to get up to cm or fm title if possible (as i am old with 43 years),

at the moment i am not sure what to do with my openings. For white i think i can switch to e4 as i thought a lot about this change in the past and had good results. The CM repertoire looks fun for white.

for black benko looks amazing and is fun to play. I am used to semi slav and play same structures against 1.c4 and 1.sf3

 Accelerated dragon i am not sure if its my cup of coffee - i play classical sici and like the french (the french attack looks fun).

can i stay with french for black or is it mandatory to switch all openings to cm openings?  not sure if french is passive to get up to 2300-i like the structures and plans a lot.

i hope to get a feedback here from the gms and experienced players at the lvl i would like to reach.

best wishes to all

Manfred

p.s i really love the blitz games - it helps so much ro get a feel for the positions

pps - hope the questions are right here in this section

Replies

Hi Manfred! 
Welcome to the family! 😀
I hope that you will enjoy it and stay many time with us! 
The first thing would be to have the 1 on 1 call with a GM, which is part of the benefits of being a promember. There you will be guided in your particular case, in how to make the best use of Chessmood according to your needs.
Still this question, is pretty easy to answer. Go for e4 and keep the French. 
There is nothing mandatory in Chessmood, but we all play e4 with the advanced course variations mostly, and with very good results. The games of the streams are also very important for learning the repertoire. 
As for the French, Avetik will record in the near future an advanced course on the French, his lifetime opening and it will be very good. There is no need to change it, you can add some variations of the Blackmood repertoire though if you want a bit of variety.
Since it takes time, you may start by White and then progressively change lines for Black. Benko is really fun and we will also update it, but it's up to you to do the change.

Anyway, schedule your 1 on 1 and let's Chessmood! 😁
pps. The questions are more than right here, it is the place for the questions! 😆

Semi SLP type situation

Not sure it counts. I was up a rook but missing any bishops and my opponent had two!

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/daily/640411533?tab=review&move=92

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New success story - The Power of Focused Learning: 400 points in 1 year

This adult improver raised 400 points in a year while working a day job in IT!
It’s incredible where focused learning and consistency can take you! 
From his journey, you’ll discover:

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🟢How he found time for chess even on busy days & more.

Read their full story👇
https://chessmood.com/success-stories/debasish-bhattacharjee
 

Replies

Great job!!!👏👏👏👏

Darun sir 👍👍.

😍

I wanna too -  such a like big success :) My congratulations Sir :) 

Congratulations! Thank you for the inspiration! Keep going strong! God bless you!

Congratulations on your success. This is a truly inspirational story. I also agree this is a great place to learn and understand chess. Wishing you continued progress!

Great article Debashish! 

And well done!!

1.e4

If I face 1.e4 from black, I feel that the french goes into positions that are not my style..can anyone reccomend be a solid opening which is not very complex..

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Tell us your style! There's so many openings that may fit the criteria on black openings. Do you like closed or open games more?? Do you like more solid openings or more tactical ones? Do you enjoy fighting for the center or do you like giving the center, then fighting for it? if you can think of more details, please share them as maybe they can help.

The french wasn't “my style” as well, but now I understand the positions and I love it.

You can also play the Sicilian:
https://chessmood.com/course/sicilian-defence-accelerated-dragon
😀

Are there particular lines in the French that you're having trouble with?  Perhaps a few tips could make all the difference.  Or one or two alternative variations in the French .

What is your approximate level?  Part of improving at chess is learning how to play different types of positions.  French type positions pop up in various openings, so it's very useful to build some familiarity with them if you can manage.

The other ChessMood opening, the Sicilian Accelerated Dragon, is very good but if anything it is going to be more complex than the French.

If you are determined to change you opening against 1.e4, and want to prioritise simplicity and getting a solid position then I would recommend one of the following:

• 1…e5 and playing the Petrov Defence. 
• The Caro-Kann

Try whitemood openings I am sure you would be more confident about playing the French Defence then. You can also check out the course for Sicilian defence some lines, don't try to learn all systems but start that will give you confidence. If you still don't think French does not work go for Sicilian I think that's best

Maybe try scandinavian (e4 d5) there are a lot of variations to choose from and its also not as complex…considering the fact that u don't like the resulting positions from french,scandinavian should be a definite try for you.

Also, specifying the type of positions/opening/variation that you want in detail, would not only simplify your search, but also increase the efficiency of the solutions you'll be getting. 

Sounds like the classic Caro-Kann Defense vs French Attack (Defense) debate. 
I initially didn't like French that much myself, but after watching the GMs here play it, it changed my mind completely. Now I love to play French “Attack”. 

How to recover from losses?

Hello All.

I am playing a classical tournament and in 2 rounds i consecutively lost aginst lower rated players. I am really upset. Could there be any solution to this and play better next round and suppose if I lose the next round again?

Replies

I would recommend you to read this article written by Gabuzyan. https://chessmood.com/blog/the-tournament-is-not-over-until-it-is-over
Also do not make the mistake of thinking about lower rated players, there are no lower rated players anymore! After Corona people still did not play enough OTB and many people have low rating but their playing strenght is much higher.
💪The only think that I can suggest is to try to play a good game of chess and not think about the rating! That's why amateurs play chess to enjoy it! Not to win rating, it will follow you if you play with good mood. Forget about the lost games and concentrate on the next one! 😁