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is it possible to translate the video on this site into Russian
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The videos are in English as it is this website. We are very sorry but at the moment it is not economically possible to translate this site and videos to other languages.😅
Thank you for your understanding.
Question about a solution in Tactic Ninja
Hi All I have a quick question / point about a solution in this course (I'm new to the courses so on earlier stuff to make sure my foundation is good although I'm an adult returner to chess. In section 3, video 5 'Pin & Skewer', at 0:43 the solution shows to play a skewer with Rc1. Although the solution leads to a crushing position, Black can choose to keep the queen and lose the bishop. I have spotted a way to definitely win the queen and still have a winning position. If White played Rxc4+, the queen will be won after any King move, or if Qxc4, then White follows with skewer Rf1, followed by Qxf1, Qxf1+ Any thoughts? Have I got this right? Regardless of this, loving the courses so far ?♟️
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We ara happy to know that you like the course. In this case, this is another solution to this concrete position assuming that you meant 1.Rxf4+. You would finish the position with one Queen against one Bishop. The way Avetik is showing in the video you just get a free Bishop with check which is more than winning too, but it is a sample to illustrate the skewer theme. Good that you found another way.?
Idea for chess merchandise
I just came out with the idea of an ornament that i think every chess player would love to have in their living room or in their study room. It consists in a chessboard in which there is already a position. Not a random one, but one in which a windmill is possible. All pieces are fixed, except the pieces involved in the windmill: the attacking pieces and the king being attacked. On one side of the chessboard there is a crank: by turning it, the pieces moves, showing the windmill pattern.
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Why hasn't chessmood hired an engineer to design this item and start production?
A good counter to our French Attack?
Faced this in a classical OTB game: 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 h6 5. Bxf6 Qxf6 6. exd5 Bb4 7. Bc4 7. Bc4 looks like an engine first line and seems very strong. Do we lose the pawn sacrifice without much compensation from here?
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Just by looking at this position, you can keep developing normally, Bc4 is not so good, we will win tempi with speedy development. There are 2 options, you can castle right away or just take on d5, then the Bishop will have to move again and we will win time, which is more important than a pawn that we were also giving away anyways. Of course, again, if you are playing this position engine vs engine you are never going to be satisfied. This is a first opening for starting right and develop your initiative and sense of attack. 😅
Spammy emails from ChessMood "affiliates"
Maybe I'm overthinking this, but the "chessmood" price increase has brought out a bunch of spammy affiliates blasting out emails. What is worse is that the emails "disguise" the fact that they are affiliates and pretend like they don't get a cut of people purchasing chessmood memberships. I didn't think you could be an affiliate if all you do is blast out emails. (or at least other chess-related affiliate programs say you can't simply "promote" on email blasts). At least in the United States, an "affiliate disclosure" is mandatory, and anytime an "affiliate link" is promoted, it must be stated that it is an affiliate link and the promoter is getting paid. #rantover If ChessMood admins feel this post isn't necessary, feel free to remove it.
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Hi Benjamin,
please use the
https://chessmood.com/contact
page and send us a bit more info if possible regarding the emails that you are receiving.
If you prefer, you can also send an email to [email protected]
and explain the case providing us names and we will be able to look into it.
Thanks!😀
1-1 Simul
Does it look like the issues will get solved?
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I would also like to watch simul ...
I do not know if you are referring to the troubles that Chess.com is experiencing lately that affected our previous event there, but this time it will be in Lichess.
Here’s how it will work:
The GM will simultaneously play and stream against up to 10-20 PRO members at the same time.
The time format of the games will be 10 minutes with 5 seconds increment on each move.
The games will be hosted on lichess.org and in order to take part, you'll need to do the following:
- Create a nickname on Lichess which ends with _ChessMood. For example - John_ChessMood or Amelie_ChessMood. This is so that when you challenge us, we recognize that you’re a ChessMood member.
- Join the ChessMood PRO team on Lichess here: https://lichess.org/team/chessmood-pro
- Five minutes before the event is due to begin, go to the ChessMood website and JOIN THE LINK to our YouTube stream.
https://chessmood.com/event/simul-game-grandmaster-vs-pro-members-01-31
- Within the YouTube live chatbox, we’ll send a link that you can use to join the simul.
- Click on the link and send us a game challenge.
P.S Come early! While we’d love to play all of our students, it’s impossible for us to play with everyone, so challenges are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Please forgive us if you’re unable to take part but hopefully, you understand the difficulty in organizing events like these.
Hope to see you very soon. Come prepared for a great game!
Scotch 8.h4 h6
I have watched most of the videos on Scotch 8.h4 and the lines seem very interesting, especially with the very complex 8...f6 variations, some of which I can't wait to try out in some online games 😀 . However, I would like to ask a question regarding the 8...h6 line, where 9.c4 Ba6 10.g3 was recommended. I'm wondering if Black could play 10...0-0-0 here, with the idea to follow it up with Re8, g5 etc. , possibly with f5 to attack on the kingside. If White plays h5 to close the kingside, I'm worried that the pawn might become weak in some situations. Are there any recommendations regarding how to play against this potential idea from Black?
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I think this was in the course somewhere, after Black's 0-0-0, we too play long castle. b3, Bb2, Nd2 and 0-0-0 is the plan.
This is one of the possible variations that I had in my file.
Scotch h4 is ny my opion the craziest and most complictaed variats" insane". After 8..f6 9. c4 Ba6 10.g3 I would prefer 10.Rh3!? but still e.g 0-0-0. 11 Ra3 Nb4 12. Ra4 :) Qh4 13. Be3 with compensation but this is madness.) ok 10.g3 0-0-0 and no games in database.. 11. Bg2 Re8 12. 0-0 g5! black has great attack as well. But there is one game by strong GM Gabuzyan he cleverly firstly played 9. g3 d6 10. c4 Nb6 11.e:d etc Pan American Intercollegiate-chT
Hey!
Interesting Quesiton,
As ChessMood Odysseus says there are options to go for the long side. The thing is Black King on c8 is permanently weak. And Ba6 with Nb6 are limited by white b3-c4 pawns.
Sorry about the late reply, I completely forgot about this post 😅. Thanks so much to ChessMood Odysseus and GM Gabuzyan, I like the idea to following Black in going to the queenside :) .
Thank you!
Thanks to all the Grandmasters and especially GM Avetik, who did an incredibly generous and selfless thing yesterday... opening and unlocking All courses. * I told over a dozen chess players - ranging from beginners to National Masters about this promotion. Everyone who visited ChessMood yesterday got a glimpse of the outstanding level of chess Instruction. This should translate into chess players signing up and joining one of the member options. I hope that GM Avetik had a wonderful and happy birthday!
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Thanks Dan, we appreciate your kind words!😀
Must-Know Endgame Theory U2000
Hi, I just looked at the "Must-know Endgame Theory U2000" course, which is currently unlocked. In Section 4 - Rook vs Pawn, Episode 4 - How to use the Rook, GM Gabuzyan shows how to stop the black pawn with the white rook from behind. However, it seems to me that in the sequence of moves, Black's king could step in front of his pawn instead of moving beside it as shown in the video. If Black does not go ...f3 with their pawn, but instead goes ...Kf3, how would White win then? Thanks for your answer.
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Yes, Kf3 looks like an example of shouldering by black and secures the draw. It seems the example should be fixed.
Yes, there may be some mistake here and there😅, we are all human, thanks for reporting it. We will update it when possible.😀
Hi Peter,
Thanks for the note. Instead of of Rf8 immediately should have started with White King's march closer to the pawn.
Will fix this inaccuracy!
e4 vs d4 - classic discussion!
Hi ChessMood family, So we know the CM repertoire is around e4 for white, and as GM Avetik says, it's for better chess growth (reaching GM faster). I'm curious what is the ChessMood reason for why d4 is used so much in top level tournaments? Thanks in advance for the answers!
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I feel that playing e4 or d4 depends on the style of the player. If a GM has attacking style, he/she may play e4. And if a GM has positional style, he/she may play d4.
Hello Kyle, this is an often question on e4-d4 dilemma. It not only depends on the style of a player, but also on on his level. Most players under 1500 often watch streams ore some courses online and they feel that the one option is "the best". On the other hand, you need to get used to a plethora of positions to get better in your opening play to get to a higher level. I play for exampe 80% of times e4, but against certain opponents on practice games I also play d4, c4, or even Nf3 as a first move. In that way I reached 1800+ rating on chess.com and 2000+ on lichess.org. On the presence of d4 in high rated tournaments, I wanted to mention that top players nowadays aren't just "positional", or "attacking". They are kind of universal. Look at Carlsen's game for example. Chess is a multidimensional game; it needs different appproaches on each topic. What do you think?
At the top level I suspect the Berlin Defence is the main reason 1.e4 isn't played more often.
1.d4 is a classic chess opening, offering a large range of excellent openings (eg Queen's Gambits, Indian defences etc etc) with great play available for both sides, so it is a hugely popular opening (quite rightly imho), very suitable for high level play, but also playable at all levels. It is slower and less immediately attacking than 1.e4 if you want to compare it against other opening moves and it comes down to personal preference as to what suits your style, if you wish to take one as a favourite for you or not (eg GM Bobby Fischer "1.e4-best by test!"). Many players today are pretty much universal & are happy to play all openings. If you have time to learn that much, good luck to you! NB "it ain't just what you play as an opening, but it is also the way that you play it, that gets results!" Enjoy ;-)
Opinion on e4: 1) If you choose Ruy Lopez, then you can get Berlin defense 2) In general e4 are more forcing, there are a lot of precise moves to be made. For instance, sicilian can be very agressive and both sides should make a lot of precise moves Not sure, maybe for this reason GMs often choose to play not-e4, to get more positional type chess where you can try to overplay your opponent and not his memory.
PRO membership
I just finished watching the video discussing the results of the survey that was emailed out. In it it was discussed that you may not need the PRO membership if you don't use the features included. So I went and looked at the PRO features. One is a personalized study plan. What is that? How is it done? Allen
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You book your 1:1 call with a GM and in it they give you suggestions on what to study. I think it's available to anyone with *annual* PRO membership.
Could someone please post the video link? I didn't get it, perhaps because I unsubscribed from the mailing list.
To be honest I do not see yet much benefit of having PRO. I had 1 to 1 call, but in general I could live without it. Otherwise I am using only "watch courses" from chessmood.
Section 4 - Forks
I just finished section 4 - forks of the tactical ninja course. Did my previous mentors teach me wrong? For me the fork with bishop, rook and queen are double attacks and not forks. Or did I miss a vital point in the explanation?
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I think the ChessMood definition is fairly widely accepted. That is, you can fork with any piece. All forks are also double attacks of course, but not all double attacks are forks.
Chessmood recomendation against Phillidor with 3 f5
Hi! What is the chessmood recomendation against Phillidor with 3 f5? 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 f5 I face that move sometimes in blitz and I guess it is more like a surprise than a good variation when they weak there kingsposition. They seems to be afraid to play Latvian gambit 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 f5 cause of 3 Nxe5 and play this instead cause d6 protect e5. How ever it is always good to have a easy line against it and save time on clock.
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The ChessMood recommendation is 4.Bc4! See https://chessmood.com/course/philidor-defense/episode/1180
help finding a lesson
I watched a lesson where after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f6 then 3. Nxe5 is done. I can't find that now. Where in the lessons is it located? Thank you Allen
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It's covered in opening principals video 27.
Stats
I am 4 months into my membership and I am seeing good improvements in my game. I have always struggled with playing black so I have been spending a lot of time in the Blackmood opening section. Well, now I am winning significantly more black games than white. Time to spend more with Whitemood openings 👍 Allen
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That's very nice to hear! Keep on working and keep on improving!!!! 😀
I feel the same! I always struggled with the black pieces but thanks to the blackmood simplified openings, I've been scoring some nice points! Glad to hear of your success, keep up the good work!
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…
