Chess forum by Grandmasters

Dutch Stonewall or normal development?

Just a quick question. In the Dutch after 1.d4 e6 2.e3 f5 3. Be2 should we aim for the stonewall as white intends Bf3 to challenge the h1a8 diagonal?

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How about delaying the decision with Nf6 ? If they go 4.Bf3 then answer d5 with Stonewall, but if they go 4.Nf3 you can think about playing b6 and Bb7.

Sedlak in his Dutch how to play book notes that stonewall's biggest strength is suppressing the bishop on g2, therefore in chapter 1 he advises more or less same plan as Peter below, that if white goes for a g3-less system, black should also adapt and not play stonewall, but closer to nimzo/QID formation with b6+Bb7+ if allowed, Bb4 to remove knight on c3.

positive stress level, when playing concentrated.

Hello, being now a retired researcher physicist (since 2 years) and having time to re-learn again chess (after a break of almost 40 years) and other sports. Anyway, when "asking" the why (I want to improve in chess) question I am always a little confused (well it is related to the "how" are things and not ``why" is the universe like it seems to be ..one of the first things I learned in school from my first physics teacher.. ). So in any case it was the "fun" of finding things out and improve the understanding and doing better which motivated research and some self introduced stress. So I believe that it is this my ``why" in chess as well, or perhaps more precise the enjoyment of being somewhat stressed by playing and improving chess. So the process itself and that it is still possible after retirement (and being 67 years in a few days) and for a "few" more years. By chance i watched this youtube video today and thought it would be time to share these thoughts on the forum. In short as I understand it, the best motivation internal dopamine comes under some kind of internal stress when being concentrated on a certain activity. This video might be interesting for many chess learners.. https://youtu.be/1TSTnDRnIAs Another aspect in this was a test with a garmin sport watch measuring heart rate and variability (yes I try to do biking, cross country skiing (with both better technique compensates for the "age" and now less and less running because i slow down ..😀. ). Thus was curious and tested it during an OTB Blitz tournament (early December) in my club and in a club long game (i asked my opponent before, I think such connected watches are not allowed in tournaments normally. Be careful in case you try). Ok, somewhat surprisingly both tests showed a stress level similar when playing intense chess or biking or running. May be some of you want to try. I will soon make the experiment with 1h intense chess training when following a chessmood video ..😀

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Ninja Quiz #111

Who would play g8QB just to get a won N+BvK checkmate when Queening gets the much easier to win skewer with the Queen? I tried Queening several times and was always "wrong". There's no stalemate with the Queen move, so how can that be wrong?

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There is a stalemate with black playing Kd2.

As Peter said, you need to avoid the stalemate by promoting to a Bishop.

Hedgehog Attack!

Magnus knows his classics and played this wonderful game in the World Rapid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlineHLpvLo The relevant ChessMood classical games: https://chessmood.com/course/chess-classical-games/episode/1636 https://chessmood.com/course/chess-classical-games/episode/1635

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Thanks Peter, I have not had much time to check the games of the World Blitz and Rapid but I love your post!!!😍

Nice of you to post this game analogy! Happy New Year and lots of FIDE points to 😀you!!!

Dutch vs London - Be2 and Bd3?

**re-posted to correct previous errors** First of all I want to say ChessMood is fantastic. I wish I'd have found this site a year ago when I first started - it provides a progressive way of building up skills and in the case of openings, doesn't assume a GM level of knowledge and explains PLANS for the middlegame. Thanks to the team for creating such a great resource! I just started the BlackMood starter and started with the Dutch. My question relates to the London System - the London was the first opening I learned as white. I don't play it now, but the system I learned via various Youtube videos and a course on another site included the white bishop being placed on d3, in the middle of the triangle of pawns. However, the DutchMood starter repertoire says Be2 is the most common move in the London. This seemed strange to me given the above and prior experience as black against the London, though I've never played the Dutch against it. Doing some investigation, after 1. d4 e6 2. Bf4 f5 3. e3 Nf6 4. Nf3 b6 it appears the top 3 most popular moves by White with Lichess set to 1000 to 2000 level are: 1st - 5. Bd3 2nd - 5. Nbd2 3rd - 5. Be2 If I change the setting to 1800-2000 it appears Bd3 and Be2 are roughly equally common. In master games, Be2 is most common (49 games), but Bd3 is second and there's not a huge difference (32 games). So it appears according to Lichess that Bd3, compared to Be2, is more commonly played at lower levels, about equally at around 2000, and less but still reasonably often by masters. Just wondering if a video or chapter might be planned to be added to the course for white playing a Bd3 setup? If not, does white playing Bd3 prevent us from playing any plans given in the course? Thanks a lot! :)

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Bd3 is not a critical move with our Be7 fianchetto, we play Ne4 anyways.

You can see this thread for more info. There is a video explanation included and this position happens a lot in the speedruns that we do on the events, if you watch them you will find many cases of London with Bd3.

Check it out:

https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/dutch-attack-vs-london-bd3-question

Happy New Year!

New article: Why I always try to be a beginner

Can you be a master and a beginner at the same time? 
What about Grandmaster-beginner? 😊

The answer is not only you can, but it's a huge advantage! 

Check out Grandmaster Noel Studer’s article about the power of a beginner's mind 👇
https://chessmood.com/blog/beginners-mind

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I found many coaches that only want to cash in. Being a chess coach means prepare the lessons, knowing the pupils repertoire, knowing his caracter and model his style and repertoire according to It and so on. About being far from the beginners mind, is related to feel their self-steem attacked. This is a mediocre mind set that reflects a complete lack of talent. So is losing ones time with these type of people because smart guys are always eager to learn, in chess and in Life.

Thanks for this informative article. I could relate to the mentioned scenarios. From now on, I will 'try to be a beginner' as well.👍

Sound principle. I'm a Zen student too so I fully believe in this!

Donate Mood Coins To Give A Poor Player A Chessmood Membership

I believe it would be awesome if Chesmood members would each give a few Mood Coins and accumulate a membership to sponsor an aspiring chess player that cannot afford one. I'm sure Avetik or Hohvannes, maybe Lili would know someone who could benefit and make it possible. It would also make Chesmood look really good to the world. I would be first in donating if Avetik would warm up to the idea. Anyone else? Cheers!

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Middle->Endgame

I've noticed most of my blitz losses are around this point. Opening mostly fine, endgame great, but towards the end of the middlegame are where the problems leading to losses occur. This also includes tactical errors (perhaps due to being overloaded and running short of time here). Suggestions for training here?

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To some extent I think this is fairly natural. As we learn our openings, and get stronger in general, the critical mistakes come later in the game. Probably you're right about being short of time too. It's simply harder to track all the tactical relationships between the pieces accurately as the pace of play increases. One thing you could try is to extract positions where you've made tactical errors from your games and put them into a custom Chessable "course". I haven't done much of that, but I have been using their custom course feature for something else and it's pretty straightforward for anyone with moderate IT skills. Training easy tactics daily, minimum 15min (often more) is what I do, definitely helps with blitz and should help with your specific issue. A lot of it simply comes down to seeing the basics super quickly. Again, I use Chessable for this because I believe there is value in repeating problems to speed up pattern recognition. I also like Timed Puzzle Rush on chess.com. Also, there is the general approach to the practicalities of blitz. A good enough move played quickly is often better than the best move played slowly. Where "good enough" means a non-blunder that somehow improves your position. If it builds pressure on your opponent, or even caries a threat, all the better. But above all else it shouldn't be a bad mistake. Even at the 2300 level players will go wrong soon enough if you can just keep making moderately decent moves quickly. Finally, I've come to believe that when reviewing blitz games we should always go through the entire game without the engine first. Add a few comments and try to find improvements this way, forcing yourself to think. Only once this is done should the engine be used to check things and add further insights. Anyways, talk is cheap. I have an aggressive goal for my own blitz rating in 2023, so let's see if I can follow my own advice and see whether it actually works.

Grand Prix Attack Interesting Line

Hi! I have a question on the line 1.e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bc4 Nc6 6. 0-0 Nge7 7. d4 cxd4 8. Nb5 and 8...a6 forcing us to take, and in Anish Giri's Najdorf course he gives the line 9. Nbxd4 Nxd4 10. Nxd4 Ne7 11. f5 gxf5 12. exf5 and 12...e5 and claims that Black has a wall in the center, and will finish development with Qc7 and Rg8 to come. He also wants to potentially castle long. My engine says triple zeroes. What does GM Avetik think about this?

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The idea of an opening is to get a playable middlegame. We cannot always have an advantage. I think in a case such as this we need to think of our middlegame plans and prepare for a hard fight. I'm certainly not a very strong player so I couldn't advise specifics here - but I question as to how often you expect to play against this line.

There is a mistake in the line you posted. After 6.O-O it is not legal for black to play Nge7.

Hey!

In the line you are asking about I like the option of Nf3 and if Qc7 than Bb3. The position is very practical and interesting for both sides. White has some good lines and diagonals. I would locate Queen on e2 and bring the Rook a1. Of course, it's concrete and depends on the opponent's moves as well.

How much years have you all played chess?

I played for 4 and a half

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one year my elo is 1600

I started playing chess during COVID lockdown

I played chess for 4 years

I learned the moves as a nine year old and am now 51, but I wouldn't say I 'played' for all those years. For most of them I have been fumbling around in the dark. Javing fun, but still reinforcing bad habits and falling over my feet. Now I have a wee stubby candle and am making slow, slow progress.

I started playing chess during the COVID lockdown online as a leisure activity. But I became so interested in the sport that I started playing in OTB tournaments as well.(once the lockdown was lifted)

Modern Defense with 3...a6

I ran into this line recently: 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 a6 planning 4...b5. Looks like this move order sidesteps our Pasini variation because 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 a6 4.Be3 b5 5.g4!? b4 is a bit annoying. Stockfish prefers 5.h4 or 5.Qd2 but I haven't dug into the lines yet. Just wondering if anyone has experience with this variation.

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Hey! Sorry for the late reply. 
You can go 4.g4!? without Be3

And theoretically speaking 4.f4 is the strongest answer vs 3…a6 
 

100 classical masterpieces game 48

in reference to the best answer to the 1.b4 opening or to the nimzo-larsen opening (2.. Bg4), Eric Hansen played it also recently : https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=2438296

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Duras gambit

Hello comrades! Is there any effective way to refute the Duras gambit? I know it is very dubious and I even laughed at the player at our chess club who told me he would play it against me, but then I just got crushed. I tried playing it the same way we play against the Colorado, but it didn't work out. Would be awesome if someone told me how to refute this dubious opening :)

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Just take the pawn for example 1.e4 f5 2.exf5 Nf6 3. d4 d5 4. Bd3 c5(Since it is a pseudo-attacking opening all one mover threats) 5.c3 Nc6 6. Nf3 Ne4(More aggression)7. Nh4 Nd6 8. 0-0! cxd4 9. Nxd4 Re1 We gave back the pawn but we have a huge initiative and the engine gives +4 to +5.

I also would play the same line as A D but my preparation finishes sooner.

1.e4 f5 2.exf5 d5? 3.Qh5

1.e4 f5 2.exf5 Nf6 3. d4 d5 4. Bd3 There is no compensation here for Black c5 5.c3

1.e4 f5 2.exf5 Nf6 3. d4 d5 4. Bd3 There is no compensation here for Black Nc6 5.Nf3

I do not think that you should remember anymore, just take the pawn and keep it with d4 Bd3.
💪This is all you need as opening preparation for this, nothing more. 😀

Strategy not to loose such endgame

https://lichess.org/study/GA3NmSKO/374vaUe4 My game against FM, 2205. I knew that endgame is a bit worse for black, but it is not lost. I misplayed it. It was time pressure and Rapid. But can you give some suggestions to loose, what I was doing wrong in endgame (beside very concreate 29...c5 was bad).

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The point of the exchange Lopez is White can get a passed pawn, Black cannot. Black should be looking to keep pieces on, even though c5 might have been a mistake, it's probably more the strategy at fault which means small errors get amplified, especially as knight endgames are somewhat like pawn endgames.

I guess you knew it, but Qf7 seems to play directly into the hands of an Exchange Ruy player. For the endgame, you have more activity at move 21 so I'd be looking to use that activity to somehow keep white contained. The engine points out that 23...Nb4 was good. Probably you were worried about the trapped knight after 24.c3 Nxa2 but it turns out b5-b4-b3 saves the day. As a general strategy in this endgame I'd be looking to: - keep my superior king position - gain space on the queenside by advancing my pawns there. - un-double the c-pawns if the opportunity presents itself Not so easy for sure.

Interesting Benko game & commentary

GM Matthew Saddler published a video on his Youtube channel with excellent commentary of a recent Benko game. Lots to learn here, and it's also interesting to hear his general thoughts on the Benko. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR7TZOBXHbQ

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excellent find Peter, thanks, good ideas how to play vs annoying e3 line and win the pawn back on b5

This is indeed a very nice video. I believe that we are also going to use this approach on the benko with e3 instead of the more complicated lines with e6. (If I'm not mistaken) 

Thank you for this instructive Video. It also helps lowering the resistance against Bxc3. This seems to a good move in Benko quite often but it doesn't feel Natural :)

Nightmare of Rosolimo :(

Hello the wonderful Chessmood Team, Yesterday in my club a friend prepared against the chessmood line and played this move 10.Be3(the course covers Nbd2) which is not covered in the course soon I was unfortunately squeezed. Soon after coming to my home I immediately began to find and antidote against this move but after an hour or so I failed so now I have come to the doctor(Chessmood) for the help😀. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. O-O Bg7 5. c3 Nf6 6. Re1 O-O 7. d4 d5 8. e5 Ne4 9. Bxc6 bxc6 10. Be3 The point of 10.Be3 is that black will be practically forced to take on d4 and have some pressure on the dark squares and c6 pawn while the b2 pawn isn't that of a weakness. The response is appreciated a lot😀 Regards Vedant

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Hi, 10. Be3 !? played as white but many strong GM. Mostly black take c:d and Qb6 but I think interesting is also 10.. Rb8 11. Qc1 c:d 12. c:d f6 and then Bf5. Please look on game P.Svidler - K.Shevchenko .. 1/2 fide grand swiss 2021.

I think this was debated here too:

https://chessmood.com/forum/pro-channel/9-be3-rossolimo

😅😀

Grand Prix e6 Stockfish line

In the line 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 e6 3.f4 d5 4. Nf3 dxe4 5.Nxe4 Nc6 6. Bb5 Bd7 7. Qe2 Nd4 8.Nxd4 cxd4 9.f5 e5 10. Bc4 h6 11.Qh5 Qe7 12. Ng5 hxg5 13.Qxh8 Nh6 14.0-0 Stockfish gives this absurd move 14...d3! with an evaluation nearing -2. Instead of going for the exchange as was recommended my Stockfish seems to just prefer the simple castles on move 12 with a small advantage for White. What does GM Avetik propose here?

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Training plan

Hello guys, When I first be a pro member, I had a call with GM Gabuzyan and he suggest a training plan for me. He gave me some guidelines but for every day I make a plan For example 1. Daily lesson with GM 2. Watch half the chapter of Grand Prix Attack and then make a file on Chessbase (also on chessable) 3. Play 2 blitz games with Grand Prix attack My question is: is it ok ? Whats your way of planning your chess days? Is there anything that I have to keep in mind? Thank you chessmood family

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I would add solving puzzles (for instance 10-15 puzzles daily before you start your blitz games) + solving Chessmood's Daily Puzzle (those are chess studies which are good to improve your calculation and creative thinking). Also you can add reading one article from the chessmood blog from time to time. In my opinion, those articles dealing with psychological issues are way under rated by most chess players who want to improve! For instance, a way of planning my chess day is: - 15/20 puzzles - 3 classical games played by world champions (from Steinitz to Karpov for now only) - playing guess the move - Middlegame or endgame (reading 3-5 pages daily from a book) - Practice (9 blitz games and/or 2-3 rapid games) - Analyzing my games (Check if I respected the opening principles (for now I'm still working on building my rep & files), try to understand what went wrong if I lost (without the computer) and then I check my analysis with the computer at the end). I watch instructive videos when I have free time but don't really consider them like work because it's difficult to be fully focus/Same with reading articles. I'm 2300 online and would like to reach 2400-2450 next year. I know it's bad to have such goal, and better to be focused on growth than ratings/results, but I'm human 😜 For 2023, I'm not sure if I should stick to this study plan or improve it. So not sure if I helped but at least I shared with you what I could ha! 👍 Also I would like to reduce by 90% my use of engines and develop my analytical skills more + improving at visualization 😎

It's good to have one or two medium term training goals, such as play through the first 50 Classical Masterpieces or complete the Tactic Ninja course. Then just get into the habit of chipping away at these things every day or two. It's also good to solve some tactics *every* day. Even just 5 puzzles is better than nothing. If you make it a habit you won't need to plan it :-)

Appraoch towards chessmood

How to start or begin with chessmood. I am able to play or win may be because of luck good in short time controls. But not in long time controls. Can u suggest me a remedy for that. And moreover there are. Lots of courses given. How to begin with this.

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Too many possibilities. What's your rating and when you analyse your games, either by yourself or with an engine, what common factors are there. What do you think is holding you back?

Hi Sreenath!

😀I seem to remeber that you have been a promember of our family for a while.😅

First, did you book your call with one of our GMs to guide you?

Second, what courses did you already complete? Did you do all the rating booster section?

Also, please be so kind to provide other data about you, like age, available time to study, your rating, etc. The more info the better… 😅

Where can I Find the Homework?

This is probably a stupid question, but I've been watching the Starter Course for White and Avetik mentioned the homework a couple of times. Can anyone tell me how to find this please? I'm sure I found a download link at one time but I cannot find it now 😢

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Ignore me - I've found it. Now I just need to find out how to unpack a ".rar" file...