Chess forum by Grandmasters

Sparring partner

I'm looking for a player (up to 1500 ELO) who would like to just play chess or practice openings and endings without using an engine.  

Replies

I would like that, shall we chat and see where and when we can start this. I am on chess.com and lichess. 

https://www.chess.com/member/theovanstratum
https://lichess.org/@/tvanstratum

DAILY PUZZLE OF 18.01.2022

Dear Chessmood family;

Reference to the daily puzzle, the system is giving an error in case one decided to repeat some moves (before threefold repetition). In this situation, if we just re-play 1. Rf5+, the system gives "wrong"; whereas, you can still go to the winning situation (will not reveal it for the sake of authenticity).

Hence, the system shall have the flexibility of repeating some moves. If the player does a threefold repetition, then it should provide the error :) !

Replies

I think in this situation we should play R:g8,next move K:g8 of course,2.Ke6 not allowed black to come back f7 so Black King must go h8 and White play Kh7.Now Bg7# is unavoidable .If Rf5 we 'll win too but it is longer than R:g8 line to checkmate.So the correct for the 1 st move is R:g8

Solution:

Rxg8 

If ...e5, then Rg7+ , capture the h7 pawn, and move the rook to "e", and capture the pawn and everything will be a a piece of cake. 

If ...Kxg8:

Ke6 Kh8

Kf7 ...

Bg7#

Tactic Ninja Quiz Button

I can't seem to find the Tactic Ninja quiz button that is referred to in video 4 of Section 29 - Epilogue.  Please help!  Thanks

Replies

Exactly,  there has been a slight delay in the implementation of the new page *(with the button for testing this). Avetik explained it in the following video *as Nils pointed out  https://chessmood.com/course/tactic-ninja/episode/3531

https://chessmood.com/course/tactic-ninja/episode/3531

Coach Avetik gives an explanation here (will come with the new website).

Daily puzzle of today - 14.01.2022

Please note that after solving the daily puzzle of today, I come to the idea that if white also promotes his pawn into a rook, the solution is still valid; however, the system states that promoting it into a rook is wrong and rather it should be promoted into a queen to get to the solution.

Please clarify.

Replies

I agree. promoting into a rook would force the queen taking.

Thanks for reporting this. Yes, sometimes the problems may have more than one solution and in this case it seems that it skipped the testing phase. We will add the rook promotion as an alternative. Thank you very much!

Playing against Engines

Hey guys today I asked myself if it would be possible to get stronger by playing aginst a really strong engine. So I wanted to ask you about your opinions and maybe even experiences. I think that it would be frustrating to lose all the time against a strong opponent but if someone would be able to overcome that hurddle he could still learn a lot ideas by analyzing the games and grasping the ideas and strategies the engine used to apply them in your own games. So what do you think about it?

Replies

Re using engine for trainig - I found this quite interesting:

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2021/12/21/ep-258-gm-matthew-sadler

I read that playing against the computer can make you sharp. Before that, i read that computers use tactics a lot, are, poor in making long range plans for the game, and weak in endgames.

Engines are too strong and I doubt you will learn much because they will just find a tactical flaw in almost everything you do.

The best advice I heard was if you want to improve try to play against an opponent who you expect to score 20-40% against.  Rating wise this translates to 100-300 points or so.  This means you score enough wins to keep you motivated and the difference in strength is close enough for you to understand where you're going wrong.   Sometimes it's tactics, sometimes your tactics may be as good as the higher-rated opponent but your strategic understanding could be what's lacking.  You won't get this from an engine as you will be worse everywhere.  You can close the gap and then find another opponent to continue improving.  

Hope that helps

Playing against engines or even thinking about it isn't the right approach for anyone wanting to improve their Chess IMHO. You can watch those games played by them and understand the rationale behind moves, ideas that can be tried out in your own games. You won't be playing against them in any tournaments either except if you are a Kasparov, Magnus or any other top SGM, so there is no point in wasting your time with those thoughts. 

The team at Chessmood have put in enough material to learn from, shared their ideas and given tips to work diligently on various phases of the game and through their streams demonstrate their decision making process too. 

Enjoy the game and have fun learning. 

lesser played openings

I read that  openings that start with moves other than e4, and d4, and sometimes c4, shouldn't be played because they don't win. On black's side, the French Defense, and the Caro Kahn were mentioned in the same vein. e5, and c5 were listed as ok.

Replies

Some strong players hold this view. IM Toth for example has a clear opinion (a little strong, but grounded in how play takes place). Even at GM level all those openings are played and are sound, and only at the top echelon do certain openings which otherwise are respectable get considered tricks only as it's too easy to equalise or difficult to set complicated enough problems. There is a fair bit of fashion thrown in too.

For all of us here, including the GMs, there is no reason to always avoid c4, Nf3, b3, g3, or not play the French and Caro Kann for the reason stated. For White f4 is probably just okay, b4 is tricks only and others are only worth the suprise, transposition or looking to play reverse positions. Probably e4 and d4 as your first move would be better for other reasons, but not because they are the only winning moves.

The only caveat is certain openings and all those above would apply, where it allows the opponent a potential free hand in play or does not challenge them, that a few mistakes or missed opportunities may lead to positions where their opponent is much better or even be strategically lost. This forms part of IM Toth's view, for example in openings which do not immediately challenge the centre may be problematic if the player doesn't counter at the right time, leading to situations where it's hard to pinpoint what went wrong.

What is more important in my view is selecting openings which are sound (all of the mentioned are), ones that don't require more work and memory than you can reasonably put in (which is where IM Toth's view of learning mainlines breaks down for many players), and are suited to your style and level, but also will give you enough experience and exposure. Some experiment and experience may be needed here. I suggest learning the Chessmood repertoire and seeing how that suits you.

Study/Sparring Partner thread error 500

Hi, I am getting an error 500 on the Study/Sparring Partner thread. It is working okay for the rest of you?

Thanks 

Replies

Same here!

I believe this is a known problem.

statement

I read once that you should always play out the first five moved of your opening. If your opponent plays e4, and you decide to play the French Defense, after looking at the first move, e4, you play out the first five moves of the French Defense. this could mean that you lose 10 points, or a significant amount of material by doing so. or end up in a terrible position to continue the game. On the other hand you could win a lot of points, or material, too. Or, even gain a great position. This is what i interpreted the statement to mean. 

Replies

Hello @Christopher_Aach! Welcome to the family! I think that this "statement" makes no sense at all. You should play the moves according to the opponent moves. Transpositions are very frequent, I recommend you to watch "opening priciples" and I am sure that Avetik explanations will make sense to you and you can learn properly how to think about the opening...

https://chessmood.com/course/opening-principles

PD: I realized that you also wrote a review, maybe you already watched it :-) If you finished, then let's start to learn a proper repertoire with: 

https://chessmood.com/course/1-starter-course-winning-with-white

Happy learning my friend!

I think what that advice means is you should be able to play correctly the first few moves of the openings you play, you shouldn't be trying to make it up as you go along (exception if you're a really strong player playing weaker opposition particularly in games that don't matter, but for now don't worry about that).

As you get more experienced at chess you should be able to do that for openings not in your repertoire as you learn how different openings work and review model games for example.

Whether the number is 5 moves (an FM noted that often the first 7 or 8 moves may be difficult to adlib from principles) or another number (certainly depends on the opening and skill) don't worry. So long as you know the main lines of play and why so you can handle deviations that should be enough. It's also not feasible to play every possibility, after the first 3 ply there are maybe around 8000 different sequences and no one plays through all that. In addition, even moves that could possibly be played as sidelines, maybe by weaker or trickster opponents there are going to be too many to look through and learn, so as said try to understand why a move is bad over the board by understanding why the mainline is what it is or general principles. Some moves just 'have a bad smell'. Looking for a trap and trying to understand what the drawback of the move is will serve you well most of the time.

So the advice is:

Learn the ideas and goals of the openings and in general.

Select a repertoire suitable for your style of play and chess level

Study that repertoire by learning the ideas behind the moves, reviewing model games ideally between master strength players

Don't worry too much about memorising initially, except where the move is non-obvious and deemed important or critical

You can practice opening sequences on software such as Chessable, but better would be to play games of reasonable time controls and work with sparring partners. After the game analyse and look for mistakes and compare against the recommended line or moves to avoid.

As mentioned look at the openings 101 course here which is a great introduction, there is also an introduction to some of the White repertoire, then start working through the individual courses.

Learning takes a lot of time and experience, and isn't 'magic' or unrealistic exceptional memory like in the Netflix series Queen's Gambit. Openings are important, but so are tactics and endgame so don't overlook those as many many more games are lost due to missing tactics and blunders than forgetting opening moves/ideas.

Good luck on your chess journey!

What is good alternative to Philidor defense?

When I play as black and white opens pawn e4 , then I move pawn e5, then commonly white will move knight f5

At this point in the game I am not a big fan of black knight to c6 because I try to stay away from that move incase white would counter with bishop to b5 and it kinda jams black up in the advancment of pieces.

The philidor defense seems to passive and feels like you are on steady defense from the very begining.

What would a good opening for black be to study in substitute of the philidor defense based on white's typical opening under these circumstances??

Your feedback is greatly appreciated!!

Replies

With our team, we thought that the most active, tricky, easy to understand and at the same time the solid defence against 1.e4 is the Accelerated Dragon variation of Sicilian defense!

We understood that teaching you this variation would take a very long time from us, but we were okay with that. So we did huge work, researching all the tricks, best games, and made a step-by-step plan how to provide you all these information, to make it easy for you to digest and start to practice.

Check it out: https://chessmood.com/course/sicilian-defence-accelerated-dragon

If you choose to follow the chessmood repertoire, you will raise your ratings drastically. Then, if you find the Philidor passive, I am afraid tha there is no other good way to protect your pawn on e5 after Nf3. Maybe the reason you avoid Nc6 is the big theoretical lines, but this is not the best solution. Maybe you should try the Petroff defence, but if you play with a chessmood pro member, you will again be searching for something new. 

Nc3 Sicilian with 2.. e6 & 3.. Nc3

What is the CM recommendation after: 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. f4 Nc6, with the intention of meeting 4. Bb5 with 4.. Nge7?

I can't seem to find this line in the course.

Replies

In this line I believe that we play 4 Nf3, not Bb5. Is it not?

Hello Yair,

I support idea of @Chessmood_Odysseus. 
We will play with g3. 
If black goes with Qc7 as you mentioned it's still not a great move and we are fine to go to the closed systems.
In line with Nge7 we will continue our regular development. Once black tries g6 to play Bg7 we can play d4!

Blitz games

I read that you can't learn from blitz games. Why do you study blitz games?

Replies

Take a look at this article and you will see why is good:

https://chessmood.com/blog/analyze-blitz-chess-games

And use a time control that allows you to play healthy chess. Just being fast and flagging your opponent in lost positions could be great for the rating but less good for improvement. And loosing winning positions due to time could be hard for ones motivation.

Closed Sicilian when black plays h7-h5

A version I've started encountering lately goes as follows:

1. e4 c5

2. Nc3 e6

3. f4 a6

4. Nf3 Nc6

5. g3 h5

and similarly if we play 4. g3 then 4.. Nc6 5. Bg2 h5

This kind of makes our standard plan with h2-h3 & g3-g4 more difficult or even impossible, and instead black has an annoying possibilty of pushing h5-h4, and often the castle queen's side.

Any CM recommendation here?

Replies

Hello Yair,

H5 move very much weakens black's kingside. We can regularly develop our pieces, castle, and try to play in center, sometimes with d4 and open up position. In that case, the h5 move will be absolutely useless in my opinion.

Modern Maroczy Bind - Nxc6

Hello dear friends,

After e4 c5 Nf3 Nc6 d4 dxc4 Nxd4 g6 Nxc6 bxc6 c4 Nf6 Nc3 d6

or after

After e4 c5 Nf3 Nc6 d4 dxc4 Nxd4 g6 c4 Nf6 Nxc6 bxc6 Nc3 d6

i reach a position which should be somehow equal, sure not hard to play for black, but also i have a feeling it's not hard to play for white also. Is there a recommendation how to handle this position? After the simple Be2 and short castle of white it feels they have no problems at all.

Did someone made some experiences with this type of positions? I did not find sth. in the maroczy courses.

Thank you for your help mates.

Fred

Replies

I'd be happy to get this position because it's both easier to play and objectively better than what we normally get in the (modern) Maroczy. We play moves like Bg7, 0-0, Rb8, Nd7-c5, Qc7 or Qa5 and have nothing to worry about. Due to our pawn on c6, White can never play Nd5, which is otherwise often annoying.

Hello Fred, the upcoming position you have mentioned is equal. According to my analysis, white has a +0,2 advantage. But if you have completed the accellerated dragon and benko gambit you will have any doubts here. The best line is: 8. Be2 Bg7  9. 0-0 Nd7  10. Be3 Rb8 we delay castling a bit  11. Qc2 Nc5  12. Rab1 a5  13. Rfd1 Qc7  14. f4 0-0  15. Bf3 a4! now if white starts exchanging, white's "b" pawn will be hanging. Then we bring the second rook on the "b" file being cautious about white's "f5" ideas at the same time. Anyway, this is a pleasant positiion to play. Hope this helps and correct me if I am wrong somewhere. 

Hi Fred!

I think it's easy to play for black if you know the ideas.

I would say that sometimes depending on the opponent's actions we may try to play d5 in the center.

Or We can try to use the b file and transfer the knight to c5 square playing on the queenside. That would also open up your g7 bishop. If white will reply with b3 one day, with the knight on c5 you may try a5-a4 ideas weakening the opponent's structures. 

Out of my experience, my choice will be the 2nd idea and I would say there is an equal game.

Good luck!

Accelerated Dragon 7.Qd2

Hi Mates,

just a quick question: Will we go after 6.Be3 Nf6 7. Qd2 with Ng4 Nxc6 dxc6 into a somehow weird endgame or will we go for short castle and try to transpose into some other stuff?

For example: 7.. 0-0 8 Nb3 d6..?

Thanks for your opinion :)

Fred

Replies

I also saw that after 7..Ng4 8.Nxc6 most people play bxc6 which runs unfortunately into Bd4 and after e5 Bc5 which is somehow uncomfortable

Exactly, you pointed out very well the problem of 7.Ng4 in your second post. That is why we go 7. Qd2 - ....0-0 Now we castle. In some games I met 8.Bh6? which is a blunder. The normal options are f3 and also 0-0-0. If f3 now we can play d5 getting a full extra tempo compared to the standard Dragon. If 0-0-0 now Ng4 is possible, why? And this is the variation that you should remember:
Now it is not the same since after 9.Nxc6 bxc6 if Bd4 we have Bh6 available! 11.f4 and e5...

Happy hunting @Fred_Erik!

The best games of December, 2021, and the prizes

Hello ChessMood family, hello champions and future champions! 
Welcome to the "Best games of December 2021" competition.
Under this post, we invite you to post the best games that you will play this month. 

The Prize fund is 350K MoodCoins which is equal to 350$.  

The 1st prize  - 150K
The 2nd prize - 100K
The 3rd prize-  50K
The 4th Prize- 30k
The 5th Prize- 20k

Good luck with your games and keep the Right Mood! 
#ChessMood
#Right Mood - Right Move 

P.S
Here are the winners of November:
Vedant Garg
Wenstin
Michael Larsen
Ilja Haitin
Anonymous :) 

Replies

Beautiful game!

https://lichess.org/AO0FMP0N/white

When your opponent transposes into your main line, thinking he is taking you out of book haha!

A beautiful and amazing game

https://lichess.org/rIuXnTOUFYY4

squeezing the opponent until he cracks!

https://lichess.org/NZaTfJB5NSSd

crazy Bd3 french

https://www.chess.com/game/live/32721669471 

https://lichess.org/PHhfKpUuFaks\

My best attacking game with the black pieces

Exchange Sac- Not Satisfied ☹☹☹

Queen Sac- Fully Satisfied $$$$

https://lichess.org/iWGYcPra/white#62

though at move 40 i played Be5 i was actually going to play Bd4 but then opponent showed sportsman spirit. It is because of him/her that i could show this

Pawn storm in antisicilian

https://lichess.org/EQ3hIg6i/white#1

queen geometry in antisicilian

https://lichess.org/JmaldIJw/white#34

Pirc turned into antisicilian grand prix attack

https://lichess.org/8dnfYZ4g/white#17

CM positional alekhine 

https://lichess.org/hqCpaF8i/white#0

Slp with knight and rook mating net

https://lichess.org/CJS7PMiRV8F3

Benko

https://lichess.org/izEIMbv3qs4i

https://tornelo.com/chess/orgs/penang-chess-association/events/penang-closed-online-chess-tournament-2021/divisions/penang-closed/rounds/5/pairings/5

After 13...Ne5 my initial plan was to put the bishop on d5, but I found out that Qe7 works because the Bishop takes the knight d5 square. If Ba2 there is c4. I know I need to react fast here and I found Bh6!?. My plan is that black cannot play the queen to c7 or e7 due to Nd5. Rg8 I can meet with Bxg7 and Rxg7 and black f6 pawn is weak and King cannot castle. So the critical line is Bxh6 Qxh6 Nxc4 but I have Qg7  Rf8 and Nd5 Bxe6 and Rxf6 and white wins. 

[Event "Penang Closed Online Chess Tournament 2"]

[Site "Malaysia"]

[Date "2021.12.11"]

[Round "5.5"]

[White "Shan Wen, Tin"]

[Black "Chong Kai Ni, Agnes"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "B23"]

[WhiteElo "1771"]

[BlackElo "1559"]

[PlyCount "59"]

[EventDate "2021.??.??"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 d6 3. f4 Nc6 4. Nf3 g6 5. Bc4 Bg7 6. O-O e6 7. d4 Nxd4 8. Be3

Nxf3+ 9. Qxf3 a6 10. a4 Ne7 11. f5 f6 12. fxe6 Nc6 13. Qh3 Ne5 14. Bh6 Bf8 15.

Nd5 Be7 16. Bg7 Rg8 17. Qxh7 Bxe6 18. Nc7+ Qxc7 19. Bxe6 Rxg7 20. Qxg7 c4 21.

Qh8+ Bf8 22. Qxf6 Qe7 23. Qh8 b6 24. Rf2 Nd7 25. Bxd7+ Kxd7 26. Raf1 Qxe4 27.

Rf7+ Kc6 28. Rxf8 Qe3+ 29. Kh1 Rxf8 30. Qxf8 {Black Resigned} 1-0

https://lichess.org/AgmT6qKe/white

win vs GM in OTB rapid 10+5 kinda with chessmood pirc ideas learned

https://lichess.org/CnzEUXII               

strong 2N+2R!

https://lichess.org/Mc7yc2r5/black#80

Play like Mikhail Tal

https://lichess.org/z1ZH31VPqOYW

https://tornelo.com/chess/orgs/penang-chess-association/events/penang-closed-online-chess-tournament-2021/divisions/penang-closed/rounds/4/pairings/8

Sicilian Endgame: The power of pass pawn

my second queen sac this month

https://lichess.org/UXZquiatCkUK

https://www.chess.com/game/live/33381827371

https://lichess.org/CeVQqRSsq56z

Crush the Caro-kann

https://lichess.org/CwTcfAYVPv2Q

my third queen sac this month. this time otb

A game that shows the example of what happens to an opponent when you know your opening and then continually apply pressure... they eventually crack!

Hey! This is my first try to post something here.

I knew nothing about the openning.

Knight sac!!

https://lichess.org/YPBwRrke/white

 nice game

https://www.chess.com/game/live/33923975615

https://lichess.org/Ss6zr1tV#0

play london system and trick 2400++ rated player 
fantastic game !

Another busted Stafford Gambit with a pawn sac on a2 from Black that did not work. Bd2 should be played before h3 on move 6, but it transposed anyway. It is nice to see how the Stafford gambit players know that they are going down (and they know it) once you play c3, Bd2, h3 and c3... If we could see their faces... ;-) The only mistake according to Stockfish was not playing d4, but I played e5 with the hope that they would take on a2 trapping the bishop... We will need to add a swindle mode to Stockfish....

Hi

https://lichess.org/H788Mte3/white#33 

A model game in a Vienna!

I liked 12.Bg5! which although the engine is not a fan of but it is practically difficult to play and mistakes follow and I won!  

Good Game

https://www.chess.com/game/live/34094423707

Amazing Game!
https://www.chess.com/game/live/34100490907

Got a Brilliant from chess.com

A nice win !!

https://lichess.org/nrb4rnUjMyhS

Nice Game

https://www.chess.com/game/live/34268996711

A nice win 

https://lichess.org/lGcmzIEGvlwW

Sicilian Grand Prix Attack and mate !

https://lichess.org/eNLYOKONOJLZ

https://lichess.org/0OM7u2cn#31

perfect game!!

https://lichess.org/a7Dg6pGn/black

was going to the best game of my life but I just blunder the game away due to time shortage
but still, a pretty good game, not gonna lie

queen sacrifice in the opening, and then again a piece sacrifice  to open up the king and got a Brilliant from chess.com  and many more things

https://www.chess.com/game/live/34617001725

king side attack!!!

https://lichess.org/RahgG5E5/white#0

Not perfect and pretty low level, but i was proud of the nice mate my opponent allowed.

Colorado Gambit

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/34704594491?tab=analysis 

Here is my final game at the North American Open. 

[Event "2021 North American Open"]

[Site "?"]

[Date "2021.12.30"]

[Round "9"]

[White "Garrison, Jay"]

[Black "Fajerdo, David"]

[Result "1-0"]

[ECO "B23"]

[BlackElo "1871"]

[PlyCount "53"]

[EventDate "2021.??.??"]

[SourceVersionDate "2021.12.30"]

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nf3 Nxb5 5. Nxb5 g6 6. d4 Bg7 7. dxc5 Qa5+ 8.

Nc3 Qxc5 9. O-O Nf6 10. Be3 Qa5 11. Qd2 h6 12. h3 Qd8 13. Rad1 g5 14. e5 Nh7

15. e6 fxe6 16. Nd4 d6 17. f4 gxf4 18. Bxf4 e5 19. Bxh6 Bxh6 20. Qxh6 exd4 21.

Nd5 Rf8 22. Qg6+ Kd7 23. Qxh7 Kc6 24. Nxe7+ Kb6 25. Nd5+ Kc5 26. Qc7+ Kxd5 27.

c4+ 1-0

Beautiful attack!!

https://lichess.org/2SPwKIbTj2oL

Do you have a win award with a higher rating difference? I'm a already a candidate! December and January:
https://lichess.org/sek7TZGP9f3r

https://lichess.org/rHYj1yxt8MbB

One of my personal favorite game!

https://lichess.org/Wtczrm8D/white

With a amazing rook sacrifice and kingside attack 

Hello ChessMood family!

Wish you all a very happy New Year!

It was a pleasure to go through your games! Keep up the good work! Moving on, here is the list of prize winners for December 2021...

The first prize goes to Jay Garrison for his creative attacking play in the Anti-Sicilian 2.Nc3 Nc6. Find the game here https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/the-best-games-of-december-2021-and-the-prizes?page=3

The second prize goes to Wenstin for this beautiful attack on the opponent's King stuck in the center! https://lichess.org/0OM7u2cn

The third prize goes to Vladimir Bugayev for punishing early Queen moves in this game.https://lichess.org/JmaldIJw/white#33

Khokan De takes 4th place for the pretty finish with a Queen sacrifice. You can find the game here https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/the-best-games-of-december-2021-and-the-prizes?page=2

Aayush Shirodkar takes the 5th prize for this 20-move miniature with a nice finish. https://www.chess.com/game/live/34100490907

Congratulations to all of you, and thanks once again for sharing your games :) 

Keep the right mood and crush your goals in 2022! Looking forward to seeing you all grow this year.

Enjoy! 

Anti-Sicilian Part II Question - . e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nf3 e6 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. 0-0 e6 (Be7 Bf6 plan)

Hello, 

I was playing my IM friend today and he played the plan of Be7-Bf6 before developing the g8 Knight to e7.

 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nf3 a6 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. O-O e6 7. Re1 d6 8. b3 Be7 9. Bb2 Bf6

According to the theory Avetik gives https://chessmood.com/course/sicilian-defence-part-2/episode/342 I am supposed to play b3 before Re1 as I did in the game but I didn't see this plan mentioned elsewhere in the forum or the course so mentioning here. Even though my move order wasn't totally precise, I don't think that would change the outcome of the way Black played with d6 e6 Be7 Bf6. Please correct me if I am wrong :) 

Do you have any suggestions on how I can handle the position better?  Pasted game below. Having an issue pasting the screenshot sorry. 

FEN: 6k1/4b2p/p1r1p1p1/1pp1Pp2/5P2/PPPrNR2/4n2P/1R2B2K w - - 0 41

PGN: 1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nd4 4. Nf3 a6 5. Bd3 Nc6 6. O-O e6 7. Re1 d6 8. b3 Be7 9. Bb2 Bf6 10. Rb1 Nge7 11. Bf1 O-O 12. a3 b5 13. Qc1 Bb7 14. Nd1 Ng6 15. g3 Nd4 16. Bg2 Rc8 17. d3 Qb6 18. Ne3 Ne5 19. Nxe5 dxe5 20. Ng4 Qd8 21. Qd1 Rc7 22. Bc3 Rd7 23. Rf1 Qe7 24. Qd2 Bg5 25. f4 exf4 26. gxf4 Bh4 27. Ne5 Rdd8 28. Kh1 Qd6 29. Rg1 Be7 30. Qf2 f6 31. Ng4 f5 32. e5 Qd7 33. Ne3 Bxg2+ 34. Qxg2 g6 35. Ba5 Rc8 36. Be1 Qc6 37. Qxc6 Rxc6 38. Rg3 Rd8 39. c3 Ne2 40. Rf3 Rxd3

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I believe that in this exact move order, general principles should apply, when they play Be7 and Nf6, we play e5. Here playing Be7 and then Bf6 should be similar, I would go for e5 on move 10. Not playing e5 allows Black to develop freely and Nge7 makes Black's position whole. That said, I will ask our GMs to take a look at it. But I like the line: 10. e5 Nxe5 11. Nxe5 Bxe5 12. Rxe5 dxe5 13. Qh5 Ne7 14. Qxe5

Hello Vishnu,

I checked the line offered by @Chessmood_Odysseus and I really like that a lot. That exchange sacrifice seems to be very attractive and I can see good chances for white's advantage.

This plan by Black of getting the dark-squared Bishop to the long diagonal is quite challenging to our setup. Pentala Harikrishna presents a similar approach in his chessable repertoire, and I was unable to crack it. I will start a separate thread to discuss the Harikrishna line, although I think I may have already posed the question here inside another thread where it probably got buried and forgotten. 

Book Recommendation for studies

Anyone plz recommend a book on studies (or composition) ? i want to improve calculation

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As for knowledge Jacob Aagaard's books - "Excelling at Chess Calculation" and "Grandmaster Preparation: Calculation" are probably best.

In case you just starting with chess (let's say if your FIDE rating is bellow 1800/2000), and above material maybe somewhat difficult to you, then maybe something simpler would help, on following book: "Chess Calculation Training For Kids And Club Players" by Romain Edouard

Hi,

I found this one very interesting:

https://www.perpetualchesspod.com/new-blog/2020/10/13/episode-198-im-cyrus-lakdawala-returns

Rewire your chess brain by Cyrus Lakdawala.

And a quite old one that I bought many years ago (in German) - but still very good - is this

Karpov/Gik: KARPOV'S ENDGAME ARSENAL (I guess that this is the English edition of "Schach Studien - Schachstudien der Weltmeister").

Check out Yusupov series, 9 books in total, helped me improve calculation and strategy

As usual the question comes down to:

What is your rating?
Are your tactics good already?
Which part of calculation do you have problems with (e.g. visualisation, ideas, organising thoughts, knowing when to cut off and when to continue, diagnostic thinking vs checking...)?

If you're below 1700 (and it's fun if you're higher rated) and your tactics need a refresh, then take a look at the tactics ninja course (1 section a day).

Also this is a series on youtube about calculation from an IM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzzyR_YIZz0

My Year In Review

The year 2021 is hours away from ending. For some of us it has been a good year, and others may want to forget it. Whichever group you fall in, it is still a great idea to look back through the year for the lessons you can take into 2022!

My year started with the idea I can only control my own actions, since the year before was difficult for hitting my numerous number goals. ( You can read last years review here https://chessmood.com/forum/main-channel/review-your-year-like-you-review-your-games ). I had decided to restart all the ChessMood videos over as if I was brand new. It was an ambitious goal and started out great! Then my mindset shifted and I changed course (more on that shortly). Needless to say, I didn't re-watch all the courses again, though I did review all my opening files regularly.

I had found in 2020 that I get distracted very easily, so in January, I disabled all of my social media. No more Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other social media on my phone. This was one of the best decisions I have ever made. I have recovered many hours a week that was just spent scrolling through things that didn't pertain to my goals, and now have been able to use that time on chess. 

I have also continued my health journey and have been able to maintain a healthy weight, and added 5 miles of walking to my routine every day. It is amazing how much clearer the mind is when the body is healthy, and I am now a firm believer in this as I have been able to personally witness my own change!

The year hasn't been all rainbows and unicorns though. My schedule changed during the early part of the year that has made it impossible to catch any ChessMood events live. I really miss interacting with the ChessMood family in real time. I also had a major family tragedy while I was away at the US Open in August, which forced me to withdraw and fly home immediately, and left me mentally  stressed for many weeks afterward. We all have had tragedy hit, as it is part of life, and I wont dwell on details here, just know we are well, and have moved on as we should.

Now that the heavy stuff is behind us, lets get back to chess! It has been both a great year for my game, and a poor year for my rating. How is this possible you ask? Well, let me explain!

In the early part of the year, I was struggling with time zones and schedules, and found it very difficult to meet with my coach (online) on a regular basis, and therefor didn't feel like it would be good for my game to continue trying to try to force myself to jam in a lesson somewhere in the cracks. Instead, I started looking for a coach that could meet on my schedule, who wouldn't want me to change all of my openings (I am quite comfortable with ChessMood openings and wasn't giving them up! haha), who would also genuinely want my success,  and believed in my ability to achieve my lofty goals. I was lucky that I already knew someone that fit all of this criteria, I just had to see if he had time to work with me! In late march, I contacted my friend, GM Rogelio Barcenilla Jr, and he agreed to start working with me starting in April!

GM Barcenilla immediately started giving me home work to fix the biggest holes in my game. (this is why I changed my mindset on my activities for the year, as openings were not my problem, they were actually already a strength! So I didn't need to review all of the videos again.) I have taken copious notes every time I get to sit and work with GM Barcenilla (once a week) and now have stacks of notes that I review regularly. The formula we are using is tried and true: Play tournament games against strong opponents, review these games together to identify areas of opportunity, and use study time between tournaments to address those areas. 

So this has been very good for my chess! I have learned so much more about chess, and new ways of thinking about the game, that it has formulated the way I am looking at next years goals!

But before I get to those goals, I need to answer your great question! I didn't forget that you wanted to know how my game can be improving but my rating isn't! (this isn't completely true, my online rating raised by about 200 points, but I am talking about OTB rating.) The answer to this is actually simple: I have only been playing open sections, where I am always one of the lowest rated there. My opponents average rating has been almost 400 ELO points higher then mine (I am about 1700 FIDE as I write this, but will go up slightly since I played well in Vegas and the results haven't posted yet), and a few of my opponents have been 700+ ELO more then me! These players are very good and have been hard to beat, so my rating hasn't moved much, but the experience has been priceless! So the bottom line is I am not frustrated with my rating not going up, as I know it is only a matter of time.

As I was going through my notes from the times I have spent with GM Barcenilla, I saw certain words repeated over and over. I realized that these words were actually key concepts to chess mastery and are the areas that need the most study. The other thing I realized from this review, is it takes improvement in ALL of these concepts before your game levels up, because it only takes one of them to continue to hold you back!

Here are the 5 concepts I will be working on this coming year, and you should know that these concepts apply to every stage of the game - opening, middlegame, as well as the endgame - and in this order.

I will be practicing applying these concepts to every game and every position I can.

1. Patterns - The entire game is centered around our ability to recognize patterns, and they are infinite. We must learn to recognize as many of them as we can. Checkmates, tactics, pawn breaks, and on and on and on. I will be working on mastering as many patterns as I can.

2. Principles - We all know the principles. We spout them off offhandedly all the time: Rooks on open files, knights before bishops, king safety, passed pawns must be pushed, etc. We must get better at recognizing which principle applies to the patterns we found in the current position. I will work on learning to apply principled moves in the games I play and the positions I study.

3. Pressure/Prophylaxis - These concepts are married. You must look at them together, as trying to separate them will make you forget either your plan or your opponents, and doing that will spell disaster! You must ask yourself after EVERY move, what is my opponent doing? Once you know their idea, then you can look for a move that recognizes the patterns in the position, is principled, and applies pressure to your opponent so he forgets his own ideas! Sounds easy, right? Of course not! Chess is hard! But we can do this, and we see it from the great masters all of the time! I will be working on applying pressure on every move!

4. Calculation - Lets be honest here. The best calculators become stronger players faster. The ability to calculate further then your opponent can win you many games. If we have recognized the patterns, and found a principled move that applies pressure but don't calculate it properly, then it could just as possibly be a bad move. What looks good 3 moves deep can actually be a blunder on the 4th move, and if we don't calculate it, it could be bad news for us! I will work on calculation by always trying to see just one move further. If I am seeing 3 moves clearly, I will work to see the 4th. If I am seeing 4 moves, I will work to see the 5th. 

5. Evaluation - Here is where the true champions are made. Most of us have become pretty good at looking at a position on the board and seeing that white is better, or black is better, or it is about equal, even with out the computer telling us. The hard part is evaluating the positions you have calculated 7 moves deep. If you are not evaluating positions at the end of your calculation as diligently as the position that is currently on the board, then you might as well not calculate at all. Those that can develop this skill the best are those that lose very few games, as they very seldom find themselves in lost positions. I will work on evaluating every position I calculate going forward, and hone this skill to the best of my ability!

Thank you to all of you who take the time to read through my ramblings! A wise man once told me you should share your goals with the world, as you will hold yourself more accountable. It is my sincere hope this helps others as much as it helps me!

Here is to another year together with all my ChessMood brothers and sisters!

GM Jay

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Great post. Enjoyed it. Can relate to the part about calculation. I learnt (after a loss) I had to be concrete here, just because something 'looks' bad (e.g. enemy rook is lined up against my uncastled king) doesn't necessarily mean it is.

Hi Jay

Great to hear from you & that you are working well to overcome life & chess challenges! Best wishes to you for a happy New Year 2022. I wonder if we could collaborate a bit on chess improving this year?

We do have slightly different goals (if you do not know or remember, I am all-well mainly- about 5 minute blitz play, but I did jointly win the u1600 OTB tourney at my local chess club last October) but the same aim, to improve at chess. I had resigned myself to improving on my own due to previous attempts at collaborations with others at chess ending in failure & seriously, you were the main inspiration for me keeping my membership going here! Now you know ;-)

I have hesitated to ask you this before, but it feels like it is now or never, so, I would be honoured to work together & prove this buddy-buddy thing can work as described by our mentors here. Still, I perfectly understand if you do not want to try such a thing with me, but I sincerely hope you do & we can sort something out, so please let's discuss this soon to start this year.

Would Skype be a good way to contact (Messsenger or other) or whatever we could use? I am getting ahead, but look forward to your reply & will be happy whatever you like, so no pressure!

Again, many best wishes, Richard

When a 1550 player defeats a WIM

First defeat a player with 2421 rating, now a WIM! I'm a master capybara! rs
All thanks to GM Avetic and his insane attack lessons!
Opponents see my rating and ignore that my stinger is deadly!
https://lichess.org/rHYj1yxt8MbB 

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Very Good Game

Yes, i am aware that i was lucky in this victory. I will follow your guidance!
Winnig is fun, but no ilusions!

NEW WAY TO WIN MOODCOINS

As I watched sections in many courses, I have a suggestion that I believe ChessMood administration takes into consideration as per the following:

1) The Test section in all courses shall be in such a way to enable the "student" to submit answers and win points.

2) Each quiz in the test shall have timing, let's say 1min or 30seconds, etc... in order to help the person taking the quiz to enhance and quicken his thinking.

3) After completing the test, the "student" shall receive a score; accordingly, this score shall be converted into Moodcoins.

Hence, this will make the courses more interesting and challenging and force the "students" to get encouraged to watch more courses.

The video of the solution of the quiz section shall be available to the "student" after he finishes the quiz.

What do you think?

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Pretty Interesting Idea