Do you agree with this statement.

Acc. to Var. Akobian- When Petrosian Attack it's Mate!!!

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But he was not an attacking player

You have to answer :)

Would you take the risk of playing completely new opening in a very important tournament / game?

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Obviously no !

Well, I can!!! I think if my middlegames and endgames will be okay then I can be able to play anything. Openings are important but they are not everything. It works in below 2400 sections.

Absolutely.

If the match up I have dictates I have a better chance to winning against my current opponent, then I will play the new opening.

That being said, I am not going to sit at the board and suddenly say, "Hey! I know I am an 1.e4 player, but just for fun, lets play 1.b3!"

That isnt going to happen hahahahaha

@WIM_Susanna_Gaboyan

Re: Would you take the risk of playing completely new opening in a very important tournament / game?

It would depend on how well I had prepared the Opening or specific line and also on my opponent's style, temperament and predictability. Bobby Fischer shocked Spassky with 1.d4, a move he had never used before, in one of his Wch games and won brilliantly against Spassky's favorite Tartakower Defence of the QGD. Spassky should have smelt a rat, but I guess he was supremely confident or was just too curious to see what Fischer had up his sleeve. 

I really like to play new things, even I have several stories when I went to bed, then before sleep like  Beth Harmon started thinking in my head what I am gonna play the next day, then in the morning I checked 10-15 minutes and played, such games there were the most successful games for me, I have very good results with this preparation lol.

I remember once it was the last round I had to play with higher rated player than me and I wanted to win so badly, I was d4 player I checked his repertoire and I saw that he plays KID, against which I didn't like to play at all. Then I went to bed and started to think what I am gonna play against 1...Nf6 then I was ok I am gonna play 2.Nc3. I had no idea about this move at all, and the next day I checked it for 15 minutes then went to a game. I remember I won very nice game. I have a lot of this kind of stories and mostly I succeeded. 

I've risked once and it didn't have a happy ending :) So, maybe not

A must-know plan in the Scandinavian Defense

What's the standard plan in the Scandinavian pawn structure? White to move. The full game with the comments, you can watch in the link below, if you are a PRO Member. https://chessmood.com/course/classical-attacking-games/episode/2079

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Zen Mode on Lichess- Boom for my Chess

How many of you think that hiding chess ratings will improve your playing results. I am stuck to a barrier and I am trying to break it. Recently I tried a new thing which I heard from my strong friend and training partner Jay. I thought to hide opponent's ratings so I can play a game of chess without knowing my opponent's ratings. Guess what happened?  

I started to winning a lot games and my SLP also became super well. In the bottom I shared some of my games.

Attack

https://lichess.org/A3LsZ6qn7ABX

SLP:

https://lichess.org/j1osvJeBcvT6

Attack:

https://lichess.org/A3LsZ6qn7ABX

Crushed a 2200 positionally

https://lichess.org/rv4O3mUvyMxk

Win against 2200+

https://lichess.org/2t4aTqNLgrWZ

Crushed a 2200+ again

https://lichess.org/uFJjECl5LONU

Missed mate but nice king hunt I think

Yes, I do not say I played superb chess but I am starting to play without any fear. I do not have a lot experience so I it annoy me when I see ratings. Esepcially online. Offline I never felt fear because I have a lot time to think. 

So, what's your approach guys to play online chess?

Now my goal is to break this 2300 level. I am trying to keep my elo to 2200 but it goes down and then back to 2200 then down. Slo up down is going on here but Zen Mode is superb

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Wow nice, and nice idea, I liked it, how you do it?

Another victim of Zen Mode

https://lichess.org/72O6zC7AWlGX

I agree Abhi. Zen Mode is really good. I've tried it and it helps me focus on the position in front of me instead of the opponent or their rating. 

Thanks for the idea. Really nice, it also prepares you to play OTB games against higher rated players without fear.

Can you record your streamings Chessmoodteam in Bundesliga for later

Hello everyone!

Could you record your streaming for later? I would really appreciate to watch the tournement later i case I can t watch it live!

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Oh, you can see all the recordings of every stream in the event section. Just go there and you will find all recordings. But yeah I also can't see recordings of this particular event. Sorry.

~~~ Your assessment please ~~~~

Here it's white to move. How will you continue here. Once questions will be answered then i will share the book name and game number too.  Kindly don't use engines or books and if you know the name of players then keep it secret. Just share your assessment and plans.

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A queentrady, followed by pushing the a pawn looks promising at the first sight

1. Nxh6 Rxh6 2. a5 Rc8 3. a6 Rc7 4. Ra1 supporting the passed pawn.

Constraints and motivation

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-weird-strategy-dr-seuss-used-to-create-his-greatest-work

Nice article on motivation and constraints (despite the clickbait title) which relates chess players in terms of effective study/play time, using time on the clock, which openings they study / amount of theory and games they learn. Also some linked articles about motivation from it (have a plan, ritual)

To adapt it:
What if you only had 50 minutes a day to spend on chess, but stuck to it as much as possible? (a lunch hour or a commute on the train for many)

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Work on chess a day?

How many hours a day you work on your chess?

Are you doing smart work or hard work or combo?

How many training partners do you have right now and how many you wants more?

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I used to train for about 3-4 hours, but now, unfortunately I have a problem with concentration because of the war in our country...

I have not training partner I like to train alone

@WIM_Susanna_Gaboyan How many hours are you studying now a days?

Capablanca vs Conde 1919

Hi guys, I hope you all are superb. Here I am sharing a position extracted from the Book "Capablanca's Best Endings" It's game number 30th. It's white to move.

You have to tell:

1. Assessment of this position.

2. Is it good to take on f6 and if yes then kindly share your long term follow up or if possible share some lines which shows Nxf6 is good.

3. Do you ever studied this game?

I analyzed this game with my Endgame Teacher Jay Garrison. He is my mentor in positional and endgame play. I am glad because of him I am improving in endgames and my imagination is improving too. 

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Studied nothing today.

It sucks. Head hurts. I just woke up and its 5 41 pm. I miss my today's study

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Time Machine:

We all study classics so sometimes we feel attracted to the player who is our idol. No matter he is alive or died. It's so great if player is alive so we have chance to meet him or her one day. But issue comes when we realize that our idol chess player is not alive. So we start missing him or her. So what will happen if you get a time machine? Then do you think you will go to meet your idol titled player? 

About me:

I am Bobby Fischer's fan. I love the way he play. Even though I only studied his few games but mostly I worked on Karpov's games. But I am super attached to him so I wish to meet him and after him I wanna meet Tigran when he was on  his peak and ask him that sir why so much torture you gave to your opponent who is almost dying and third I wanna meet Tal and explore how he create mess and win a lot games with super messy attacks.

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Tactics+calculation

White to move and win!

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rxc6 bxc6 qc4+ kb7 qxc6!!+ kxc6 ne5++ kc5 nd3+ kd4 kd2 +- with the threat of c3

help needed

I am a passionate chess player. I didn't take chess so seriously earlier. But in the last six months, I witnessed a sudden blast in my rating on chess.com, as I started playing more frequently. at my peak, i was around 800 rating points higher than what my rating 6 months ago. (My peak is about 1651 in chess.com live ratings) but I am not able to cross this rating range. Please help me. 

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It's hard to say what you based on chess.com ratings. I tend to peak mid-1800s at blitz on there, which makes me think you're probably around 130 ECF (1600 FIDE). However it is blitz and that can be quite variable (for me at least).

When I play players around this range usually one or more of the following is true:
. Opening is usually a simple scheme opening (e.g. London System) which while is quite powerful in strong players' hands, they don't know it very well given it's their main White opening and usually entered vs whatever Black plays. Other than that something like the French Exchange to get drawish positions. Black they'll play something like the Petroff, Philidor or Scandinavian (poorly) against e4.
. They fail to set (m)any problems for the opponent
. They are often looking for a draw against a higher rated player and play solid, or for exchanges for that reason, even when they are given an advantage
. They miss tactics that are reasonably easy to spot (confidence maybe too to go for it), and in particular sometimes miss well known traps in their opening (such as e5 e4 forking in the London)
. Their endgame knowledge is poor (particularly basic pawn and rook and pawn endings), especially if they only play club games with rapid finishes after 35 moves.

I would take a look at that list and see if any or all of that is you. If you're a pro member and you've not had a call yet, perhaps bring up any of these points that affect you. Certainly the chessmood openings are not drawish schemes and do intend to set the opponents problems, so that with some more accurate tactics and some better knowledge of endgames could get you closer to 1700-1800 just from that.

Did you read this article? https://chessmood.com/blog/golden-method-to-increase-rating-in-chess 

5... g6 in the Caro Kann

An interesting idea was 5... g6 a move earlier in the videos, before Black has committed Nf6. Instead, Black plays Bg7 Nh6 and then plays f6 trying to get e5, or Bg7 f6. Unfortunately I fell into the trap that after e5 attacking bishop, e4 is coming forking bishop and knight, similar to the London System trap. Black can also transpose back to the line discussed with Nf6 before or after Bg7.

Any suggestion for the right plan for White? Is there room for an early deviations section in the course?

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The right way to meet f6 plans in all such position types is to prepare a quick c4, there are many model games in the Databases. I will leave you with just one typical example and let you have the pleasure to research others. By the way the following line is also related to your query so take note of it in your preparations and report back how you think white should play:  1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.Nf3 d5 5.h3 Nh6 6.Bd3 0-0 7.0-0 f6.

Good luck and have fun.

~~Guess the Opening and share Assessment~~

It's black to move here. What's your assessment about this position. Plans for both sides and which colour you choose for playing. 

Here, I choose white because it's my fav. opening after chessmood's Grand Prix.

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It's the c3 sicilian:

1. e4 c5 2. c3 d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nc6 5. Nf3 Nf6 6. dxc5 Qxd1 7. Kxd1

White is better, and will play b4 against e5 and try to hold on to the pawn, with Kc2, Kb2/b3 then a3. Maybe also Bb5. Sometimes b4 b5 as well and start a pawn storm.

Black's plan is to either castle or play Rd8, get the pieces out and attack b4, c3 and f2 as well as a the king.

While White is better, it's difficult because Black can get active and find good squares for the pieces.

The best dxc5 variation for Black is with Nf6 and Bg4, then after e5 b4 e4 h3 Bh5 g4, Black takes on g4 with the knight (hence Nf6 not Nc6) and has a passed h-pawn as counterplay and is slightly better.

I will share my opinion after watching the course:)

Evaluate this Position

Here it's white to move. What you think about this position. Who is better and why?

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Let's see.. White is a pawn down and has a weak pawn structure. The pair of bishops is not active yet. Black's main problem on the other hand is development of the kingside and the weak queenside (pawn on a7, c7 square). This is compensated by the monster knight on d4 threatening both f3 and c2.

White needs to stop Black from developing further to stay in the game. This means that White's focus should be on the queenside, creating counter-threats. White also needs to find a way to meet Black's current threats.

Let's look at candidate moves here. 1.Bb5+ Nxb5 (1...Kd8 2.0-0 and White has an edge in development) and Black loses a pawn or has to advance with his king. 1...Nc6 2.Be3 also seems about equal .

1.Bd3 Nxf3+ 2. Kf1 0-0-0 3.Be4 also deserves consideration. However, Black need not go for the f3 pawn in the second line as he is already a pawn up. So 1.Bd3 e5 or 1.Bd3 Nf6 can be considered. There seem to be better alternatives.

1.Nb5 is another move that needs to be considered as 1...Nc2+ 2.Kd1 Rc8 3.Nxa7 seems about equal after 3...Rc5 4.b4.

After all this, it can be concluded that this position is about equal after 1.Nb5 or 1.Bb5.

I definitely prefer white, but if we slow down then black will be fine. 

NEW ARTICLE: Mistakes Are Not Failures

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Excellent article/blog. There is a long debated question as to whether "kids be taught how to fail".Growth mindset encourages to let failure happen as then the process of learning starts.

Wow!

1. Some of the ideas which you posted in the blog are superb and I am already following them. For example whenever I learn any new concept I try to apply them in practice so fast. No matter it's winning or losing or draw I just apply the concepts so my brain will recognize them in the right time. 

2. I do not know where I read that but I think if anyone wanna become successful in any field then the best thing to do is to copy what the successful people of that field did, There is no need to invent new ideas. Yes, learning and then trying is different things. But just follow the path which top people did and one day you will achieve whatever you wants to do. Some say why copy ?  So the answer is when we born we learn language from our parents and that time our brain is copying new words. If it's hindi he will learn hindi and if it's english then he will learn english. Same in life. Copying elite will improve your skills in any filed.

3. I also loved the word coach told me, Abhi if you wanna become 2000 then follow those who achieved 2000 and if you wanna become a GM then follow GMs. I felt so funny when after some time coach told me that he saw a 1500 teaching how to become a Grandmaster hehehe.

4. Yes, about comfort zone, I am fully happy that my mindset is changed to universal from positional. When I joined chessmood I wanted to become a positional player. But when I started studying openings it turned me into an attacking player too. I do not know but following streams and webinars turned me into an attacker and coach also told me that abhi you are now playing very aggressive chess. I also wanna mention that I do follow lessons of Var. Akobian and as you all know he is a positional player but whenever he got any positions in which timing  is everything then he play for timings. That time he never think of quiet moves but he play what board wants him to play. Due to chessmood and his lessons my mindset turned into a universal player. A player who play the position. If it's static then play slow chess is ok but if it's dynamic then timing  is key. So I am already out of my comfort zone.

5.  Yes, I must admit that I am scared to make mistakes but only those mistakes which are like playing like a melon., If I am applying a new concept in my game then I never feel scared of losing game.

Thanks for the great article I am following all the guidelines well. Thanks for wonderful lessons and courses.

Excellent article . As rightly pointed out , fear of mistakes forces one to be stagnant - not willing to try new things . That forces us to remain in our comfort zone and makes us think that anything out of it will invite mistakes . We feel that Mistakes are the worst thing that can happen to us and that we should  do everything possible to avoid it. 

My problem is closely related to the one discussed - fear of failure. I deal with my mistakes objectively , trying to learn from them. But the thought that my image before others will be shattered (if I lose to my opponent ) is one reason contributing to it. There are many who have the same problem. I have noticed a phenomenon in my place - players who start coaching stop playing tournaments . I am not speaking of busy coaches who do not have time . I strongly believe that they cannot think of the students coming across their defeats in games - fear of failure again  !  I would like you to have an article on it. I think only if the perspective on what one should expect from playing a game should change .

Thank you for the excellent articles.

I don't know my chess style and my likings are variable. I admire Carlsen. But my play cannot be determined. I have won a 25 move game and next I round I won a long complicated positional struggle. Previously I was a good endgame player, my style was to attack the pawns and exchange pieces. But after studying the book 'Attack with Mikhail Tal' I developed a good feeling of an attack but my endgame skills are nearly vanished. Can anyone tell me how to deal this?

I read in a book once to reframe failure as results you didn't want. My own take is if those 'results' help you go on and achieve, then perhaps they were results you needed but weren't looking for.

There are plenty of motivational books that will recount Edison's light bulb, Colonel Sanders attempt to sell his chicken recipe, and so on, who succeeded by keeping on going despite many failures and probably discouragement for those around.

Other similar advice is be prepared to fail, but fail fast and adapt (that is once you've identified something isn't working and learned from it, try something slightly different and see how that affects things - giving up and doing something different puts you back at square one again). Trying the same thing harder and doubling the effort when effort wasn't the problem is like the fly trying to get through the window.

The investor or gambler's advice about not putting in more than you can lose (that is having reserves to fight another day, rather than an all-in, moonshot, home run attempt) and the mindset opportunities will present themselves again another time.

Playing the long-game rather than a short term view of that one mistake.

9 rules

In this 9 rules blog,i can't understand that what are you trying to say?

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It depends on the time control

Caro Kann Opening

You keep on missing Nxd4 in this video: https://chessmood.com/course/caro-kann-defence/episode/702

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when exactly?

That's true Kevin! 
My bad... :) 

Questions, possible suggestions

I have two questions and not sure where I should put this.

1. Can we have it to where "My courses" are listed on the start up page? 

2. Is there a forum we can post our games for discussion?

Thanks!

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Hey Jesse! 

You can add it to favorites and then click the love heart on the main page to get there faster.