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Chess forum by Grandmasters
NEW ARTICLE: The Most Effective Way to Create Chess PGN Files
Hey Champions!
We have this topic in our Blog.
https://chessmood.com/blog/the-most-effective-way-to-create-chess-pgn-files
If you have any questions, comments or you just liked it, feel free to share your thoughts here.
Replies
Nice article, I am glad I always like to make pgn files of my own. That's why in the first 15 days of chessmood pro membership I made my all pgn files but due to time issues I started learning them in march hehehe. I like to learn ideas and then variations and then play!!!
Thanks for the lessons. No matter you or anyone give me pgn files of whole comments but I wont remember it but when i make my own files I remember most of the ideas!. This is what I did always and I will do hehehe. My thoughts are simple about it. When we write our brain eyes hand works at the same time. On the other hand when we see a new pgn by others then only our hand and eyes work and brain thinks like oh I have it and I can check it anytime and focus flew away!
Great article and I have bookmarked it also.
To be honest when studying opening theory before (mainly from a book) I didnt do anything like this process.
Since joining chessmood I have taken the approach you outlined and worked out my own lines in pgn. I think its important to do this as often at lower levels you face some random moves. You can add them to the pgn (if not obvious outright blunders) and continue with the main plans you outlined.
I haven't got through all of the scotch (my first course) but the lines i have put into pgn and then practiced. I actually remember them almost exactly and if I dont quite (wrong move order or something) then the plan is clear to me still.
Nice article. I tend to write my ideas and plans for each openings I'm studying. Now I know why I forget some important lines.
Μy Antisicilian pgn files are separated in the 5 sections whereas in my Scotch pgn file I cover even the advanced lines vartiation per variation, and I also have to scroll down twice (or even 3 times in Scotch) as much as the material which appears in the beginning. So, I think they are maybe even a little bigger that the usual in my 1800 online level. I learned a lot from this article on the whole.
I love it! I have started to make the pgn file on my own, starting a week ago, and the reason is ChessMood article Memorizing Variations! Thanks Grandmaster Avetik a lot for helping me, I will never forget it!
P/S: Are there anyway to buy PRO without money?
Thank you maestro for this one.
This reminds me of some discussion among fellow pro-members regarding the use of chessable, the platform that advertises the use of spaced learning software designed to reinforce move/lines memorization. I used chessable for some time, but not anymore. Not because I think it's bad, but because I think it (1) essentially fosters laziness, one of the chess student's worst habits, and (2) its effectivess depends on the quality of the author's instruction and the lines that he gives anyway.
So, thank you for reminding us of your approach which I believe is just spot on: there are no real shortcuts, and every chess student has to put in his or her own effort.
To be honest, I really struggle to follow the advise.
When creating my pgn-files I do not wish to memorize the lines as good and effective as possible only. Also, I want to create a reference that I can use to check my games and to prepare for my opponents. Therefore, I need to make sure, that the relevant content of the course is transferred correctly into the pdf.
Or to put it in other words: I do not take the risk to omit relevant lines or the note them incorrectly.
Another reason, I do not completely follow the advise, is that with my limited amount of study time, I wanted to gain a first and general understanding of the lines/ideas or to be more precise of all openings of the ChessMood repertoire. The reason is that watching our coaches use these openings is more effective after having got this basic understanding from the courses.
That is why I accept that after completing a section/an opening I sometimes have to confess that I hardly got a good understanding (and consequently did not memorize the lines very well). On the other hand, ideas/lines do come up when I see the line in practice.
This post elucidates how much data that players at every level should store.
Over the years I've summed it up as, "The most important chess opening book you will ever read is the one you write."
I'm going to recommend that every Chess Openings Wizard user read this post.
- Mike
Let's say I have a great pgn file I've been making from the white mood Scotch pgn file (let's call this the Scotch Repertoire file) . Now let's say I've played 10 Scotch games online and I downloaded them and have the pgn for those games. How can I compare my games to the Scotch Repertoire file to see where I made mistakes (or to add new variations to the Scotch Repertoire file). I hope my question makes sense. Thank you!
Santiago vs Gabuzyan Analyzed Game
💪
Just finished watching the video and would like to comment on how much coach G has improved his analysis/coaching technique in the past 1 year or so….it's actually very impressive and I learned a lot from this one!!
This is one of the best explained games I've ever seen…Keep up the COGRO coach and please add more games to your section.
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Dear Ovi,
Thank you so much for your Kind words and feedback, I appreciate it a lot!
Will try to make it better :-)
Presentation skills on the videos and clarity has also come on enormously.
Concentration training
Recently I read an article where avetik said that before he start his students training he would make them do some concentration training and then start the training. So can I know what concetration training does he do?
Thanks in anticipation
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My friend, most important parts for concentrating before the game I've shared in the BlunderProof course.
https://chessmood.com/course/blunderproof
Also, you can check out GM Hovhannisyan's article on concentration
https://chessmood.com/blog/7-tips-how-to-keep-concentration-during-a-chess-game
Good luck!
a probably losing line in the white mood opening
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nxf7?
Stockfish does not like this move and after 4….Kxf7 5.d4? has 5…c5 with a probably winning advantage(I consider 1.75 by stockfish after many minutes of search as a probably winning advantage).
The line may be good against weak players but I do not like the idea to play a losing move(in case that the opponent is prepared).
I know that I cannot win with white and equal position with good chances for the opponent to blunder is good enough for me but not worse than equal position with white.
I like the repertoire and I learned from it but the conclusion is that I need to check it with some engine to check it does not contain more blunders(and it is not that I consider every move that stockfish does not like as best to be a blunder).
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I had trouble remembering all the right moves in this variation. I was thinking of switching to the knight back to f3 nxe4 and nc3 variation.
Depends what level and time control. My personal opinion against > 1800 in longplay (who has been playing Nf6 for aeons) or against a promising junior they might well know it well and how to counter. Players often look to avoid theory hence the likelihood of seeing it often is high. GM Gabuzyan believes it can be played at higher levels, and on that we agreed to disagree.
However, in blitz or lower rated opposition in long play it's very playable. You're not playing against masters or 3500 engines who know all the theory and can calculate deeply under pressure. Thus Stockfish's evaluation should be taken with a pinch of salt in such a line (where long tactical lines or hard to find moves are part of the analysis that leads to that evaluation).
Dear Uri, Happy study!!! 😃
We do not know your rating but this is a good line for a first repertoire to develop your attacking instincts and tactic sense. You also learn to play a piece down against a pawn up and a stranded king. Whitemood and Blackmood are the starters repertoire, although we play most of the lines against GMs and IMs too constantly.
😀This variation I played it many times OTB and won many times very, very fast. People are not computers and it has a big surprise effect. Of course, if you want a better line, GM level line, just check the main course on the Petroff, this is our main recommendation for more advanced players… 😅
https://chessmood.com/course/petroff-defense
Dear Uri, seeing your fide rating, I'm am sure you are a fantastic player. At 1900 fide, you should have a very strong intuition whether White gets any benefits after sacrificing the knight for Black's rights of castling. It is true that it isn't really good for White but it is a dubious and interesting gambit. Sure, it can be played in online chess for fun to relax and chill. But in long play otb, it really won't work(in my opinion as your opponents will be strong too) and will be able to navigate through the weird position easily. I fully agree with your opinion but perhaps we should look at the position instead of the eval.
For example of a similar gambit, 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Ng5 h6 6. Nxf7?!
Here we see a fun and exciting game incoming for White although stockfish on depth 30 may say it is -1.5.
Remember that the one that makes the last blunder will lose! Sure White has simple and easy play( which GM Gabzuyan would love to provide us) while Black has to calculate a tough way out.
Like this post if it was helpful :>
Approaching Rapid Format Tournament
How to approach rapid tournaments
Avetik sir, you already mentioned that “action is more important than words” in the article for How to use chat pgt to improve your chess. i found this.
My general Questions is how to approach Rapid format tournaments i could not get a better advices to approach rapid tournaments>, and you told that asking the person who took action i could not find anyone to ask this question and they answer me! so I am asking you sir.
How About your experience of approaching rapid time control tournaments like (25+10) or (10+5) or (15+10)
if i can get a better solution of approach it could help me to feel better for upcoming rapid tournament..
also please explain me in the level of 1800-2100 i am already 1773 thats not the case my much of the opponents know what i play and my playing style, but still i dont know how to handle such rapid tournaments..
Mainly
#how to think #how much time we have to take based on the format of initial time. #how to focus..
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Hello Gokul Krishna!
Chessmood has a very nice blog category related to this topic: https://chessmood.com/blog/category/tournament-preparation I would recommend you to go read some of these blogs. I am sure you will find them helpful!
How was GM Avetik able to make two moves in a row with the same color on the board?
Great courses. How was GM Avetik able to make two moves in a row with the same color on the board? I noticed this in the whitemood and blackmood courses. I was just wondering what software he was using to be able to do this?
Thanks for the great courses and all of everyone's hard work?
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Chessbase, null move option…😀
He's so good, he can even bend the rules of chess (Matrix style - there is no move)!
(nah, null move - also quite useful to get analysis on what a threat might be, or to find plans)
Morphy P. - Isouard C. not precise naming :)
Morphy vs Isourard as far as I understand is not the precise name. Suggest to add there name “Opera game”, because this game is known by this name. And it was played not against one player, but two players.It was played by Morphy against two opponents during opera. The story tells that Morphy was well known chess player, he was noticed and was invited into the private opera lodge where this game was played. :)
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1233404
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Thank you Ink Ren Kaula Vi. We are taking not of it.
😀💪
pgn/Quiz Sicilian Accelerated Dragon
Hi CM team,
Would that be possible to have the pgn for the quiz for the Sicilian Accelerated Dragon. I am just asking because I see that there are 25 positions and after watching the course I completed the pgn for he course and ended up with 81 variations which is not too bad, however, when I completed the pgn with the advanced section I ended up with 380 variations (I know I have a tendency to do complete long variations ). I just would like to start slow and put it in my opening that I can use when I don't have internet which often happens when I go work in the far north. Anyway, I would really appreciate it if I could have the pgn for the quiz for the course pls and thanks.
Kamel
Replies
Dear Kamel,
At the moment we can not provide the pgns of the quizzes, but you can use the addon or extension Chessvision.ai (free) in your browser (Firefox or Chrome) and copy and paste the positions from the quizz in chessbase or the software that you are using for creating your pgns.
It is only 25 positions, it should take you less than 20 min. 💪
Thanks for your understanding and keep studying with good mood!😁
Siclian 2... e6 3... Nge7
- e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6 3. f4 Ne7!?
Lost in this ‘tricky’ line for choosing the wrong continuation and while having chances, it seemed easier for the opponent (no doubt a pet line). The annoying thing is we can't transpose into Bb5 lines. I went for the ‘turtle’ structure of 4. g3 then Bg2, d3, but after d5 and eventual e5 we went into a closed/French style structure where I missed my chance at kingside pushing and got beaten on the q-side. A final blunder in a lost position finished it.
Also this (at least in the 2018 database) has a 45% White win rate over 100 games. It seems the ‘antidote’ is going into the open style positions with d4 where the engine gives white a +=. 4. Nf3 d5 - now 5. d4 (most players avoid because of open fear I guess hence the stats) or 4. Nf3 Nbc6 (transposing to other lines) 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 and if Nxd4 7. Qxd4 Nc6 8. Qd3
Should we always go for d4 when the masses of theory (mainline dragon, najdorf, scheveningen etc) is avoided?
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Hi David,
Playing with d4 in this scenario is a reasonable option for white, and is fully possible.
Acc Dragon: 5.Nb3
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Nb3
I faced this, in a slightly different move order(Nc3 before D4) in an OTB game yesterday, and I had to spend some time on how to continue. I was unable to find anything in the course, (After the game of course) so that's my question. What to do after 6.Nb3?
Replies
In the accelerated there are many sequences not covered. Most of the really critical ones are given some coverage in the course. However when the course was made I believe it wasn't intended to comprehensively cover all the options, and many were left out down to playing healthy chess because of the time given everything else to record.
The background is that originally ChessMood was aimed towards the stronger end of the spectrum, and they were to teach the najdorf. However I think they realised they'd bitten off far more than they could chew with the amount to cover and settled for the accelerated instead. Even then it still couldn't cover everything, particularly what lower rated players were getting who could not handle it comfortably themselves. I believe that's why the decision was to teach the French to the sub-2000 chess.coms and eventually there will be an advanced version which I suspect will the be the main option for a higher rated band.
There has been talk of an accelerated reboot (no idea what would be covered), but honestly with so many other priorities I don't see it appearing any time soon.
For comparison Plichta's Chessable course covers virtually everything but the course video is 50 hours, though including a maroczy subline and some smaller Sicilian sidelines than offered here! (You can get by without it as he appears just to cover what is written). Learning all that... Good luck, though a great reference and complementary to what is here.
To answer the specific question, Bg7 first avoids Bg5 troubles leaving Bxc3 an option and after Nb3, d6 possibly with the option of Be6 and/or Nf6 going into a dragon line which at least at the higher levels is harmless.
Hi Armandas,
The comfortable system in my opinion is 6…Nf6 7.Be2 0-0 8.0-0 d6 and play this Dragon style position where the Knight on b3 is not really active.
In future Black can use the c file for the rook.
Good luck!
Just learned to do annihilations! Thanks Avetik!
My first one! Watch me take out my opponent's bishop
https://lichess.org/HAFdpTJI
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Guess the next guest
Guess who is our guest in the upcoming episode?
Two hints:
1) He ranks in the top 50 in the world
2) His opening play is capped at a maximum level of 2,000 😅
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Somebody who plays for Romania?!
Gabriel Sargissian ?
Thanksgiving Membership Link
The link is provided below
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https://chessmood.com/gifts/6560f613f198c
gifts
😀
Hi i truly appreciate anything of worth given to me when i don't deserve one. your website for some reason is resistant to me claiming a gift. its ok i will still come here something in your setup is not friendly to me at least as i can not seem to do what a 1 year old could. a belabored point but that's all carry on.
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Some of the people I gave a gift had problem till they confirmed their email , check your inbox just in case … hope it will solve your problem too .
Dear Achbiter,
😀If you have some problem with your account, please contact us at support filling up the following questionaire, we'll do our best to help😀>
https://chessmood.com/contact
Opening Question
Hi everyone, I have been facing a problem in the accelerated dragon, here is the pgn: https://lichess.org/study/MJTQlSTw/CsyiFgnP
[Event "Karpov_ChessMood's Study: Chapter 1"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/study/MJTQlSTw/CsyiFgnP"]
[Result "*"]
[UTCDate "2023.11.27"]
[UTCTime "15:14:15"]
[Variant "Standard"]
[ECO "B34"]
[Opening "Sicilian Defense: Accelerated Dragon, Modern Variation"]
[Annotator "https://lichess.org/@/Karpov_ChessMood"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 g6 5. Nc3 Bg7 6. Be3 Nf6 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2!? { f3 was covered in the course but Qd2 was not.
many opponents play this against me, opponent is playing type of yugoslav attack. } { [%cal Ge1c1] } *
Hope you can help!
Thanks!
Replies
d5 next - now depends if o-o-o or something else.
Probably some examples in the streams.
It is here:
French schlecter 'trap'
An interesting trap I fell into, quite likely played for.
After 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Bd3 dxe4 4. Bxe4 Nf6 5. Bf3 c6?! 6. Ne2 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. Nd2 Qc7 9. g3 (there are engine lines of letting h2 go which I don't understand the compensation) Nbd7 - now Nc4 is tempting, but Bg2 is the best here. After 10. Nc4 e5, now Bg2 is still possible, but after 11. Nxd6 Qxd6 12. dxe5 (could still play Bg2) Qxd1 13. Rxd1 Nxe5 14. Bg2 - life starts to get hard with Bg4! (which I saw but too late). 15. Bf1?! (the trap) was wrong where 15. Re1 offers a drawish looking positions and 15. Kd1 Nf3 16. h3 Nxf3+ is perpetual.
Replies
You mean 5.Bf3, right!?
How many daily puzzle
Hello,
I appreciate daily chessmood puzzle. They are always esthetic and challenging. I never miss a daily puzzle. Sometimes, it seems to me that i have already seen a puzzle. Does someone know how many puzzle there are in the database? Is there a cycle, or puzzle compositors have no limit?
Replies
I think that it cycles after you complete a certain number of puzzles.
However, I'm unsure about this.
I've been here since February, and have seen a couple of repeats. I have a really good memory for puzzles, but it's only been 3ish that I remember.
GM Gabuzyan vs PRO members game
Champions here is the game PGN from Nov25th event, where I was playing against combined ChessMood team.
https://share.chessbase.com/SharedGames/share/?p=xpRxga1ACx/TIya0qyhkh6pB/yv9aMpCDnC+nfIu8UpVTVF/MYkvt55ufL8Q+DP6
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Gift chessmood
I have got a gift what is that for
Replies
If you don’t have an active plan yet , you will get access to all the video content of ChessMood for a month .
New podcast with IM Eric Rosen and an article based on it
Champions,
The episode with IM Eric Rosen is out on the 🎙️ChessMood podcast🤩
He shares some of the most important lessons from his journey in chess, content creation and beyond, including:
- How he overcame a 4-year long plateau to become an IM.
- A lesson that took him years to learn on dealing with failures.
- What it was like to train chess at the famous Webster University.
- His 3 keys to succeeding in chess, streaming & more.
You can watch the full podcast through the link below.
We have crafted a short article too, in case you prefer to read.
Enjoy❤️
Link to the article⬇️
https://chessmood.com/blog/eric-rosen
Full podcast episode (also available on Spotify & Apple Podcasts)⬇️
https://youtu.be/GfBY_VZBGhk
What are the lessons you learned from IM Eric Rosen?
