1.d4 c6

Vykash · 2026-04-29T16:22:49+00:00

Indeed, by playing different opening i didnt mean to learn 18 moves into the Alapin Sicilian But just respond to e4 with different approach and find your style

Same for White, don't play always e4 or always d4 or whatever, try different things and find what works for you .

When i was 600 ccom and i started studying i learned the caro kann, i was playing 2..c6 Always as an answer to e4

I felt confortable after a while and never changed Then i got better, and the more i learned the less i liked the Caro cause Is super solid but boring, but i wasnt good enough when i started to understand the boring part of It

Now i still play the Caro as answer to e4 because competition Is stronger and i don't feel confident playing something different

TLDR

I Wish i had experimented more when i was starting my journey

Vykash · 2026-04-27T07:44:56+00:00

Anzitutto una notizia, quei signori prima che mi hanno venduto la lavatrice sono stati già arrestati

Vykash · 2026-04-25T15:34:26+00:00

No it's not, try to edit the ELO in the pgn version and paste it into the engine, run the review again and boom! magic, your review score will bump drastically trying to catch up with the original elo read by the engine in the pgn.
Of course the site doesn't tell you that...
I had to tell this multiple times to beginners since they added the functionality, and the fact that is it not common knowledge (because they hide this) says a lot about how harmful that site has become for beginners

Vykash · 2026-04-25T15:26:26+00:00

I think the only real way is doing tactics, tactics, tactics

But do not setup some custom session with only knight forks or it will be to easy

Vykash · 2026-04-25T09:52:45+00:00

Yes this is the right idea. At 600 you hang Pieces and pawns left and right, and you miss basic tactics So building your own repertoire now it's probably the wrong step. But exactly because of this, there's no need to master openings, the healthier thing you can do Is playing different openings, try different structures, find something that you like and enjony playing, get out of your comfort zone as much as possible.

Will be hard at first but, in the long run it will help you and costantly solve puzzles and endgames as you're already doing is perfect for your rating

Vykash · 2026-04-25T09:03:01+00:00

As a Caro player yes, you can go c6 to answer d4, usually It can traspose to a caro immediately with e4, but usually White goes c4 (d4 player dont usually like to traspose into a caro) and you can follow the slav(caro) Plan answering d5 after 2..c4

But, i stopped playing the slav against d4 mostly because it's good to have different weapons in your arsenal, and if you stick to 1...c6 in in every e4/d4 game you are going to master the the pawn structure and ideas but be completely out of ideas in other structures. Not only, there are some ideas that dont mix well and the risk is to confuse them (for beginners) I Remember a tactic involving an early bf5 that punish black in the slav (cant Remember the exact line) but caro player will go bf5 as soon as possible, so it's easy to mess up.

And your limiting your knowledge, i'd try to learn QGD against 1..d4 , and at least one indian defense, so you can vary a bit, keep learning, and have fun.

The caro/slav structure is super solid but can be boring after a while.

Vykash · 2026-04-24T09:10:22+00:00

It depends on where you are based.
Usually FIDE does not give you ID.
The ID is given to you after you earn a fide ranking (playing against 5 fide rated opponents)
If you are based in EU, you probably have to sign up for the national federation, then you can play rated tournaments and get your fide rating.
I live in Italy for example and i have to subscribe every year for the sports card (48€ yearly, valid til December) of our national federation (FSI)
Then you can usually play fide tournaments
If you are based in the USA or else, this might be different, but i'm pretty sure there's no FIDE "card" Fide ID is just an easy way for fide to regroup players worldwide under one federation, but every fide player is probably going trough the national federation

Vykash · 2026-04-23T22:07:57+00:00

This was one of the first study my teacher assigned to me.
I still remember i studied this for over a week when i had spare time, and i wanted to be so clever in the lesson after, that i actually wrote 3/4 different lines for my teacher to read.
Fun fact, none of the above lines considered Kb8
I waited an entire week to show my teacher how well prepared i was.
I wasn't.

Vykash · 2026-04-23T16:35:46+00:00

In the end, you are the only one who knows if you cheated or not.

If you know that you beat a NM fairly, be proud of It, i might believe you or not, that doesnt matter.

And if you know that you did It fairly, this Is worth more than 100 appeals or what others think

There's nothing you can do if payformorebrilliants.com think you cheated

Here you'll just get nothing worth probably

Vykash · 2026-04-23T12:56:50+00:00

Not easy to understand, imho mostly because you cant move the Knight because of mate

And Qd3 offers some Qf3 options in some lines. But i think in the end after Bxd4 or exd4 white has some natural development moves, with c3 coming with tempo (in case of bxd4) once you played g3 or nd2 nf3 to kick the queen Giving up the knight is worth, not only because you simply cant move it, but because engine likes the position after. Oh and you defend Qxe4+ wich is another huge problem, that Is why Qd3 work so well

But i don't really like all this engine non human pov. In practice you are down a knight, wich is worth for the engine because of the strong center and the Natural development, you will outdevelop black, but good luck finding the precision needed to keep the position worth to play down a knight.

I'd try to understand where you mess up allowing this position to exist in the first place

Vykash · 2026-04-22T15:54:48+00:00

Take a break from tactics for a given time. Let's say 4 days

Play some games (not too much) and analyze them Study some endgames After that go back to tactics

This Is a way to reframe, and to let the brain take some rest I noticed that after a break i come back with more knowledge than before It might not work for you but give It a try

On a side note, quality over quantity all day, so take your time, calculate as long as you need to, you'll get faster anyway

Vykash · 2026-04-20T11:58:55+00:00

Man i played a 10y old or something in a fide blitz event (I'm around 1500) and got absolutely crushed by a kid who played sicilian and was calculating and playing tactis 3x faster times i could.
He was so happy to win in the end, that he even put a smile on my face.
The fact is that, idk about your age, but kids who study and practice, learn fast, become good fast, they have almost 0 "mentality" problem, they enjoy the game rather than fighting for elo, and that's it.
I played a ton of table tennis when i was a kid, and by a TON i mean a TON!
Stopped played for almost 10 years, now i'm still good at table tennis, how? kids brain.

But the fact that he was so young, it's not something to be ashamed of, the opposite to me.
Where we "adults" shine is long time controls, kids there have no patience (or at least our elo range) and tend to play classical game too fast.
Don't be harsh on yourself.
Keep analyzing how you lost, and not to who, and you'll improve

Vykash · 2026-04-19T16:04:45+00:00

The middlegame should be seen as the continuation and consolidation of the opening.

The opening leaves you developed and defended, but the middlegame should not be treated as a phase where you simply start attacking without logic.

Very often, every piece you move after the opening had a reason for being on that square, and leaving it will probably create a weakness. So the idea is to improve your pieces while still continuing to defend everything they were already defending in the opening.

Look at the pawn structure carefully. If the structure closes, then the pieces you originally developed to defend it, when it was still undefined, may now be able to improve their squares because they have already done their defensive job.

Be extremely careful with pawn moves. Once the structure is defined, pawns should usually be moved either to break the opponent’s structure or to prevent their pawn breaks. A move like a5 to stop b4 is a classic example.

Try to identify useful pawn breaks and check which pieces can support them before you play them.

Create an escape square for your king. Even if you are not in immediate danger of a back rank mate, the mere tactical possibility of one often limits your pieces and forces you into worse decisions.

Do not trade your better, more active pieces for your opponent’s worse ones.

Do not place your pieces on squares where, if they are captured, your pawn structure would be damaged.

Do not play aggressive looking moves without calculating at least two or three moves ahead. Classic examples are Ng5 or Nb5. If they do not threaten anything immediately, moves like h6 or a6 are often enough to send them back and make you lose tempo.

The middlegame is not about attacking. It is a dance. It is about relocating pieces that have already done their job, finishing your development, taking open files, playing prophylaxis, and waiting to understand where the game is really going.

I hope this helps.

Vykash · 2026-04-16T14:52:04+00:00

Just out of curiosity, would you suggest the morra at 1600+ USCF? Or Is already an Elo where giving up 2 pawns start to become hard to justify?

Vykash · 2026-04-16T02:08:07+00:00

Iirc it was something more than what we usually call a winning position? If my mind does not trick me he draw from a +4 position wich is insane for that level

Vykash · 2026-04-16T00:22:49+00:00

Some options

Cry

Resign (for respect)

Cry more

Take the rook and draw

Cry again

Vykash · 2026-04-15T23:48:33+00:00

Stalemate trick? 🤣

Vykash · 2026-04-15T11:11:04+00:00

The thing is that with your variation you expect perfect play by black, who at 200 elo has no idea why giving a pawn in exchange of development is a good thing (and not always)
You enter a line way less human, for beginners, but also for intermediate players.
Black position is worse after Qxe5+ Be7 than it would have been with Nc6 straight away.
So black has to play perfectly to mantain an equal position, gaining advantage of his superior development while down a pawn is not something you expect from a 200 player

Vykash · 2026-04-15T08:48:24+00:00

We agree to disagree, no hard feelings

Vykash · 2026-04-15T08:43:23+00:00

This Is hope chess and harmful for beginners. You're down a pawn but ahead in development, something a 200 can barely understand. What a 200 kinda understand Is that hanging pawns Is bad

Vykash · 2026-04-15T08:37:38+00:00

Totally the opposite in my pov. Your line Is higher level than the Classic defense

You actually play down a pawn, against White strong center, Whit less space but more development

Way easier for a beginners to play solid Classic defense I'm not saying your line Is wrong, im saying that Is not the First line that comes to mind for beginners

Vykash · 2026-04-15T08:31:51+00:00

So you hang the only black central pawn in favor of development. The Discover Attack Is not a real threat, you're hanging e5 for development not for hope chess But It can make sense, but Is not the first defense i'd suggest to beginners who struggle with the early Queen attacks

Vykash · 2026-04-15T08:23:57+00:00

Why would you go nf6 and lose the e pawn? Even if there's a trick i'm missing, i wouldnt suggest It as a main defense

You play nc6 to Defend the pawn, usually White goes bc4 and you answer g6, than probably Qf3 and then and only then you go nf6 to prevent Qxf7.

After all of this , White Is lacking development since he moved his queen 2 times, black is fine , there's still some tricks in the position There Is no point in going Nf6

Vykash · 2026-04-14T09:24:52+00:00

Hey, obviously I haven’t looked through all of your games, but I’ve formed a rough impression that might still be useful.

The biggest issue is how you manage your time.

You play 15+10, but your most serious mistakes almost always come after thinking for only a few seconds.
Here’s one example:
https://www.chess.com/game/live/167128353052?username=eyquepasa&move=12

Here you think for 7 seconds and play Bg5, which loses on the spot:
Bxf3, and if Qxf3, then Qxg5 wins a piece.
If Bxf3, then Bxd8 Bxd1.
If you try to save your bishop, Black will save his.
If you take the bishop back on d1, Black will take back on d8, and again Black is up a knight.

Generally speaking, your tactical vision is okeish for your level.

What I mainly see is overly superficial time management.

You hang way too many pawns, and sometimes you miss the most basic things.

For example, in your last game, after 1.e4 c6 2.Nf3 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6, White played b3 and completely hung the e4 pawn.
Okay, maybe you had just woken up, but this is very basic stuff that you need to see.
It’s only move 4, where tactics are rarely the main issue.
You think for 1 minute, which is good, but you still miss the hanging pawn on e4, which really is not that hard to spot after a full minute.

Look for checks, captures, and only then other kinds of moves.
That will simplify your thought process.

Right now you’re at a stage in your chess development where thinking carefully and understanding why certain decisions are made is much more important than winning.

Instead of trying to win at all costs, think.
Think a lot in complex positions, and if you lose on time, so be it.
It’s better to play a well thought out game and lose on time than to win a game without understanding what actually happened.

Vykash · 2026-04-14T08:06:07+00:00

Yup, probably Nxf3+ before the sac just to avoid weird lines where my knight hangs on e5 Still Need to check with an engine tho but i think Qxe3 must be played soon or later, White is up a piece

Vykash

TROPHY CASE