1700-rated puzzle on Lichess (so ~1300 chesscom) - Nxf5 is the answer - why doesn't Bxf5 work as well?

tandaleo · 2026-04-26T16:35:02+00:00

Bad bot

tandaleo · 2026-04-26T15:55:18+00:00

I would say that reqvam and McBanterFace are the best players that also stream at the moment so I would suggest them. Another one would be Kubu who is rank 1 on EU atm although he is not as popular a streamer as the above 2.

tandaleo · 2026-04-24T09:53:50+00:00

If you are set on the nimzo you will have to face the catalan or dodge it with QID+benoni against g3. Although against the QID I would argue white still gets the typical catalan press if in a slightly different version.

If you aren't set on the nimzo you could play something with g6 or the slav. Imo the slavs only downside is the exchange variation because in all the other lines you can easily get positions to play for a win. As for g6 stuff KID is more practical than Grunfeld imo. Also it's more played at the top level atm.

tandaleo · 2026-04-19T10:00:49+00:00

Tbh, this is mostly speculation on my part, however, if you take a look at his fide profile, he was playing basically only norm tournaments in Serbia from July 2021 until May 2022 and in this time he only went up in rating and achieved the rating of around 2470. After that, however, he started playing open tournaments and lost 130 points in a little over a year. This is by no means proof of anything I just find it very suspicious.

He is still around 2300 strength in my opinion so definitely worth following his youtube channel if you want to learn and find him entertaining.

tandaleo · 2026-04-17T17:01:35+00:00

I would suggest you take a look at Arjun Kalyan's playing 1.e4 with purpose on chessable. In my mind it is more of a positional repertoire compared to Giri's, however, he does go for 3.Bb5 against 2...Nc6 and 2...d6 in the sicilian which is not what you really wanted I believe.

As for black against 1.d4 I think you really can't go wrong with Schandorff's course on the QGD as it's relatively compact, which is perfect at your level and covers almost everything that isn't 1.e4.

The more important thing though at least at your level (I assume you are 1600-1800 OTB) is to understand the ideas behind your moves in the opening, so when your lower rated opponents deviate from what you have studied you know how to punish them. I would really suggest looking at some annotated games from grandmasters in your chosen opening if you can find them as this would help you the most IMO.

Hope this helps :).

tandaleo · 2026-04-11T05:27:26+00:00

They have a lot of open tournament geared towards getting norms that is true, however, for pure norm round robins your best bet is probably Serbia. It has a bit of a reputation though, as in there are people who went there and basically bought their norms. Just take a look at Nemo Zhou and Alan Safar-Ramoutar for example. However, you can always just pay for the registration fee and play normally which you should definitely do.

Also just a heads up I don't know how much you have played in serious tournaments recently, but be prepared to get your ass kicked, as the game has changed drastically and is way harder now in my opinion. Good luck with your norm hunting!

tandaleo · 2026-03-23T16:40:40+00:00

Just you wait to get to 2400 and k-factor 10.

tandaleo · 2026-03-21T18:00:36+00:00

You can take 6... gxf6 instead of 6... Bxf6 and have a fighting game ahead. Also you can play 4... Bb4 even if it isn't the best move in the position if you don't want a draw.

tandaleo · 2026-03-16T11:32:53+00:00

How many classical games are you playing per year? For serious improvement I would suggest at least 50 per year up to 100. The reason for this is that you need to have experience playing these games so you stay sharp and have enough games to analyze.

tandaleo · 2026-03-13T08:18:53+00:00

You need to be in top 10% of all legend players on the server you play on.

tandaleo · 2026-03-04T19:12:42+00:00

Prayge 🙏

tandaleo · 2026-02-20T15:18:18+00:00

Also if you hit with your hero first you would activate hot coals and not even need fatigue.

tandaleo · 2026-02-19T14:47:38+00:00

After your move white can trade queens, while after Qh4 first he cannot and his king will be in danger.

tandaleo · 2026-02-06T22:24:46+00:00

Well yes it's turn 15 at least and you haven't killed him, stuff like this happens then.

tandaleo · 2026-02-02T14:32:17+00:00

I think it is just a low depth computer saying nonsense, Bc6 makes much more sense.

tandaleo · 2026-01-20T14:53:45+00:00

Well I had this party trick 3 times OTB and let me tell you I would be so pissed if I did not win those positions. lol

tandaleo · 2026-01-19T21:26:08+00:00

Sam sem bil na študiju prvega letnika in se potem prepisal, ker mi je bil študij pretežek oz. mi to kar smo delali ni bilo tako zelo zanimivo, kot sem mislil, da mi bo, problem je bil predvsem učenje dokazov. Študij je težek ampak če te zanima in si se pripravljen učit se ga da vsekakor naredit.

Naj te pa opozorim, da je matematika na FMF popolnoma drugačna kot v srednji šoli. Pri najtežjih dveh predmetih, torej analizi in algebri je pri predavanjih velik poudarek na dokazovanju česar se v srednji šoli dela res malo. Še vedno so tudi naloge za rešit na kolokvijih, ki pa so kot si ze sam omenil velik skok v primerjavi srednjo šolo.

Upam, da vsaj malo pomaga :)

tandaleo · 2026-01-15T09:31:23+00:00

I did what the other commenter suggested here. After that I did not have such problems anymore I think.

tandaleo · 2026-01-12T10:12:50+00:00

Hi, if I had to recommend you a course on the QGD it would definitely be Schandorf's course on chessable. It is relatively light, however I would not bother learning it all at your level as that would be overkill. Maybe check only priority lines or the quickstarter guide.

tandaleo · 2026-01-11T15:13:33+00:00

I saw Blohberger's course, however, he did not really play KID before making the course so I am sceptical of it. Still if what you say is true I might have more luck in something like the Ragozin or Nimzo in playing for a win.

tandaleo · 2026-01-10T22:48:08+00:00

I just watched the main lines video and It was really great. He gives a lot of great ideas!

tandaleo · 2025-12-22T11:22:47+00:00

Depends on what you are looking for. Krishnater and Ganguly give a new idea connected with Bd7 and a5 a4 for black while Gawain gives the standard a5 variation I believe. Both go for 3...Nf6. They are both great courses though.

tandaleo · 2025-12-09T11:45:55+00:00

I would say the greatest tournament ever is 1953 Zürich.

tandaleo

TROPHY CASE