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Chess Blunders Prevention: Stop Losing Pieces

Key Idea

Chess Blunders are significant errors that the player would typically avoid under normal circumstances

Key Idea

We need a method to direct our focus to crucial aspects of the game on every move.

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Chess Blunders Prevention: Stop Losing Pieces

You’ve been playing a fantastic game, staying focused for hours, and it looks like victory is within your grasp. But then, in a fleeting moment, you make an impulsive move and lose a piece. All your hard work feels wasted, and frustration sets in. How can you stop making such chess blunders? 

The answer lies in a simple blunder check, which I’ll explain in this article. But first, let’s delve into why blunders occur.

Understanding Blunders

I disagree with Chess.com’s definition of a blunder:

“In chess, a blunder happens when a player makes a move that negatively affects their position in a significant way. In many cases, a blunder can cause a player to lose material or be checkmated, but it can also lead to a strategically lost position.”

This description, in my opinion, fits the term “big mistake” rather than a “blunder.” Big mistakes can occur to anyone and can be minimized through improvement. Blunders are a distinct category of big mistakes.

Blunders are significant errors that the player would typically avoid under normal circumstances.

This makes them particularly painful, as players often recognize their blunders immediately and wonder how they missed such an obvious move. This also means that blunders are highly subjective. A beginner might not be expected to see a checkmate in five moves, but a grandmaster certainly should. Thus, a grandmaster missing a mate in five would be considered a blunder.

My definition of a blunder is:

“A blunder in chess is a significant mistake that this specific player would not normally make.”

Causes of Blunders

To grasp why my blunder check is effective, we must first understand why blunders occur.

There are countless reasons for big mistakes, from a lack of knowledge about castling to miscalculations and poor positional understanding. However, the reasons for blunders are fewer. Since blunders are moves that wouldn’t be made under normal conditions, we need to focus on why our brain fails us at these crucial moments.

Blunders occur due to a lack of focus on the right elements of the game. Distraction or laziness in calculation often leads to blunders. Sometimes, our hands move before our brain fully processes the move, resulting in losing a key piece. 

Other times, we might be fully concentrated but not on the right aspects. We may be so absorbed in our plans that we forget our opponent has ideas and threats too. We might calculate only our attacking possibilities and overlook an opponent’s simple threat.

For instance, in a game from 2013, my opponent played Nf3-g5. I responded with Qc8-c6, only to realize too late that my opponent could checkmate me with Qc2xh7#.

I recommend some of our chess courses for this type of training:
1000 Tactics for Beginners to Intermediate
Master the Art of Position Evaluation

Preventing Blunders

Identifying the problem leads us to the solution. We need a method to direct our focus to crucial aspects of the game on every move.

Since most blunders are easy to spot if you concentrate on the right things, a brief check can save countless points.

The Chess Blunder Check

A sports psychologist suggested a simple solution: create a habit that helps you spot potential blunders before making a move. In over-the-board (OTB) chess, this can be done by writing down your opponent’s time before executing your move. While writing, ask yourself, “What happens if I play (my move)?”

Here’s how you can use this chess blunder check to avoid blunders:

  1. Write down your opponent’s move after they make it.
  2. Think about your next move.
  3. Mentally decide on a move without executing it.
  4. Write down your opponent’s time and think, “What happens if I play (my move)?”
  5. If nothing is obviously wrong, play your move. Otherwise, reassess your decision.

Play Fair

This blunder check is effective because writing down your move before making it is not allowed under FIDE rules. You can note the times and moves only after they happen. So, use the allowed method and stay within the rules.

Using the Blunder Check in All Games

This blunder check can also be adapted for online and Rapid+Blitz games. The key is to develop a habit of briefly focusing on potential blunders before making a move. In online games, you can click on the destination square first and think, “What happens if I move there?” before making the move. In quicker OTB games, sitting on your hands before moving can give you a moment to check for blunders.

Summary

Blunders are significant mistakes that wouldn’t happen under normal conditions. The key to avoiding them is to focus on the right aspects of the game before making a move. This can be achieved by introducing a blunder check habit, such as writing down your opponent’s time after deciding on a move but before executing it. Find a method that works for different time controls and online games. Over time, this habit will save you many points and a lot of frustration.

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