One of the first hurdles in Chess ... how to avoid "blunders"?

When I first started playing Chess, one of the most frustrating things was, especially if I was doing well, was doing one of "those moves" ... that sometimes almost seconds later I would suddenly realize left some piece completely unprotected or in other ways had overlooked something quite critical and actually rather simple.

I even remember more than one time where the other player would basically just quickly glance at the board and capture one of my pieces and almost say "Thank you for the freebie"! haha  

Ah, well, I would love to say there's some easy way to avoid making such obvious mistakes, but I can't ... even Grandmasters make mistakes, but they aren't as simple to see and could take a few moves to reveal the possibly "obvious flaw" to a move.

In a sense, unless Chess has been "solved", it might even be that clicking a "Join Game" button could be considered a mistake, but as a word of hope from my experiences, yes, I still make those blunders sometimes, and somehow it seems like giving more and more thought and consideration to a move might sometimes even make things too complex and confusing and I might even forget something obvious I saw at the beginning when I was looking at the board positions.

So, I guess if there was a word of wisdom I might give to newer players   .... overall, Chess is about having fun, and even the Grandmasters make mistakes / 'blunders' in their own ways.

Something that has been nice to see over time is that my "blunders" now are generally more complex and not so obvious ... and so at least if I were to go back and replay some of those old games, it's much more likely I wouldn't have just left that Queen hanging out on her own in the middle of the board for a pawn to take haha!! =) *facepalm* 🤪 Doh!!!!

Again, I would like to be able to say that going back and rechecking for possible "obvious blunders" to making a move could be a good 'rule of thumb', but if you already have 20+ "rules of thumb", then adding another one may not help, and might even add to the confusion  

If there was a Rule #1 to Chess, I would say it was "Just play and have fun"

*hugs* and best wishes.  Hasta

Hiya, VoxVim. Thanks for the reply and no, I haven't tried ChessMood, but thank you for the recommendation ... must admit "extra spice" sounds like fun Thanks Man/Ma'am.

Yeah, those *facepalm* moments in Chess 🤪 ... quite "memorable" LOL, and yes, I am rather certain they happen to even the best players, even if it isn't very obvious to many at the moment.

Best wishes, and thanks again for the reply and ChessMood recommendation 👍

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and positive outlook on the beautiful game of chess.

I am happy that you appreciated the thoughts / experiences as well ... my guess is that even if someone has "Solved Chess" and that there was no longer any mystery or places to explore in the game .... I would probably not even understand "the solution"

Chess remains a beautiful game that I do not fully comprehend and maybe even 300+ years from now, I STILL probably wouldn't ...

And heck, if worse came to worse, we could always invent Chess 2.0 =) hahah ....

have fun, man or ma'am Best wishes and thank you, Chess or not.

Stockfish and grandmasters like e4 the most.

Enjoying chess is the first rule at any ability level. I learnt how to play chess when I was about 8 but after school I've hardly played it since joining here and the more I play and learn about the game the more I understand how it can be beautiful and appreciate why avid fans get exited about certain games. Blunders being part of the game is what makes it so exiting. A mental checklist can help avoid blunders and since I started looking at every enemy pawn to see if their next move could lead to a fork or discovered attack I've prevented a lot of lost material. After the enemy pawns look at the other pieces that remain in order paying attention to pairs and locations. Both enemy bishops close to each other, both enemy knights near my king and unprotected squares. position of enemy rooks in relation to enemy queen etc. If that hasn't already dictated my candidate moves it means I might be in a position to push forward so I look at my options by repeating the process. I look at each of my pawns followed by the remaining material I have to see if I can improve my position. I don't think it's wise to use a checklist as a long term aid but it can be useful as a way to channel your thoughts and hopefully lead to more efficient thinking time.

I've noticed a pattern recently where I blunder more frequently when I'm tired or not giving the board 100% focus and it takes stamina and brain power to concentrate enough to cover every angle before each and every move. My opponent blunders early on in a daily game so I think it should be an easy win only for me to blunder later on to even it out. I like daily games because they can last for several weeks which is a test of consistency. Applying your own 'read-only' mode can help reduce blunders. Only make moves during set play times and at all other times such as when waiting at a train station, car park etc you can look at games but not make any moves. You can make moves if it's still the opening and the move is obvious but as the game progresses every single move needs close scrutiny that you can't do with distractions around you like loud train announcements.

I am just writing this for the first comment award....

Congrats! You are a winner, Sir!!! *the crowd applauds as the award is handed to CraigK135*

Excellent job and we wish you the best for next year too, Sir! 🏆

haha ... thanks Enjoy your week