Beginner Blunder Avoidance.

Hi,

I'm new to Chess.com and new to Chess study. I've known the mechanics since I was a kid, but now I have time to take Chess more seriously (I mean have more time to be able to study the game and improve to a level I'm happy with).

As a beginner, I know that most games are lost because of moving pieces too quickly, not watching for threats and blundering. Impatience and spying what you think is a juicy target is one of my many failings LOL.

If anyone has advice on material to study that will give me a better idea of how to avoid these beginner impulses I would be very grateful.

I'm a brit expat living in the DR and as far as I can tell there are no chess clubs here so I am pretty much relegated to internet and computer chess. Are there any online chess clubs that I could join. Are there any online club tournaments etc.

I would obviously love to have a teacher/mentor but a military pension doesn't stretch far enough, which is a shame.

All and any advice is welcome :)

In my opinion threads such as this are far harder to reply to when the OP has played no games. It's nice to be able to gauge how strong the OP is before replying. Maybe even glance over a couple of their games. Anyway, it sounds like you have an idea of what you want to fix, I'm not sure how much any reading material can help you beyond that. Play some games, practise makes perfect.

Thank you, I'll start playing more on Chess.com rather than against Fritz or Shredder etc, to allow me to build up some games for better players to look over.

I have have 3 main areas that I want to work on.

1. Impatience - Plus reacting immediately to a piece being taken without looking at the whole board.

2. Blundering - Again related to above - I become too focused on one thing and miss my opponents threats.

3. Creating a plan in the middle game. Once the opening is complete (if I haven't trashed my position) I find it hard to develop a concrete plan to move forward and head to the middle game.

Hi Cadaha:

There are of course online chess tournaments and groups here at chess.com.

As far as blunders.  I am a lower ranked player and make too many blunders.  The last month I have found something that seems helpful to me to cut down (not eliminate) my blunders.

In stead of playing "live" chess, I've been playing "online" (turn based) chess here at chess.com.  I have played about 100 games in the last month or so.  To help me avoid blunders, I decide what move I want to make then I click on the little "analyze" link that brings up a new window. Then I can make my potential move AND then try out different potential moves of the person I'm playing against. Often by moving the pieces around I'm able to spot blunders that I would have missed during a live/normal game. 

Once I start playing live games again in a couple of weeks I plan on playing longer time controls and thinking through responses. Before I sometimes playied longer time controls (for me that means 10 or 15 minute games) but often only used maybe 5 mintutes out of my alotted time. I plan on trying to use time better to look at counter attacks instead of moving too quickly.

Thank you, good advice :)

I find that I rush headlong into trouble and when I play 15 min games I am nowhere need my allotted time, which obviously means I do not consider all options and threats.

I've watch quite a few Chess.com videos and these IM's can talk/instruct about a position without losing on time. This points out in a big way that I am not making the most of my time. Like I said, one of my main failings is reacting immediately to a piece being taken which leads me into a lot of traps and ultimately I get slaughtered LOL.

1. Look at captures and checks (forcing moves) first, but look at the rest too, maybe your opponent's threat or capture weakened something in his position that you can exploit rather than just reacting.

2. If you make a point of thinking about everything a move changed in the position you should be fine here with some practise. Both your moves, and your opponent's moves. Note everything that the move changed, both for better and for worse. Remember it until it changes again, that way you should always know what's going on everywhere.

3. If there is no obvious plan, improve the position of your worst piece. Or along the same lines, make a strong piece of your opponent's less active. Or, try to trade off a bad piece of yours for a good piece of your opponent.

you shouldn't neglect the endgame.

as better players will tell you, nothing helps you understand how to execute a plan, learn the nuances of the peices, and play both positionally and Tactically like the endgame.

besides... endgames can help you

• draw when you are losing
• win without having to play a risky "combination"
• give you confidence when the game drags on, and peices are exchanged

Besides, if you'r new to this, winning when you a Queen (and nothing else) or a Rook (and nothing else)- is a required skill.  and both require a technique that is trickier than it might first appear.

Always ask yourself:  What is my opponent’s threat?

What is my opponent's next move? (This helps to avoid blunders)

When it is your turn to move.  Ask yourself "What would my opponent do if it was his move?"

+1

If you want, I'll set up a couple of unrated 14 days per move (I'll move regularly whenever I'm online, but you can move however slowly you wish to) correspondence games between us. I'll point out anything I think will help you along the way. Entirely up to you.

Thanks for all your replies, they really make sense and will help me improve. I am always open to for online or correspondence games. I don't mind losing to better players if I can find out where I went wrong and then avoid that mistake again. I am one of those people who love to learn, so this will be a fun journey for me :)

you play unrated games really dont count

Of course unrated games count.

the point of chess is not the rating. it is the learning.

no game is wasted, espacially if it is carefully examined afterwards....

When  you are seated to play a game:   SIT ON YOUR HANDS

Do not removeyour hand to make a move until you examined your  written list of:  Things to do before making a move

The first item on the list:  What is my  opponent's threat?

First of all, stop thinking "once the opening is complete"! After ur first 2-4 moves, u ll be out of ur opening prep. So the first mistake is believing that u know the openings nd how they work. The first things to learn are the basic endgames. Along with that, u need to learn how to identify weaknesses in a position, for both u nd ur opponent. It could be in terms of an impending attack, weak pawn structure, a hanging piece or a winning tactic. u should buy a couple of books that can help u with these things. There r some books that r really good in this regard. After u hv a sense of basic endgames nd positions, u ll know in the back of ur head, if this position is winning, losing or abt equal. Next thing u need to know, is that every move changes the position on the board. U need to identify those changes nd try to use them or atleast keep them in mind. So, even though ur opponents' first 2-4 moves ll be random, after that, they ll always hv a thought or an idea attached with them. When he makes a move, try to understand what he is fishing for! U also must be fishing for something. In search for somethings, he ll always leave behind some things that u can work upon. if u can read him, u can even see potential weaknesses nd pitfalls! nd ur winning probability takes a boost!! Final advice, never miss out on the free tactics provided on the site or app, nd don't stop playing those 15 min, live games. in a 15/10 live game, there is more than enough time for us to play a good enough game. m not saying don't play online turn based ones, which r very good for opening prep nd analysis. but ultimately ur live game playing strength is the thing that counts. if u try to incorporate these little points, I m sure u ll encounter a healthy rise in ur ratings nd playing strength.

Thank you for all your advice, I really appreciate it. I'll be looking to play more online now and will try and incorportate the advice you have given. Hopefully I'll meet you over the board one day and I'll learn more.

Thank you :)

Play games with long enough time controls that you can practice good habits... like checking if a move is safe.

It's been said a lot, but if you're new it's worth saying again. You have to try to falsify your candidate move by looking for the forcing replies your opponent may play. "Checks, captures, and threats"

Also possibly useful is to note that all moves immediately do 2 things:
1) attack new squares (including newly attacked squares due to uncovered pieces)
2) un-defend formerly attacked squares.

Check the newly attacked squares for a few immediate threats.
Check the newly undefended squares for new vulnerabilities that you can exploit with your own checks, captures, and threats.

Thank you. I have just played my first game online. Can I download the file to analyse it with Fritz?

Yes, Cadaha, you can easily download it.  In your list of games click view, then when it comes up one of your options will be "download pgn."

Great, thanks. I'd like to make some notes on why I made certain decisions, and when I get better I'll probably understand that my first instinct (which I went against) might have been the better move. There is one move that I made where I'm not sure it was the best i.e., forked king and rook but didn't take the rook when I had the opprotunity as I wanted to keep the king tied down. I'm not sure if that was the best move as other pieces were onvolved in the attack.