Yes. Do not play blitz, go for longer time control. Before each move look for all takes, checks and threats. Learn tactics, not go for solving handful a day, learn them one by one. If you missing mates in one you might want to work on vision and do drills (in Learn section of this site).
Yes, there exist many clues that a mate might exist. In fact, that is a very important skill to develop: the sense of when to start looking for a possible mating combination. Some of the signs are:
compromised pawn structure in front of the king
more pieces attacking than defending
more powerful pieces attacking than defending
all escape squares for the king blocked or covered
king in the corner
uncoordinated pieces for defense, especially rooks
defending pieces on the back rank, especially if not rooks, especially knights and queens
open lines near the king
ability to quicky open lines near the king
pinned units near the king
the opponent has been on the defensive with a declining position for many moves
the opponent has lost tempi, especially if 2-3 tempi
pieces that can quickly swing in to join the attack, especially rooks
pieces outposted near the opponent's king
the types and positions of the attacking pieces are those that can deliver a mate, especially combinations of minor pieces like rook + bishop, or rook + knight
attributes of the defending side's position that closely resemble well-known mate types such as a back rank mate, blind swine mate, Opera Mate, smothered mate
presence of forcing moves, especially checks and captures
opponent highly cramped
presence of certain dangerous positions for your pawn and/or piece positions, such as your goat peg pawn at KN6 in front of the opponent's king, your pawn at KR6 in front of the opponent's king with your queen that can potentially get to KN7, or doubled f-pawns in front of the opponent's king
coordinated attacking pieces, such a raking bishops, queen-rook battery, two rooks on the 7th rank, or queen-bishop battery
hi every one i think you should play one day or longer games so you can find all possible good moves.
solve tactics in way that you solve them in one move not testing all possible moves
But how would I practice these?
Why don't you post a position or puzzle here where you had a hard time spotting the mate (or win)? My guess is that 85-90% of such opening or middlegame positions have at least one of the clues that I listed (usually several), and a list of which clues exist often suggests the proper continuation. You're asking for a more detailed way to find tactical wins, and although such methods exist (one common suggestion is to try swapping the order of moves that didn't quite work, for example), the more detail you want, the larger the description required, which is not practical for people to supply, even if they could.
Good idea!
That mate is a variation of Fool's Mate, and is one of the first mates that most chessplayers learn because it is is the fastest mate possible in chess (1. f3 e5 2. g4 Qh4#). The second fastest mate is Scholar's Mate, so you should learn that one, too. (1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Qh5 e6 4. Qxf7#)
I know both, but I seem to miss them.
Then you might need to recognize similarities between positions.
By the way, even though your example is a lot earlier in the game than I expected, here are the conditions I mentioned above that apply to that position:
+compromised pawn structure in front of the king [moved f-pawn]
+all escape squares for the king blocked or covered
+uncoordinated pieces for defense, especially rooks [all Black pieces are undeveloped]
+defending pieces on the back rank, especially if not rooks, especially knights and queens [*all* of Black's pieces are on the back rank!]
+open lines near the king [e1-h4 diagonal]
+pieces that can quickly swing in to join the attack, especially rooks [Black's queen]
+attributes of the defending side's position that closely resemble well-known mate types such as a back rank mate, blind swine mate, Opera Mate, smothered mate [Fool's Mate]
+presence of forcing moves, especially checks and captures [check]
Is there some strategy that I could use to notice these Mate in 1's?
When it's your move look for all checks you can play. No matter how stupid a check looks, you should imagine it as if it's been played and then see what it forces the opponent to do. A check that isn't useful now, may lead to a useful tactical idea later (or mate). By seeing the kind of move your check will force from your opponent, you can start to get ideas.
Doing puzzles helps build the habit of calculating forcing moves, no matter how crazy the move might seem at first, and also helps you quickly recognize typical patterns.
I know both, but I seem to miss them.
Other than forcing moves, after your opponent moves, ask yourself something like "why is that more terrible?" In other words, look at what squares it leaves undefended, what squares it opens up, things like that.
Strong players habitually do this every move to the point it's not even conscious, it's an automatic reaction.
When it's your move look for all checks you can play. No matter how stupid a check looks, you should imagine it as if it's been played and then see what it forces the opponent to do. A check that isn't useful now, may lead to a useful tactical idea later (or mate). By seeing the king of move your check will force from your opponent, you can start to ideas.
I agree: That's a good method, too.
That method is a forward search technique ("If I try this, then what might I be able to make happen?") whereas my list is more of a backward search technique ("If I want this to happen, which moves might cause that?").
The other advice is good, I just wanted to add to it
No problem. In fact, this is getting into A.I. waters, since both forward and backward search methods are used in A.I. (http://artint.info/html/ArtInt_64.html), both can be combined in many ways, and the big question is which algorithm, if any, is used by human brains, since nobody knows for sure. It's pretty clear our brain switches between different methods, probably with pattern recognition gluing the two methods together, since if a promising move is found then the search will automatically narrow as it focuses on that move and related moves, along with the most promising search technique for that set of moves.
When I analyze my games, the computer notices many possible checkmates that I missed. Is there some strategy that I could use to notice these Mate in 1's?