No always be on the attack and on the offense ready to strike your opponent as hard as you can and from both sides of the Chess Board (never be predictable and attack him from a single direction he can see coming and fight you off) all your pieces have to develop rapidly and work together in a coordinated harmonious way with one goal in mind from the very start GET HIM don't give him one second of peace to relax.
Good luck!
Your defensive techniques should be exactly opposite of what you do when you attack.
Attack vs. Defense
Don't trade off pieces with initiative vs. Do exchange pieces to neutralize initiative.
Open the position to give pieces access vs. Close the position.
Simplify into winning positions vs. Avoid exchanges to complicate position.
Acquire a localized piece superiority in defenders weak area vs. Defender counter-attacking where the attacker has overly weakened his position.
Remember the Three Piece Attack Rule / two pieces needed for checkmate + one extra piece for clearing the critical defender. Attacks of two pieces are not likely to succeed without help.
Attackers sacrifice to clear the wood protecting a king vs. Defenders sacrifice to exchange off attackers threatening a king.
The list goes on and on. Just think about how you conduct your attacks. Consider your opponents threats. Plan your defense accordingly.
I think if you just played solid chess lines your pieces would automatically be some what defended.
I don't think you need to like curl up in a ball and just be super defensive. However, You could be fairly solid making sure your pieces get developed etc. I consider piece activity and king safety huge defensive measures.
I do that too, but my problem is that my moves are not at all accurate. I may see one line that leads to a mate in 3 or 4, but the problem is that it's not forced, or out of tempo, or inaccurate.
I had a great mate in 5 once... only to get mated in one after the 3rd check did not force anything, was only a setup move. Then I got bishop/queened...
Attacking is great, however, at out level they are far too inaccurate to be credible. When you see a chess great attack they are far, far more accurate. It's easy to see their attacking lines even as a low level, but hard to calculate why they are so strong of an attack since the amount of caluculation is far beyond our level.
Play 1) d4, it's taking over big time.
I do that too, but my problem is that my moves are not at all accurate. I may see one line that leads to a mate in 3 or 4, but the problem is that it's not forced, or out of tempo, or inaccurate.
I had a great mate in 5 once... only to get mated in one after the 3rd check did not force anything, was only a setup move. Then I got bishop/queened...
Attacking is great, however, at out level they are far too inaccurate to be credible. When you see a chess great attack they are far, far more accurate. It's easy to see their attacking lines even as a low level, but hard to calculate why they are so strong of an attack since the amount of caluculation is far beyond our level.
I think you should play solid lines. Lines which allow you to develop your pieces.
Have you tried playing through some games by Anatoly Karpov? He is one of the most solid players of all time. Studying his games might help you to see there are position improving moves to be made when it doesn't seem like there's anything else to do. Get your pieces to a better position. Avoid needless exchanges, etc. Put your rooks into position before making pawn break line opening moves, etc.
Today after my friends and I finished our final we went to play chess against our professor who was pretty good, but I ended up checkmating him despite I lost many pieces. My friends told me i need to focus more on defense and not so much the offense.
If you look at my previous games, you can see that I focus too much on playing offensively with my queen, and once it's taken i resign. I value it as much as my king.
How can I shift my focus on defending my pieces? any help is appreciated
There's a difference between 'attacking' and 'hope chess' - attacking is a coordinated effort between multiple pieces to get at an opponent's king whereas hope chess is playing moves with the idea that 'if my opponent doesn't see it, I win'.
In chess it's easier to talk in diagrams than specifics, so, diagram:
Black to move
In this position (a well known textbook position), white is *attacking* - all of the pieces are either on aggressive squares or ready to go there, and the king is ready to get to safety. Black's pieces are on the back row, being very sluggish about getting into the game. In these games, black often has to weather a brutal storm.
Black to move
This is hope chess - white is really hoping that they can move the knight to g5, pile up on the f7 pawn and get that wascally wabbit, but black can just kick the white pieces around all day with moves like knight to e5, and, even if black just puts the bishop on e7, castles, and plays a 'shy' game, the white position is going to end up being less good - because white is looking for a chink in the armor by banging on the breastplate.
What about losing pieces? Is it always wrong to drop material in order to attack? -- The answer is a definite NO. Gambits - pawn sacrifices - in particular are a reasonable method of creating the kind of 'fireworks' position attacking players feel happy in.
Believe it or not, this too is a known position, but I would *NEVER EVER* play it for either color, because I have no idea what's going on in that hurricane. White has sacrificed a pawn, black has tried to keep white from capturing one of their pawns in return - no one is giving an inch, everyone is ready to charge across no-man's land with fixed bayonets. Sacrificing pawns can create chaos, so, if that's what you want, don't be afraid to get a little dirty.
This is just silly - white is giving away a piece in the hope that black will lose their nerve and crash. I see a lot of beginners try this kind of thing, and it's not 'aggressive' it's 'stupid'. Learn the difference between a 'sacrifice' and a 'piece hang' - they aren't the same. Sacrifices gain you valuable time or create a totally forced checkmate, but make sure you've calculated THOROUGHLY before you give something away. If your opponent can squeeze out of it with relative ease, there's no point in throwing your own game out the window.
For spotting your opponent's threats, the best way is to pretend it's your opponent's turn - imagine you're sitting on their side of the board and ask what you would do. Pretend you can pass the move - do literally nothing - what will your opponent do to you? Can you allow that? If the answer is 'yes', then go forward with your plan. If the answer is 'no', prevent your opponent's threat first.
I do that too, but my problem is that my moves are not at all accurate. I may see one line that leads to a mate in 3 or 4, but the problem is that it's not forced, or out of tempo, or inaccurate.
I had a great mate in 5 once... only to get mated in one after the 3rd check did not force anything, was only a setup move. Then I got bishop/queened...
Attacking is great, however, at out level they are far too inaccurate to be credible. When you see a chess great attack they are far, far more accurate. It's easy to see their attacking lines even as a low level, but hard to calculate why they are so strong of an attack since the amount of caluculation is far beyond our level.
I think you should play solid lines. Lines which allow you to develop your pieces.
The problem is that on here I have to play blitz games only out of fear of being cheated. I feel like even in 10 min time control I could be at risk. I can only really study for accuracy when I play OTB. When I play OTB against people well above me, I ask them if I can use an opening book to help my game. I dont have that luxury here. When I play here I just try to not blunder a piece. When I do the computer analysis it tells me what opening I played... haha.
The problem is that on here I have to play blitz games only out of fear of being cheated. I feel like even in 10 min time control I could be at risk. I can only really study for accuracy when I play OTB. When I play OTB against people well above me, I ask them if I can use an opening book to help my game. I dont have that luxury here. When I play here I just try to not blunder a piece. When I do the computer analysis it tells me what opening I played... haha.
You can learn better from getting slaugthered by and engine vs not.
If you play OTB than. I would risk playing longer time controls online. When you think about it don't have nothing to lose. Since your ranking online doesn't effect OTB one.
The problem is that on here I have to play blitz games only out of fear of being cheated. I feel like even in 10 min time control I could be at risk. I can only really study for accuracy when I play OTB. When I play OTB against people well above me, I ask them if I can use an opening book to help my game. I dont have that luxury here. When I play here I just try to not blunder a piece. When I do the computer analysis it tells me what opening I played... haha.
You can learn better from getting slaugthered by and engine vs not.
If you play OTB than. I would risk playing longer time controls online. When you think about it don't have nothing to lose. Since your ranking online doesn't effect OTB one.
The problem with playing longer time controls online is that its anonomous so cheating is "easier". As easy as opening chess titains on any windows machine.
I dont care who I play OTB since its them and only them. The fact that playing online against someone who can open chess titans and play at the 1600-1800 level easily with 20 min time controls bothers me. If I want to play chess titans, I can just do that outside of chess.com.
The problem with playing longer time controls online is that its anonomous so cheating is "easier". As easy as opening chess titains on any windows machine.
I dont care who I play OTB since its them and only them. The fact that playing online against someone who can open chess titans and play at the 1600-1800 level easily with 20 min time controls bothers me. If I want to play chess titans, I can just do that outside of chess.com.
Do not let the fear of someone cheating you steal all the joy you may have in a longer time control game my friend.
I lost today in a 3 day per move game in only 6 moves. I have beaten people who have had 2100 rankings online. Even beat people who had over 2000+ rankings OTB. An still I lost in 6 moves today.
Even players better than me. World Chess Champions have lost in short games. One example was by Anand Viswanathan. He once resigned in only 6 moves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrt9U1EzPOQ
If they use an engine against you. It is because they know they are no match for you.
If you lose at least you lose giving your best effort. An that is something to be proud of. There is no shame in losing in such a way.
Today after my friends and I finished our final we went to play chess against our professor who was pretty good, but I ended up checkmating him despite I lost many pieces. My friends told me i need to focus more on defense and not so much the offense.
If you look at my previous games, you can see that I focus too much on playing offensively with my queen, and once it's taken i resign. I value it as much as my king.
How can I shift my focus on defending my pieces? any help is appreciated