training a thinking system

My main problem is that I don't think.  I loose nearly all games to a tactical mistake.  This is keeping me below the 1000 mark.

Igor smirnov gives a good thinking system but I don't know how to train this.  All he said was use GM games.

Please help

I just discoverred the advice from member, aww-rats.  He said that the vast majority of moves for folks like you and me are mistakes.  I wonder whether over the board practice and learning would be more helpful initially?

If you have his course you could see examples in the practical part.  Basically you go through a game and note what principle it either breaks or follows.  Calculate and blunder check too.  Kotov's Think Like a Grandmaster gives an overview of what to do.  Forumulate plans on your opponent's time, note positional imbalances, decide on a plan based off these and the center type, then calculate your candidate moves. 

Are you studying tactics? Are you playing SLOW games?

I suggest learning and practising tactics. OK, it's not my suggestion - it's what all the knowledgable people advise. I tried it and it's working for me

Use Tactics Trainer, but with the clock switched off. ChessTempo is also very good.

Dan Heisman's "Novice Nook" articles on ChessCafe are excellent.

Play online chess and SLOW live games. 

There are no quick wins, it is a matter of putting in the hours (years!) of play (& study, if you're that way inclined.)

Have fun! You will improve.

I recommend you familiarize yourself with openings with many transpositions and that are common.

In addition a thinking system which is helpful is to play schematically (while not perfect) think where your pieces would be best placed, and then work to achieve that position while allowing your opponent as little counterplay as possible.

In addition a strong thing which I would recommend focusing on beyond tactics is the understanding of a good and bad minor piece trade. In addition to good and bad pieces for entering specific endgames.

As Tarrasch was famous for saying "If one piece is badly placed, your whole game is bad".

Look at games and try to understand your mistakes beyond the tactical level, and in addition look for the good pieces versus the bad pieces. The restricted knight or the bishop of the wrong color.

A tactical system which i'll genialy borrow from Axel Smith's comically titled book for the material "Pump Up Your Rating" is to utilize the Tikkanen (Woodpecker) Method in your tactical studies. Don't just whiz through tactics problems. Instead set up a situation where you do the same problems over and over till the response is instant.

In this regards while i'm premium here if affordable I recommend using ChessTempo's Gold Membership for the spaced repetition option.

Finally while this is mostly taking from my own current training feel confident in knowing that these methods after the last two tournaments and training for a few months i've jumped ~130 Rating Points OTB.

Doing tactics problems is important, and you won't fix your tactical mistakes without doing tactics problems almost every day. Even if you only start with 1 problem per day, that's fine. The important thing is that you get into the habit of improving your chess every day.

I say this because forming a new habit is the hard part. Once the habit is formed, you can do more than 1 problem per day. Psychology research says a successful habit has three parts: (1) A trigger, (2) the action/habit, and (3) a reward.

So do this: At the same time each day, in the same place, get away from all screens (TV/computer/phone/etc), take a few deep breaths, and do 1 tactical problem. Then give yourself a piece of chocolate or candy, or whatever you like. The reward is critical, you won't form a habit without it. Once this becomes a habit that you do every day, start doing more than 1 problem.

However, you also need to have some structure to your thinking process when you play. I am reading this book, "The Process of Decision Making in Chess" by Philip Ochman. You can download it from Amazon for like $8. The way I am using it is, I go through the process he describes on paper. It takes a very long time on paper. The goal is to get faster and faster, and eventually be able to do it OTB.

I would suggest you stop playing blitz and only play Online Chess where you have several days to make a move. First you need to get used to thinking about chess correctly, and that means taking your time. Later on, what takes you 30 minutes to think about now, will become instant. The same way you first learned letters, then words, then sentences.

Sorry, but this is bad advice for his situation. No one below 1000 needs to spend 1 second on specific openings.

Now this is very good advice. When you are learning tactics, the important thing is that you get lots of patterns into your brain. If you can't figure out the solution in 30 seconds, just look at the answer, then repeat that same problem again the next day. Keep doing that until you see the answer instantly. It's a waste of your time to spend 20 minutes trying to figure it out on your own. When you are first learning tactics, your only goal is to get lots of patterns that you can recognize instantly.

Dan Heisman's advice: " In the opening, dont move any piece twice until

you have moved every piece once, except when there is a tactic."

He relates a story that a father of one of his students is playing in an amature tournament with some decent players. After the first round however, he was 6-0. Heisman asks him how this is possible and the man says, "remember all those times you kept telling my son don't move any piece twice before moving every piece once unless there's a tactic"? I just tried to stick with that advice.....

igor smirnov said to play games against the computer and analyse gm games with your thinking system.

Which book would be better-

The amateurs mind

Think like a grandmaster

Or a general strategy book (ie,  Yasser Seirawan or an Andrew martin dvd)

I always seem to rush, maybe looking at a position for 2,3 seconds and just playing.  How would I slow down apart from hitting myself every time I loose to a simple, 1 piece attack.

At some point you have to have some self control. If you have no self control, then you need to fix that problem first. If you have a medical issue like ADD, see a doctor.

I mentioned a book above, The Process of Decision Making In Chess, which gives you a number of steps to go through to decide on your move.

I won't contradict a GM 

Understand that strategy is longer term planning. It relies on tactics to achieve those plans, and the best plans are immediately undermined when you lose pieces due to basic errors. 

I don't wish to offend, but your level of play is far too weak to worry about strategy. "Loose pieces drop off". You must improve your tactics and board vision to improve.

If you insist on getting a strategy book, buy a beginner's general strategy book. I have all the one's you suggest, plus more.

In my experience, GM Seirawan's books are all very good. I suggest you start with his "Play Winning Chess", then "Winning Chess Strategies" and "Winning Chess Endings" before his "Winning Chess Strategies".

An alternative excellent book is Coakley's "Winning Chess Strategies for Kids". It includes sections on tactics. You really don't need "pure" strategy at this stage.

Sorry if the above sounds harsh. I'm simply trying to help you avoid the expensive book mistakes I've made. I'm no genius - I have simply followed NM Coach Heisman's advice. I have been doing tactics puzzles via Tactics Trainer and ChessTempo *daily* for a couple of years. It made a HUGE improvement to my game. I play slow rated OTB games and am now just > 1400 FIDE. Played 9, won 7 in the current season.

I am working on my endgames too. It's the classic advice, and it is classic because it works.

But, do what you enjoy! This is meant to be fun 

Would it be good for forming a thinking habit if I write down all my thought processes like silman asked his students to do.

Yes, write down your thoughts you have during a game. Then go over them with a stronger player.

igor smirov is lier that takes your money.His dvds dont tell you that any other player will tell plus he tells yopu stuff that are not right.

and the same is with igor smirov his books are classic but wrong ask a gm does he have variation trees in his head when he is playing a chess game

i reccomend you read this books

John nuns Secrets of Modern Strategy and Mastering chess strategy

100 endgames you must know .jesu de la vila

Capablas 60 best chess endings.

Beliavsky, Alexander & Mikhalchishin, Adrian - Winning Endgame Technique

And when you are down with this books youre rating will be the same so its not only about knowing its also about training.

So do at least 15 min tactics a day.

and play solitar chess

for example look at

Chess combat simulator 

When you are fininsh with this start playing online chess(correspondenc)

and never play blitz.

And with a year following this program i garente you you will be a lot more stronger chess player

i might be wrong but isnt not allowed to write during a live chess game i mean(in person)

Apart from writing all my thoughts, how would I train myself to slow down.