What do you do when it's your turn to play?

Hi, maybe you will find my question a little bit bizarre but I would like to know what do you do when it's your turn to play?  Do you put yourself in your opponent's feet?  Do you try to protect something?  Just tell me what you think when it's your turn to play.

Make a move? No, wait. It's a trick question, right? Alright, lemme think........................................................................................................... Ok. I think I got it. You should always make sure all your pieces are protected but don't play so defensive that you never further your own plans. & thats what is important, finding a plan & trying to stick to it. Of course you adjust as the situation warrants. How to make a plan you're asking? Yeah, I can actually hear it. Go on youtube & type in pawn structure lessons in chess & watch about a 100 of them. Not kidding, you dont have to do it all in 1 day, maybe watch 5 a day. Pawn structures will shape your plans, give you a general, broad outline. Then search for how to plan in chess. Watch about a 100 of those. Do 10 tactics puzzles a day, no timer, it's more important to get them right. Just do very simple, basic ones now. & learn very simple, basic endings. If you dont want to buy a lot of books just watch videos for now.

No, you can't do that right away. The correct sequence is:

1. enter position into engine

2. run engine

3. make move

Many possibilities.

1. Make a move
2. Make a move and offer a draw
3. Claim a 3 fold repitition
4. Resign
5. Get up for a walk and/or to clear my head
6. etc...

I first do maurice ashley's secret to chess, then i do "tactics searches" then i try to evauluate the position and see whatnit tells me to do. Perty simple

I think the question is too general. The only correct response is "concrete calculation," because that should be performed every time it is your move (even if you calculate only 1 ply forward).  

Every strong chessic principle has a (hypothetical) situation in which it should be broken. Therefore, saying "I follow these principles when it is my turn" is dubious, because there is no position to evaluate.

e: grammar and stuff.

"Every strong chessic principle has a (hypothetical) situation in which it should be broken. Therefore, saying "I follow these principles when it is my turn" is dubious, because there is no position to evaluate."

Very nicely put.

 You simply analyze the position.

You try to figure out what your opponent is planning, you want to impose your game and you think how are you gonna do that, and then you make the move you consider is the best one.

I put the OP on hold and .....do my nails..... ;p

It's much better if you look at your opponents position first and see what their possible plans and tactics could be and see if you can use it against them; see if you can counterattack; or see if you can make them suffer at least a little for what they are planning to do.

I would look up Aikido chess. It'll teach you a lot about thinking in chess and preparing against your oponents possible ideas, and hey, if they don't make one of your prepared moves, well at least you know they didn't see what you saw. (Unless they are much higher rated than you in which I would re-evaluate the position carefully).

For me this has seemed to boost my rating by at least 200 points.

I have always thought the best way to play when its my turn is set up a chess board and play out instead of analyzing the games ive found it to be a whole lot better

Defense first then, the rest is your own initiative...

panic

i'm considering to stop playing chess forever...

*lol

Identify checks, threats, and captures.  Figure out some candidate moves.  Choose one.  Just before playing it, check to see "Is it safe?"  Thank you Coach Heisman.    Of course that "choose one" step is not always so easy.  Silman has a course on the Chess Mentor that describes all of our frustration "Now What ?".

Thanks guys for your tips.

I make my move and press the clock

Look at the board and pieces one by one. And admire how they are placed on board. Then close your eyes for 5 minutes and open them. Look at the board and pieces one by one again. Repeat the whole sequence 5 times. Then Resign.

How FM Borislav Ivanov does it - wait for the computer to come up with a good move, then play the move