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Reducing Over-the-Board Errors"Even with a superior position, a player, no matter how strong, Jose R. Capablanca All the opening theory, middlegame strategy, and endgame technique in the world won't help you win games if you're prone to hanging your queen or walking into a smothered mate. Admit it: you've done it before, plenty of times! But I'll tell you, so have I. Having eliminated (or at least significantly reduced) these kind of blunders is probably what separates the expert player from us mere class-level players. After reading up on the subject, and after a great deal of thought about how to reduce my own OTB errors, I've come up with the following informal system: Immediately after your opponent moves, write down his or her move. This introduces a brief interruption before you start thinking about the move, and can help prevent you from hammering out some “automatic” reply (you know the type: moves which seem obvious, but turn out to be blunders . . . ). After you’ve written down the move, focus back on the board, and try to look at the position with “fresh eyes.” Make sure that you clearly identify exactly what your opponent’s move does and what purpose might lie behind it. The first thing to take into account when examining the position is tactics and combinations. Most importantly, look for loose pieces and / or vulnerable kings (both your opponent's and your own): those tend to be the most prevalent signals of looming tactics and combinations. Next, look at each of your opponent's threats, and each way you can respond (taking into account any potential tactics and/or combinations). If your opponent has a serious threat which cannot be ignored, then deal with it. As a practical rule, it is usually best to deal with your opponent's threats in the most straightforward manner possible, unless the tactics demand otherwise. Otherwise, if you have a winning move (e.g., a winning tactic or combination or mate), a forced move (e.g., dealing with a check, recapturing a piece, preventing your opponent's winning tactic or combination or mate, etc.), or some other obvious move, then play it. The above will cover many (if not most) moves during the game. But in situations where there are no immediate or obvious tactics, combinations, threats, or other obvious moves, then you’ll need to evaluate the position strategically, plan, and calculate. At this point in OTB games, you simply have to rely on what you've learned and gained from experience, and good old-fashioned intuition. However, there are some practical tips which can be useful to follow: i) When analyzing, make it a point to vary the move-order (e.g., a combination might work with one move-order, and fail with another), and look one move further than seems necessary (that's where the most important move usually lies, whether it be the move which brings my combination home, or the move which refutes my combination). ii) Make the move with the fewest possible commitments and the most possible flexibility. iii) Avoid unclear complications. iv) Don't rush unless absolutely necessary! If possible, take the time to strengthen your position, repair and / or prevent weaknesses, and stop / prevent enemy counter-play. v) When you see a good move, look for a better one! (If you have time . . . ) vi) Decent plans if all else fails: a) repair any weakness and prevent any potential weaknesses; b) improve piece position / mobility / influence / coordination; c) threaten / cause / provoke weaknesses in your opponent's position. vii) Given a choice between 2 (or more) equally good moves, consider the one which gives your opponent more chances to go wrong. viii) When in doubt, play in the center. After you’ve decided on a move to play, write it down before actually playing it, and then look back at the board and clearly visualize the move one last time. Double-check to make sure that you aren’t making a careless move that hangs a piece, or leaves something important undefended, etc. Give the potential resulting position a quick check for any tactics and / or combinations your opponent might be able to spring on you. Think to yourself “How might my opponent respond to this move? Can (s)he play something that will make me regret making this move?” Here's are a few other important tips: Once you enter an endgame, make a mental effort to start thinking in terms of endgame strategy and technique. Do not continue thinking about the game in terms of whatever middlegame strategies you may have been pursuing several moves earlier. Sometimes it helps to literally get up and stretch your legs for a minute, pace around the room, and then come back and look at the board with "fresh eyes". Don’t be lazy! I know that in my own case, it's very easy for me to start ignoring this system half-way through a game. I think to myself "Oh, this move is too obvious to bother with all this thinking!" Or I start out using the system, but at some point just I forget to keep using it, and I don't follow it all the way through the game. And that's when I blunder. So the main thing is to discipline yourself to actually use the system in its entirety. It can also be very helpful to play correspondence chess regularly, using this system. By methodically using this step-by-step approach to each move during CC games, you’ll be systematizing and disciplining your chess thinking skills, which you can then bring to your OTB play. Also, use the very same system during post-game analysis. This serves two purposes: first, it re-enforces the same systematic, disciplined thinking which you are trying to cultivate for OTB play; second, it helps you identify the sorts of errors you’re prone to making during games, so you can try to steer clear of them the next time. What it all comes down to is thinking in a clear, careful, systematic, focused, and disciplined manner. If you can give 100% of your ability and attention to 100% of your moves, you’ll be much more likely to be the one who wins the game by “making the next to the last mistake,” as the saying goes. Good luck! Copyright 2002 S. Evan Kreider. Used with permission.
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