In the previous article (Who has more space?) I examined an easy but slightly ineffecient method for establishing who has a superiority in space. I encourage you to get familar with that article before continuing on here since I'll be introducing one of my favorite shortcuts.

Counting the threats to all the squares by each side (as we did in the previous article) is a failproof way of establishing who has an advantage in territory. But a useful shortcut which I regularly employ during games or analysis is to count how many of the sixteen central squares each side has under attack. As you probably already know, the center is the most important sector of the board since pieces gain in scope as they move towards the center or occupy central squares outright. The more your pieces are in contact with (threatening or occupying) the center, the more likely you are to control more territory overall. It therefore follows that if you merely compare the threats delivered by both sides to the innermost sixteen squares on the board, you can very likely determine who has an advantage in space.

The above diagram simply demonstrates the central sixteen squares of the board. The following to diagrams show the squares which White has under attack, and the squares which Black has under attack.

White's pieces attack 12 central squares whereas Black's pieces attack 9 central squares. This tends to indicate that White has a space advantage. In the current position, a major reason for White's advantage is his centralized knight which attacks three squares in the enemy's territory. But even if we were to retreat the knight to f3 or b3, White would still have a space advantage because his queen would make greater contact with the enemy position (generating a new threat on d6) whereas his knight would still be generating a threat either to the c5 square (if it moved to b3) or the e5 square (if it moved to f3). So our shortcut would still reliably help us to conclude that White has a space advantage.

Paying attention to threats on central squares is also good for basic strategic purposes. It helps to concentrate our thoughts on the fight for the center. For example, one move which pops to mind for White is f2-f4, adding the e5 square into his "collection". In real terms, this is a desireable move since it means Black's pieces won't be able to make use of the e5-square. Then Black constantly has to watch out for either e4-e5 or f4-f5. Both moves could harrass Black's pieces, or even predicate a direct attack. Black's methods of gaining central squares are harder to identify and take more time or risk. This is exactly the problem of being behind in space or "congested". 

A number of times I've indicated that White tends to gain an advantage in space in the Ruy Lopez. As always, opening study should be connected to the study of general chess themes. This is an extremely effecient way to improve our overall understanding of the game.

Let's make an in-depth introduction of the space advantage using the following common structure which can arise form the Ruy Lopez:

I should note that the properties of the structure would be essentially the same if Black had not yet played ...d6 - though this would tend to be an improvement for Black.

It's easy to see how this formation might occur. White has played a rapid d2-d4 (without first supporting it with c2-c3) and Black has responded with ...exd4 rapidly. Understanding this structure is critical for many reasons.

But before we connect it to any of our other learning goals, I'm going to take a moment to explain exactly what a space advantage is and how it functions in great detail. Beginners will benefits most of all from this analysis but if you think this is just for beginners, you're absolutely crazy. Taking a very basic look at some of the concepts we take for granted is always an extremely (perhaps necessary!) exercise. I engage in this kind of thinking all the time, even during battles with players of the highest standard.

Strictly speaking, a space advantage simply refers to the posession of more squares than our opponent. There are a few ways you can measure this. Before I introduce the more effecient ways I'm going to start with the simplest and most accurate so there's no question what a space advantage is. How do we do it? We simply count and compare the number of squares each side has under threat.

The first diagram is a position which contains our structure we're analyzing right now. In the second diagram I've merely circled all the squares which are under attack by a White piece. I simply went for square for square across the chessboard and asked "does a White piece attack this square?". If the answer was yes, I "counted" it. In this example White's pieces attack 41 squares. In the third diagram I underwent the same procedure for Black. Here the Black pieces attack only 32 squares. Thus we can conclude that White has an advantage in territory. We'll discuss how this information helps us in a moment, but for now we've identified one no-fail way of establishing who has control over more territory, or space. 

That was a little time consuming, but completely easy and also very instructive. If white's pieces have access to nine more squares than Black's, the implications are endless. His pieces have more squares on which to maneuver, and they bring a greater portion of the opponent's position under threat thereby minimizing his options.

Next, we'll look at shorcuts to help us assess who has a space advantage more quickly, and continue to explore what these means in terms of our strategy.

One of the reasons study of the chess openings is so popular is the simple fact that learning openings is as fun as it is educational. When you study the openings (especially classical ones) you gain ever-expanding insight into the key elements of the chess struggle. Principles and platitudes like “establish a pawn center”, “develop your knights before bishops”, and so on, acquire new meaning when you get an opportunity to see the principles in action hundreds of times and the concrete variations which support them. Additionally, the study of opening theory leads to many interesting twists and turns filled with fascinating tactics.

One of my favorite openings to study is the Ruy Lopez. This is a very important opening and has been for hundreds of years. A thorough study of this opening is extremely fun and can also be very rewarding both for one’s results in the openings and for one’s understanding of chess in general.

Today I want to introduce an interesting game in one line of the Ruy Lopez to demonstrate some general ideas. At the same time I want to expose you to the method I use to learn openings (and chess!).

Alexei Shirov – Ivan Sokolov Las Vegas 1999 rapid

The following game was played at the time control g/25 + 10. Both players had 25 minutes on the clock and also gained 10 seconds after making each move. Surprisingly, rapid and blitz games between strong players can be amazingly instructive and interesting since one often sees mistakes and punishments which wouldn’t arise in the longer time controls between such skilled players.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5

These are the beginning moves of the Ruy Lopez. On our excellent sister site http://chessopenings.com/ I covered the basic ideas behind the Ruy Lopez. You can view a slideshow here: http://chessopenings.com/ruy+lopez/

For our purposes here it’s enough to note that White develops his pieces rapidly while sooner or later creating a threat to capture on e5. Sooner or later, Black will have to play …d6 to cover the pawn. In the meantime, White will expand in the center with c2-c3, d2-d4 yielding him an advantage in space.

In classical openings where Black attempts to take an equal share of the center (1.e4 e5 or 1.d4 d5) it is extremely common for White to seek an advantage by putting pressure on Black’s center pawn forcing Black to make concessions in defending it.

3…Bc5

This is not the most common reaction since it will ensure that when White plays d2-d4, White will gain a tempo against the bishop. On the other hand, Black has the benefit of developing his bishop to c5 before he plays …d6.

4.O-O

Only after castling does White’s threat to the e5-pawn become real. Suppose White immediately tries to gain the e5 pawn with 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.Nxe5?

There are two moves which allow Black to recover his pawn. You ought to see the methods of recovering the pawn right away since you’ve been working with KEBU Chess Tactics Software! I’ve put the solution at the end of this short article. Be sure to find both solutions and then also to determine which you think leads to a more advantageous situation for Black.

4…d6

Now that White has castled, Black defends the e5-pawn. This isn’t necessarily the only move, but it’s the most natural. So what position has arisen?

The stage is now set for the ensuing strategic battle. White will clearly want to play for d2-d4 at some point. It’s easy to dismiss such a position and not recognize just how much one can learn about chess just by delving into the theory and practice of such a simple position.

As soon as White plays d2-d4 he is guaranteed a space advantage. There are many possible ways for play to continue after that. Black may choose to simply retreat his bishop to b6 and leave the White pawn on d4. In this case he must always contend with the possibility of dxe5 or d4-d5. On the other hand if he captures on d4, he either grants White a 2-1 majority of the center (if White plays c2-c3xd4) or an advanced knight with threats on a partially open board (after Nf3xd4). The whole theory and practice of this opening will give us insight into these possibilities and at the same time give us a general understanding of the challenges faced by Black when he is behind in space. Thus, in studying the theory and practice of this opening we study more general chess problems. This is extremely instructive, and also exciting! If we study openings intelligently we learn to connect theory with the study of general chess problems.

I also want to point out that we’re getting insight into another sort of chess problem in studying this opening variation. In the classical Ruy Lopez structure Black usually develops his bishop to e7 behind the pawn chain. It’s true that on c5 the bishop is more active, but as I pointed out this comes with certain drawbacks including the bishop’s exposure to attack. Thus we are also going to get a lot of insight into the advantages and drawbacks of developing one’s bishop outside of a closed pawn chain.

I can’t wait to get started. The next article will look at how Shirov and Sokolov treated the problems of this position. But before we move on, let’s answer the little puzzle provided earlier.

Congratulations if you saw either or both of the solutions: 5…Qd4! 6.Nd3 Qxe4+ or 5…Bxf2+!? 6.Kxf2 Qd4+.Did you remember to consider which you think is more advantageous for Black? Despite the flashiness of 5…Bxf2+ the strongest option is actually 5…Qd4! In that case White ends up with an awkwardly placed knight on d3 and Black retains the advantage of the bishop pair.

KEBU Opening Memorizer is quickly becoming the preferred method of doing the otherwise tedious work of memorizing your opening variations. I’ve created this article to take you step-by-step through the process of creating files to memorize and then using the software to seal the variations into your memory.

KEBU Opening Memorizer is a fantastic training software program for efficiently memorizing your openings. The first step to using the program is to create a PGN file with the opening variations you wish to memorize. Developing the file is relatively easy and can be done with a number of software programs. If you don’t own any software to create PGN files ChessBase Lite is a great place to start. It can be downloaded for free. There are countless other software programs that will assist you in creating PGN files. For the purposes of example I’ve used ChessBase 11.

Let us say that I wish to develop a repertoire against the move 1.e4. Through some research I’ve learned that the “French Defense” (beginning with 1…e6) is a relatively easy opening to learn and play, and I like the ideas – it seems to suit my style. I’ve read a book on the opening, but I want to remember the key variations so that I won’t be “caught out” in the opening.

Since White has a few different ways to respond to the French Defense, I’ll probably need to focus on one important response at a time as I learn the opening. White’s most popular reply is 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 so I’ll start there – my first file will deal exclusively with how I plan to react against 3.Nc3.

Now using any of my materials: databases, chess engines, books, opening manuals – I develop a file which contains the most important ideas for my opponent and how I plan to respond to them. Here’s a screenshot:

(Don’t worry – I’ve attached a link where you can download this sample file right away!)

For each important option I found for White (using the database) I attached some line I’d like to learn for Black. Importantly, there’s no situation where I gave multiple ideas for Black  - the file just has all of the ideas I want to learn to play against, and then one single method of how to reply as Black.

Now I save the game as a PGN file (be careful not to save it in ChessBase format!).

Notice that I’m saving it as a PGN file! Click here to download the PGN file and take a look for yourself what I created.

Notice that I kept the file very simple. I think this is an important secret which I’ve written more about throughout this blog. You don’t need to make your files very complicated, you just want to be very confident about a smaller number of lines which, as a rule, don’t go too deep. Try it – and you’ll find that you’ll win a lot more games knowing a lot of basic lines as opposed to a few overly complicated lines.

Now there’s just one more step: getting these lines sealed in your memory! And here’s where KEBU Opening Memorizer comes in.

If you haven’t already done so please take a look at the following short video which in fact is a great introduction to how to memorize your files.

Best of luck with the openings software! We hope you find it to be truly enjoyable – but most importantly – we want you to win more games of chess!

Before you go, here are some great general articles that you might also want to take a look at on opening study and chess improvement:

Studying your openings

Should you commit opening lines to memory (part I)

Memorizing opening variations (part II)

How to select your chess openings

During a chess game we often make mistakes which in retrospect seem completely ridiculous. Blunders are the most obvious manifestation of this, but sometimes we miss strong continuations, or commit grievous positional mistakes which later appear to be obvious. What is the reason for this?

In chess it is very easy to lose our presence of mind. Chess is endlessly presenting us with excitements, disappointments, joys, and agonies. Practically every game is full of these things as well as tense critical moments. At such moments we can easily become distracted in the most slippery of ways. With victory nearby we suddenly blunder, with the initiative suddenly in the opponent’s possession we suddenly collapse.

“Few people realize that the ability to focus one’s thoughts during the decisive moments of a game is just about the most important quality a chess player can possess.” – Garry Kasparov

There you have – focus is named as perhaps the most important quality a player can possess by the greatest player of all time.

What are some practical strategies to ensure that we are able to concentrate fully during the difficult, tiring, and emotional phases of a chess game?

Firstly we should maintain a constant awareness of the various emotional and thought-based pitfalls that we can fall into. Jonathan Rowson’s excellent book The Seven Deadly Chess Sins talks almost exclusively about the various ways our concentration and quality of thought can be sabotaged during a chess game. Becoming well-acquainted with these tendencies of thought, and reviewing your own tendencies and thought patterns during a game is the first step to creating a plan to combating these insidious issues.

Also of help is to practice concentration and a present mind in daily life. For those so inclined, there are various methods offered by modern psychology, or even meditation practices to help steady the mind and these can come in handy both throughout daily life, training sessions, and during the games. For instance, when you feel yourself nearing victory in a tournament game, you can focus on your breathing and count slowly to ten in order to reduce the impact of your excitement and clear your mind to deliver the final blows. You might think that sounds juvenile – but I’ve used it to beat very strong players, and have innumerable moments of regret when I lost my head!

Ultimately presence of mind is a matter of being confident, cool, and balanced in our thinking. When you notice that you’re agitated, upset, excited, thinking about the opponent’s strength, or whatever…you just bring yourself back, redouble your confidence and your cool focus and get back to the work of thinking strategically and calculating variations. Practicing these simple strategies over time and increasing your ability to do this over time will have remarkable effects on your results.

In the previous article, we talked about some of the big benefits of memorizing opening variations. We made a case that opening memorization, done correctly, can actually help you to accumulate strategic and tactical ideas as well as deepen your understanding of chess positions. Now I want to develop these ideas.

 To begin with, most openings have what can be called “critical lines”. This typically refers to those lines which are thought to give your side the most headaches, the ones which are theoretically “best” for our opponent as far as theory is concerned.

Let’s say I am playing the King’s Gambit as White (something I wouldn’t recommend – but to each his own!).

A cursory look through some books and database statistics shows that one of the lines that has been causing the most problems is 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d5! 4.exd5 Nf6 when White has had serious problems proving anything – and Black seems to have strong chances at the initiative.

“Let’s see what our friend Suba has to say about this subject: … ‘Memorize opening variations, endgame techniques, combinations, even whole games if you can, but not rules and dogma.’ This last sentence is a remarkably honest proposal! After all, it runs counter to the advice of just about every instructional book or magazine article out there! Haven’t you seen it time and again: ‘Don’t memorize openings; just learn the principles behind them’…’you shouldn’t be trying to learn by heart; understanding the ideas is what really counts’…’young players spend too much time learning openings, when they should be mastering the fundamental principles of the game’, and so forth?” – International Master John Watson in Secrets of Modern Chess Strategy

One of the most oft-repeated advice to beginners and intermediate players is to study the typical plans and ideas of their opening rather than to commit variations to memory. And yet, we have here a clear example of “do as I say not as I do”. Not only do the top players in the world have a lot of knowledge of concrete, specific variations – but so do many chess coaches, authors, club players, and certainly those young players who are advancing rapidly. Indeed just about every player, author, coach who says “don’t memorize variations” has memorized oddles of variations – and has lived to tell the story.

So what gives?

The truth lies somewhere in the middle

The truth lies somewhere in the middle. When studying the opening, our chief aim really is to absorb the essential tactics and strategies of our particular system. But on the other hand, we need to equip ourselves to avoid dangerous traps, to assimilate the theory and games which have been handed down to us throughout the ages, to be able to exploit the mistakes of our opponents quickly and proficiently, and to minimize our use of clock time so that we can spend it on the complicated problems offered by the middlegame and endgame.

Memorizing opening variations not only gives us concrete knowledge of a given opening – it is also an efficient method of absorbing the crucial ideas/strategies behind our openings.

Read that again!!

If you memorize opening lines properly (and I’ll discuss more on how to do this) you will not only gather some key lines which may be of use to you in the games, but you also absorb the spirit of the opening efficiently.

Memorization and understanding go hand in hand

If you have ever tried to memorize opening variations you'll quickly realize that in order to memorize a series of a moves you have to try to understand it. Even if only on a superficial level, you have to make some meaning out of the moves. This forces you to think carefully about the nature of the moves, why they're being played, and causes you to gradually absorb the key ideas in your opening.

I would challenge you right now to pick up a game in one of your favorite openings and commit it to memory. Do this by playing through the game once, then putting the game aside and trying to recreate as much of it as you can. Guess where you ran into trouble? The moves which didn't come naturally to you are precisely those moves which you understand the least. If you give special attention to those situations where you lacked clarity, and strive to understand the moves (you can use books, databases, coaches, engines, online chess forums/groups, your own reasoning to help you) you will be able to grasp the moves and memorize them more easily.

In a sense, memorizing opening variations has a "nuclear" effect because you are often memorizing important strategic and tactical devices and clearing up areas of mis-understanding. One of the best ways to see where your understanding is deficient is to try to commit and rehearse things from memory.

But what exactly should I memorize?

The good news is that you really don't have to commit billions of lines to memory. What you should focus on is identifying the most critical lines, most tactical lines, and most illustrative lines. (We'll review how to do all this in upcoming articles.)

Critical lines are those lines which are theoretically critical to the assessment of a variation. For example in most openings there is a well-established "main line" where much of the theoretical debate takes place. A lot of players enjoy such lines because both sides enjoy chances, and its helpful to know roughly how to get to these positions and how to play them.

Tactical lines refers to those lines which involve long forcing sequences and plenty of tricks and traps. These are the sorts of lines such players fear - some young kid sits down whips off 20 moves of theory and suddenly you're lost. This is an extremely rare occurence, but many openings have well-known traps and tactical lines which it can be helpful to know.

Illustrative lines are more subjective. Here I'm referring to lines which help to demonstrate the main ideas of the opening. They may involve thematic strategic and tactical devices. One great way to have such illustrations in mind is to memorize the opening and middlegame phase of well-annotated games played in your openings. The idea here is to have some rough plans committed to memory so that you can rely on them by analogy when you reach such positions during the game.

We've discussed a lot of important information about studying openings here. During the next article, we'll dive into more details. Until then, happy king hunting!

In the previous article I discussed two important principles in building your opening repertoire. I suggest that you operate from your strengths (which I defined not as your personality or chess-related preferences, but as structures/systems you’ve developed a personal history with) – and secondly I recommended expanding towards main lines as much as you can stomach.

Here is an example of a very reliable opening repertoire –I’ve limited the number of replies I’ve considered for the opponent to the most common options.

Keep in mind that I’m not explicitly recommending you adopt these openings. I’m simply demonstrating what a repertoire based on a principled approach looks like.

 Sample Repertoire

White: 1.e4 with the Ruy Lopez against 1…e5, Open Sicilian against 1…c5

Black: Sicilian Dragon, Semi-Slav

Discussion

All of these openings have a long history as being sound. The Open Sicilian is a bit tricky for White to play/learn because Black has many diverse setups against it – but in the end the amount of setups for White to choose from in these systems is not very huge, and the plans are actually very closely related and limited no matter what system Black chooses.

Such a system of play allows you to constantly develop in new directions and develop a rich understanding of attacking chess.

Similarly, the Ruy Lopez tends to be more position but still has an aggressive basis with kingside attacks still being intrinsically tied into its basis. Again, Black has a large choice of systems but White’s plans are often quite similar no matter how Black plays, and it is learnable.

The combination of Open Sicilian and Ruy Lopez will have a high potential of success no matter what level you are or aspire to. Whether you’re 1000, 1700, or 2800 – these are time-tested systems.

Of course I haven’t mentioned how to play against the Caro, French, or other systems – they occur on a less frequent basis and White has a number of principled options against them. They are very good systems in their own right, but again White can react by following the principles we’ve discussed.

As Black this repertoire includes the very sharp Sicilian Dragon. This is a good time for me to talk about many of the fears related to opening study. Many players have heard that an opening like the Sicilian Dragon requires a lot of theoretical study. But this neglects the reality of your opponents who, just like you, don’t know everything about every system – in fact, they may know very little – including masters. Furthermore, even a more knowledgeable opponent (which is rarer than you might think) still has to be very skillful in converting the fruits of his labor if he should trap you.

The best way to learn a sharp system like the Sicilian Dragon is simply to start playing it. Play it in blitz games, play it against friends, and yes play it I tournaments. By brooding over the problems of the positions and having a couple of good and bad experiences – you’ll have something to study. Figure out what you could have done better by using books, databases, software…whatever you might have. After just a couple months of this process, you’ll very likely realize that no one is simply rattling off 20 moves of theory, and that you’ve acquired more knowledge than 80% of players have about your particular systems.

For a crash course in your openings I recommended looking at the “Starting Out” series which provides excellent content and explains the ideas of a great many positions.

I think we’ve demonstrated during this article what a principled approach to the openings might look like. If you feel intimidated, don’t despair. First of all, operate from positions you feel comfortable and experienced with. And gradually expand towards more main-line handlings of those systems.

If you are totally new to the game and all this sounds like Greek to you, then of course you may not benefit too much from worrying about the opening – but even in that case these suggestions can be very helpful.

This article takes a look at some principles upon which to predicate your choice of openings.

The most oft-repeated advice (even by Dvoretsky) is to select openings which suit your temperament and playing style. Thus, a young aggressive player should adopt the Sicilian Dragon, while a more mild-mannered fellow should defend the Ruy Lopez (for example).

I think this advice is a bit flawed for many reasons. Many players do not benefit from psychoanalyzing themselves in an attempt to find the openings which blend with their personality. First of all, such an analysis of one’s own character is often distorted. But more importantly, chess is a very dynamic game and in just about every opening there is a blend of strategic and tactical positions. In fact, in just about every position there is quite a blend of these things. You can attempt to steer the game in certain directions but often aiming for one extreme just leads to the next.

For example, many very sharp opening lines – if handled well by both sides – peter out quickly into balanced strategic situations. On the contrary, almost all strategic situations will inevitably “explode” into sharp tactical contests. Chess truly demands that you are able to do many things well. World champions can afford refined analyses of their strengths and try to steer the struggle there, but for most players this attempt is often fruitless.

The simplest way to select openings is to work from those systems which you’ve already developed a history of playing. Don’t get caught up in trying to find a perfect harmony between the opening and your tastes. If you’ve been playing the French all your life, sticking with it is often a very fruitful path if you are willing to investigate alternative ways of handling it from time to time (for example).

The second principle in selecting openings is somewhat different. In my experience of teaching, I always tried to steer a truly searching student towards progressively playing lines which are more and more respected at the top level. For example, a King’s Gambit addict may eventually want to expand towards the Ruy Lopez for White. Theoretically speaking there really is very little wrong with playing the King’s Gambit, though most strong players feel that it doesn’t offer White very much. The real problem is that such lines tend to be a bit too one-dimensional for the development of chess strength. When playing a King’s Gambit, the strategies and tactics are quite limited for White – rapid development, kingside attack (this is a bit crude of an assessment, but my point remains the same). The Ruy Lopez demands more strategic and tactical diversity on the part of both sides, and will assist you on your chess journey as far as you want to go – even if that’s World Champion.

This tends to be the case with almost all openings which are played at the highest levels on a frequent basis. Because they are so principled and reliable, many ideas, paths, systems have been developed and there is a ton to learn from such systems.

This an important point to keep in mind when selecting your openings. While selecting such systems may require more work, in the long run you develop better chess strength, and a more reliable set of openings.

In the next article, I will suggest some sample repertoires.

In part one of this article, we discussed three principle causes of blunders in chess.

• A heightened emotional state of some kind (getting close to victory, a feeling of self-satisfaction, excitement)
• Insufficient skill in tactics and combinations
• Failure to penetrate the position and account for all its features

In this article we discuss how to work on these three things.

A heightened emotional state

Many chess players flat out refuse to accept that there is emotional arousal during a chess game. This is categorically bad thinking and will only result in a dampening of the results you could potentially achieve. The truth is that a chess game between players of a reasonably close strength is filled with tension. A chess game is complicated, full of surprises and in the case of a tournament game we have invested considerable time and effort into achieving our aim – the prospect of a result (winning OR losing) is very influential on our state of mind.

I’ll assume that you don’t need to be convinced of this and move on to suggesting how to help yourself diminish the blunders which go along with our inherently subjective nature when we examine chess positions.

The most important thing is to be aware of certain tendencies of thought and their corresponding dangers. I’ve already mentioned in the previous article that more than anything, one should be on guard against feelings of self-satisfaction or excitement at the prospect of winning (or equalizing against a stronger player). When you find yourself getting close to achieving a result or even a positional aim of some kind the most important thing is to slow down and insist on accounting for the whole board and for the opponent’s intentions. The surest way to make a blunder is to temporarily forget about your opponent’s right to exist and his inevitable cunning. And by “temporarily” I mean even just one move. For just one move you eagerly pursue your plan, and suddenly the opponent demonstrates that you’ve missed something obvious and devastating – such as hanging a piece. It happens every day.

Thus before every move you must constantly be sure that you’ve asked yourself, “What are his intentions? What are his plans? What will he play after I play that move? What does my move weaken?” You simply must get in the habit of asking these questions during the course of the entire game and always directly before you make your move. The sooner you can develop this as an absolute habit – one from which you never vary – the sooner you will see a drastic decrease in your blunders.

Insufficient skill in tactics and combinations

This is perhaps the simplest problem to correct. The best way to gain skill in tactics and combinations is through solving tactical puzzles on a regular basis. Visit www.kebuchess.com for a low-cost program (which offers a free version) with hundreds of tricky puzzles taken exclusively from recent games.

Failure to penetrate the position and account for all its features

The remedy for this is simple. During your opponent’s clock time (while he is pondering his move) simply ask yourself a lot of questions about the position. I often ask (and attempt to answer) such questions as “What is my opponent’s most principle plan here?” “What features of the position am I not noticing?” “Where are the potential pitfalls in my position?” “If I had to summarize what’s going on here in a single sentence, what would I say?” … you can be creative here, the main thing is that your churning the position around in different ways in bringing attention to your opponent’s intentions, and the salient features of the position.

This may not seem connected with blunders, but you will find that establishing control over your thoughts and feelings about the position in this way will lead you to make far less oversights of a tactical and even strategic nature. Now when the moments of tension arise (and they surely will) you will consciously and subconsciously be able to make a use of all the extra information you’ve gained during your opponent’s time. This has a magical way of reducing mistakes.

If you practice the suggestions listed here you will see a reduction in your “silly” oversights and be in a position to take advantage of your opponent’s!