An anonymous reader writes:
[I've noticed that]...more than half (60% or more!) of my losses are the result of an outright blunder. Things like mate in one when it can easily be defended, hanging pieces for nothing, and dropping pawns like nobody's business. It's easy to do some tactical puzzles or study some rook and pawn endgames, but as for the blunders it's simply a matter of doing it or not doing it. If this were simply affecting my blitz games I wouldn't care so much, but I've done some really stupid things in OTB games too. I know to look once more at the position before finally making your move and everything, but for some reason it doesn't seem to matter. I was wondering if there is any input you have on the subject, and more than the cliche "look at the position like a beginner" stuff I see everywhere. Maybe this is a (serious!) problem with other people too, and maybe they have found a way to fix it! Thanks[.]
Here's my advice: quit.
Not forever, of course. But sometimes one needs to take a little break from the game to regain one's freshness. There was a stretch of tournament games over a 1-2 month period where I blundered something in every game, seemingly no matter what I did. Fortunately, after taking a few months off of tournament chess, everything returned to normal.
There are other possible explanations as well. Depending on how strong you are, it may be that your basic tactical skill needs to strengthened. Other possible culprits include general fitness and mood. If you're out of shape and getting tired during tournaments, that could certainly contribute to blunders. Do you get enough sleep during tournaments? Are you sufficiently free of outside stress to focus on your games? If not, maybe work on that as well.
Another idea: develop your concentration skills. That's the flip side of the negatives given above. A lack of sleep generally undermines concentration, but instead of settling on our normal, default levels of concentration, we can cultivate it by, among other things, gamelike training.
Other ideas, readers?
