How Not To Play Chess

1. Playing without a plan

A plan is the core of the game. Choosing the right plan is very useful, while unsystematic play is usually punished by the opponent (unless a blunder or similar shortcoming takes place on her/his side). The main difficulty here is to evaluate the position correctly – that is a must for locating the correct idea.

2. Underestimating opponents’ threats

Don’t forget that you are not the just one playing! The opponent has her/his own goals , so you ought to adopt a prophylactic approach to the game and try to prevent plenty of of the potential threats of the opponent. After she/he makes a move, ask yourself: what did she/he have in mind? Is there any way I can implement my plan and ruin hers/his?

3. Failing to convert a winning position due to loss of concentration

No matter how giant your advantage is, you should stay focused until the scoresheets are signed. Myriads of  won positions have been lost due to a momentary loss of concentration. As they have discussed before, one ought to keep away from premature celebrating plus stay alert.

4. Giving up (or beginning to play the game out without any interest) too early

Chess has immense defensive resources (correspondence players know this!). The tougher your resistance is, the higher the chances of stealing away half a point or even the whole one. Even in the event you are in trouble, try to stay quiet plus watch out for chances to generate counter-play or save the game somehow. Your rivals are also human; they have an inclination to blunder from time to time.

5. Poor time management

This issue is typical for amateurs & top-10 players similar. By leaving yourself a small fraction of the preliminary time, you need to play superficially, start getting nervous & eventually blunder. As i have mentioned in one of the articles, increasing one’s knowledge of chess pieces and working on one’s psychology (intuition, trust in your moves) will help cure this disease.

The mistakes i have described above are among the most risky.The next game (with me as White & Alexandra Kosteniuk, the Women’s World Champion at that time, as Black) will feature  all of the most typical mistakes. It was played in round 10 of the Russian Superfinal-2010. I had 5.5/9 & needed at least a draw to stay in the race for first place. Alexandra was at 4/9 & was desperately trying to change the coursework of the tournament.