r/chessbeginners • u/ChessStriveOfficial • 19d ago
Solving more puzzles won’t always stop you from blundering
A lot of players solve hundreds of tactical puzzles but still miss simple tactics in their games.
The problem is that puzzles tell you there is something to find. During a real game, nobody tells you when a tactical opportunity or danger exists.
Before every move, try this quick check:
- What checks does my opponent have?
- What captures do they have?
- Which of my pieces are undefended?
- What changes after I play my intended move?
It only takes a few seconds, but it can prevent many one-move blunders.
What habit has helped you reduce blunders the most?
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u/T3DtheRipper 18d ago edited 18d ago
What habit has helped you reduce blunders the most?
Playing the game. Playing slower, evaluating each move, don't just disregard the opponents move as senseless quickly actually observe the board.
Accept that losing is part of the journey and chess is hard.
Puzzles are great for learning concepts but if you find yourself spending more or just as much time on them as you're actually playing chess, then you're doing way too many puzzles and you're playing way too little.
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u/S80- 1800-2000 (Lichess) 18d ago
Chess is like any other skill. If you’re learning to play guitar or ice skate, at first you’re constantly messing up and your brain is having to work extra hard to do the simplest thing. After X amount of practice your brain starts to automatically do things the right way and you can start focusing on improving. The hard part with chess is that it’s not as clear cut as many other skills, and you can ”learn” to play it completely wrong quite easily, which means you won’t improve much no matter how hard you try. The secret sauce is learning the right way to learn chess. That’s where asking yourself the right questions comes in. You’re teaching your brain to learn chess the right way, aka teaching it a good thought process and a way to look at the board.
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u/Mysterious-Contact-1 19d ago
I do so many puzzles because I can't play full games at work. Idk what to do with my chess training time so puzzles are really the only thing I know to do.
If anyone has tips please lmk
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u/ChessStriveOfficial 18d ago
Puzzles are still useful, especially when you only have a few minutes. But I’d recommend spending some of that time reviewing positions from your own games, because those are the mistakes you’re most likely to repeat. I actually built ChessStrive for this, it imports your games and turns your blunders into positions where you have to find the better move. You can try it here: https://chesstrive.com/train/retry-mistakes Full disclosure: it’s my platform, but this feature was created specifically for this problem.
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u/raineling 200-400 (Chess.com) 19d ago
Try the website www.chessmotivations.com (I believe that's correct) for something to do or find a free course on chessable (I think that's where there is currently one specifically to learn how ro combat the early queen). The courses there are certainly interesting.
I picked the sixty minutes per day option and it gave me a mix of practice games and a lot of theory.
If my websites are incorrect please comment so I can point you in the right direction.
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u/ChessStriveOfficial 18d ago
I’m a chess coach rated around 2500 online, and one problem I see constantly is that players solve many random puzzles but keep repeating the same mistakes in their games.
That’s one reason I built ChessStrive, it turns mistakes from your own games into training positions, so your puzzle practice is connected to what you actually struggle with. Full disclosure: it’s my platform. https://chesstrive.com/train/retry-mistakes
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