How not to Blunder

All the blunders are there, waiting to be made. (Saviely Tartakower)

What is a blunder?

Blunders are an important part of chess. Without mistakes, all games would end in a draw. That would be pretty dull.

Blunders help separate the sheep from the goats. Masters make way fewer blunders than your average woodpusher. Reducing the number of blunders you make will radically improve your game.

Blunders have all sorts of nicknames.

• BooBoo
• Feeble move
• Howler
• Lemon
• Patzer move
• Weak move
• Weak, yet feeble

Many blunders are due to lack of knowledge, experience and understanding. Some blunders happen because of inexperience and lack of tactical vision and skill. However, most blunders are made by players who are capable of doing better. There may be many reasons for this.

The consequences of a blunder can range from being not significant to alter the course of the game to turning an almost completely winning position into a lost one.

In this book you will learn about different types of blunders.

This book has over 300 positions in which one, or sometimes both, players blundered.

You will be presented with a position from the point of view of the player who blundered, before the blunder.

Before going further, ask yourself Why is the planned move a blunder?.

Also ask What move would have been better?.

The bottom line is that the player who blundered did not sufficiently check the move was not a blunder before he moved. Before making a move, check that it is not a blunder.

Some blunders involve missing a single move by the opponent to missing a line 15 or more moves deep. I did not see that is one of the most popular phrases uttered by chessplayers. Terms such as sight of the board, Chess vision, looking ahead and looking around are used for a reason. You need to look. Being aware of all checks, captures and forcing moves will help.

This book contains a wide range of positions with varying levels of difficulty. Some are quite easy and some quite challenging. Some are very entertain.

GM Kotov wrote that before you move, look at the board through the eyes of a patzer and ask is it a simple blunder. Spend a couple of minutes doing this and you won't regret it. However, more than a minute is a luxury most players won't have. However, it should be at least a few seconds, depending on your tactical skill.

If you want to improve your Chess, you can use the positions to improve your ability to blunder-check your moves.

Or if you just want amusement, you may find some of the positions quite entertaining.

You can view a sample of the book by clicking on Look Inside.

See my authors page for information about my background and other books.