Seeing ghosts
Why do I play bad moves? For many different reasons, no doubt, which makes it that much harder to stop doing it. A mistake that I find myself repeating, though, is to misevaluate a perfectly acceptable position as being slightly worse, and consequently play some inferior move to avoid it.
In last week's game, for example, 9 ... Be7 was quite unnecessary. I was afraid that my pawns would be doubled and my king exposed after 9 ... Nc6 10 Bxf6; but in fact Black is fine here, and the exchange on f6 doesn't seem to be unfavourable at all. Instead I went into a sequence of exchanges and a very dull position.
This week I'm White, and at move 12 I suddenly start to worry that things aren't going well. My opponent, my computer, and the cold light of day have all since convinced me that a normal move such as 12. Rb1 is just fine; but during the game it felt as though I was walking into some sort of disadvantage. So I decided to try and confuse matters, offering a pawn with 12. c4. Worse, I spent far too long taking this dubious decision. Black correctly declined the pawn, at which point I probably really was worse.
(Happily for me, more serious mistakes were ahead. 15 ... Rc7 allowed 16. Nd6+, which I missed, but after 16 ... Qc6, 17. Nd6+ was even stronger. After that I missed a few simpler wins in the time scramble but managed not to spoil anything; everything was straightforward once we'd made it to move 30).
So, where does the pessimism come from, and what can I do about it? At some level it must be a fear of losing - a pretty healthy fear, up to a point, but chess really does require objectivity. What to do about it? I suppose that I just have to be aware of the weakness and constantly be asking myself whether my evaluations are based on what's on the board, or on my own negative outlook. And perhaps I should try to take a few more risks - probably I'd lose a few, but probably I'd win few too.
Well that all sounds fine, doesn't it? But somehow at the board it's not so easy...
In last week's game, for example, 9 ... Be7 was quite unnecessary. I was afraid that my pawns would be doubled and my king exposed after 9 ... Nc6 10 Bxf6; but in fact Black is fine here, and the exchange on f6 doesn't seem to be unfavourable at all. Instead I went into a sequence of exchanges and a very dull position.
This week I'm White, and at move 12 I suddenly start to worry that things aren't going well. My opponent, my computer, and the cold light of day have all since convinced me that a normal move such as 12. Rb1 is just fine; but during the game it felt as though I was walking into some sort of disadvantage. So I decided to try and confuse matters, offering a pawn with 12. c4. Worse, I spent far too long taking this dubious decision. Black correctly declined the pawn, at which point I probably really was worse.
(Happily for me, more serious mistakes were ahead. 15 ... Rc7 allowed 16. Nd6+, which I missed, but after 16 ... Qc6, 17. Nd6+ was even stronger. After that I missed a few simpler wins in the time scramble but managed not to spoil anything; everything was straightforward once we'd made it to move 30).
So, where does the pessimism come from, and what can I do about it? At some level it must be a fear of losing - a pretty healthy fear, up to a point, but chess really does require objectivity. What to do about it? I suppose that I just have to be aware of the weakness and constantly be asking myself whether my evaluations are based on what's on the board, or on my own negative outlook. And perhaps I should try to take a few more risks - probably I'd lose a few, but probably I'd win few too.
Well that all sounds fine, doesn't it? But somehow at the board it's not so easy...
Comments
"Why do I play the kind of bad moves I do? (Why) do I play different kinds of bad moves to other people?"