Blundering

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Earlier in the season I was given a piece, and commented that "both players are strong enough that this really shouldn't happen". Tonight I return from making an equally bad blunder myself. Worse, in fact, as I was in a completely won position at the time whereas the position was still level in the earlier game. Perhaps I was wrong to say that this sort of thing "shouldn't happen"; perhaps even perfectly respectable club players can be expected regularly to make utterly horrible errors.

A couple of years ago, in my first full season back in chess after a ten year gap, I made maybe four of five mistakes of this magnitude - and my performance was well down on where it had been when I'd stopped playing. Last season I played almost as well as I ever had (though not over enough games to convince the graders!), and much the most significant difference in my play was that I had managed to more or less eliminate these lapses in concentration.

I'm publishing the game because I've published them all so far and it seems a touch dishonest to miss out the bad ones. Still, I'd prefer that you didn't play over it really...

Comments

Tom Chivers said…
Bit of a shocker :)

My two *enormous* blunders from the last two & a half seasons have been strangely similar: each time I have blundered a whole rook as black on the e3 square. Now I try to exchange rooks as early as possible each game, if black.
19 December 2007 at 09:46
kingscrusher said…
That is unfortunate as you had a really great position. Just Rxh2+ and if Qxh2 then Qxe4+

Perhaps a simple blunder-check "routine" in your thinking might be useful - I would recommend a couple of ideas in this regard:

1) Seeing the pawn structure changes like changes in the roads - where the traffic can go both ways - the opponent unfortunately using the road you created in this example. Each pawn structure change generally introduces new tactical opportunities.

2) Thinking - can the opponent have some nasty "avoidance" of one's plan.

I try and do such last minute checks myself, for a little more reassurance just before I play a move. Still I blunder horrifically too. You had guts to show this game - in the two games I lost though this season, I haven't yet blogged. Maybe I will give it a go.
20 December 2007 at 11:25
David said…
Thanks for the sympathy chaps - I guess I didn't really think that anyone would resist the temptation to see just how bad it was...

On blunder-checking: I think that the usual advice is to do this as the first part of your thought process when considering a move, so as to avoid wasting time on moves that could have been ruled out immediately. I tend to agree that a final cursory check before the hand touches the piece is sensible, though. Clearly any sort of blunder-check at all would have been enough here.

For what it's worth, I don't think that 39 ... Rxh2 is best; White is still in the game after 40. Kxh2. Simply 39 ... Rxg3 is crushing, though - White can't seem to meet the immediate threats without exchanging all the major pieces, at which point the pawn ending is easy. I really shouldn't torture myself by figuring this stuff out.
20 December 2007 at 12:22
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