i have noticed that i defend tactical positions as if the board consists of 4 x 4 squares, centred on the peice im focusing on. game after game, if an opponent's peice is supporting another unit, and the two are seperated by >4 squares, i pretty much disregard the supporting peice.

how can i cure this malady, if it indeed can be cured? is it that both my female and male ancestors where hunters, and so my natural instinct is to zone in on my target, and not look at the whole picture? or is it just an incurable case of thickheadedness.

as DMX said "...was a hard headed *****, and NO, i dont learn". srsly, ive just been falling prey to the same simple combos, which i myself use all the time, game after game.

and so the hunter becomes the hunted....

i swear i dont have tunnel vision, but this is kinda how it is:

what ya'll see

what i see

... yes, i was focusing on the pawn...

I had a dream like that once where all I could see were the squares around my king and opponents pieces coming in and out.

Anyway, all I can suggest is that you get into the habit of going through a routine every single move where you check all of your opponents  pieces before trying to come up with candidate moves. Cast your eyes around every move - eventually it will become ingrained. After enough experience you will just always know where everything is.

p.s the theme on your home page gave me a seizure.

yeh, i do with correspondance, etc., but the trouble is i predominantly play bullet chess :(

what? my homepage doesnt flash..

Well there's your problem: it's important to play CC chess or reasonably slow (15 0 min I suggest) OTB games to create an habitual routine that you will go through every move and also to strengthen your play to your maximum potential.

One comment I read from a GM is that if you're going to play 1 min chess first you must be able to play a full game in one minute. If you find yourself struggling just to be aware of placement of your opponents pieces then you probably shouldn't be playing bullet yet. That is unless you don't care that this is detrimental, or at best not beneficial to your chess development.

 In regards to your homepage - dude when it opened I felt a sudden sharp pain behind my eyes - no lie! The colour mix is quite ... um how can I put this... extreme.

srs? sorry... ill change it once i get around to making another one

na, i play 2 min, and i do finish full games within the time limit.. but yeh, ur right about the need to scope the feild more often

Well this is strange for me as is happen just recently

dude, ive been in that position precisely. u look around and think, yeh yeh, everything's nice and defended here; let me spend this move advancing my pawns/doing some other minor move that'll help in the long run, till ur opponent seizes the opportunity and strikes... not a nice feeling man :(

id go back and unearth some real treasures from when i just started, but for the fact that they deleted it all when live 2 came out..

well this one was standard turn based !

Dont cry, it happens to me, much more than I would like too.

an extended period of spacing out perhaps?  it happens

nah I am not gonna cry about it man I am ok with it, I'll live

Train yourself to see the WHOLE BOARD.   You have identified the problem, now stop doing it!!

It can't be that simple though, I know.  But you need to do it.  Bishops, rooks and queens all can traverse more than your "visual window" so you must already do more than 4x4 at times or any long range attack would beat you. 

By the way, if you were looking at the RIGHT 4x4 window, you would have seen the knight attacking the queen ^^

there was no queen in my one

imagine if i had a queen in my one...

na, id probably just lose it all the same.

.. u no, its not as uncommon as u might think

dude, at least u have the excuse of just failing to notice one single step.

take a look at what i do in this game:

yep 13...Nxc2+  nasty

btw, at the end i was doing my best to make it finish due to time, he had like 4 seconds left, took him 30 seconds to figure 12. ...Qb6, too bad i messed up the advantage :(

Trying to win on time?  I have lost TOO many games trying to do that. 

Good excuse!