how come the split-second after i hit "submit move" i instantly refute my move or find the best response that i hadn't considered?  i then sweat for a couple of days waiting for my opponent to log-in and move. this happens a lot to me. i understand that i won't make the best move a good portion of the time and will sometimes figure that out while my opponent goes.  but, does it have to happen so fast when it took so long to come up with the move before i commited? is this common?

Take some more time making your moves, and don't make moves when you're tired or drowsy. I've learned that the hard way.

It's very common, happens almost every game to me.

dwaxe wrote:

Take some more time making your moves, and don't make moves when you're tired or drowsy. I've learned that the hard way.

but, why must my tired mind work so much faster after i've commited to the move and can't change my fate.

it's almost like that moment right before an accident where everything slows down and you have all the time in the world to navigate through the wreckage or brace for it.

alternatively, a few drinks could help steady any nerves (and remember, unconscious or intuituve reasoning can sometimes be more accurate than conscious, try to tap into your ego and id).

I agree though, even at my level, the sweating can already be annoying (a cost of correspondence chess). for me though it seems to take about five minutes. then, occassionally, after i have moved and closed the program, i panic and think - that can't be right, their queen (or whatever) must have been on a totally different rank/file (prob the same as mine and ready to pounce), and I have to switch back on the comp just to check (normally nothing is majorly out of place and the pieces are on the files/ranks i thought, but occassionally they are not and i realise my head was totally out of whack with the game at hand).

joly wrote:

alternatively, a few drinks could help steady any nerves

Aha!! now i know how you've been destroying me in tourney play...

Next time we get paired against each other, i'm getting wasted.

Advantage - hondoham

Just slow down.

Spot the move, do your gloating about how perfect it is, and then think about it again before submitting it.

A few extra minutes in a 7 day game won't make any difference.

I always look at the game, go through a short amount of time looking for what I believe to be a good move, but then don't play it. I move on to another game, do the same thing, and then switch back to the original game where I try it on an analysis board. That pause between searching two different positions two different times always seems to help me -- I don't jump to conclusions and I don't get hung up on just one idea.