ChessPathways Master Simul: Blunders, Losses, and Lessons!

Last blog post, we took a look at 3 nice mating attacks I got to pull off in the "Master Simul." But with the good comes the bad, so as promised...this blog post is going to be all about the mistakes I've made and the losses I've suffered while straining to keep up with 100+ correspondence games at a time!

As everyone who's followed me for a while knows, I'm never content with "calling a blunder a blunder" and moving on. All blunders stem from errors in our thinking process or calculative ability, and it's important to identify that to be able to reflect on our thinking process and improve. Let's take a look at the lessons we can all learn from these painful games!

For those who don't know, I'm hosting this Master Simul in promotion of a new chess project of mine: chesspathways.com.   It's free to sign up, and new members get a free "Move by Move Guide to Chess Thinking."

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Without further ado, let's get to the games, starting with a game I played as black against @DanilichevNik:

Lessons from this game:

• When you have a space advantage, it's sometimes okay to play slowly, build up, restrict your opponent's pieces to the maximum, and finish your development.
• Avoid this trap in your thinking! "I want to play move X, but I'm scared of response A from my opponent....aha, I see a refutation to response A! I'm going to play move X." Your opponent might have a second (or third, or fourth) idea that's far superior!

Let's take a look at another Caro-Kann game with another very important lesson! Congratulations to @Nighteyes1234 for securing this victory:

What thought pattern can we learn to avoid from this game?

• Don't use generalizations in highly concrete situations! If you see a line that results in a piece being cut out of play, don't think "oh, yeah, I saw that that happened in some theoretical line in this opening / some Grandmaster game in this line, it's okay, that's normal, I'll be fine." The slightest detail can make all the difference! You have to calculate.

Finally, two more losses from horrific one-move blunders! Think Masters are above making these bonehead moves? Think again! Congratulations to @My137thaccount and @cyboo for these two wins

I was displeased with one continuation, and therefore picked "path number 2" without making sure it wasn't even worse than the other option! Don't pick a move just because you're dissatisfied with its alternative - always blunder-check.

I'm not sure how to explain this one! Sure, it can easily be dismissed as a "simul mistake". One of the reasons it's so important to play longer time-control games is that an analysis of your mistakes and reflection upon them is much more likely to produce interesting results - you won't be able to say "well, it was just blitz, I was under time pressure, guess I need better chess instincts." (I know a simul is a little different from blitz, but the reliance on instincts is similar!)

But as I've stated, I'm not satisfied with dismissing this as a simul brainfart and nothing more. I think a lack of respect for the opponent's play was a factor here. My opponent had played a strange variation of the Botvinnik-Slav that left me with an advantage as black as early as move 10, so I probably wasn't paying as much attention to the game as I should have, focusing my efforts on games where I was in trouble or where I needed to come up with a strong plan right away.

Many of us know the feeling...when a higher-rated player plays something "strange" against us in a sharp opening, we're terrified, think it's a "well-prepared novelty," and are very on-guard. When a lower-rated player plays something "strange" against us, we think "oh, they don't know the theory" or that "this inaccuracy must be punishable." It may be true that your opponent's play is inaccurate, but never make assumptions and stay on guard!

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That's all for this update! Stay tuned for more coming soon. If you want in on the action in the ChessPathways master simul, send me a correspondence chess challenge on this site! Don't forget to check out chesspathways.com and sign up FREE for exclusive content, contests, and much more.