Avoiding Bad Decisions in Chess
Sometimes you evaluate the position, and an idea springs into your mind. "I should attack!" Or... "I should sit back and develop." But as the game goes on, your plan slowly crumbles, and soon you end up in a worse position. Why? Because you did not make the right decision. Making bad decisions can happen to beginners and grandmasters, so here I'll give some tips on how to avoid them.
One of the best ways to avoid bad decisions is play according to the board, not according to what you like (i.e. attack.) In the following position, White wants to attack with an aggressive sacrifice of the exchange, but this soon causes his downfall.
- The Black king is terribly exposed.
- White's two rooks can easily line up against the Black king.
- The White queen is there to help.
- The kingside is open, giving the attackers flexibility.
So the attack began!
The other way to avoid mistakes is to not fear risky moves. Playing it safe isn't always the best idea and can lead to missing a winning move. Sometimes, a winning sacrifice is shrugged off because there's an easier move that doesn't need calculation. In the following game, the risky move Qxh7+ required a lot of calculation, but it won the game.
That end the blog! Bad decisions are very common in chess, but I hope this will help you make less mistakes in your future games. See you in the next blog!
