Road to 2000 Rapid, Expert Level: Searching for Improvement Following Each Game - October 2021

1. Eliminate horrible blunders, such as leaving pieces en prise, falling for obvious skewers, dangerous pins, forks and "mates out of the blue". Win, lose or draw is not the important part here, I just want to practice good chess habits and learn how to play patiently and solidly. If I lose I want it to be because I got thoroughly outplayed, not because I gave up something for free. At least this way I can go through my loss and learn something more productive than "I shouldn't have left that piece undefended"

2. Don't play when tired or distracted. Chess time will be "tunnel time", during that time it will be my sole focus.  I am going to set aside time specifically for that purpose. I will warm up with some tactics puzzles, and if I'm so tired or distracted that I can't solve any of them then I'm probably better off doing something else than chess at that time. 

3. Analyze every game. By forcing myself to analyze every game, I am forcing myself to learn from every game. If it is a particularly instructional game, or the opening catches me off guard or the endgame is completely unfamiliar or something like that, I will do a deeper analysis. I will study the unfamiliar opening or the particular endgame, as to be better prepared in the future.

Horrible Blunders: 1 My horrible blunder in this game came from me not paying attention to what was going on in the game! I completely missed that I could have taken a Knight for free on move 20! Even 1800 players can hang pieces! Just keep a lookout.

Note 1: I played this game both late at night and while there was a lot going on around me. To add to this poor chess-playing environment, I had chosen to play an 1800 opponent! These factors in combination with me not paying nearly enough attention to the game left me with a loss to start off my October games.