Stop ! Your next move may be a blunder 1

I am a great master in chess. Not a NM, IM or GM, but a BM-- Blunder Master ! 

There are many ways for me to make a blunder. The easiest way is when I hang a piece or overlook my opponent's threats. I call this level 1 blunder. But you can prevent this easily !

Ask Two Questions 

One key habit has made the difference for me to avoid this kind of blunder and helped me to advance from the beginner to the intermediate level. It is to ask two questions before I move :

1. What threats are my opponent making ? 

2. What squares are my opponent controlling ?

I’ll share two of my games that illustrate the effectiveness of these questions to prevent blunder.

In the image below, White’s dark-square Bishop had just taken a pawn on f6. It is Black to play.

Question 1: “What threats are White making?”

Answer: White’s Bishop is threatening to take the Black Knight on e5.

With no way to defend the Knight, it needs to move. But to where?

Question 2: “What squares are White controlling?”

Answer: White is controlling the squares shown below ( ignoring the Rook on h8 ).

So, the safe squares for the knight to move to are d7, f7, g4.

What happens often is that we think about our next move without asking these two questions. For example, we may think about applying other principles, such as centralizing the knight, or looking to counterstrike the rook on d2. This results in Nc4 ??, a blunder, because of Bxc4.

The habit of asking the two questions above would protect me from blunders. Understanding my opponent's threats and the squares that they control actually helps me to decide my next move. 

Ask Two Questions before EVERY move

It’s important to ask these two questions at every turn, before I make my next move.

In the image below, it’s Black to move. Let’s apply asking the habit of the two questions.

Question 1: “What threats are White making?”

Answer: Nothing. 

Question 2: “What squares are White controlling?”

Answer: White is controlling the squares shown below.

Black then plays pawn to a5, and White plays pawn to c4. Asking the two questions again,

Question 1: “What threats are White making?”

Answer: White is now threatening to take the Rook on h8 from a discovered attack. 

Question 2: “What squares are White controlling?”

Answer: The pawn move has let White to control more squares as shown below.

Because Black didn’t ask these two questions, he blundered axb4 ?, leading to Bxh8.

NO ONE is blunder-proof

You will probably say, "I know this already", or “I am too advanced to make these blunders”. But even experienced, professional grandmasters neglect asking these two questions and blunder !

In the image below, GM Tigran Petrosian (2690), White, is playing against GM David Bronstein (2590), Black. It is White to play, so let’s apply the habit of asking the two questions for White.

Question 1: “What threats are Black making?”

Answer: Black is threatening to take the White Queen on d6.

With no obvious way to counterstrike, the White Queen would need to move. But to where?

Question 2: “What squares are Black controlling?”

Answer: Black is controlling the squares shown below.

So, the safe squares for the queen to move to are a3, b4, c7, and e6.

Petrosian (White) probably neglected asking the two questions because his next move was Ng5 ?? causing Bronstein to capture the queen with Nxd6. Petrosian resigned immediately after that.

If you found this idea to be helpful, please let me know by leaving a comment. Thanks very much!