How You Can Cut Down on Blundering

Everyone blunders. From rank beginners to club players to masters to Grandmasters to world champions, there isn't a single chess player who has ever touched a chess piece who hasn't blundered or made a terrible mistake. I've experienced it. Everyone reading this has experienced it. If you can find someone who's never blundered, I'll gift you a free diamond membership for life. 

That was just to make a point. Don't go looking for a grandmaster who just joined chess.com and has played 1 game with no mistakes.

So anyway, this post will try to help you reduce your blunders. I say "reduce" because it's impossible to remove all blunders and mistakes from your game. If you're not a computer.

You'll find tips and tricks here that I've found useful, examples of famous blunders, my own blunders, and methods to remember all of this in a real game without cheating and opening this post on another tab (which I hope you will be tempted to do but will refrain from doing after you read this).

Note: if you use chess.com to play exclusively blitz and bullet, this won't help much. However there is a post in the works which will be published sometime in the next few weeks about things like how to improve your speed chess. I might do a whole series about that. An example: you can't put your hands behind your back if you're playing one minute chess. You'll run out of time before you can play ten moves.

This is going to be a bit more complicated as online chess is exploding in popularity because of the pandemic, so some things may not work as well or not at all for either OTB or online, but I will try my best to separate what will and won't work. There've probably been a ton of other articles and posts about this that I've been to lazy to look at, but this one is specifically about what has helped me as a player. Also, this is for everyone and I hope it can help everyone of all skill levels. 

SECTION 1: TIPS AND TRICKS

1. Hold your hands behind your back until you're absolutely sure of your move and that it's the best possible. Sitting on your hands has the same effect, but your opponent may be a bit disconcerted by shaking hands with someone who's sat on their hands for an hour. The point of this tip is that you don't instinctively play a move that you've been planning without double-checking, when it might possibly be a blunder. Always double, triple, and quadruple-check your moves, especially if you're in the middle of a dynamic, tactical fight or a tense struggle where a single inaccuracy can decide the game. This goes for every game you play, online or OTB as long as it's played at a civilized time control.
2. Sleep well the night before every important game you play. You should have a good night's sleep before every game you play. Sleeping for five hours and drink ten cups of coffee before a game won't have the same effect as sleeping for a good, solid 8-12 hours. I know that many people's schedules can't allow this, but at least try to follow this when you're playing in an important tournament or match. You can choose how long you want to sleep the night before you play some games online that don't mean as much to you, although a good night's sleep is always preferable.
3. Eat a healthy, hearty energy-packed breakfast before you play. Or lunch if you're playing in the afternoon. Point is, eat efficiently. Don't scramble to McDonalds for a Big Mac, fries, and a Coke five minutes before your games start. It might fill you up, but it won't give you the energy and nutrition needed to think for extended periods of time. Some solid meal choices are sandwiches with good ingredients like tomatoes, lettuce, low-fat cheese, low-fat meat like Canadian bacon or ham, and salads (with some carbs and protein). This isn't a post on diet control, but it's an important part of playing. Don't forget to have some snacks during a long game. Some say sugar can be bad for you, but things like a banana or a bit of chocolate will give you a needed energy boost to play. Actually this tip is good for any sport or activity you do. Good food is always good. 
4. Get fresh air. If you're smack in the middle of a long, tiring game, step away from the board for a few minutes, go outside, and get some fresh air. It will relax you and clear your thought's preparing you to go back to work. Of course, only do this if you have a good amount of time on the clock, for example after you reach the time control if you're playing 2 hours for 40 moves and 1 hour for the next 20 moves. Also, you should check with an arbiter or tournament director before the game to see if walking out of the playing is allowed. You don't want to be locked out. Since when playing online usually people play faster time controls, you probably only need to do this OTB.
5. Look at your opponent's previous move and think about these questions:

• Is it threatening anything? If so, figure out what it's threatening and safeguard it. If it's threatening multiple things, look for a way to protect everything. If you can't do that and must lose material or allow your position to be ruined, look for counterplay and opportunities to swindle your opponent.
• Is it a check (or mate)? Look at all of your options to get out of check, and see if your opponent can do anything harmful to your position after any of those options. Choose the option that you think is best, double-check, and if it is safe play it.
• Is your king in danger? Muster more defenders around your king and ward off any incoming pieces. Don't weaken your king, though.
• Are any of your pieces in danger? Protect them or retreat them. 
• Does your opponent want to start an attack and can you prevent it? If you can prevent the attack by a prophylactic move, it's best to take the time to do it, for example playing Kb1 in certain Sicilians when white castles queenside and sidesteps a c-file attack. If you can't prevent the attack, then bring over more defenders and try to weather the storm.
• Will doing any of the suggested things in response to the questions give up part of the board, an advantage, or something of the like? Try split your focus between the given responses and defending what was weakened. If possible start a vicious counterattack and set traps looking for a swindle.

6. Have "candidate" moves and whittle them down. Choose different moves that you think are all possibly the best. Look at each one carefully. Try to check all of your opponent's replies and see if they have any tactical shots, winning plans, or ways to gain the advantage. Which move fits in with your overall goal? Do they have a purpose? Can your opponent stop your goal? Check each move to see if it's a blunder, and take your time. This one is more for OTB again.

SECTION 2: Examples of blunders from my games

1. In this one I thought I had a winning tactic but thought too fast and blundered... although this is a 10 minute game I should have been more careful and thought a bit longer.
2. Another blunder of a piece, I thought I was winning a pawn and played the move way too fast.
3. Simply a gross blunder of a piece...

SECTION 3: Famous Blunders