It looks like to me you were not paying attention to what your opponent is threatening in those situations. There is a couple things you can do to help prevent that. The first is always ask yourself why did my opponent make the move they just played. This can help you not fall for traps or make blunders. You may have a good plan or move that you can make, but if your opponent's threat comes sooner then you make not have time to play your move, and reap the benefits of it. The other thing you can do is whenever you see something that is too good to be true (like your opponent dropping a piece) always assume that they saw it before they made the move, and check to see what counterplay or other threat they have. They could intentionally be setting a trap for you, or threating something else entirely with that move. To combat this check for all your opponent's threats that they currently have on you, and also calculate the entire exchange as best as you can. If you do not see a threat that results in a worse position for you if you go through with the exchange, and the entire exchange works in your favor then take the dropped piece. This will help you catch the vast majority of blunders like the ones that happened in your games. It is also good practice to do this.
Decent at Daily Games, bad at Rapid, it's been a year
I think you nailed it, yes, I can see what I'm trying to do but blind to their actions. The good news is I used to be worse at it.
Daily games are easier than rapid games.
I'm experiencing a similar thing with my own daily/rapid games.
Daily games are easier than rapid games.
I'm experiencing a similar thing with my own daily/rapid games.
yeah, I'm starting to see that.
Try playing longer rapid games, maybe 15|10.
I'll try that. I had been doing that but we do 10|0 at work so I wanted some experience with that. But yeah, I should.
good, but not puzzle rush. Try to do that on 5 mins and work over time to improve,
I'm not understanding...
One thing to keep in mind is that chess is very complex and difficult game. So complex that in most positions it's impossible to calculate the best move in 10 to 15 seconds. The only way to play moves that fast is by memory or pattern recognition (including opening principles, positional guidelines, etc). You have either played the position before or have played a similar position. After only 400 or so games, 200 per color, you are playing almost every position for the first time. If you play Blitz or Rapid you are basically just guessing moves. You first need to understand a position, before you can speed up. And that takes a lot of time and practice.
The first time to really understand a position might take an hour., for example. The second time looking at the same position, you'll find the best move a lot faster. The third time more so, etc. Over time, you'll be able to play the best move in just a couple of seconds.
The other way around doesn't work. If you spend 20 seconds on making a move and it turns out it was a mistake, while you have no idea why. That's why everyone suggests longer time formats.
Don't worry about the rating difference, that's perfectly normal. You can still play Rapid and play more games that way, see more positions, but take some time to analyze afterwards, because that's where you learn.
You are playing too fast, without thinking about the opponent's moves at all. In your first rapid game, your opponent threatens mate-in-1, and you make a move that does nothing about it in 7 seconds (!), with almost 8 minutes on your clock. The second game is the same, instead that the mate is hanging for 3 full moves, neither your opponent nor you noticing it.
So slowing down is what I need, that makes sense.
Yeah, I didn't see those mates, that's for sure!
OR you can train in chesstempo.com
I've been playing chess as an adult about a year ago. I watch lessons daily and tried playing a 10 or 15 minute game every weekday after work. I got better.
Last September, or so, life got pretty busy and I couldn't play the rapid games, but I started doing Daily games, sometimes have 10 or even 20 games going at once.
My rapid rating is between 500 and 600, daily is a bit under 900. I seem to be a better player at daily games, I can use the openings explorer and sit and think.
I used to be halfway decent at 10 and 15 minute games so I just did two of them. (If you look me up, ignore the other ones, they are all work games with higher rated players, I expected to lose.)
In both games I was surprised by early checkmates! That would never happen in a Daily game. I was honestly surprised. It seems that my opponents were able to execute plans and I was unable to see them.
How can I get past this? (Aside from playing more rapid games I guess...)
Thanks!