so annoyed by tunnel vision… is this a neurodivergent-thing?

I‘ve played the following game and was clearly in a better position. As you can see… But then I blundered. I just didn’t „remember“ that the knight could catch my queen. Soooo stupid… I am really frustrated.

I just didn’t see it, although it was his previous move! I was a little distracted by my kids in real life, but nevertheless, I should have seen it/remembered it. It was a calculated risk, I was considering it before and aware of that. But then I just „forgot“ it.

Why does this stupid mistakes happen? Why do you just overlook very obvious things as a beginner? How can I train my brain to recognise this threats more „automatically“? Or is this because I am neurodivergent, due to my bad short-Term memory and „tunnel vision“, that I overlook sometimes the whole situation while focussing on a particular move?

Schauen Sie sich dieses #Schachspiel an: Nora_1978 gegen mado50 - https://www.chess.com/game/daily/830696050

I think tunnel vision is just part of the learning curve. Humans are wired to make decisions on limited information. In general, this is a good thing... You don't think about how to turn the handle to open a door every time you open a door... The downside of this is that when presented with lots of information, we automatically start filtering.. which can lead to these tunnel vision scenarios.

Normally I am really bad at filtering. I have no good filter, therefore I am constantly overwhelmed. I see everything, hear everything, smell everything and my brain has difficulties with prioritising. Everything seems equally important to my brain. This is one of my main issues. But if I am really focussed on something/interested in something, everything seems to fade but this. Then it is no prioritizong anymore, because in my brain at this moment nothing else exists anymore than this topic of interest. In this case it was to give checkmate, except I forgot to eliminate the knight with my pawn first 😝.

But I thank you very much for giving me the feeling I am not totally stupid. It’s just a part of learning chess….

Hi @Nora_1978

It's definitely part of the learning curve, but sticking by a common teaching tool can really help improve this. I'm sure you might have heard it before, but every single move look for Checks, Captures and Threats the opponent can make. If you do this, literally every single move, the amount of blunders you mentioned will reduce. The difference between someone of higher rating, is that because they've done this many many times, their brains can recognise the patterns faster. But it's hard to get faster, without constant implementing first.

Hope this helps,
-@FinkeChess

What you are describing is board vision. Don't be too hard on yourself. It gets better with practice. Make a habit of blunder checking before each move and play longer time controls if you are able.

Not a neurodivergent thing. We all forget to see how the last move effects our plans as it is just a bad habit that keeps everyone blundering. You cant see all tactics all the time, or you get used to only looking for one type of tactic and not others in a game or even sequence of puzzles. The puzzle change blindness happens to titled players as well. 10 puzzles all forks then first puzzle deflect and you miss it being conditioned to look for the other thing.

Slow blunder-check routine: Before making a move, scan: “What does my opponent threaten? What would they do if I pass?” Make this a conscious ritual.

Fancy words and fashion vocabulary won't change a problem that is as old as Mankind: people tend to blunder. Not just some of us, all of us.

Various methods, if in the Military or in Martial Arts, and other areas of life, have been created then improved in order to reduce the frequency of these absurd events (also named "missed gesture" by some) And the success is... well, not the same from an individual to an other, out of factors no one ever suceeded to indentify clearly.

Once, a loooong time ago, as I was driving at quiet pace on a desert road at night, I saw the road was taking a curve toward right. For no reason at all, my hands turned the wheel to the left and made me have an accident. It happened right before my eyes, I was seeing what I was doing, I was seeing it was so wrong, and I could not help it before it was too late.

Go figure.

Just try to be carefull, like more rather than less, is the best advice I can give here.

hi

Hi @FinkeChess

"I'm sure you might have heard it before, but every single move look for Checks, Captures and Threats the opponent can make. If you do this, literally every single move, the amount of blunders you mentioned will reduce."

I heard it before, but to be honest: didnt follow it . But since I follow this "basic rule", my play improved a lot! I have troubles with time, though. So I tend to play 15/10 or daily games. Still of course, I blunder. Especially, if I am tired, distracted, have played to much games before and loosing focus I get much worse. 

But to follow this rule minimized my blunder-rating a lot. But I think I will never be able to play blitz, because to check this three points before every of my moves takes too long.

A good tip is to avoid tunnel vision is to look at what changed after every move. What squares is my opponent attaching that they weren’t before? What squares did they leave the defense of? Did they do a discoverers attack?
Keep going, thinking of what your opponent could be trying to do with their move before you even start considering your move.

In the case of the game you showed, that wasn’t really tunnel vision, you just “forgot” the knight was defending that square. I’d say blunder checking is a good way to not do that, there’s not much else to it.

Everyone makes mistakes.

(Attaching was a typo, I meant attacking)

Not necessarily a neurodivergent thing as much as it is a training thing...If you are trained on specific movements and not the conceptual aspect of the game then you will perform less than your best.

spend time with your kids while they are awake & train your board vision with survival puzzle rush when they are asleep is my advice to you. 😺

You start to learn to watch out for things like "bishops hiding in the corner" over time. Just play more. But tunnel vision happens to the best of players.