Common chess advice all too common

I see people say it all the time.  "You need to stop hanging pieces."  Or, "Check to see if all your pieces are safe then move."  I remember when I didn't know much about chess.  I remember when I had never played speed chess.  I wasn't good at chess at all, but was under the delusion that I was at least somewhat decent.  Let me put it this way, I knew a guy back then that no matter what I tried he would always win, and he told me he knows nothing about chess.  Today, it's the other way around, and I told him, "I barely know anything at all about chess!"  I remember those days.  Where I would move a piece to where I wanted it to go and then keep my hand on top of it, doing the very thing you guys tell people to do, check to see if it is safe.  9 times out of 10 the move wasn't safe.

What is the moral of this story?  The people that you guys are telling this to already know this, and you are just beating a dead horse.  They know.  The problem isn't that they do not know this simple fact.  The problem is they do not have the experience, and the pattern recognition that we have.  Just merely telling someone, "Oh yeah you "just" got to stop dropping pieces," does absolutely nothing.  They already knew this.  I knew this, along time ago, before I even knew what the Fried liver was, but had it done on me all the time without even knowing the name of it.  I played chess back then and I knew very little about the game, and had a lot of victories when put in front of people that knew less than I.  I didn't know what Damiano's Defense was either, and I even played it as black not really understanding the reason behind why we don't push f6 but rather push d3 to protect the pawn on e5 or rather just play Nc6.  Heck, when I was told Bobby Fischer played the Sicilian, I got mixed up and thought it was a white opening and played c4 because I thought thats what Bobby Fischer did!  And I'm telling you, every move I did, I held my hand over the piece, still clenching my fingers rather tightly on the piece to signify that I did not make my move, doing the very thing you guys are telling these beginners to do, but still ended up being wrong most of the time, usually with opponents who where better than I though.  

To reinterate my point, my brother, the one who taught me how to play chess, couldn't find a mate in one when I asked him what was the best move.  It was a simple queen plus Knight support mate.  He couldn't see it.

It's not that they are "forgetting" or "don't know" to check to see if their pieces are safe every move.  It's because they don't realize the move isn't safe, sound, etc.  Call it eye brain connection, or whatever.  We have it, beginners don't.  The best thing a beginner can do is play as much as possible while occasionally taking time to compliment their play with study.  

So, if you tell someone, to add a blunder check to this "checklist" of things to do before making a move, 9 times out of 10, that really won't help, mainly because they where already doing it before, as was I, and, like I said, its not that they arn't doing it, but that they don't realize they are "hanging a piece," or, "are falling to a tactic," etc.

I believe Dan Heisman gives the best checklist anyone can ever dream of having before making a move.  The check list is given through the course of his book, A Guide to Chess Improvement.  In that checklist, you won't find a lot of stuff that you already know, and are already probably doing, but you will find other stuff to think about, to make to realize even more when you are thinking of making a bad move.  Have a Nice Day everyone!

You could have said this instead of "don't hang pieces and take hanging pieces".

I completely agree - you need to pressure your opponent to make mistakes by activating your pieces, and you need to be aware of the many tactical tricks that can win material. Not just miss 1-move piece hangs. 

I think its because people are too used to playing fast chess when they start. If they were playing slower chess they could check each of their opponents pieces to see if it was attacking something and wouldn't lose stuff to one move threats. Beyond that it is about learning tactical patterns though I agree.

Exactly. 

You have to start somewhere - play slow chess, and practice not hanging pieces. You literally can't start anywhere more basic. But if you try to play blitz with no slow, then you'll never get past this stage. 

Then, move on to basic tactics - you can practice puzzles which will give you pattern recognition. Supplement w/ slow games where you check for safety. It's impossible not to improve this way, as long as you learn from each game. 

The problem that the OP has is pretty simple - expectation of quick results in chess.

You don't stop hanging pieces a week after someone tells you to stop. Chess improvement is not a fast thing. 

As a retired teacher and high school chess coach, let me point out that these are not proper learning goals from the standpoint of real learning.

There's no positive action involved.  Instead of "stop hanging pieces" it would be better to say "Learn Nimzowitsches Principle of Overprotection and Dan Heisman's move checklist.  You would then point them to Chapter 14, Overprotection, in Nimzo's My System and, perhaps, one of more of Dan Heisman's excellent books like Chapter 2, Thought Process, in his The Best of Novice Nook or one of his ChessCafe articles.  You would then ask them to outline the chapters or, at least, to create a 2 minute presentation on Overprotection and Heisman's Checklist.  I assigned the two minute talks to my high school kids who played tournament chess on topics ranging from "Demonstrate how The Principle of the Opposition is used in King and Pawn Endgames" to "Show how to determine if you should castle on opposite sides" to " "Show how to use the Pawn Pointing Rule to choose a side to attack."  We'd start out meetings off with a few of them plus any new developments I had thought of, and we were the dominant team in our county and among the top state teams.

Finally, note that knowing all the principles anyone's ever thought of mean little if you don't know tactics.  You need to be able to recognize patterns and know tactical motifs and combinations, preferably by name, in order to excel.