Do intermediate chess players (1500-) still make blunders?

@slippy_sam + 1. Do tactics puzzles aiming to get them right first time in your head. Ignore the clock. As the puzzles get harder you increasingly have to calculate more and visualise in your head and account for the puzzles defensive resources. If you do 5 to 10 puzzles everyday like this, after 3 months your board vision will have strengthened. It is a skill that the brain can automate given daily training and time.

Argh. I wish I had the motivation and mental toughness to force myself to do long calculations.

Everyone blunders, but the blunders look different at each level. At higher levels, they're usually done in more complex positions, and the refutation isn't as obvious. Here are some examples:

This is what a 500 rated blunder looks like:

This is what a 1000 rated blunder looks like:

This is what a 1500 rated blunder looks like:

And this is what a 2000 rated blunder looks like:

 

You never stop making blunders.

I am around 1760 in Rapid and 1700 in Blitz and I still make stupid blunders - like dropping my queen. It does not happen very often, but when it happens it is always very frustrating especially when I have a winning Position. Yesterday I overlooked in a winning endgame with one bishop ahead that a rook which is on the diagonal next field to a bishop can NOT protect this bishop. So my opponent just took the bishop with his king.

Well, I hope that if I ever reach 1500 I stop blundering my queen in a won position and lose the game

A week ago I blundered my queen after my opponent made an unsound piece sacrifice on F7. I took a pawn with my queen without checking if The bishop on f1 was defending it or not

was watching a finegold vid the other and he said “you can play terrible as long as you dont blunder”

and you can add something to this- “as long as you dont blunder last”

for all practical purposes i make several blunders a game as far as the engine interprets it- but, luckily, most “blunders” are only changing the evaluation like
+/- .5-1.0

sometimes you can really feel it in a positional weakening where there are permanent problems

but it isnt a catastrophic blunder

it is the catastrophic ones that ruin the day

in a lot of ways amateur chess is like jenga where each side moves (pulls out a log) and eventually one player has the game (logs) come tumbling down on him

Ngl, but they do.

Yeah, it's more about how much pressure you're under.

For example if I play a beginner, it's very possible 99% of my moves will be the same a GM or engine would play.

But if I play someone as good as me, then I'll be under pressure and I could easily blunder.

Yes, everyone makes blunders sometimes! Because we are humans, we blunder!

This is good to hear. I was thinking to give up hope of improving. I was about to put my blunders down to my ADHD. Been playing a couple of years, with basic knowledge of tactics. I often get well ahead, taking the opponents Queen and/or several pieces. And I STILL end up losing by blundering my Queen away or overlooking an easy checkmate onto me. It's like, I get so far ahead, then press the self-destruct button

If by blunder you mean what chess.com cathegorizes as blunder then no person stopped blundering in blitz. Even the best players blunder at least somewhat consistently in blitz. You would probably need to go to master level or even to GM level when it comes to not making blunders in slow chess as well. And if GMs decided to play wild and crazy positions instead of more safe positions that they are playing now, you would see a lot more moves which chess.com engine would consider blunders even on their level. So, the answer to your question is never. This would be a lot more interesting question if you define blunders in a different way. If you define blunders as
1) moves which lose a piece by force in 1,2 or 3 moves in a position which wasn't already completely lost or
2) moves which let your opponent checkmate you in 1, 2 or 3 moves from a position which wasn't already completely lost

then I would say that around 1500-1600 level people stop making such blunders in every game. At 1800-1900 level people make blunders  like this in every 4-5 games when playing against opponents of their own strength.

Especially in blitz. Even if you are a GM you will still blunder consistently in blitz if you are playing against opponents of your level.

I once looked at my own games to see how frequently I make 1 move blunders (straight up hanging a piece in 1 move) and how frequently I make 1,2 or 3 move blunders (moves which lose material or get checkmated in a 1, 2 or 3 move sequence). I make 1 move blunders every 20-30 games and I make 1,2 or 3 move blunders 1 in every 4 or 5 games. I am rated 1926 rapid, 1807 blitz as of the moment of writing this comment.

When you start playing chess 1500 rated players look like gods and that's why you are asking the question that you are asking. In reality, 1500s aren't really all that good. I am 1900 and 1900s aren't all that good either.

I blunder all the time...

same

Everyone blunders, even Carlsen.

There are 2 major differences:

1) Frequency - a GM blunders on occasion, maybe once every 3 or 4 games.  An expert may blunder twice a game.  A 1500 may blunder 4 times a game.  A 1000 probably blunders a dozen times a game.  Note that a Blunder does not mean you are lost.  You could blunder away a win, going from say, +8 (assuming you are White) to 0.00.  A blunder is not always a losing move.  It is a move that significantly shifts the assessment in the negative direction for the player that made the move.  That could be winning to drawn (the variety most GMs make) or from drawn to dead lost.  However, it may only be dead lost after 1 particular move and if the opponent does not make that move, he blunders his winning advantage away.

 

2) Blatantcy - GMs and experts make subtle mistakes.  A positional blunder, or a tactical blunder that allows maybe a 7-move combination.  1400s allow 1-move and 2-move pins and forks.  1000s hang pieces.  GM's miss 10 move combinations.  Experts miss 5-move combinations.  1400s miss 2-move combinations.  800s miss hanging pieces.

 

Everyone blunders.  It is a question of how blatant they are!