Help me cure my board blindness!
Sort:
While considering your position for the attack slap yourself in the face and tell yourself to look at the other side of the board. It also serves to psychologically distract your co-worker.
What I do is I consider two or three moves, and then I consider, after looking at my opponent's position, the top two or three moves he could make in response. Considering your opponent's best move can improve your foresight and ability to see the whole board.
I can recommend you to solve a lot of problems, specially mate combinations, being very careful of every variation.
Then your brain will become more concentrated.
It can help, i think.
Then your brain will become more concentrated.
It can help, i think.
Everytime you plan to move a piece think "what do I leave behind?". Look at what the piece was guarding or what it was blocking. Everytime your opponent makes a move try to see why. Is he eyeing a square or piece. At least when you're playing a good opponent you can be pretty sure that they won't make moves that doesn't benifit them in some way. If you're attacking and they make a move that doesn't defend in any way then it's easy to get happy and just tell yourself that you opponent didn't see your attack but instead you should be extra careful when you see a move like that since it's very likely your opponent found a better attack.
Feb 20, 2008
0
#6
It takes a lot of practice to see what can go wrong. If you like doing problems, this could be helpful. What replies do you come up with to your moves? If you can't, remember that both sides are doing the same thing--using less powerful pieces to push around more powerful pieces. If possible, use tactics like forks, pins and skewers. If all else fails, your friend is there to remind you of the true potential of the opposition's pieces.
If you can, I would like you to:
- When you make a move, predict the move your opponent will make.
- If you are playing postal time controls, turn the board around and obsessively plan several lines for your opponent's attack. Expect to have the worst one to happen.
- After the game, ask your friend to tell you what his plan was like.
- During the analysis, explain reasons for your moves and his expected responses.
Good Luck!
LOL! I have the same problem, but I have no advice. I'm not sure what causes this but I know that cursing myself and repeatedly advising myself to be careful and look at the whole board for every move... doesn't work! I'm hoping that chess wisdom will eventually come with experience. Not seeing things that should be obvious is really quite hard on the mind; and I'm starting to wonder how many other things I do while blissfully ignorant of the situation at hand. Good luck JRF2k.
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Another guy we work with was close to a master rating in his earlier years. It's his fault I am back into Chess this strong. He talks about tournaments and winning and yeah I'd love to see myself doing that, but I guess at 34 I may be a little too old for Chess Stardom, but I would like to improve, so he doesn't look at me strange when I make a move I think is good, but it really isn't.
There is nothing worse than having a guy like that watching your game and then watching him wince as you miss a knight fork that would have won a Rook, but instead you don't see it and you move something else.
There's this other site called the Chess Tactics Server I've been playing on. It's a great site for tatical puzzles. Google it for the address if you are interested
I've also picked up Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman in hopes to not look like a fool.
Even though my co-worker thinks he wins, I look at it as I am beating myself when I go blind to just a section of the board. It kind of takes the sting and humiliation out of losing.
Brother, the problem may be that youre so near the board. Move a little back and look at the whole board. Always assume that you're opponent wil find the best reply. When you attack be sure your pieces work harmoneously together as a team. The moment you see that your attack can be refuted by exchange sacrifice then think of another. My great granpa used to tell me that "If you want to win a game, try to think at least 6 moves deep, sometimes doing this most of the time will zap your opponents energy because he would constantly look for solutions."
JRF2k wrote:
Thanks for the suggestions everyone. Another guy we work with was close to a master rating in his earlier years. It's his fault I am back into Chess this strong. He talks about tournaments and winning and yeah I'd love to see myself doing that, but I guess at 34 I may be a little too old for Chess Stardom, but I would like to improve, so he doesn't look at me strange when I make a move I think is good, but it really isn't.
There is nothing worse than having a guy like that watching your game and then watching him wince as you miss a knight fork that would have won a Rook, but instead you don't see it and you move something else.
There's this other site called the Chess Tactics Server I've been playing on. It's a great site for tatical puzzles. Google it for the address if you are interested
I've also picked up Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman in hopes to not look like a fool.
Even though my co-worker thinks he wins, I look at it as I am beating myself when I go blind to just a section of the board. It kind of takes the sting and humiliation out of losing.
Too funny, this is almost my exact situation. I play during my breaks at work with a friend and he and I are pretty much even, but there is a guy who works in a different area who comes in and watches sometimes during our second break. He used to play in tournaments all the time and was a ~1900 rated class A player. It is horrible to make a move and then hear a groan or some other little noise and know I just screwed up or missed something good.
I have been trying to improve by reading some books and I also signed up for the Chess Mentor program here at chess.com and those lessons have really helped me a lot, I think.
I also just think playing more and more will help me get better as I build a larger pool of positions hopefully stored in whatever part of my brain recognizes patterns.
" It is horrible to make a move and then hear a groan or some other little noise and know I just screwed up or missed something good. "
Don't mind them bro. A chess player approach the game differently. Some are positional some tactical and some like to complicate things. it would be hard for a positional player to take risks than for an attacking player. You're doing the right thing. Believe in your capabilities and don't be conciousof the people around you.The most important thing is to learn form your games.
Thanks for the info.
I'm 3-1 now. 
all that I can say is that you must concentrate on the whole board not just you're peices. Seeing all of the peices and predicting what you're opponent is going to is the key to victory
I suffer from chess blindness all the time, and I am trying to overcome it. I am going to try and look away from the board every few minutes so my brain does not start to block out information it considers unnecessary.
Nov 24, 2023
0
#16
I suffer from chess blindness all the time and i dont know how to cure it pls i have a lose streak
Nov 24, 2023
0
#17
wolfranger912 wrote:
I suffer from chess blindness all the time and i dont know how to cure it pls i have a lose streak
You've played 81 matches. All of them Rapid, Blitz or Bullet.
‘why do my eyes hurt?'
'because you’ve never used them before’ - Morpheous
Is there any cure?! Every game I've lost when me and a friend play at work is because I am concentrating on an attack and I literally do not see one half of he board. I set up up a good attack and then fail to recognize some bishop hiding in the corner and WHAM my queen is gone, my attack over, and I tip over my king muttering insults at myself.
Has anyone here had trouble with this?
I need to win tomorrow's game or he'll have me 3-1.
Thanks,
JRF2k