How do you lose?

I lose in many different ways, of course, but I've noticed after 300 games or so that the most common mode of devastation is when I castle early, only to have my castle destroyed by the opponents pawns,  a knight, a bishop or two, a rook, and sometimes the queen comes in to finish the job, while all my pieces are trapped on the other side of the board.  It's not pretty. 

So, I'd be interested to know if other players have noticed that one way of losing is predominant.

I just get too excited, play too fast and make a silly blunder/miss a tactic. This is basically every loss. Time to learn patience I guess.

hi Mike.  I found the same thing.  So until i see how the game is tending i try to keep my King in the middle (protected) until the choice becomes clear as to whether I should castle King side, or Queen side - if at all.  Each move that I don't castle it is an opportunity to develop another plan or progress my own agenda.  Then if I do castle, i try to do it to the side farthest away from the emeny Queen.  Dangerous to leave the Queen in the middle too long, but it has helped avoid what you describe a few times.  Also, working for us, is that at our rating, your opponent may make a mistake or better yet a blunder to relieve the pressure.  Cheers, Ken

Thanks, Ken. I've been doing that as well, but then I read about castling in your first few moves....  I've also tried the "Kings Indian" defense a couple times and it works. Instead of losing by having my castle destroyed, I lose other ways.

It depends. Usually, I lose to 1-2 movers, actually. Which is surprising, because I thought that by the time I got to this rating, I would have stopped losing that way. Not so.

Other than that, I often lose because I allow too much counterplay while I'm in a winning position. I sometimes fail to find the safest way to convert a position, so my opponent can squeeze something out.

And finally, time trouble. I've been working on time management, and my most recent dozen or so slow games have had much better results, just because I'm better at reminding myself that not every move needs to be perfect, and that often I will need time later in the game to safely convert an endgame, or to find the right move in a critical position.

That happens to me too, but that I understand and the remedy is clear....take your time. Fortunately, it also happens to my opponents. I've had at least 3 games recently where he put me in check with his queen, not seeing a rook, a bishop, or in one case a pawn, that could just take his queen. Usually a resignation follows. I always feel bad for him, because I certainly know first hand how that feels. 

Yea I appreciate that.  I try to also apply military thinking where i try to figure out a way to disrupt the enemy's internal lines of communication, where I target the supporing pieces behind the front line.  But that is hard to do because I still don't have any long term strategies figured out, where i try to position my pieces a certain way in the opening in preparation for what I want to do at move 15 or so.  So I'm trying to just be patient as egniib suggests.  Hopefully it starts coming together but in the meantime, it is a lot of fun and keeps this old mind exercised.  lol

Same here! Flying by the seat of my pants mostly.

Blunders. I don't think I've ever lost unless I make a blunder, but I almost always make at least one blunder.

Regarding your castling problem, castling early allows your opponent to choose to castle the other side and push towards your king. I think there's a beginners fallacy that a castled king is safe. It's not, it just takes more moves to attack when castling is used appropriately, which might buy you a move or two of your own to put an attack together of your own. If you can get and keep the initiative then the opponent hasn't got the moves to be able to attack.

Usually I lose because I get outplayed. I don't think there is anything specific that I repeatedly do wrong, my opponent is just better in that game.

If you notice that you lose because of a certain pattern: identify and eliminate it

Trying to be too accurate, then lose on time. Atleast in blitz this happens all the time, even when I win Im low on time.

I only lose when my brain decides that it doesn't feel like winning

I lose because I love the sharp attacking games that result from opposite side castling. I have done this three or four times now. 

In that way, chess is like life. :-) 

how do you lose at life?

I've also had a problem when I get my bishops and knights out where they can do some good, they end up getting pushed around by advancing pawns. I end up running and hiding, and this is often when I make a mistake....when I'm purely responding to the opponent instead of developing my game. 

 I meant you learn more when you lose than when you win...not just in chess, but in other aspects of life. 

But to answer your question, take a walk around downtown Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, L.A..... and you'll see how you lose at life.  Homelessness, drug addiction, poverty.....

very true.