I'm a Loser


Stop playing blitz chess.
And "control the center" is not important.
What's important is "don't hang pieces", which is all you need to work on right now.

When Paul Morphy was 12 years old somebody developed his queen prematurely against him.
This is the punishment he doled out.


When your opponent attacks your bishop with a pawn, move the bishop or you'll lose material. Don't check your opponent's king if they can block with a pawn and thus attack your bishop in return. When it's your turn and you have two bishops both under attack by pawns, realize you're going to lose one of them. You can at least sacrifice one of them with a check and save the other. If you're going to attack a queen with a pawn, make sure it's protected or the queen can just take the pawn. When your opponent checks your king with a queen, and you block with your queen, exchange queens, don't try to attack it with a knight which was preventing the queen from taking an important pawn near your rook. When your opponent takes the pawn near your rook, realize they can take your rook on the next move with check. Don't try to save your knight when the rook is more valuable than the knight. Also don't sacrifice your queen for a pawn which is guarded because they can take your queen with the piece guarding it.
The logic behind central control is that a piece near the center of the board has more squares it can move to as opposed to a piece on the edge of the board which can't move off the board. Thus it pays to fight for the center of the board in chess. But if you're blundering away your pieces, sacrificing a queen for a pawn with no compensation whatsoever, then you're basically betting on your opponent blundering to your blunder by not taking back. Don't play that kind of chess where you're betting your whole game on your opponent blundering next move. You'll win a lot more games if you play more conservatively and aim for winning material than trying to mate your opponent as fast as possible. Once you have more material than your opponent, feel free to sacrifice your material in an attempt to checkmate the opponent's king. But be conservative with your sacrifices. Sacrificing a queen is a big deal. Unless you see a forced checkmate, don't toss away your queen. If you see your opponent bringing out their queen early, don't try to attack it. Rather, protect your pieces so their queen can't take anything. Only once you've protected everything the queen can threaten, then it's ok to attack the queen. When you attack the queen, make sure you think a move ahead to where the queen will go. The queen's weakness is the knight. The knight attacks in a way which the queen can't attack back. Generally it's a good idea to chase away queens with knights because it allows you to develop your knight in the process of chasing away their queen.
Let's look at another of your games:
When you have your opponent's knight pinned to their rook, realize if they move their knight, you can take their rook. When your opponent attacks your queen with a pawn, move your queen -- not your knight which was not under attack. Luckily your opponent blundered and didn't take your queen and you were able to move it next move. Your opponent blundered away their queen. Move 25 when your rook took the pawn checking your opponent's king, they moved their king to a position attacking your rook. You took 34.4 seconds to make a move, deciding to guard it with your other rook. Should be better at time management. Realize there was nothing else going-on on the board, and simply moved your rook away from attack, anywhere, it doesn't matter. You don't need to find an amazing combination. Only if you see a combination execute it. If you don't see one, then simply move your piece away from attack. You spent over 10 seconds on each of your remaining rook moves which accomplished nothing. The time control was 5 minutes. If you don't see a useful move to make, then make a quiet passive move, like push a pawn one square, move your king to a safer square, or even move your rook out of your opponent's territory. It doesn't matter. if you don't see a combination, make a quiet move. Think on your opponent's time. If you see a combination, then execute it. But if the move accomplishes nothing more than a check, and your opponent can take the piece checking them, then it's a wasted move that accomplishes nothing. Don't trade a well-placed piece for a bad-placed piece.
In general, whenever you move a queen, you should be putting lots and lots of thought into making sure it is safe because there is a lot of risk involved in moving a queen. The next most important is the rook. A bishop or knight are worth a lot less, so you shouldn't be as cautious when moving them to a new square. Finally pawns are worth the least in the game, so if you need to make a move as fast as possible with the least amount of risk involved when moving it, pawns are a good candidate to consider. Finally, the king is the most important piece in the game, but he's more of a liability than an asset in the game because you can't trade him for anything. But he can be an asset if he can take a piece on the board without risking his own head.
I think you can improve your game immensely by simply responding to your opponent's threats. If they push a pawn which can take one of your pieces next move, simply move the piece out of harms way. You don't have to attack something on every move you make. Some threats need to be responded to before you make your own threats. Taking away your opponent's options is half the game.


you are NOT A LOOSER,you are a great player with skills out of this world.You know it,i know it,we all know it,i believe in you,in order to win,you need to loose."Masters have failed at something more times then beginners have tried"

you are NOT A LOOSER,you are a great player with skills out of this world.You know it,i know it,we all know it,i believe in you,in order to win,you need to loose."Masters have failed at something more times then beginners have tried"
Don't be fooled, that's not the real Hikaru Nakamura. The real one uses:
https://www.chess.com/member/Hikaru

It's easy to get down on yourself playing this game, and that applies to players of all levels. I know from experience that the more negative thoughts you have at the moment the worse you will play. After a few losses it is easy to go on 'tilt' mode and lose more than you should because you are getting further away from peak performance with every game.
On a side note you should put more time into learning. It is good to know some theory, but I am not alone in saying most games played by amateurs, and even masters, are decided by tactics. If you don't have a fundamental understanding of tactics, learning the deeper concepts will only do you so much good.
Also if you want to get better you should really try playing slow. Correspondence games have helped me improve a lot. I probably spent an average of 4/5 hours on each game with this account because I would always be trying to find the best move and calculate everything I possibly could. Remember calculation is huge in chess and it's hard for inexperienced players to do this effectively in fast games.
Keep your head up, be good to yourself, and best of luck!

Also harmonious development and controlling the center are extremely important concepts, and you can usually fend off premature attacks and come out with a superior position if you find the right moves.

But yeah, like just because you lose at a board game, you're not a "loser" in general. It's just to have fun.

Yes I too find people who only use the queen frustrating. Just remember that it is fundamentally the wrong way to play chess. Take more time defending the threats. Watch when developing your bishop you don't hang the b and g pawns. Soon your opponent will be behind severely in development and you will teach him a lesson! Good luck.
well said, solid and wise advice

Yes I too find people who only use the queen frustrating. Just remember that it is fundamentally the wrong way to play chess. Take more time defending the threats. Watch when developing your bishop you don't hang the b and g pawns. Soon your opponent will be behind severely in development and you will teach him a lesson! Good luck.
well said, solid and wise advice

There are a lot of principles in chess and you clearly just need to learn more of them and study tactics. Work the tactics problems here or at chesstempo.com. Learn about the Principle of Overprotection and use openings that don't quickly turn into a wide-open game (Vienna Opening, Italian Opening, closed Sicilian, c3 Sicilian, Caro-Kann, Slav) where your tactical weaknesses put you at a disadvantage. Let your opponents make weak moves and then pounce on them.

I will stop playing 5 minutes matches for a while.
5 minutes aint the right game to check your skills in chess.
(atleast for me being a little more then average player)

Losing games like crazy? That's me, right here! I find patience helps. Take your time. If you find yourself constantly under time pressure, play 15/10 or 30 minute chess.

When your opponent attacks your bishop with a pawn, move the bishop or you'll lose material. Don't check your opponent's king if they can block with a pawn and thus attack your bishop in return. When it's your turn and you have two bishops both under attack by pawns, realize you're going to lose one of them. You can at least sacrifice one of them with a check and save the other. If you're going to attack a queen with a pawn, make sure it's protected or the queen can just take the pawn. When your opponent checks your king with a queen, and you block with your queen, exchange queens, don't try to attack it with a knight which was preventing the queen from taking an important pawn near your rook. When your opponent takes the pawn near your rook, realize they can take your rook on the next move with check. Don't try to save your knight when the rook is more valuable than the knight. Also don't sacrifice your queen for a pawn which is guarded because they can take your queen with the piece guarding it.
The logic behind central control is that a piece near the center of the board has more squares it can move to as opposed to a piece on the edge of the board which can't move off the board. Thus it pays to fight for the center of the board in chess. But if you're blundering away your pieces, sacrificing a queen for a pawn with no compensation whatsoever, then you're basically betting on your opponent blundering to your blunder by not taking back. Don't play that kind of chess where you're betting your whole game on your opponent blundering next move. You'll win a lot more games if you play more conservatively and aim for winning material than trying to mate your opponent as fast as possible. Once you have more material than your opponent, feel free to sacrifice your material in an attempt to checkmate the opponent's king. But be conservative with your sacrifices. Sacrificing a queen is a big deal. Unless you see a forced checkmate, don't toss away your queen. If you see your opponent bringing out their queen early, don't try to attack it. Rather, protect your pieces so their queen can't take anything. Only once you've protected everything the queen can threaten, then it's ok to attack the queen. When you attack the queen, make sure you think a move ahead to where the queen will go. The queen's weakness is the knight. The knight attacks in a way which the queen can't attack back. Generally it's a good idea to chase away queens with knights because it allows you to develop your knight in the process of chasing away their queen.
Let's look at another of your games:
When you have your opponent's knight pinned to their rook, realize if they move their knight, you can take their rook. When your opponent attacks your queen with a pawn, move your queen -- not your knight which was not under attack. Luckily your opponent blundered and didn't take your queen and you were able to move it next move. Your opponent blundered away their queen. Move 25 when your rook took the pawn checking your opponent's king, they moved their king to a position attacking your rook. You took 34.4 seconds to make a move, deciding to guard it with your other rook. Should be better at time management. Realize there was nothing else going-on on the board, and simply moved your rook away from attack, anywhere, it doesn't matter. You don't need to find an amazing combination. Only if you see a combination execute it. If you don't see one, then simply move your piece away from attack. You spent over 10 seconds on each of your remaining rook moves which accomplished nothing. The time control was 5 minutes. If you don't see a useful move to make, then make a quiet passive move, like push a pawn one square, move your king to a safer square, or even move your rook out of your opponent's territory. It doesn't matter. if you don't see a combination, make a quiet move. Think on your opponent's time. If you see a combination, then execute it. But if the move accomplishes nothing more than a check, and your opponent can take the piece checking them, then it's a wasted move that accomplishes nothing. Don't trade a well-placed piece for a bad-placed piece.
In general, whenever you move a queen, you should be putting lots and lots of thought into making sure it is safe because there is a lot of risk involved in moving a queen. The next most important is the rook. A bishop or knight are worth a lot less, so you shouldn't be as cautious when moving them to a new square. Finally pawns are worth the least in the game, so if you need to make a move as fast as possible with the least amount of risk involved when moving it, pawns are a good candidate to consider. Finally, the king is the most important piece in the game, but he's more of a liability than an asset in the game because you can't trade him for anything. But he can be an asset if he can take a piece on the board without risking his own head.
I think you can improve your game immensely by simply responding to your opponent's threats. If they push a pawn which can take one of your pieces next move, simply move the piece out of harms way. You don't have to attack something on every move you make. Some threats need to be responded to before you make your own threats. Taking away your opponent's options is half the game.
This must've taken time to evaluate, and kindness to share. Very Samaritan.

Yes I too find people who only use the queen frustrating. Just remember that it is fundamentally the wrong way to play chess. Take more time defending the threats. Watch when developing your bishop you don't hang the b and g pawns. Soon your opponent will be behind severely in development and you will teach him a lesson! Good luck.
well said, solid and wise advice
lol
What is funny? Please share the joke with the class...
It's a bit too advanced for these forums, so i'll keep it to myself