Loss of Concentration

All I can say is the more you practice playing as seriously as you can, the better you get at it.  It's difficult to stay focused and notice each new threat move after move, but that too become more automatic and wont take much energy/concentration on your part after continued practice/playing.

Any tips on when you're not in the mood :)  That's actually a good question in my opinion.  Sometimes I can tell I won't be able to play well -- other times I can tell I'm very sharp and ready to play my best.  I assume this is what you mean.  Having eaten well and slept enough the past few days definitely is a big plus.  Also nothing traumatic happen that day like a fight or maybe you ran over your dog or something... you might feel the same but your play can suffer slightly when you have other things on your mind.  The more you play the better you'll get at noticing your good and bad moods for playing too.

Thanks for reading and for your comments

pildido

Thank you!! I will, for sure. I really enjoy my games - I even enjoyed the ones above!!

Thanks for stopping by...

orangehonda

Great advice really, and yes that's what I meant when asked about the mood. I will try to play as much as I can and work on different problems and puzzles more often.

Thanks for your time.

Play time games!  They help u focus.  During time games, there r no times 4 lag of concentration.

szammie

I think you mean "correspondence chess" or "turn based games" right? Well if so, then you're completely right, the extended period in which one can make the move gives more room for thinking and contemplating different moves. The only problem is that it will basically become a game of (My computer vs. The Other Guy's computer) in most of the cases, and I'm not so good with chess engines, nor do I like the idea of a chess engine playing chess for winning (rather than for educational purposes) in the first place - I would really enjoy a live clash between two brains than a cold battle between two microchips.

But, it is still an option of course, and thank you for your advise.

Ditch the sicilian and play 1.e4   e5! Your blunders will stop.

I don't play the sicilian, but from what I've heard, it has a lot of traps either side can fall into in certain variations.

kebu opening memorizer is great. It only comes with the french, but you can make your own pgn files if you have a suitable program.

http://kebuchess.com/openings/ heres the link to kebu.

 Your very welcome!

it took me less than four minutes to download and install kebu. all the way from clicking the download button to finishing the install process.

I know i just downloaded it just now, but I have it installed on a different computer, so I know that it is a good software.

Ephedra , jtt96 , echecs06

Thanks everybody for sharing your thoughts and ideas.

I believe the Sicilian is not the problem really, for if I knew the variations I would probably make less mistakes, but the tactics in the Sicilian are very tricky and at my playing strength I think it's difficult to keep track of what's going on - but then again, I don't play with much stronger opponents, so there's a fair chance they too are not experts in the Sicilian's different variations, and that (I think) will re-establish the balance in the game.

And thanks dear jtt96 for the link to kebu, even though I have absolutely no idea as to what it does, for I am yet to install it, but anything that helps me with the opining is surely a great resource.

Thanks!

look at the video demo. It explains how to get started after you have installed the software.

PS the activation key is free. no catch.

Chess.com doesn't allow the use of engines when playing games. So if someone is using an engine, they can get banned. At the lower levels, you usually don't have to worry about it anyway. However, one of things I read about that issues states, "what does it matter?"

If you are playing seriously, with an aim to improve, what does it matter if you the person you are playing against is using a computer. It doesn't really hurt you, with the exception of a few rating points that really don't mean much in the long run. You get experience playing a strong opponent anyway and you can still learn from the mistakes you make.

But again, at the lower chess levels, computer use isn't that big of a deal. If your opponents, especially those rated closer to you, were using computers, they should be higher rated.

jtt96

Thanks for the info, I'll install it as soon as I can.

Martin_Stahl

You are absolutely right, but what I meant is that if I would want to play against a computer I could do it against the computer (I wouldn't have to log in to chess.com and find someone who uses chess engines - but simply start Chessmaster and play!). But your point still holds - it doesn't really matter that much and you will get the experience anyway, vs. the man or vs. the machine.

Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.

There's a great book by Dan Heisman called A guide to chess improvement, Fantastic book if your under 1700, it deals with a lot of problems lower players have, I have the same problem with focus altho I haven't found too much written about it in the book (it's just on 400 pages thick) but it is prob in there. I don't play too much online now but when playing OTB at the club I have been using a rubberband to hold my pen in my hand so I cant pick up a piece first before remembering to write down the move first and double check I''m not making a losing move.

P.s don't spend much time on the opening, get the book i mentioned and it will show you a great way of learning only what you need in the opening.

Good luck!