Players that habitually drop pieces

Why does this keep happening to them? Because they simply don't care enough to correct the problem. Case closed.

Did`you fix the hole in the bag or get a new bag? I'm sure you did as just about anybody would right? To me it's embarrassing how often we allow ourselves to give first priority to fixing our material world and second priority to fixing our mental world.

Obviously it was because you didn't care enough to examine the bag rigorously to make sure it was absolutely perfect before you moved with it. Case closed.

Touch move rule -- once you've begun to examine the bag for holes, you're obligated to move with it even if you find one.

@TheGrobe  That's funny!

I have dropped three of my black pawns, one twice ... heads came right off. I'm trying to correct the problem but until then, epoxy to the rescue.

Any hints on how to correct the problem?

Is this happening in the French?  If so, be warned: eventually the pawns will revolt and behead the queen.

Well, the more skilled the player is the less often he drops pieces. When he gets stronger he drops a tempo or two, or he drops an important square. Or he drops a forced winning continuation in a position that appear as if it is a drawn position when it is not. Or he drops a stale mate combination or he drops a good defensive move in a difficult situation.

The point where a player never drops anything would be the point where he never lose a game even playing against the world champion or against the best computer software available. Since that is never going to happen for probably 99,99 % of all chess players the problem of dropping something can always be discussed, and lots of frustration can appear when you analyse a game after it was finished.

The good news on this is that playing chess will continue to be exciting, challenging and great fun.

I drop my opponents pieces.

You're right, all players make errors or inaccuracies, even if they're minor. But isn't the ability to stop dropping pieces within everyone's control? It's really just taking the time to do a spot check isn't it? Much like double checking your punctuation before turning in that important essay to your teacher, avoiding the most primative of errors is within everyone's control.

Interesting ...I guess not everyone has time to dedicate to chess. IF i dont drop pieces I will probably be 200 points higher in otb chess. But I drop pieces all the time. I play online otb slow blitz games usually with increment.

Occassionally I dont drop a piece and I end up defeating someone much higher rated than me. 

Now on CC i see no reason to drop pieces but it happens esp if not so into the game.

Re:  zxzyz comment #15:  Every person post is better thn I am (I think).  I drop more pieces in CC games than live or OTB.  Reasons:  not into the game; in a hurry; forget previous plan/problems; inattention due to casual play; lack of focus.

 I think it was Tartakower who said "It is always better to sacrifice your opponent's men"

With both essays and chess games, there are several problems. You can look at something for ten minutes without seeing a quiet mistake. Maybe you do not have time to check every possibility. And then there are the misconceptions- thinking that an opponent can't take a piece because of a threat that, it turns out, can be countered.

In all the above cases, experience helps. Maybe it is not a coincidence that it is a CM asking this question, as if every potential dropped piece were obvious if only we spent a split-second to look at it.

@Ivandh I used to drop pieces pretty frequently so it's not that I cannot relate to what you're saying. The day I made up my mind to come up with a plan to fix that problem is the day the problem was taken care of, so the growth I received from that experience should qualify me rather than disqualify me about giving advice shouldn't it? I noticed you have put a lot of energy into arguing that fixing this problem is difficult. If you channeled half of that energy into coming up with a plan to not drop pieces and stick to that plan, you'd be a stronger player who doesn't drop pieces very often.  You can argue limitations all day long and you'd be right. But on some level it would be b.s. though. You can take the time to make sure to double or triple check that essay for punctuation errors and it would help a lot (I bet you wouldn't though.) You can take the time to double check or triple check the chess board to make sure before you move, it's not dropping a piece and it would help tremendously (same bet).

I came up with a plan for not dropping my money when drunk - spend it all on drink.

I've got the same problem. Only recently have I started playing games of decent quality in CC chess from my point of view (I've only got 4 CC games finished up to now though ), but usually when playing CC or live, I just become careless and/or lose my focus.

I feel like I'm being sold a self-help book-- all I need to do is create a plan and stick with it and all my problems will go away! And I should please ignore the reasons that cause people to fail, those are just b.s.! By the way I am lazy!!

Given the way you starded this thread with "case closed" I think you are not really interested in dissenting opinions or discussion, so I'm not sure why you spent your energy on this thread when you could have channeled it into perfecting your chess game. I guess it's because you simply don't care and you are lazy like you think everyone else is. Case closed.

He has a very good point, you know. Even the worst chess player can easily check every single move he makes to ensure he's not hanging anything, especially in Correspondance.

I'm not disputing that a blunder-check works much of the time, but even grandmasters have dropped pieces. Read my first (serious) post for my suggestions as to why this might happen to the best of us, and more often to the worst of us.