Sporatic Chess Ability

I am not a bad player. Half of the time. The other half of the time, I am a complete patzer. I tend to play better over the board, but I still tend to have a state of mind where my brain refuses to focus on the position, and I throw away good positions. As an aspiring player who has recently started treating chess as a passion, this stymies my development and all of the theory, combinations, tactics, tips I have collected. Is this brain-blank an indication of previous bad habits (of which I am not aware), or is it normal? How can I fix it?

(It's not an issue of "think before you move", it's about consistantly entering "the zone". My brain doesn't always co-operate with the thinking part.)

if you don't have these 'good 50% of the time and bad the 50% of the time' moments over the board then you don't need to worry. if you do then look at the position then firstly rule out moves that are obviously bad then you'll be left with the ok-good moves remaining to think about which at your level will win you the game more often.

I know how you feel William!

Some days are diamonds, some days... etc.

I find the same thing happens when doing tactics training; one day the answers are obvious, the next day I can't see the right move to save my life.

I think it is simply mental laziness. 

How else can it be explained when 10 seconds after playing a move you see the error and the move you should have played.

When your mind is doing this, just relax, see a move and DON'T make it, as it is sure to be wrong. Go for a walk and come back refreshed and look again.

Occasionally that works for me, at other times I forget where I am and make the move anyway - No one ever said I was going to be a champion player..

That seems like a good rule of thumb. Will keep that in mind, thank you. However, I am looking to clear away a mentality problem, as I will be unable to ascertain the good moves from the bad if my brain refuses to calculate beyond one move.

Laziness is possible... Perhaps taking a break is the answer. I will be interested if other people concur! Thank you for replying.

Some bad days are expected.  I do the Tactics Trainer here and at chesstempo.com every day.  Some days I drop in rating 20 pts and it's usually on both sites the same day.  When I get them right 10x in a row, it's usually on both sites as well.  I didn't miss any this morning so I figured I had better make my daily game moves as soon as I was done!

Bad days are indeed expected... I was just hoping that there was a way to cut down on their frequency...

Thanks for replying.

Its funny how very OBVIOUS issues and problems with my Move can be when I make them.  silly ridiculous oversights tend to be accepted and used to compare to other moves , and , then .....

I can only think and strive to remember that sometimes it doesnt' pay to think too deeply. occasionally, I will catch simpler things if I walk around and come back and say to myself what is the immediate answer to the answer I was thinking  of making.

Note the order of the walk. if you MUST walk on your move and when the timer is running- do so AFTER you have a preliminary move.  use the walk (during a touch choose) a way of loosening up- and seeing the move with fresh eyes.

from , Def "Not a master"

Thank you, Patzer, I will keep that in mind... I try not to walk away while my clock is running, but I do look at the wall over my opponent's head before making a move sometimes.

Thank you for answering! I think you're on to something there, I have to lift my dismal performances before I can lift my peaks.