On losing:
To lose means to win at something other than the desired goal. To lose means to successfully do something other than what should have been done in a certain situation. That means doing a bad job with preparations and follow-thru. One really does have to prepare in order to lose.
Winning must be a bad thing since so many people avoid it.
Heh heh. Just thinking outside of the box. Thanks for bringing up the topic of losing.
A lot of people ask about what books they can get to improve their chess. I'm all for reading and studying GM games, and trying to see what they saw. I'm for working on your tactics and studying the endgame.
With all that said, to me the greatest way to improve your chess is looking over your losses.
Now I hate to lose. I'm very competitive, but losing in chess gives "Us" an opportunity to learn very significant information and teach yourself what to either look for next time, or what not to do next time.
It can actually be very enjoyable to look over a loss and see that you had played better and just missed the correct course.
I encourage you to look at losing in a different light. From now on after you lose, take the game and analyse it before playing the next one.
Solid advice. I've been trying to look at losses in a different light aswell. Afterall "When the chess game is done all the pieces go back on their origonal squares". And when one thinks about it a loss if taken the right way should be the most beneficial of results..
I always analyse the games that I lose as I think I have most to learn from them. It has been a great help to me so far.
Besides studting tactics, openings, middle and endgames, and other chess software. The single best thing you can do to improve your game is study your losses. Post them with your own analysis for others to study and accept the feedback positive and negative. Also study your wins, and dont just assume "I won..."
Yes. A lost game provides plenty of study material.
Usually there is a key moment when a losing move is played. I try and recapture my state of mind at the time or other factors eg Was I overconfident, lazy, had too much to eat before, not enough sleep , was my vision too obssessed with the kingside, did my desire to avoid isolated pawns stop me getting an otherwise playable game, did my desire to keep the queens on miss an easy endgame win etc etc
well, I usually remember stuff from my losses if I had coffee and a shower in the morning, and hardly ever repeat the same mistake. so I like to think :)
Hey...is there a list of all possible mistakes that can be made? like a do-not- accept-checks-from-list that some stores have at the cash register?
A lot of people ask about what books they can get to improve their chess. I'm all for reading and studying GM games, and trying to see what they saw. I'm for working on your tactics and studying the endgame.
With all that said, to me the greatest way to improve your chess is looking over your losses.
Now I hate to lose. I'm very competitive, but losing in chess gives "Us" an opportunity to learn very significant information and teach yourself what to either look for next time, or what not to do next time.
It can actually be very enjoyable to look over a loss and see that you had played better and just missed the correct course.
I encourage you to look at losing in a different light. From now on after you lose, take the game and analyse it before playing the next one.