What should I think about before making any move?

As a novice, I'm finding myself continually frustrated by my capacity to blunder.  The biggest reason, is that I don't have any methodical approach to reviewing the move I'm about to play.  In the opening I remind myself of many of the simple rules (control the center, castle early, don't move a piece twice if possible, knights before bishops, etc.).  In the mid to end game I try to remember the themes (if I'm ahead a piece then trade off, try to keep decent pawn structure, when in doubt have pawns capture towards the middle, keep an eye out for good opportunities to use tactics, etc.).  But I feel I don't have any good system for evaluating a move in terms of how I might be exposing myself to problems.

Does anyone have a list of things they look or questions they ask themselves before any move to make sure they aren't going to blunder?

Thanks or any suggestions, and best wishes to all.

Try this: When you go to move a piece, look at it's relationship to every other piece on the board. Yes, this seems a slow process, but you'll notice some important things: whether you're being attacked by another piece, whether you are attacking another piece, discovered checks, future forks, pins and future pins. You get the idea. I make less blunders (I still make them because i am a novice player) if I look at the consequences of my move before I make it. You want to see what the move will do. Don't just make a move without thinking about it and looking at the whole board.

If you willing to spend a fair bit of time on a move you could do something like the following.

1.Look at all the pieces (and pawns) of both sides - look for your weaknesses and then you opponents. i.e hanging pieces - over protected pieces - overworked pieces.

2.Look for pins -skewers-forks.

3.Look at space - development.

4.Look at you opponents last move -why did they play that? - What is their plan?

5.Look at the move you are thinking of making. Does it go well with the previous moves you have made? Is it part of a plan? For example. If you have started a queenside attack  - look for a move that contributes towards this attack.

6.Don't react to simply threats - look for counterplay. Try not to simply respond to your opponents desires.

There is a loada other stuff - but I sure don't know what it is :)

Creciendo,

In regards to your comment(control the center, castle early, don't move a piece twice if possible, knights before bishops), I actually find it hard to apply these rules when I don't follow the standard openings. I feel I play much better when I use the standard opening and its variations. As they say... good begun, half done.

Also, I do get a lot of times advantage when I set my rooks on the king's row in the correct spot, before any pieces have been traded off.

Finally, most of the times sacrifices seem to catch my oponents off guard and gets them trapped.

My 2C.

Dan Heisman, noted chess author and teacher, recommends this simple formula you need to follow prior to every move. I pass it along for your consideration. Look for (1) Checks (2) Captures (3) Threats.

Look for checks - captures - threats.

Do it prior to every move!

Good point, each move should tie pieces together and not isolated them.

You want your basic per-move thinking process to be simple, so you get in the habit of doing it every move without thought and without exception. Heisman's checks-captures-threats would be a good idea.  A 6-7 point checklist is also fine. If it gets more complex than that you run more risk of forgetting a step or running into time trouble trying to perform it consistently. (For correspondence-only, you could use a longer checklist, since you have near infinite time and could even look at it before each move.)

helpful

The situation in the Middle East.

Checks - Captures - Threats is an useful scheme in long games. By consequently employing this I have improved from ~ 1200 to ~ 1400 in my OTB rating. Unfortunately there isn't enough time in blitz games, that's why I blunder away 90 % of these and still can't get over my 1100-1200ish blitz rating ...