Your mental checklist you run through before each move.

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Avatar of M_Arnaud
stankwagon wrote:

I dont use a checklist. If you're using a checklist then you're not thinking about chess, you're thinking about you're checklist.

...You just have to know the material. The more you know, the less you will not know, and the less you dont know, the better your chances of knowing more then you're opponent, and therefore increasing you're chances of winning. Simple.


You know, when you don't know what you know, then what you know might as well be what you don't know. But if you do know what you don't know then you will know that what you don't know is what you need to know. Simple.

Avatar of jay6977

In the opening ,

1 control the centre

2 , synthesise a forcing move to dominate the centre

The entire game is just a by product

Thank you

Aadi madya anth ( it is a term used in sanskrit to improve cognition , ) life is a double drama , every thing created in. Subtle thoughtless stage , manfastation is the by product of the effort of sublte thinking power . Manasaa vacha karamana ( thoughtt word and action , even this is to be tested in subtle minds laboratory by exicuting or by intense effort .

Avatar of jay6977

Aadi beginning , example adam ,. Madya is the middle , and anth is end . Anadi = endless , or infinity . Chess game has infinite potential but it is limited to the box of beginning middle end . That means we have control depend on our capacity to inculcate , and power to descriminate the benefit of the beginning middle and end . The war is not won in the battlefield.

Avatar of MacNord
  for black and white
1 Checks (double, discovery, brute force, sacrifice)
2 Purpose of opponents last move?
3 Hanging pices
4 Tactics (discovery attac / forks / skewer / delusion / deflection / removal of defender)
5 Activate all pices / use outposts / open files
6 Limit mobility of enemy pices / trap pices

 

Avatar of blueemu

My mental check-list often includes entries like "I wonder what's for dinner?"

Of course... I lost that game.

Avatar of VigneshSaravanakumar

This is so helpful. I was going to make one myself to discipline myself. You made my work a lot easier.  

Avatar of Straight-Shooter
JG27Pyth wrote:

I think the anti-blunder checklist is pretty simple -- don't move until you've found your opponent's best reply and you have a satisfactory answer to it. The problem of course is that we get tunnel vision and we examine one or two obvious replies rather than really scouring the board for the opponent's best reply. If you discipline yourself to think as hard and creatively for your opponent as you do for yourself I think you can do without any checklist.

The truth

Avatar of ricardoporto1
artfizz wrote:

In correspondence chess, I use a pre-checklist checklist:

- which colour am I playing?

- am I winning or losing?

- which piece did my opponent just move?

- which piece did I last move?

- what was I thinking of??

 

Avatar of IMKeto

My current mental checklist:

  • Why did i decide to play this game?
  • I really dont want to put in the effort.
  • I want coffee.
  • I need to get bacon.
  • Are we going to the buffet after this round?
  • They better not leave without me.
Avatar of Itsameea

After my opponent moves first I either laugh or say wtf to myself.  I then wish I had something to eat. I then wish I had something to eat with a beautiful woman, I then wish I had something to eat with a beautiful woman stranded on an island. After these delusions clear my mind I look for a forcing move in absence of one I look for any move that improves my position. Do a quick double check,

 

Avatar of eliothowell

1. Look for forcing moves, checks, pins , forks and skewers.

2. Does opponent have any undefended pieces? Do I ?

3. Improve any piece that is not active.

4. Does proposed move leave any piece undefended.

5. What is opponent trying to do? What is opponent's next move?

 

Avatar of SquidgamePeekaBoo
yoshtodd wrote:

http://www.chesscafe.com/archives/archives.htm#Novice%20Nook

There's an article near the bottom of Novice Nook Archives called "Real Chess, Time Management, and Care"  The current link is http://anweshnandini.blogspot.com/2013/10/real-chesstime-management-and-care.html 

 

 

Avatar of Santoy

Most lists here go off the rails immediately.

FIRST consideration - what was the purpose of my opponent's last move.

Avatar of sleazymate

I would love to enter a state of flow , where I intuitively know where the best squares are for my pieces. A plan being the next step but foundationally to at least know the best squares, would be a great asset. 

Avatar of rmc123456

I don't have a mental checklist. My play is instinctive, supplemented with decent pattern-recognition ability.

Avatar of tygxc

1) During your turn after opponent has played:
What are candidate moves? What are probable sequences? What are the evaluations? What is the best move?

2) During your turn, before you play:
Suppose the intended move as played, what can the opponent do?

3) During your opponent's turn:
How safe are the kings? What are good squares for your pieces? What are good squares for opponent's pieces? What pawn moves to strive for or to avoid? What trades to strive for or avoid? Who would win the endgame?

Avatar of JahKnowThen

I've come to the same conclusion recently. Gonna give the list a try

Avatar of Link4000

1. What can I do? (Is there a check, sacrifice, threat I can make?)

2. How does my position look? (Do I need to gain more space or defend a threat?)

3. What can my opponent currently do? (Threats, tactics, etc.)

4. If I make my move, what can my opponent do in response?

Avatar of busterlark

During opponent's time:

1. LAFS check both positions (Loose pieces, Alignment problems, Functioning pieces that can be overloaded, pieces that are low on Squares -- this was adapted from Purdy's book on Chess Perfection)

2. Check the position for space, time, pieces, and pawns -- who has the space advantage, who has the time (development/tempo) advantage, who has the better placed pieces, what the pawn structure enables each side to do -- adapted from Larry Evans's New Ideas in Chess.

 

During my time -- list adapted from Aagaard's Positional Play:

1. Check both positions for weaknesses (weak pawns, weak squares, LAFS check again)

2. Determine which piece is the worst placed piece for each side

3. Determine what my opponent wants to play, and if I can ignore their best move

4. Determine if I have a winning tactic that I can play before considering any positional moves

 

If I have to go into a long think -- somewhat adapted from Soltis's How to Choose a Chess Move:

1. Does this position call for a long think type of move? Does it seem like I have something simpler to play?

2. Compare the end position to the current position (or to other end positions I'm considering from other long branches of analysis). Am I giving up some kind of advantage? Am I giving my opponent some kind of advantage?

3. LAFS check each move, to make sure I'm not missing a zwischenzug.

 

Just before moving:

1. What was the piece defending?

2. Is the piece moving to a safe square?

3. What will my opponent want to play in response?

Avatar of Laskersnephew

Has nobody mentioned:

"Did I leave the oven on?"

Does this shirt make me look fat?"

"Whose move is it?"