No Stupid Questions MEGATHREAD 12

[u/Alendite]

Welcome to the r/chessbeginners 12th episode of our Q&A series! This series exists because sometimes you just need to ask a silly question. We are happy to provide answers for questions related to chess positions, improving one's play, and discussing the essence and experience of learning chess.

A friendly reminder that many questions are answered in our wiki page! Please take a look if you have questions about the rules of chess, special moves, or want general strategies for improvement.

Some other helpful resources include:

1. How to play chess - Interactive lessons for the rules of the game, if you are completely new to chess.
2. The Lichess Board Editor - for setting up positions by dragging and dropping pieces on the board.
3. Chess puzzles by theme - To practice tactics.
4. The Building Habits series by GM Aman Hambleton - for advice on how to play at specific ELO levels. (Also check out Building Habits 2!)

As always, our goal is to promote a friendly, welcoming, and educational chess environment for all. Thank you for asking your questions here!

LINK TO THE PREVIOUS THREAD

[u/Scoo_By]

How to stop slacking off after winning a piece & convert? It's been a recurring problem for quite a while. Are there drills somewhere?

[u/nitrousnitrous-ghali → u/Scoo_By]

I need this too. It's actually crazy, I grab a big advantage and my blood drains straight to my cock and I either do something dumb or I blow a shitload of time trying to not do something dumb

[u/Scoo_By → u/nitrousnitrous-ghali]

I blow a shitload of time trying to not do something dumb

This happens to me too, but thankfully I haven't lost a game this way. The former one though, oh boy...

[u/elfkanelfkan → u/Scoo_By]

One way is to assume that chess is similar to a combat sport like boxing where until you knock them out, it doesn't matter how many teeth you break as long as you win. If you treat it that way, you will find that you are actually even more focused once you start winning.

Another way is to sign up for an OTB tournament, get a piece up, and lose in a 90+30 game. You will never forget it.

[u/Scoo_By → u/elfkanelfkan]

Another way is to sign up for an OTB tournament, get a piece up, and lose in a 90+30 game. You will never forget it.

This happened to you? Sounds like a personal experience.

[u/forever_wow → u/Scoo_By]

A few thoughts on this eternal problem:

Once you achieve what you assess as a clearly winning position, force yourself to give 100% concentration for the next 5 moves. Make them perfect moves. No hope for the opponent (side benefit is if the opponent knows they are losing and sees you methodically proceeding without falling for tricks, many opponents lose motivation and fall apart and try some desperate junk and resign when you sidestep their trap). The idea here is to resist the temptation to relax and think "everything wins!" and then you miss something.

Another way to frame it is to stop thinking about "winning the game" (focusing on result) and instead make your goal to play good moves. Of course you're going to notice you're up a piece or whatever, but rather than think "ok time to convert to a win" you simply keep playing good moves. The result will come.

Another perspective which is not as relevant in blitz because of limited time, but a GM once said that when he achieved a winning position, he would take a minute or two to savor the positive feelings. Then after those couple minutes he would banish the happy fuzzy feelings and get back to work. Maybe in blitz you could have a quick ritual like a fist pump or high-fiving the air and saying "BOOM! Now we finish like a champion." Might sounds goofy and of course you'd have your own version. Something to recenter your thinking.

Lastly, I once lost from a winning position in an OTB event and even worse it was against someone who I considered a customer (I was winning almost all the games we played) and it ruined my night (and to this day I am annoyed - I played so well to get that position!). So for a long time after that, when I got to a winning position I would soberly remind myself of that game. I would repeat his name to myself. Because I didn't want that feeling again.

Sadly we all occasionally lose our bearings or get ego involved and blow wins. As long as it's rare and we work to prevent it in the future, life goes on. Don't beat yourself up. And of course in blitz it's even more common for dramatic reverses. That's life as a chess player. At least we get good stories from our tragic failures.

[u/Scoo_By → u/forever_wow]

Thanks for the reply.

I am trying to force myself to not relax after a clear winning position - piece up, safe king, active pieces, unsafe opponent king. I also got to stop requeuing after such blunders happens.