The Mistakes
Poor Concentration – Nearly all of my
losses have come from a loss of concentration. I lose interest in the
position as time passes and lose my grip on what is needed. This has
resulted in disaster (the game against IM Ronald Burnett at the
smokey mountain open) as well as narrow escapes. My game against
Woodward at Winter Sucks and the game against Deshpande at the smokey
mountain open are great examples.
Playing Without a Plan – I find
myself many times questioning what I'm doing in a given position. I
may play objectively the best move and then on the very next move
I'll miss the idea behind the previous move and flounder about. I
find this in blitz as well … I tend to push the pieces around a few
moves sometimes before finding the right idea.
Time Management – I find in blitz
situations I save too much time by moving too quickly in key
positions. This is ironically the opposite problem form what most
people associate with time trouble.
King Safety – I still have issues
with my king's safety. This mostly occurs in blitz. I often miss
long-range tactics involving queens, bishops, and rooks against my
king.
Pawn Weaknesses – This is a bad habit
I have gotten from blitz. It can be seen in a few games previously.
Pawn structure has taken a back seat in my mind in place of piece
activity. So far I have won games by making piece moves that were
unexpected. In positions where there are no comfortable piece moves I
often make embarrassing pawn moves that destabilize the position.
Conclusions
Planlessness (if that's
a word), time issues, and even king safety boils down to the problem
of concentration. It is worth researching concentration training
methods outside of chess. When I find a direction for concentration
training I will share it with the readers and put it into action.
I know I have some books and other
study materials on pawn structure. It is time to dust those off and
reignite my connection to the “soul of chess” as Philidor called
the pawns.
