Academy | Calculation | Blunder Awareness
Blunders are one of the most frustrating parts of chess, and understanding why they happen is a key step toward avoiding them and becoming a stronger player.
One blunder outweighs several good moves because it can undo all your previous careful planning and calculations. In other words, simply avoiding a blunder is often more important than finding a brilliant move!
Why Blunders Happen
Blunders usually happen for two main reasons: cognitive overload and undisciplined thinking habits.
Cognitive overload occurs when your working memory (the part of your brain that holds and processes information temporarily) is overwhelmed by trying to calculate complications beyond your current abilities. Overloading your brain in this way can make you overlook even the simplest captures. To address this, you should recognize your limits and work on strengthening your working memory through challenging exercises.
On the other side of the scale, undisciplined thinking habits, like rushing moves or making lazy calculations, are another major cause of blunders. These habits often stem from poor training practices, such as playing too much blitz, which encourage shallow thinking and overreliance on intuition. The solution is to adopt better training methods, including playing slower games and consistently checking your opponent’s threats.
Blunders from Real Games
In the following examples, it may be easy to see why the moves were blunders. The point is to try to understand what went wrong in the players’ thinking, so that when you train your calculation, you can also practice avoiding similar mistakes.
The “3-second” Blunder Check
A useful habit is, before making a move, to take three seconds to double-check that your intended move is not a blunder. Use those few seconds to visualize the move in your mind and verify that it is not an obvious mistake.
The Takeaway
In chess, avoiding blunders is often more important than finding brilliant moves, since a single mistake can undo all your careful planning. Work on improving your working memory and adopt disciplined, structured thinking methods to reduce mistakes.