The easiest way to get better at chess is to stop being bad. We lose most of our games due to blunders. If we stop making blunders our rating will go up. But it isn’t so simple.

It’s expected that our minds make the same mistakes over and over again. We can be aware of the mistakes and still see little or no improvement. What we need is deliberate training.

Let’s take a look at an example blunder and how to train our brains to not make the same blunder again.

And if you’re interested in mastering the skill, check out our course.

Evaluating a Pawn Capture

In this post we’re analyzing blunder. And guess what- this pawn capture is a blunder. See if you can work out why.

We’re going to be analyzing blunders in 3 steps.

1. Understanding the blunder on a technical level.
2. Understanding why white made the blunder.
3. Re-wiring the brain to not make this blunder in the future.

Understanding the Blunder

White just took on d5. Why is it a blunder?

The Knight can capture back on d5, forking our queen and bishop. Our queen is forced to move, and black can capture our dark-squared bishop. When we capture back with the queen, we have alignment issues on the e-file.

Simply analyzing this blunder at an analytical level is not enough for improvement. This only makes you aware of the blunder, but there is no training to fix the problem.

Why did you make the blunder?

Once you determine this is a blunder, ask yourself why you made the blunder.

Hypothesis 1: White underestimated the e-file.

Hypothesis 2: White overlooked weakness of e3 bishop.

Hypothesis 3: White caught off-guard by speed of the tactic

We don’t know why the blunder was made, but let’s assume Hypothesis 1. Once you answer this question for yourself, we can return to the original position where the blunder occurs.

Re-wire your brain

Let’s return to the original position.

This is where the real improvement happens.

Take note of what happens if we capture the pawn.

• The e-file becomes open and the king becomes exposed.
• The rook can quickly take the e-file.
• The knight can quickly move away to open the e-file.

Sit in this position for a minute or two. You want to associate any pawn capture that exposes your king as a potential danger. Once your attention is drawn to the open file, the rest is easy.

Notice also what led to the position’s current status. White has moved a bunch of pieces, but the king is still in the center. White has played f3, jeopardizing the king. White may also be aware that they need to get their king to safety earlier in their development.

Conclusion

Every time you make a blunder, you have three steps:

1. Understand it on a technical level
2. Understand why I made the blunder?
3. Re-wire your brain to see the danger that caused the blunder.

Once you’ve rewired your intuition, you’re unlikely to make the same category of error over and over.

If you’re interested in the full YouTube video, with more examples, you can watch it here.