Stop Talking Yourself into Playing Bad Moves! The Amateur's Mind

[@_v2.0]

Those moments when you are able to say, "Normally I'd play this, but it's probably not right" are some of your clearest opportunities to demonstrate your growth as a player. You can't change by continuing to do what you've always done. By opting for moves that are comfortable and familiar when you know that they are wrong, you are actively stunting your chess development. Better players try to play better moves.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Spot on!

[@natureechoesmusic]

These short amateur's mind videos are so excellent. Thank you!

[@SmilingIbis]

After Qb3, Qe7+ and then Ne5, Black has the ugly resource Qb4+ and then Be6 after the Q exchange is resolved. It still looks like crap, but any wiggle will do.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Yes it is possible but it still is terrible.

[@pi9t451]

It's beautiful how scientific chess is. You were absolutely right in that podcast episode with Ben Johnson. You really put things across in a very logical and thoughtful manner, trying to minimise biases of all kinds along the way. You actually remind me a lot of my professors at Oxford when I was still a student there last year. Great video once again!

[@lollycopter]

I'm not a regular podcast listener so didn't realise Andras did one already with Ben Johnson - thanks for mentioning it! I just listened to the whole thing and it was a superb listen. I agree with other regular comments that the length and depth of these videos is excellent - not so long that there are too many concepts to cover (and remember), and not too short so as to be too shallow. Hopefully "the Algorithm" will allow this channel to grow a lot more in the future.

[@john_djr]

Joined my local chess club tonight largely thanks to inspiration from this channel. I've been playing online for the last couple years, but chess is meant to be played across from your opponent with real pieces! Excited for more OTB chess and to really improve this year :)

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Awesome! Best of luck with the OTB stuff!

[@robinesperoza]

I like chess psychology videos in general and this was no exception! Thank you alot. What I find fascinating in the first example is that AFTER the game the player analysed his game without computer and annotated it. They took Painstalking efforts to improve. But DURING the game thought "I can't be bothered with the pin" and stopped thinking there. There is some bitter irony in only thinking about your game after it is finished.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Even the comments did not mention h6 as bad!!!

[@robinesperoza]

@@ChessCoachAndras Oh, that's right even more peculiar. I've had a similar thing where I always went for queen trades. I didn't know that it wasn't right consciously, I just played moves that felt right. To remedy this I've used blitz games. I forbade myself to make any unnecessary queen trade in 50 blitz games or so. I expected a rating drop, but my rating remained stable; even though I lost some games because the queen trade would have been correct.

[@gmdwill]

I invite the Bg5/4 pins often because if you play h3/6 afterwards and they exchange the knight, you get to develop your queen on the recapture

[@oxbaraa]

Recently i got addicted to your channel ! You are a beast ... love what you are doing!. You changed the way i think & waiting for new videos

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Awesome , so glad to have you on board! Glad the channel is helping your chess, keep at it!

[@cw6136]

@8:50 - As someone who's 1950 rapid on Lichess, that's very depressing to hear...

[@elephantheart9988]

"Prove yourself wrong" is one of the best pieces of advice there is for calculation. If you cannot prove your best idea wrong, and it is, then you will learn something valuable. But hopefully when your attempts to disprove your idea fail, it's because you're correct!

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Exactly mate!

[@gautam-narula]

Meanwhile Magnus beats Kramnik with 1…h6 in Titled Tuesday this week and makes Andras’s job that much harder 😅

[@whimsnickal]

Another great video, thanks Andras! I really enjoy your bluntness when it comes to these sorts of moves - other creators may raise their eyebrows and say something like "that seems a little slow, I'm just going to keep developing", but your approach is very much saying "what are you doing with that move? You're better than this". Keep up the good work coach :)

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Thanks mate! well put!

[@hata6290]

Legendary Andras thumbnail

[@DaPharaoh13]

Like how you uncover the thinking process, coach!

[@MichaelClerk-xd6ft]

Thanks, all very clear. Keep on posting great videos!

[@elephantheart9988]

My most common is: "Ehhh I know it's probably bad but I really don't know what else to play." To which the heuristic should be: checks, captures, threats, and if I can't improve my pieces, how can I make my opponent's position worse?

[@MattduCouloir]

Awesome video. I will do my very best to apply the suggestion.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Best of luck! I am sure it will help!

[@TikariChess]

First day back at work after the holiday, and this video drops just before lunch time. You always do a great job teaching people the right thinking process to apply to moves/positions, and this video is no different.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

You rock!

[@connormonday]

Another time I talk myself into making bad moves is when they contain traps. I tell myself it’s a form of prophylaxis because it prevents the opponent from making certain desirable moves. However, in reality, it’s just hope chess, and I end up rejecting principled moves that I know are better.

[@kaalad3666]

Happy New Year Coach Andras! Haha once again you prove you know your audience very well. At 3:55 I was indeed going "but what if I don't want to put my bishop there" 😄

[@lewwadsworth547]

I need to stop talking myself out of not playing moves that are good. 😅

[@4whunt]

Thank you so much for walking through this thought process. This was a great example. Keep up the wonderful work!

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Nemtomi]

Great explanation. If he is 1900 on Lichess he must underachieve over the board.

[@PatVMurphy]

Great video. I played a game last night, where I thought I would "practice my defence". It led to all sorts of assumptions and a negative mindset. I was on the back foot the whole game, and got thrashed.

[@markosborn3079]

Great stuff, as always! Thank you, Andras. Hope you have a successful 2024.

[@seanomaille3051]

This is excellent!

[@erikknudsen2971]

Does anyone know if Andras is taking more students? I cannot find his contact information, or a way to reach him...

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Not at the moment, sorry.

[@southernrun9048]

Great video to kick off the new year.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Thanks !Happy new year!

[@generalchannel5278]

You're a great coach

[@ektoplasm5345]

Interesting matter here. As mentioned in the video, the obvious explanation of such moves is the inability to correctly evaluate opponent threats. That is normal at that level of play. Players from higher rating will discard such "threats" immediately and are able to find proper candidate moves accordingly.

[@josephwilloughby-nu4zb]

One thing that I can't seem to get right is choosing the best move amongst a few candidate moves. Like in almost any position that doesn't have a clear threat for either side, if you asked me what two to four candidate moves would you consider here? I would almost always have the best move according to the computer be in that list, but in those scenarios I probably only chose the best move like 60% of the time. Any tips in these scenarios? Maybe a video idea...

[@gregp.4358]

Thanks!

[@Road2ChessMaster]

Excellent video Andras. Great insight that really helped me become a better chess player. Currently 1516 FIDE but I think my strength is a little bit higher than that.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Cheers! keep grinding!:)

[@BladluizGaming]

Spelling mistake in the thumbnail mate 👍🏻

[@timwoods3173]

Thank you

[@eschiedler]

Thanks for a great lesson for the New Year, Happy 2024 in chess and beyond!

[@ChessCoachAndras]

My pleasure! Happy new year!

[@OctavianIV]

A great video to start the year! Very helpful, as always.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Glad you think so!

[@ernieschwarcz9077]

Szervusz, Andras

[@TheGrandmasterMan]

The worst thing you can think is 'It will be alright'.....lol

[@whore_knee]

Loving your content! I like how you talk about the psychology of chess socratically by presenting a concept and providing an example along with it! Very digestible and comfortable to listen to 👍