Why You REALLY Blunder - Unseen Threats Revealed

[@iancunningham2440]

The hard part is, though, that this question often puts me in a mindset where I can't notice my opponent's mistakes because I'm focusing so much on dodging the opponent's threats. Just another form of tunnel vision, I suppose

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Absolutely, thanks for this observation! It is a delicate balance between seeing the threat/exploiting the drawback of that move. I am working on a Chessable course on this very topic actually! And a video on tunnel vision will shortly follow!

[@Jimosix]

I find your teaching style to be very valuable, useful and practical. Thank you again for another quality lesson!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

I am so happy reading this! I hope the videos will help improve your game.

[@eschiedler]

Very good examples of "blindness" to enemy strategy leading to blunders.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you!

[@WolfgangStiller]

Excellent and totally true. It's great to have practical actions like this.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much for your kind comment.

[@Nocturnalcuber]

I'm so glad to see you producing content for the 1000-1500 level. But my humble request is to come up with something for the rating level of 1600-2000, so that'll be more helpful for us ❤

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Working on it!

[@xenzomihamn4278]

This was very helpful. Thank you for the lesson!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

My pleasure, glad that you found it useful!

[@Pierre_16_16]

Dear Can, thank you again to cover such key topic again. Take care!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

So nice of you, thank you!

[@dancingbrave2820]

Great instruction!! very helpful.Thank you

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks!

[@Sread95]

excellent lesson, thank you!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

You're very welcome!

[@Daniel-G-P]

Another absolutely superb video!!!!! For me, Dr Can is now tied in first place with Igor Smirnov (Remote Chess Academy), Robert Ramirez, and Nelson Lopez as best chess youtube teachers. Your teaching is so clear Dr Can, you're brilliant, thank you.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

I am so humbled and motivated to read your comment, thank you so much!! Energized to produce more content after reading such comments!

[@Daniel-G-P]

@@Dr.CansClinic What a lovely message, thank you. I love your videos, and looking forward to the next one.

[@executivelifehacks6747]

I don't know Lopez, but those others are my faves also. I am finding this content useful.

[@64chess]

USCF expert here - I think the question should be broader. Instead ask, “If we trade sides and still make it my turn with my opponent’s pieces, what are my candidate moves and why?” Then you mentally switch back to your side and find candidate moves that thwart or outrace/supersede your opponent’s best/most dangerous ideas. Getting tunnel vision on tactics is too narrow.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Hello, thank you for your input! I wonder which question you are referring to. Is this the one when I said "What are the threats we are facing now as a result of the opponent's last move?" or "What would they do if I DO NOT make a move now?"

[@64chess]

@@Dr.CansClinic The threats. Your 2nd question is basically in line with what I’m suggesting, but I was clarifying we shouldn’t just focus on immediate tactics for our opponents but rather their overall plans.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thanks! Very good observations!@@64chess

[@gregdanford359]

Great instruction that deserves a lot more views

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much for your kind words ☺️ I would really appreciate if you share the channel with your chess friends, so we can reach more people.

[@SuliXbr]

Very interesting lesson !

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@MarkPersoonlijk]

Thank you again! I think your theory is correct. A simple recapture by the opponent could be easily disregarded as a threat, indeed! By the way, your new course 'The Chess Elevator' is strong in this regard, to get rid of this psychological gap. I'm happy I'm studying the course now.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much for studying the new course despite your strength! It is great feedback to me!

[@erikfromc]

What an amazing insight!

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much!

[@mazenlababidi4925]

I like your method and performance, very practical

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much for your kind feedback! Energized to produce more!

[@omprakashbaruah9425]

Great video. Well explained. Subscribed.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much!! More content will follow soon, thank you for the subscription!

[@todesque]

Excellent lesson. I thought it was going to be too basic for me as a reasonably strong player, but I still learned a lot from it - thank you! (I easily saw the threats, but did not see the full range of defensive resources. e.g. I did not even see Nd2-f1 as an option, and considered only the inferior h3.)

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much for your kind feedback. Really happy that even a strong players benefited from it!

[@freelC]

Thank you. very useful

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Glad it was helpful!

[@southernrun9048]

Some great examples of just the thing that I’ve been guilty of more times than I care to admit to. Hopefully this will help improve and reduce the blunders . Thanks

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thanks for sharing!

[@anthonyjaglal]

🎉💯👏👏 excellent idea to look out for threats some of these blunders am guilty of, however one of my worst blunder,is getting caught up in a plan or idea, especially when you may have an advantage,an very eager to finish off the opponent and soooo confident with your ideas , that you start to ignore the opponents move and then it happens an unexpected tactics creeps in an everything you plan suddenly falls apart 😢😢😢 a kind of haste creeps in particularly when you about to win ,or have strong advantage,so starting to drill LOOK FOR THREATS into my head even if it means losing a little time GREAT video 🎉🎉💯

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much for your input and observations about your own game! Indeed, there are many emotional triggers kick in when you have a winning position. You get impatient and start losing focus. Then a disaster may struck. Chess is one of the most cruel sports out there, we should at all times do our best to maintain focus and never underestimate the opponent.

[@greatdanelegend7001]

I'm impressed that the 1000 even found Qd8. It requires some pretty high level thinking to see that a) the knight has very limited move and b) on its only safe square it's defended once, so if you add a second attacker you can win it. I would have 100% hung that knight, too, unless I was coincidentally thinking about how limited its moves are, right as my opponent played Qd8

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that 1000 ELO did not play ...Qd8 with the intention of trapping that knight. You are right, it is a sophisticated idea, and easy to miss with White too.

[@mazenlababidi4925]

I hope you cover other reasons of blunder , like unnoticed discovery or potential fork .. I suppose

[@Dr.CansClinic]

More is on the way when it comes to the psychological reasons behind chess blunders.

[@jorgemonasterio8361]

Yeah, I have often seen people miss the threat after a recapture. In bullet, it's a common theme to catch opponent with this

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thanks for this insight!

[@RMF49]

Common source of blunders: Opponent makes a move. We see the purpose and counter it, completely failing to check for a secondary purpose.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Absolutely! In my Chessable course "The Opponent's Last Move", there are dedicated positions on this theme of seeing ALL the threats of the opponent's last move.

[@eschiedler]

In Quiz #2, it is a very typical position that arises from the Advanced French opening. Often white has good opportunities to take Nb1 a4 Na3 or even sacking Nxc4 in some lines to open the center and crush black's king stuck in the middle. Either line saves the knight on f3 whereas Nf1 is fine but unclear if eventually activating it through g4 is sound. Also don't overlook the simple h3 here because it allows both knights to use h2 as well.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thanks for your insights! The only drawback of h3 is that it allows ...h5 + ...g4 and Black opens up lines on the kingside.

[@eschiedler]

@@Dr.CansClinic it's hard to take back initiative here for sure

[@exdejesus]

A great lesson for me! I never think about what my opponent is up to.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much!

[@DanielDollinger1959]

On both quizes I saw the threat but had different solutions than you did. Your answers were stronger. Mine were passive. Quiz 1, I went Qf7. Quiz 2, I went h3. It was not enough for me to just see the threat.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you for the feedback! And now you got some very useful information about yourself! That should be the goal of our training.

[@cesargonzalez-bz3po]

very good information :)

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thank you so much!

[@paule4]

In the 3rd example, f6 looks so much better than Qd8 as after Qf6 Qxf6 exf6, Black's h8 knight is well and truly buried.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

True! Although even there, Black has ...g5 followed by ...Ng6, awakening that poor knight.

[@johndoe-rq1pu]

I only blunder when it's my turn.

[@timwoods3173]

Thank you

[@Dr.CansClinic]

You're welcome!

[@RMF49]

The N retreat and Qd8 SHOULD raise a red flag as both are odd moves not appearing to have any normal purpose. Qd8 appears to do absolutely nothing beyond creating a battery into black’s own pawn or into air if the pawn moves. We have to FORCE ourselves not to dismiss it and notice that our N can now be trapped. Regarding blunders after recaptures - I think “after recaptures” is a subset of the more general case “after we see the obvious purpose of our opponent’s move”. When opponent’s move has a clearcut propose we tend to think of it as THE purpose and let our guard down.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Such wise words, thank you so much!

[@KikanKikan-wb1wr]

In minute 8.23 I prefer h3 if black g4 ,hxg4

[@Dr.CansClinic]

The main drawback of that move is that it allows ...h5 + ...g4 and Black opens up lines on the kingside against the white king, using the h3-pawn as a lever.

[@KikanKikan-wb1wr]

@@Dr.CansClinic ok nice line master ,thanks

[@babstra55]

I'm 1900 and I do these mistakes ALL the time. and I think it's exactly this reason, I see the move as 'just' a recapture. and more generally I think I do it because his move was forced by MY will and not his, so I wrongly assume his move doesn't have his will behind it so it's safe to ignore.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Such beautiful observations! Yes, I should have mentioned it - you think that you forced this - thus you ignore the threats behind those moves.

[@8964TS]

I enjoy these moves the most. Sometimes it’s good to let a player think they’ve forced a move you had in mind anyway, precisely because they will likely be blind to the hidden threat in a way they wouldn’t have been if you’d just played the move proactively.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

So well-said! @@8964TS

[@anthonyjaglal]

It's blunders that may cause ones rating to stall as opposed to not having enough chess knowledge 😢

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Absolutely! That is why it is so important to raise our floor!

[@mehmetbaglars]

Teşekkürler.

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Rica ederim.

[@8GamingMonsters]

These are good examples, buy there too much repetition in your exposition. Better to speed things up

[@Dr.CansClinic]

Thanks for the feedback.

[@chess-ft8fl]

excelente

[@Dr.CansClinic]

gracias.