At higher levels, seemingly active moves often create more weaknesses in one's own position than in the opponent's position or can be neutralized by one or two tricky moves. However, all players must try to better understand the important concept of piece activity. It is the basis of the scariest kingside attacks and the most beautiful maneuvers. Yet it can also dissapear like a flash, turning a winning position into an equal one, or sometimes even a difficult one.
It is impossible to completely eliminate these mistakes, but here are three ways to minimize them are:
1. Asking what your opponent's threat is,
2. Asking how you would respond to your move if you were your opponent, and
3. Taking your emotions out of your decisions.
Many scholastic players only focus on their own plans, their own ideas, and their own tactics. If you can figure out what your opponent's threats are, you can rule out slow, maneuvering moves and only focus on the moves which defend against the opponent's ideas or counter-attack. Also, honestly asking what you would do if you were your opponent can be difficult, as chess players naturally favor their own position (we all want to win!), but doing so forces you to think about the long-term effects of your move. This way, you will never put one of your pieces in a poor position in the hopes that the opponent doesn't see your attack or misses your combination.
Finally, one must try to eliminate the effects of the sadness of seeing your position suddenly getting much worse and try to discover if your position is really so awful. It is difficult for all chessplayers to learn how to continue the fight after a horrible move. Many players collapse mentally after one mistake, making even more mistakes,when they could have held an equal position if they were able to play logically. The following game, full of mistakes, illustrates these ideas:
Despite many mistakes on both sides, this game is instructive because it shows how easy it is for your position to be ruined after an emotional decision. When I played my queen to h5, I could have lost the game in one move. Clearly, this shows how critical it is to be on the lookout for any of your opponent's possible tricks. On several moves, my opponent and I both failed to determine the opponent's best reply.
When I played Ng3, I did not think that my opponent would play Qf2. I am sure my opponent thought that the game was over and there was no fight left when he played Bd4. Ultimately, emotional decisions could have cost both sides the game. My moves Bb4, Ng3, and Qh5 were not based on logic. I played the moves because of my emotions. My opponent's move Bd4 and the extremely weak defense that followed it would not have happened had he found a way to keep his emotions in check. Luckily for me, the player who loses makes the last mistake, not the most mistakes, and I was able to get the win and finish the tournament with 5/7. It is important to learn from this and realize that there is still hope for an ugly win even when all seems lost.
Good Luck Activating!
David Adelberg