Go back
Tunnel Vision

Tunnel Vision

Only Chess

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

How do you work to get rid of it? It really gets me angry when I do stupid crap because I only look at a few squares on the board. But I seem to be doing it all too often. Getting angry after the fact doesn't seem to be doing much for me.

Do I really have to waste time looking at the board on every single move when 95% of the time it is a total waste of time?

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

Are you talking about OTB play or the games on here.

(An example would be good)

if you have been have been playing a lot chess on screen then you
will lose your 3d vision. You must get used to scanning and learning
how to read the whole board.

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by Eladar
How do you work to get rid of it? It really gets me angry when I do stupid crap because I only look at a few squares on the board. But I seem to be doing it all too often. Getting angry after the fact doesn't seem to be doing much for me.

Do I really have to waste time looking at the board on every single move when 95% of the time it is a total waste of time?
Your board vision should get better just by playing a lot of chess games. Are you relatively new at chess?

Clock
2 edits
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by Eladar

Do I really have to waste time looking at the board on every single move when 95% of the time it is a total waste of time?
Chess is about thinking. You can't afford to assume, generalise or have a lazy mindset if you want to win.

Look at the following position between Vallejo Pons - Kasparov



White thought he could defend the rook by 27.Ra5 but Kasparov saw further than his opponent did.

27.Ra5 Bxf2+ 28.Qxf2 Qxa5 29.Nxe6

29...Bxg2! Game over

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

My problem is with timed games. I haven't noticed tunnel vision in Correspondance games. It isn't a problem most of the time in timed games. But when it does happen, it really makes me feel like an idiot.


I didn't save the game, but this was the position that I blew, at least the important part of the board that I remember.



I took the bishop with my queen because I did not check the diagonal. It is really embarassing because I should know better, but I I only saw the nine squares in the corner of the screen.

It was pretty much a won game, even if I had traded my bishop for the two pawns. I was up at least one piece to an opponent rated about 200 points below me. So it wasn't desperation move. It was just that I literally didn't see anything but those 9 squares.

Mad Rook,

I've been playing chess for about a year now after my initial 3 months of interest, then 9 month break. My OTB vision is worse than my screen vision. I play pretty much exclusively on line.



Grebarts,

As you can see from the example, I'm not talking about an unexpected move based on bad calculations. I'm talking about simply not looking a few squares away.


But hey, yesterday a higher rated opponent did a similar for me. He too was attacking my king with his queen, but didn't notice that the square he moved to was defended by my knight. But a knight is a little more difficult to see than a queen on a diagonal 2 squares away!!!!

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

OK, yeah, I think just playing a lot of games (slow games are better) should help with your board vision. And, assuming you have enough time, you should always look for your opponent's checks, captures, and threats to any move that you're planning to make. It's often a waste of time, but it only takes one blunder to lose a game.

You also might want to read this article:

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman32.pdf

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

Eladar, I agree with MadRook in that playing a lot of games is a good idea. If you've only been playing for a year I think this is very normal and once you have a thousand games or so under your belt this will be a trivial problem for you.

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

Thanks for the reassurance. As I said, it isn't a problem most of the time. If it was, I wouldn't win any games! But when it does happen...😠

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by Eladar
How do you work to get rid of it? It really gets me angry when I do stupid crap because I only look at a few squares on the board. But I seem to be doing it all too often. Getting angry after the fact doesn't seem to be doing much for me.

Do I really have to waste time looking at the board on every single move when 95% of the time it is a total waste of time?
One thing I do too help me avoid it is too play a game with a lot of time and let the game be idle for periods of time. Sometimes I look through a few moves and do not play a move while the game is idle. I also do not play a move when I start to become angry or playing poorly. Another thing I do is too not play a move until I have been up for at least an hour. Still at times I still have tunnel vision problems or play a move without thinking it through. Anger inattention too much optimism and being groggy are the biggest causes of my tunnel vision problems.

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by GrebartsBocaj
Eladar, I agree with MadRook in that playing a lot of games is a good idea. If you've only been playing for a year I think this is very normal and once you have a thousand games or so under your belt this will be a trivial problem for you.
Play more then a thousand games? I do not know If I will ever play that many chess games.

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by gambit3
Play more then a thousand games? I do not know If I will ever play that many chess games.
I mean blitz games. I have probably played more blitz games than that...

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

Between standard and blitz games I have played almost 2000 games at FICS. Most of those are Blitzes. I think that's my problem. I need to play standard games. Only about 200 of the 2000 are standard. Even those standard games I play very fast.

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

Originally posted by GrebartsBocaj
I mean blitz games. I have probably played more blitz games than that...
I do not know if I have ever played a thousand chess games. Maybe I have played just over a thousand chess games since about 1976.

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

Blitz to me is 5 min or less (although officially it is <10 min). I don't play much chess at all at the moment but in the past I could play an hour each day. Now, I am certainly not a good player but I am sure that if you ask any good player they will tell you that they have played a lot of blitz games in their life.

Clock
Vote Up
Vote Down

When you play 5 min games on the internet you can really play alot of games in a short period of time. All you do is point and click. After the game put out a seek and you'll be playing again within a minute.

Cookies help us deliver our Services. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. Learn More.