Blunders are always a nightmare for most chess players, even in the top GMs level. It is one of the worst feelings for a chess player when he makes a blunder – even worse, it could haunt you for days and sometimes it can never be forgotten.

So here comes the question: how to avoid blunders?

Before that, let’s try to find out the reasons for blunders. A blunder is usually caused by some tactical oversight, time trouble, overconfidence or carelessness.

To answer the above question our guest coach IM David Miedema has prepared a very instructive video lesson, where he gives you 4 useful tips to avoid blunders.

In this video he’ll show you two of his games: one, which he lost very quickly due to blunders and the other one, where he did almost everything right. You can watch the video lesson below:

What are the 4 tips?

• Be fresh – sleep well
• Keep developing your pieces
• If you attack your opponent’s queen, there is always a possibility for intermediates moves – remember, an attack to the king, NOT queen, is a check
• Try to remove your pieces from the active squares ONLY IF they are threatened directly

Suggested: You may also like to see GM Igor Smirnov’s videos on “How to eliminate blunders?” part-1 and part-2

Author information

• David Miedema is an International Master from the Netherlands. His biggest achievements include:
• 6th of the Netherlands, beating Anish Giri in the process, twice.
• Winning the Neckar open in 2010
• He gained crucial fun skills in teaching chess. He will be traveling around Europe making videos and live in nomad lifestyle.

Recommended: Master the art of defense with our course “Defending Champion”. If you want to strengthen your defending skills and stop losing games under pressure, then this course is for you.
P.S. Do you like IM David Miedema’s lessons? What tips do you follow to avoid blunders? Please let us know by writing in the comments below – let’s discuss! 🙂