Playing in chess tournaments is a completely different thing from studying chess or playing friendly casual games at the club with your pals. While we can do pretty well during our lessons, training sessions with friends or coach, an official competition forces you to make your best effort and put to work your best competitive skills and character. Of course, usually there are hundreds of other colleagues doing exactly the same and as if this didn’t sound hard enough there is the time pressure.

Mistakes can happen at all levels, from beginners to strong Grandmasters. Even recently we have witnessed a few unexplainable moments from top Grandmasters in the prestigious Sinquefield Cup that’s taking place in Saint Louis. Knowing that mistakes can happen even at the highest level might come as a relief for the rest of us, but it is nevertheless something we’d like to avoid as much as possible. Blunders are usually unexplainable; it feels as if our brain suddenly stops cooperating. However, there are a few things you could try to do in order to minimize such moments. Here are a few tips.

Studying chess can prove a difficult task sometimes and, as much as you like to study by yourself, you might realize at some point that you need some guidance. It could be that you reach a moment when you can no longer see any improvement, regardless of the time you invest in studying or that you need help and advice creating a suitable repertoire or that you simply need a stronger and more experienced player to explain some important chess concepts. In any case, the help of a coach can be enormous. An outside person with a good chess understanding can help you identify the weaknesses in your play and tell you what you need to study, can provide you material or indicate model games.