1. Eliminate horrible blunders, such as leaving pieces en prise, falling for obvious skewers, dangerous pins, forks and "mates out of the blue". Win, lose or draw is not the important part here, I just want to practice good chess habits and learn how to play patiently and solidly. If I lose I want it to be because I got thoroughly outplayed, not because I gave up something for free. At least this way I can go through my loss and learn something more productive than "I shouldn't have left that piece undefended"
2. Don't play when tired or distracted. Chess time will be "tunnel time", during that time it will be my sole focus. I am going to set aside time specifically for that purpose. I will warm up with some tactics puzzles, and if I'm so tired or distracted that I can't solve any of them then I'm probably better off doing something else than chess at that time.
3. Analyze every game. By forcing myself to analyze every game, I am forcing myself to learn from every game. If it is a particularly instructional game, or the opening catches me off guard or the endgame is completely unfamiliar or something like that, I will do a deeper analysis. I will study the unfamiliar opening or the particular endgame, as to be better prepared in the future.
Black
"One Step Closer to 1700"
Horrible Blunders: 0 This game was near perfect for me with no horrible blunders. Stay vigilant and avoid horrible blunders!
Note 1: I remained confident even against my higher-rated opponent and came out victorious! Thanks to an early mistake by my opponent I was able to get a step closer to my goal of 1700 Rapid!
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