Very few attacks are worth more than a knight. Stockfish happens to think that yours is an exception...barely. But Stockfish is better at actually executing the attack than any human. In a blitz game, just take the knight at any point and win easily (it doesn't even slow down your attack much). In a classical game, still take the knight and expect your opponent to resign.
Not having a material advantage left you with too little margin for error in a complicated position, that's why you kept having to spend so much time on your moves.
If you didn't actually see that the knight was hanging at various points despite spending all that time, next time start by looking for simple tactics first before trying to find complicated ones. At your level, cleaning up the material that your opponent left hanging is a major source of wins (at higher levels, you're just passively aware of the squares attacked by your and your opponent's pieces, so it generally doesn't take any thought to see that a piece is hanging).
The answer is pretty easy, start with more slow games.
When you will feel stronger go to blitz.
The answer is even simpler.
The OP has solved 2600+ training puzzles at this site under this one name alone. I happen to know he does 1000+s more at another site with his rating remaining static. Clearly he is obsessed with the training feature, thinking that solving puzzles will improve his game.
Problem is a puzzle is not a "chess game" It helps to recognize patterns but they are of little value when in the heat of battle. A puzzle often takes some time to evaluate the entire board, understand why pieces and pawns are placed on the squares they occupy. With a chess game, the flow has been established, the reasoning behind where the pieces have moved already established. Each move is not a puzzle to be solved, but to find the next best continuation.
In blitz, who has time to evaluate each position as if it were a puzzle? The OP missed several tactical shots, quite complicated really. Maybe that's the problem. Instead of playing natural moves, playing his game as he has learned it, he's preoccupied with "tactics" which at our level is almost impossible to calculate out at every move in blitz games.
A simple 13. 0-0 without hesitation was natural.
Even better was 13. Bf4+
The Knight was already developed, could jump into the fray at any time. Common sense demands the undeveloped Bishop to be moved. No need to calculate tactics. Play the natural moves with his big advantage and opponents exposed King. To lose that game maybe suggests a month's time out.
In the "Picture of the Good Chess player" there are thousands of little stones glued together. Tactics is the glue. But only many stones (chess chunks) and glue make it complete.
Moreover, tactics puzzles are not the same as tactics in a game. Keep on practising, chess is a tough game!
Yep. Practice by playing games. Your own games. Openings that are found to provide a reward and suit your style.
Puzzles in my book are a pastime, a diversion, like playing a variant. But then I don't "study" an ounce anymore. Just play. I review every game right after completion. Store a few for pats on the back that I give myself.
As said by
@Sarg0n, solving tactics puzzles is not the same as tactics in a chess game that you're playing. Getting too caught up in training and study can actually result in fewer rating points. This is because instead of just "playing the game" one can be distracted by "what move should be played."
Thanks for all your replies.
@mdinnerspace you may have a point with the tactics. They don't seem to be helping very much. I think a break from blitz and longer games is needed. I would have won that game with another 2 or 3 minutes.
I have made the experience that doing nothing but puzzles (and this only occasionally) for around 5 years (not on Lichess though) has lead to a big leap in skill that I can observe now that I play for real again.
However, I still suck at blitz (I don't even try bullet). The longer the time control, the better I get, generally. So you might want to do just that.. play longer games.
I mean, you still had a +13 evaluation from Stockfish in the final position of your example game. You just need more time.
I do not agree that you need more time. You could have checkmated him long before with plenty of time remaining. It would in retrospect have been better if you had thought longer and checkmated him instead of playing faster, missing the checkmates and then end up losing on time.
@tpr Of course he had enough time, objectively. But it appears as if he got so nervous about time trouble that he didn't think clearly anymore. If he plays with longer time controls (preferably with increment), he will be more relaxed, which should help him play better.
Exactly. Fear and anxiety cause us to lose games. Like in Greek dramas people act in such a way that they cause the event they seek to avoid. Here to avoid time trouble we play hasty moves, that prolongs the game longer than it should and that causes the time trouble we wanted to avoid. Playing with increment is a good suggestion.
