Video - Timestamped for your pleasure
Obviously, when he's looking for that perfect move, it's likely going to be a better move than we find due to his IM skills but I think his point stands. A few weeks ago I was getting into technically winning positions but I had a minute or two on my clock for the endgame. Not fun. It's important to take your time, but even more important is to know when to really calculate and find that critical move and when it's okay to just play solidly and/or find a "good enough" move. This is especially true at lower levels where a move that loses a few centipawns isn't really going to be punished very often. *GASP* Don't waste your time trying to save those centipawns
Work on recognizing when it's not in your best interest to find the best move when the second, third, or even the fourth best move will be nearly as good.
+0.6 versus +0.3??
I think the age of stockfish has messed some of us up. We now know there is a number one engine move in every position and we're on a quest to find it, right? One might think,
"The eval is currently at +0.6 I'm guessing. If I find the perfect move, it'll stay at +0.6! But if I play the third best move, it's gonna drop to +0.3!!! Oh nooooo! So much pressure!"In reality, you know that shit doesn't matter to us 1700s. This isn't the world championship. Sometimes, focusing on engine evaluations can tilt our thinking so we're looking for that perfect move. In certain positions, a move that results in the loss of a few centipawns does not matter. Work on recognizing those positions and not wasting away precious minutes.
In general, in a tactical/critical position, a given single decision could change the fate of the game. But in a non-tactical position, especially opening situations where you need to follow some basic principles like developing or safeguarding your king, it probably won't matter too much so you should pick a move and go with it. Hopefully your chess instincts will protect you! If not, you'll learn from the mistakes and the goal is to build those instincts so you know when it's time to think!
Overall, I think I had been struggling with being paranoid about the perfect moves in the opening especially. I had been freaked out about dropping a pawn so I'd check all kinds of trades, re-captures and things like that and we're only 5 moves in. I'd be wasting minutes trying to figure out my 6th move and in a lot of positions I found myself in, that was a waste of time.
How do I know when to be a perfectionist?
These are the instincts John was talking about. Over time you'll develop instincts on what is a tactical position and what is a position that requires strategy or a simple "good enough" move. The best way to develop those instincts is to analyze your game without an engine right after it ends. All your thoughts and ideas for each move will be fresh and you can remember, for example:
"Move 4 I was considering playing e3 or getting my dark-squared bishop out first."With analysis you might see that both moves are pretty much equal, they just go into slightly different structures and types of games. But if you spent 120 seconds on this move, you will takeaway that you found two solid moves and you may have wasted time deciding between two great moves.
That is a simple example but it holds true. Analyze all of your games and as you do, try to recall the moments you had multiple moves in mind. Try to form connections between the moves you were considering, whether there was truly a large difference between the two, and how much time you took. Doing this enough may help you determine more quickly what a critical position is and what isn't.
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