In Chess, there are brilliant moves, the best moves, and bad moves. If you’re a beginner, you’ll be making multiple blunders nearly every game. When players hear about blunders, many instantly think of hanging a Queen, but those kinds of blunders aren’t seen often. What’s common is a blunder that grants the opponent a dramatic advantage in positioning. Usually resulting in losing an entire piece or just getting checkmated.
What is a Blunder in Chess?
A Blunder in Chess is a move that drastically decreases your chances of winning the game. This is because a Blunder puts yourself in a vulnerable position to either lose a piece without being able to counter the capture or makes you lose the game entirely within the next few moves.
If you watch Grandmasters like Maurice Ashley or Magnus Carlsen play, which I highly recommend, you’ll notice that they instantly know the correct or the best move to make in every single position they’re in. Usually it’s only one or two different moves. Any other move besides the correct move, would likely be a blunder. If you make a blunder, and the other player doesn’t, you’ll lose by default, assuming the other play always makes the best move in the position.
Do Grandmasters Ever Blunder?
Blundering in Chess sounds like something only amateurs do, but this isn’t the case. Even the top players in the world blunder. Not every game, but it does happen. When one of the best Chess players in the world makes a blunder though, it’s usually heard of amongst the Chess community.
One thing to keep in mind about blunders. Not all blunders are equal. A blunder to a Grandmaster won’t be the same to a 1000 Elo player.
For more information, you can read the list of tips on how to stop blundering in Chess.
I hope this guide on what a Blunder is in Chess helped you. If you want to read more Chess Terminology terms and definitions, these are important to know.
