I thought I could win the exchange with 14. ...Bxe3, but that plan did not work. How do I distinguish tactical opportunities from plain blunders? (Clock time was not an issue.)
http://en.lichess.org/izSn9Ief/black#27The key factor here is your king. You should consider king safety before each tactic.
Master this and you master chess. lol I think some of this has to do with calculation, but sometimes it also has to do with positional indicators. I rarely end up in a failed tactic (though I don't always follow through properly and give up a winning sequence for a less winning or even equal one) when the position points toward the tactic.
For an easy example, Greek gift un-tactics are easy enough to find in hundreds of positions, but unless you have a knight on the right squares supporting your queen and the opponent's pieces offsides and the like, then it isn't really going to threaten much. I used to sac and sac and sac my bishop in Indian positions thinking "well it works here and here" and then find myself just down a piece in many games because I didn't understand the central positional indicators of why it works in some positions.
In terms of calculation it's a bit more challenging, you have to follow through the whole sequence and make sure the moves are actually forced. Simply miscounting defenders on a square can also be a problem for beginners/intermediates. I've also had positions where I think "yay I got a fork" and then it turns out that winning the material is quite temporary because it removes a defender from a critical square and I've actually ended up down material from the exchange. This is where position and calculation play together. You have to be aware of how your attack will change the nature of the position.
We're in this together, play more games seems to be the typical advice on how to get better at this. And puzzles and/or studying master games. This is how we start recognizing good tactical patterns when we see them and stop falling for bad ones.
Hope this helps! Cheers!
Really more practice with tactics will accustom you to the frequent motifs that can disable tactical shots--and this can only work to your benefit.
The way a more experienced player sees the position, right off the bat black is down a queen and 2 pawns for two pieces--essentially lost. The next obvious problem is Black's king position and unprotected pieces. Given these two together, it makes sense not to go for the tactic (even if it won material!!) due to the stranded nature of your king and pieces, and the potential threats of his rooks and queen.
Black would rather get castled immediately and hope he staves off checkmate long enough to win on time (which is his only hope in this 2 min game). On another note, I'd highly recommend beginning players to avoid playing bullet so as to take time on their moves/tactics and simply figure out how to play moves without blundering first. Taking the time to practice being able to consider and play stronger moves like this can help you loads when it comes to chess improvement--and it'll improve your play during slow games and fast games.
Though as an additional aside, you'll never ever see a grandmaster who cannot calculate lines accurately.
This is a practiced skill though a very essential one. Basically when evaluating tactics, it's often times not enough to trust patterns alone; you must still follow the lines and variations to the end, finding best moves for BOTH sides until the tactic completely checks out. Grandmasters often happen to be incredibly quick at this, which is why they can be so successful at bullet or blitz.
Agree #4. I didn't look at the game, but if all the position is just lost, king safety and trying to hold out is always the more logical solution than a tactical play (unless your tactic is a forced checkmate as the result of an opponent's blunder). Good advice.