Overcoming the ‘But I’m Unique’ Mentality in Chess Improvement

Is there any training method for seeing what captures are possible on the board, in the current position, immediately?

I haven't seen any such training method. No one seems to mention that as one of the areas of chess training or needed chess improvement. All the talk seems to be about other, more advanced topics. Yet most games around and below 1200 ratings in most time controls, are won or lost by multiple blunders on both sides, that mostly involve not seeing possible captures, that are present on the board immediately.

Those common blunders include: (1) dropping a piece into being captured without compensation, because of not seeing that it's being moved into a threatened square, (2) not moving a piece away from being captured without compensation, because of not seeing the threat, and (3) not taking a piece that can be captured immediately without repercussions, because of not seeing the possibility.

Talking or thinking about it doesn't seem to help. People can play chess for years, and still make these blunders, besides worse blunders such as attempting to make illegal moves. A position can be on the board in front of the player's face, for a minute, with thinking about the possibilities and reasoning about the best move, and still a player can make one of these blunders of not seeing. I'm trying to emphasize that it's about seeing, not about memory for openings, or calculations involving point values, or knowing how to play particular sorts of end games, or knowing the rules of chess, or anything else besides seeing.

I don't actually like to play chess. I'm just here because my brother plays, and wants to see me playing sometimes. I've figured out that being able to see the possible captures on the board is my greatest weakness. This doesn't seem unique, but it does seem like a sort of need for training that's completely ignored by the few books on chess I've ever read, the few videos that I've seen, and the training options offered at this site, and the few of these blog posts I've seen. So from the point of view of everyone who teaches chess through those various means, it may seem like a unique, or at least rare, problem. Otherwise, wouldn't there be some training methods that are recommended for overcoming the problem?

Is there any training method for seeing what captures are possible on the board, in the current position, immediately? I haven't seen any such training method. No one seems to mention that as one of the areas of chess training or needed chess improvement. All the talk seems to be about other, more advanced topics. Yet most games around and below 1200 ratings in most time controls, are won or lost by multiple blunders on both sides, that mostly involve not seeing possible captures, that are present on the board immediately. Those common blunders include: (1) dropping a piece into being captured without compensation, because of not seeing that it's being moved into a threatened square, (2) not moving a piece away from being captured without compensation, because of not seeing the threat, and (3) not taking a piece that can be captured immediately without repercussions, because of not seeing the possibility. Talking or thinking about it doesn't seem to help. People can play chess for years, and still make these blunders, besides worse blunders such as attempting to make illegal moves. A position can be on the board in front of the player's face, for a minute, with thinking about the possibilities and reasoning about the best move, and still a player can make one of these blunders of not seeing. I'm trying to emphasize that it's about seeing, not about memory for openings, or calculations involving point values, or knowing how to play particular sorts of end games, or knowing the rules of chess, or anything else besides seeing. I don't actually like to play chess. I'm just here because my brother plays, and wants to see me playing sometimes. I've figured out that being able to see the possible captures on the board is my greatest weakness. This doesn't seem unique, but it does seem like a sort of need for training that's completely ignored by the few books on chess I've ever read, the few videos that I've seen, and the training options offered at this site, and the few of these blog posts I've seen. So from the point of view of everyone who teaches chess through those various means, it may seem like a unique, or at least rare, problem. Otherwise, wouldn't there be some training methods that are recommended for overcoming the problem?

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