Classic Amateur Mistakes and How To Fix Them – The Book Every Amateur Wishes They’d Read Sooner

Amateurs: Focus on vague general ideas Over-explain without clarity Professionals: Calculate concrete variations Provide precise, actionable analysis Common Amateur Mistakes Covered Overthinking instead of calculating Moving the same piece too often Lack of attacking intent Poor decision-making in practical positions What You Gain Clear understanding of typical amateur errors Practical advice to improve thinking process A structured approach to decision-making at the board Better results and increased confidence Tone & Style Entertaining and humorous Insightful and practical Easy to relate to for club players Result: A highly practical guide that helps amateurs think more like strong players and perform better in real games. Due to a lack of confidence in their chess calculation, they often struggle to deal with concrete positions and will succumb to paralysis by analysis. If you ask an amateur player about a typical chess position, they will often waffle on in such a way about the general features of the position to the extent that your eyes will glaze over. Ask a professional player about that same position, and by contrast they will bombard you with variations. In this entertaining, humorous and entertaining read, Gormally gives his reasons why this is and tries to explain how they can improve, as well as also analysing other classic amateur mistakes, like moving a piece too often and not attacking enough. The sum result is a tome that will not only help the amateur player to achieve better results but will also give them a consistent process going forward at the board that they feel comfortable with. Daniel Gormally is a chess Grandmaster based in Alnwick in Northumberland. As well as being the author of several chess books including the comfort zone, pandemic shark and mating the castled king, he also runs a moderately successful chess YouTube channel. In 2024 Gormally won the UK rapid play championship in Peterborough, and in 2025 he won the UK open blitz championships in Leamington Spa. In 2026 Gormally officially became a senior chess player and is hoping to use this fact to avoid playing underrated juniors in open tournaments, as much as possible. In his spare time Gormally likes to read comic books and watch Korean cooking game shows, as well as trying to repair his bad back by going to the gym and attending yoga classes.