I can only see 1 move ahead. Any tips?

@DanFouts said in #1:
> I am rated just over 2000 in puzzles, but that number is misleading, because I can only see 1 move at a time. When I do puzzles online, I have to have an actual board sitting next to me too, so I can play out the moves to see if my guess works or not. I just can't picture in my head how the board changes with each move, so I play it out on a real board, then if it works, I solve the online puzzle. I am very patient, and I will spend as much as 30 minutes on a single 2000 rated puzzle. The problem is, that doesn't work when you are playing a game. I am the guy who times out after 8 moves in a 30 minute game.
>
> I am fairly new to chess, and in my late 50's. I never really played as a kid, but watching many chess videos, it's apparent good players can see the board "in their head". I cannot. I have to see every move in real life before my brain can figure out what to do. Got any tips or suggestions?

how long are u actually playing? 1 year, 2 yrs...? if less then a year, then its normal. if more then 5 yrs i.e. then it means u didnt find a good way to practice that skill (moving at the wooden board while solving puzzle wont help it, u have to go out of the comfort zone and get that skill on the hard way by actually forcing urself to visualize and to remember!) or else, that u havent talent for that so u just cant.
also, sometimes some things we want come too slow and we have to build endurance to reach them... but most of the time if we fight hard enough for these - we do.

@DanFouts said in #9:
> Good question! I probably have to see/hear something many times in order to remember it. For example, if someone gives me directions while I am driving, I only remember the first thing they tell me. If they said, take a right, then a left, then a right, then another right, I would probably take the first right, then stop and ask for directions again.
But does it really means it's hard for You to memorize all, or sometimes You can recall things very deep, that in ordinary case, less Ppl would remember? Or there were no such Cases?

mkubecek in post 2 is right. Using a second board beside the computer to play the moves out is a crutch, and it is holding you back.
What is hurting you is that you can't see the next move and resulting position on the inside of your eyelid. That's a difficulty that gets worse with age. (Trust me on this, I'm in my late 60s and spatial visualization and memory are growing weaknesses for me now. And many of my friends that I have gotten to know) Fortunately, it seems that just the exercise, just the grunt work of trying to improve, can help prevent further decay of one's mental faculties. So work on it. You have your own brain to save. Or salvage.

I don't often do this, but I'm going to recommend a specific book: Chess: 5334 Problems, Combinations, and Games by Lazlo Polgar. It's usually not the first book of puzzles/endgame/combinations that I recommend, but in this case I hope it might be the right one. And my sincere apologies if I'm wrong. This book is often called "the brick" by chess coaches, for its imposing size and weight. But what I like about it is the very gradual increase in difficulty of the positions it offers. It starts with explaining the elementary rules of the game. Then it gives over 300 problems with mate in one. That's a lot of mate in one.
The idea seems to be to force the student to visualize a lot of positions in order to find that one correct answer. And, in passing, familiarize the student with a wide variety of mating patterns. But the main thrust seems to be to look at every possible move, to be as thorough as possible in examining candidate moves, and to build this ability slowly and steadily. To develop a complete visualization of the board, starting from the shallowest analysis.
But the brick is thick and heavy, and it does progress from simple and obvious mate in one to decidedly difficult combinations.
(You can see why chess coaches love it: it has lots of exercises at every level of play. The coach just has to find the page where the student has difficulty, photocopy the next few pages and that's his lesson planning done.)
This is what I like: the programmed instruction. It takes you slowly through the visualization process. So yes, at the end of the day, you'll be able to close your eyes and say, "I remember that position. I wanted to play ..."

“... Certainly for players who do not fully grasp the meaning of terms such as skewer, pin, fork, discovered attack, and the like, Winning Chess [(Batsford edition by Chernev and Reinfeld)] is a wonderful resource to bring the budding player to a much greater appreciation of the game. But also for intermediate players who all too often fall victim to these tactical maneuvers, or who realize in postmortems the many attacking threats they overlooked, this should be a book to consider. ..."
web.archive.org/web/20140708093415/https://www.chesscafe.com/text/review919.pdf

Have you considered that you may have aphantasia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia)? If you are unable to create mental imagery, it is not surprising that you lack the ability to visualise what the board will look like in more than one move.

In order to be able to calculate, you need to build a mental representation of the board which you can then manipulate quickly. Many people do this using mental imagery, and many of the recommendations for building calculating ability assume that this is how you're doing it, but it doesn't have to be the case. You probably build complex mental representations of things all the time (e.g. a mental map of a city when finding your way around). Consider how your mental representations of those things work, and try extending your existing methods to the chess board.

A quick Google search reveals that there are plenty of chess players who have aphantasia, but can still play. Even if your experience isn't actually a case of aphantasia, their experiences might still prove useful to you.

@GalacticaActual said in #16:
> Have you considered that you may have aphantasia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia)? If you are unable to create mental imagery, it is not surprising that you lack the ability to visualise what the board will look like in more than one move.
>
> In order to be able to calculate, you need to build a mental representation of the board which you can then manipulate quickly. Many people do this using mental imagery, and many of the recommendations for building calculating ability assume that this is how you're doing it, but it doesn't have to be the case. You probably build complex mental representations of things all the time (e.g. a mental map of a city when finding your way around). Consider how your mental representations of those things work, and try extending your existing methods to the chess board.
>
> A quick Google search reveals that there are plenty of chess players who have aphantasia, but can still play. Even if your experience isn't actually a case of aphantasia, their experiences might still prove useful to you.
And what if I feel the Board and Position just by Seeing It?

@aVague said in #17:
> And what if I feel the Board and Position just by Seeing It?

Then you probably don't have aphantasia, and can use mental imagery of the board as an abstract mental representation of possible board states. Note that I use "abstract mental representation" to mean a way of holding important information (e.g. "my knight is pinned to my queen") while abstracting away unimportant information (e.g. the pieces are Staunton pattern).

Humans use mental representations all the time as a way of processing information about the world, and knowing what to include vs. exclude in the representation is a significant part of being skilled in a particular task. For example, a big part of learning how to drive is developing a mental representation of the traffic around your vehicle, including vehicles and obstacles which aren't currently in your field of view. Having a good mental representation also helps with processing things even when they *are* in your field of view—if you've ever said "That guy almost ran me over! How did he not see me?" you were probably in his field of vision, but not in his mental representation of the traffic situation (a situation which is unfortunately more common than any of us would like). In the same way, when we blunder a one-move tactic, it's because even though it was plainly visible on the board, it was not included in our mental representation of the position.

@GalacticaActual said in #18:
> Then you probably don't have aphantasia, and can use mental imagery of the board as an abstract mental representation of possible board states. Note that I use "abstract mental representation" to mean a way of holding important information (e.g. "my knight is pinned to my queen") while abstracting away unimportant information (e.g. the pieces are Staunton pattern).
>
> Humans use mental representations all the time as a way of processing information about the world, and knowing what to include vs. exclude in the representation is a significant part of being skilled in a particular task. For example, a big part of learning how to drive is developing a mental representation of the traffic around your vehicle, including vehicles and obstacles which aren't currently in your field of view. Having a good mental representation also helps with processing things even when they *are* in your field of view—if you've ever said "That guy almost ran me over! How did he not see me?" you were probably in his field of vision, but not in his mental representation of the traffic situation (a situation which is unfortunately more common than any of us would like). In the same way, when we blunder a one-move tactic, it's because even though it was plainly visible on the board, it was not included in our mental representation of the position.
I would use abstraction , if I felt it, but I don't want to use abstraction, that doesn't shows right path right away, whcih I understand, because it rrequers tension of Mind and feels unnatural. My thinking is often is set for Attitde when I feel the right ways right away( but it can be fake feeling too, when I dont' see all details for some reason, or something bothers my Mind, disturbing It from Underself fast Calculation which are represented in Inner Feels by My Coutiousness)

@DanFouts practice makes perfect. It’s like doing mental math 14x16 you gotta think if it’s not memorized. Also puzzles are one of the worst ways newer players use to improve