Blundering in diagonals

I am sure it happens to everybody sometimes but it hold specially true for begginers like me. Many times when I'm playing or I am in a good position I forget about a queen or a bishop on a diagonal. Sometimes I see the piece on a diagonal but I just get confused and end it up putting my piece in harm's way just for seconds later realize my mistake.

That being said, I would like to give a tip that I am trying lately. In order to avoid this type of blunder, a good mental techinique should be to connect the diagonals of bishops and queens. I explain. When you look into your opponents bishop mark where his diagonal ends. Lets say the bishop is on c1. Instead of lookin for his diagonals every time you calculate, just mark that h6 is under atack (let's assume that in this position the bishop has a free diagonal) on the right side and the bishop is blocked on b2 on the left side. It will force to keep track every time a piece (bishop or queen) is moved, but i think that over time this is the kind of habbit that can make your game much more solid.

I also think that this might be a good exercise because it helps improve your visualization and shrinks the time you spend checking e if a certain diagonal is under atack.

Well, I thought this might be a good tip and decided to share. If you have a better idea or different tips to help, please share your insights too.

When my opponent has, let's say, a dark squared bishop; I always pay attention when I step on a dark square with any of my pieces. I avoid some blunders this way.

If you play slower games you will be less likely to make simply blunders like this AND you will learn more. With some fast games thrown in as exercises. Also the more you practice the better your brain will become at being in tuned with the patterns of movement of the pieces and it will be more automatic for you.

i try to use my opponents time to check for safe squares for my pieces on my next move.

@vio7 Hit the nail on the head. I have a bad habit of not using my opponents time to think. If you want to avoid dropping pieces, look for basic tactics on your opponent's time so you can focus on more complicated strategical ideas during your own.