For some reason, I don't remember having that problem with chess even though I can in RL. It's been a while since I played it much, but from what I remember, I didn't have a deep understanding of the game; I mainly was just careful in thinking steps through and that made me good enough that I could often hold my own (though I'm sure I'd get destroyed if I played against pros). For other players who are at a casual level of skill, I think that's all you really need is caution. Lot of times in chess, people will make blunders because they are too hasty; and if they lose a valuable piece as a result, it can spiral if the other player plays cautious and plodding, gradually making use of the advantage to whittle down to where the blundered player's best bet is to force a stalemate.

Interestingly, chess can be similar to programming logic in a way and I ended up into coding as one of my areas of interest in life. "If this, then this" kind of thinking; pieces with unique operations (movements) they can each do; it even has a piece that can change state (the special pawn turning into a queen situation).