5 Steps for Calculating Like a Grandmaster

All chess players know that grandmasters can calculate many moves ahead, evaluate the position, and deliver the final blow. How do they do that? Is there a way an ordinary chess player can learn to calculate many moves ahead like masters do? In this article, we will answer those questions and show you a simple schematic that will tremendously help at calculating moves.

 

Step 1. Knowing when and what to calculate

The most important step in move calculation is actually to know when you need to calculate the variation and when you don’t.Chess players, even very strong Grandmasters, are not machines. They cannot simply calculate all lines and come up with the best continuation.

That’s why it is very important to realize when you need to calculate the line. The primary difference between a strong and a weak player is not how much each player calculates. The main difference between the two is in the ability of each player to find the right moves to calculate in the first place.

There are no general guidelines as of when and what you need to calculate. But I will try to give you some basic suggestions that will help you at deciding when you should calculate the variation:

1. When your own king or your opponent’s king is under attack, you should calculate the possibilities to end or continue the attack.

2. When there are many pieces/pawns under attack you should calculate the possibilities to win/save the pieces/pawns.

3. When the position is unstable (possible exchanges, pawns structure changes, simplifications etc.) you should calculate how you can benefit the most from it.

Step 2. Finding the candidate moves

After figuring out what and when to calculate you should find the so-called candidate moves. These are the moves that will most likely lead to the most favorable outcome. They generally make sense based on the current positional evaluation. After identifying3-4 candidate moves you should start calculating the lines, starting with what you think is the strongest candidate move.

The ability to calculate these lines solely depends on your calculation and visualization skills that can be enhanced by special exercises.

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Step 3. Evaluating the position

After you have finished calculating the line based on selected candidate moves, you have arrived to a certain final position. In order to judge if the move was a good one or not, it is necessary to evaluate this position and to understand if you’ve achieved some improvement on the board.

This evaluation possesses additional challenges because you cannot see the position on the board, and need to evaluate it only based on your visualization ability.

Step  4. Using method of elimination

In order to make your life simpler, it is crucial to decrease the number of moves and variations that you need to calculate and analyze. If you start calculation of the line and notice that there are already many problems after move 3, there is no need to continue the calculation. Save some time and use it where it needed the most.

Chess is not a game for a perfectionist, by rather for a player who knows how to spend his resources wisely. You goal is to eliminate all bad possibilities and to calculate/play only the good moves.

Step  5. Making the final decision

The final step is probably the easiest of all five. You need to critically look at your analysis and select a single best move to play in the game. If you encounter two or more moves which are about the same quality, you can go ahead and play any of the two. It doesn’t need to be perfect, but it should be a good move.

After you have selected the move you will play, it makes sense to double check the line and to make sure that you are not making a mistake. When that is done, you can go ahead and play the move. If you did everything correctly, your position should slightly improve.

10 Reasons Why Adult Players Fail to Improve at Chess

Many players are asking me the same question, is it possible to improve at chess in their 30s, 40s or 50s? Is it possible to start playing at 30 or 40 and make it to at least a FIDE master’s level? What are the main obstacles that prevent the majority of adult players to make progress at chess and reach their goals? Let’s take a closer look.

1. Lack of Motivation

Surprisingly, lack of motivation, is the biggest progress stopper at chess and life alike. Many adult players are simply not motivated enough to get better at chess. They want to improve their game, but they don’t want it bad enough that they are willing to give up something valuable for it.

How many adults are willing to give up their TV time, newspaper reading time, socializing time or in favor of chess? They have spent years to develop a habit to watch that TV-show every day at 7 pm. Trust me not many people can break that habit easily or even at all.

The only way to break an old habit is to replace it with a new one, for example to study chess at 7 pm (or any other time) for 1 hour, 3 weeks in a row. Commitment is a key to success.

2. Bad Memory

Memory is not as crucial at amateur level chess, but if you want to achieve something more, then it may be a problem. Many adults have flaws in their memory which will make it difficult to remember certain things that are important for succeeding at chess.

Opening preparation, typical endgame positions and even pattern recognition are all heavily relying on good memorization skills.

Many adults cannot even remember an important phone number or a license plate of their own car. How are they expected to remember the game that was played in 2007 between Anand and Kramnik or a way to draw a certain rook and pawn endgame? You don’t need to have a Carlsen-like photographic memory to achieve the master’s title, but it always helps to improve it a bit.

3. Inability to Calculate Variations

This is another huge problem that many adult chess players are facing. It seems like they cannot visualize the position well enough that they can see what will happen further than 3 moves ahead.

How should you train the ability to calculate chess variations? Solving chess tactics without moving pieces on the board, practicing in finding candidate moves, calculating a certain line as far as possible and evaluating the final position are some the most common techniques in calculation training.

Another method you can try is to play a blindfold chess against a very weak opponent. The goal of this exercise is to train visualization and position memorization rather than look for tactics, etc.

4. Absence of a Study Plan

Most adult chess players have plenty of training materials. Often these materials are not what they need to study to take their chess to the next level. These training materials are like pieces of puzzle. In order to improve at chess you need to combine these pieces into the full picture, or rather a complete training routine. Quite often, when you have too many choices it is hard to make a decision.

Let me give you one example. Just imagine you’ve just signed up for a gym membership, but you don’t know exactly what to do in the gym. You don’t know what exercises work what muscle groups, you not exactly sure how to use the gym equipment, you have no idea how often to exercise, what to eat, and how much to sleep. Sure you can come to the gym from time to time, lift some weights and you will train something.

The question is: will you have an overall well developed muscles and a good physique after such training? Of course not. It will take you good few years of time and couple of injuries to learn these things by yourself, assuming you know what to read and whom to ask.

Would you rather try figuring out everything yourself or would you rather  follow a day-by-day training course that tell you exactly what muscle group to train, how to train it, what weights to use, what to eat and how much to sleep?

I’m pretty sure you would agree that the outcome in this case will be totally different.

The same goes for chess. You can try improving by yourself, reading something, studying some games, figuring out some openings, solving some tactics. But it is a very long road and most adult players are simply not ready to take it.

Most players need to have a clear guidance in order to improve. They need to be shown what to train, how much time to spend on it and what to expect. Studying goes much easier if you follow guidelines of a training program on a day-by-day basis rather than if you do everything on your own.

                                                      

                                                                         CLICK HERE

5. Psychological Instability

Psychological instability is something that many adult players have and it is something that can ruin their winning chances. How many times have you seen a player that after looking at the pairings table says something like “I’m playing against somebody 400 points higher, there is no way I will win this round”.

Well of course, you won’t win. Even before the game started you already pre-program yourself that the opponent is superior and you will lose simply based on the rating difference.

For players like that I always recommend not paying too much attention to the ratings. It may not be easy at first, but you need to be confident enough to play against anyone, without that fear of losing.

6. Low Chess Stamina

Many adult chess players suffer from a low chess stamina. That means they can pay full attention to what’s going on in the game for first couple of hours, but later on towards the end of the game their attention gets distorted and they start losing focus. This is a very dangerous situation for a chess player. Just imagine you have been playing your best for 2 or 3 hours and then make an inaccuracy and lose the game.

Even in case of 44 year old Vishy Anand who first tried to defend and then to win the World Championship Title back from Magnus Carlsen we can easily notice that most of his game-losing mistakes were made in the later stage of the game.

What can you do to increase your chess stamina? Physical fitness as very essential for playing at the high level. By staying fit and playing sports consistently on top of chess training, you will be able to keep both your mind and body at top condition.

7. “Fear of Ghosts”

Some chess players especially adults, suffer from a phenomena called “fear of ghosts”. These players are afraid to make a mistake so much that they worry more about how not to make one rather than fully focusing on the game. That behavior puts them under a severe pressure, increases stress level and reduces stamina.

To fight this problem, you need to increase your self-confidence level. The only way to do that I to work on your chess and to win more games.

8. Lack of Competiveness

Oddly enough, lack of competitiveness is also one of the reasons why adult chess players have problems improving their game. Unlike younger players, they think that chess is “just a game” and that “winning is not that important”.

With this kind of attitude it is very hard to perform at your best and have motivation and drive to work hard and to win games.

9. Inability to Handle Pressure

Surprisingly enough, many adult chess players cannot handle pressure as well as their younger counterparts. When they arebeing attacked they lose focus and collapse quickly. In order to succeed at chess, adult players need to pay specific attention to this problem.

This problem can be addressed by playing high pressure positions in practice games, when you’re a piece down or under serious attack. By surviving in practice games you will be able to survive when it matters as well.

10. Time Management Choices

Many adult chess players, in fact, can improve their chess as fast as younger players do. In order to do that an adult player needs to dedicate himself to chess by working consistently, participating in tournaments, playing practice games and so on.

In order to make  serious progress, such as becoming at least an international master, an adult player needs to spend 4-5 hours on chess daily, which is very problematic for many who have day job, family, friends and other responsibilities. That only applies if you are looking to becoming a professional chess player.

If you are just striving for a class A (candidate-master) or master’s level, there is no need to give up a lot of things you enjoy in life. Most adult players can achieve that goal from 1200 elo in 2-3 maximum 4 years working on chess consistently, following the right advice and playing tournament chess.

How to become a Blitz Master and offers on the new course

First, let me ask you a few questions – have you ever played blitz chesstournaments in your club or on the Internet? Have you won some good gamesand tournaments in blitz? Were you finding a steady increase in your progress?

 

If your answer is “No” or uncertain – then your results will be unstable.

That is because you need to have a sharp mind to calculate a lot of moves within a few seconds. And this can be done only by repetitive practice and experience.

 

Not even all grandmasters have stable results – there are only few GMs like Fischer, Morphy, Tal, Capablanca and Anand who can be recognised as a ‘Blitz Master’.

Only the person who has more knowledge on a certain topic, an expert on that topic, can teach it. Therefore, we’ve invited a ‘Blitz Master’ to teach you thoseskills; you can learn and, more importantly, incorporate them into your games and become a ‘Blitz Master’ too! 

I’m very glad to announce that the next webinar will be conducted by GM Maxim Dlugy (the main author of the new course) on Friday 30 Jan. at 3 p.m. GMT (check timings here: LINK).

Yes, GM Dlugy is an extraordinary blitz player – he has an incredible top rating of 2731 in blitz! Also, GM Dlugy was the world’s highest ranked in blitz, according to WBCA ratings, a ranking he held for four consecutive years!

<<Sign up for the webinar now>>

In Friday’s webinar, “How to become a Blitz Master?”, GM Dlugy will teach you the 26 secrets of playing blitz well, while analysing his victories against the best players in the world.

In the previous article, I shared with you a short introductory video on the new course, “Unlocking the Grandmaster’s Mind”, and revealed almost everything about the course (if you missed that, check it now: LINK).

Today, I’ve something exciting for you. As I promised that the new course would be ready this month, I’m very glad to announce that it will be released on 29^thJan! 

But wait, I still have something good for you – yes, I’m going to provide you with some great discounts and special offers to celebrate this special occasion! :)

DISCOUNT:

I’m going to provide you with two discount coupons this time!

The first 100 buyers will be offered a 30% DISCOUNT on the new course! Subsequent buyers will get a 20% DISCOUNT only. 

Also, a few hours in advance I’ll reveal the discount coupon to those students who have subscribed to our newsletter – Quick Success in Chess (LINK). So if you are asubscriber, you have more chances to be among the first 100 buyers and get a30% discount!

If you haven’t yet subscribed to us, you can surely do so now: LINK

NOTE: the discount coupon is valid from 29^th Jan. to 1^st Feb. (inclusive) only. To learn how to use a discount code, see here: LINK

SPECIAL OFFER:

Do you want to attend the above-mentioned GM Dlugy’s webinar on Friday 30 Jan for FREE? Yes, you can get FREE attendance for the webinar! 

 

If you buy the course, “Unlocking the Grandmaster’s Mind”, on 29 Jan., you can attend GM Dlugy’s webinar, “How to become a ‘Blitz Master?”, on the 30^th forFREE!

I’ve also prepared a video explaining the offers in detail. You can watch it below: 

Hanging Pawn Structures

We stopped after 16.exd4 16…Na5. So it is White’s turn now. How would you playhere as White?

White to play

17.d5! A thematic move! White opens the centre and activates both his bishops.

17…exd5 – if Black chooses to take with 17…Nc4 18.Qe4 g6 20.Bxc4 Qxc4 21.Qe5 f6 22.Qxe6+ Rf7 22.Rc1 Qa6 22.Nd4 and White has the upper hand.

18.cxd5 Bxd5 – White has eliminated the HPS and has opened his bishops for akingside attack.

White to play

How can White start an immediate attack in the above position?

White goes for a tactical blow 19.Bxh7+ Kxh7 20.Rxd5; White is threatening to play Qe4+ followed by Rh5.

20…Kg8 A natural strategic retreat by Portisch, but anyway who can stop theForce! 21.Bxg7!! A bolt out of the blue!

21…Kxg7 22.Ne5 centralizing the knight in an open position; pieces are best placed in central squares, opening up the diagonal for the queen. Preparing to move rook to d7 and also to play Nd7, preventing the queen from supporting the bishop with lot of threats.

22…Rfd8 

White to play

[22…f5 23.Rd3 Qc5 24.Nd7; 22…Rh8 23.Qg4+ Kf8 24.Qf5 f6 25.Re1 Nc6 (25…Qc1 26.Rdd1+–) 26.Nd7+ Kf7 27.Rxe7++–; 22…Qc2 23.Qg4+ Kh7 24.Rd3 Rc3 25.Qf5+ Kg8 26.Rg3++–]

23.Qg4+ Kf8 24.Qf5 threatening a simple mate on f7.

24…f6 forced. [24...Bxa3 not possible after Nd7 check – either Ke8 or Kg8 will result in forced mate in several moves. 25.Nd7+ Kg8 26.Qg4+]

White to play

How should White continue his attack now?

Kasparov played 25.Nd7+ [25.Ng6+ Ke8? (25…Kg7 26.Nf4 Rxd5 27.Nxd5 (27.Qg6+ Kh8 28.Ne6 Rg5) 27…Qc5 28.Nxe7) 26.Qh5 Rxd5 27.Ne5++–]

25…Rxd7 26.Rxd7 Qc5 27.Qh7 Rc7 28.Qh8+! And not 28.Rd3? Qxf2+!! 29.Kxf2(29.Rxf2 Rc1+) 29…Bc5+ 30.Kg3 Rxh7=

28…Kf7 29.Rd3 A brilliant waiting move; only A FORCE can play like this. Now White threatens to play Qh7+ – forcing Black to play Ke6!

29…Nc4 30.Rfd1! Bringing the least active piece into the game. 30…Ne5? 

White to play and win

Now it’s time to solve the riddle on your own and finish like the FORCE did

Summary:

Kasparov first created a HPS and prepared a d5 thrust followed by opening the position and converting it into one of the favourable centres discussed in my course “Your Winning Plan“. Having greater piece position advantage destroyedthe opponent’s king position

1–0 

Also, you can see the whole game here and download the PGN: LINK

Moreover, if you want to learn such skills and use them in your games, then you definitely will have to study the course “Your Winning Plan”.

Additionally, I’ve discussed the point about the ‘least active’ piece (mentioned above at move 30) in my other course “GM’s Positional Understanding”.

Get these courses now:

• GM’s Positional Understanding: LINK
• Your Winning Plan: LINK

Gambit Rules and New Year Special Offer

Now is the final reminder for you to get the Christmas and New Year Special Offer. The offer ends on Wed. 31^st (tomorrow). To find out about the offer, click here: LINK

Also:

• Now you can get all the webinars of 2014 with an additional 18% discount: LINK
• You can also get the webinars individually: LINK

Some time ago, I made a video lesson, “Gambit Rules“, for you. (If you missed that, check it now here: LINK). It turned out to be a popular lesson and many of you liked it.

Now, I’m glad to provide you with the text version of that lesson. Even if you’ve already seen the video lesson, I’d still recommend you to read the text version. It will help you go through the material slowly and digest it well.

For those whose mother-tongue is not English, this provides an extra opportunityto understand the whole lesson clearly. Let’s go! 

Gambit Rules

By GM Igor Smirnov

Remote Chess Academy

I recently received an email from a student of mine. In this message, he shared one of his games with me. Although it is an internet game, I found it to be quiteinstructive. It illustrates a few important practical rules that should be applied when playing gambits. That’s why I would like to discuss this game and analyze it with you today.

 

In this lesson, we will discuss not only how you should play gambits but also how you should counteract gambits. So without any further delay, let’s get started!

The game began with the following moves: 1.e4-c5 2.Nf3-Nc6 3.b4

Diagram-1

 

Black to move

With his last move, White plays a gambit; he sacrifices material, in this case a pawn, in order to try and gain an advantageous position.

White’s goal is rapid development and the expedient launch of an attack. This is what makes gambits so popular, especially in blitz games. It is also why it is important for you to know how to handle them correctly.

In the position above, Black took with the knight (3…Nxb4). Note quickly here that if Black had taken with the pawn (3…cxb4), White would have deflected this pawn away from the centre. This would then allow White to push 4.d4 and obtain a pair of pawns in the centre and threaten d5.

Although Black avoided this by capturing with the knight, White can nevertheless still build himself a strong centre. To this aim, White played 4.c3, and after Black retreated his knight to c6 (4…Nc6), White pushed in the centre with 5.d4. Here Black took the pawn with 5…cxd4 and after 6.cxd4, White again has a pair of pawns in the centre.

Note: You can find a detailed video analysis of this opening variation here:LINK

At this point in the game, Black played 6…d6. Note here that while 6…d5 may look more ambitious for Black, there is a drawback. In this situation, White can capture with the pawn (7.exd5) and after Black recaptures with 7…Qxd5, White can attack Black’s queen with 8.Nf3 and gain a tempo for development.

Diagram-2

 

White to move

In this position, White played 7.d5 and this is indeed the best move. White is attacking the opponent’s knight and forcing it to move somewhere. At the same time, White gets more space and opens the long diagonal (a1-h8) for his pieces. And so there are of lot of benefits here for White.

But now I have a quick question for you. Black has a problem that he needs to resolve. What square should he move his knight to? What do you think? Where should it go?

In the game, Black played 7…Ne5 and it makes sense. We’ve been taught to put our pieces in the centre, and from this point of view Ne5 is correct. But in this particular position, there is another important thing that we should take into consideration.

 RULE 1: When you are behind in development, avoid exchanges of your developed pieces.

Let’s apply this rule to the current position.

While it may appear that Black is at least equal in development, let’s not forget that White played a gambit and sacrificed the pawn to enable quick and natural development. After 8.Nxe5-dxe5, White can quickly bring his pieces into the game. For example, Bb5, Qa4, Bb2, Nc3 and he’s done.

Diagram-3

 

White to move

White can play all of these moves very quickly and without any problems. If we take a look at Black’s position, on the other hand, we can see that his situation ismuch more difficult:

- It’s not that simple to develop the dark-squared bishop on f8.

- The light-squared bishop on c8 has no good squares available.

- In general, you can see that Black’s development is complicated.

That’s why we may expect that White’s development will be much faster and that he will be ahead in development. From this point of view, Black’s decision totrade his knight by placing it on e5 was a mistake.

Once again, the rule is that when you are behind in development, you should avoidexchanging your active pieces.

If you make exchanges when you are behind in development, you may face a situation where the bad moves keep coming and you have no active warriors.

Of course, in such a situation it will be very difficult for you to counteract your opponent’s plans. That is why you should avoid such exchanges and aim to keep as many active pieces on the board as possible.

Okay, let’s move on. Referring back to the position in Diagram 3, what should White do now? What do you think?

Here White should play 9.Bb2 and this is exactly what he did. This is the best movefor sure. This move follows an important rule that is one of the core ideas for playing all gambits.

 RULE 2: DEVELOP + ATTACK

When playing a gambit, try to combine your development with attack. This is one of the main advantages that a gambit can give you.

Therefore, instead of just developing your forces, try to make these moves with a tempo by simultaneously developing and attacking.

When you do this, you’ll realize your own plan and prevent an opponent’s plansimultaneously. And, of course, you will be on top in such situations.

White followed this rule with the earlier 7.d5 and now again with 9.Bb2. By using this idea of combining development with attack, White is able to continue his development while Black cannot. Instead, Black must respond to the threat and protect his pawn somehow.

Actually, it’s nearly impossible to protect the e5-pawn in any normal way. If Black plays something like 9…Qd6 or 9…Qc7, White can play 10.Bb5+ and after 10…Bd7, 11.Bxd7+, Black must then either centralize his king (certainly dangerous or very bad) or capture with the queen (Qxd7), in which case White can capture the pawn.

This means that Black can’t really protect his e5-pawn and he needs to find something else.

At first sight, Nf6 looks good, as it counter attacks White’s pawn on e4. But it turns out to be no real threat, for White can just take the pawn with Bxe5. Note that …Nxe4 is impossible, as White can win a piece by playing Qa4+ with a double attackon Black’s king and the knight on e4.

That’s why Black decided to abandon the pawn and just play 9…e6. White then took the pawn with 10.Bxe5 and regained the material balance.

Diagram 4

Black to move

In some variations, White is threatening to follow this with d6 and lock Black’s bishop on its original square. It may seem attractive for Black to play 10…Bb4+; but after 11.Nc3, Black is suddenly in trouble.

This is because Black’s g7-pawn is hanging and White will take this pawn and capture the rook caught in the corner as well.

Furthermore, White is threatening Qa4+ with a double attack on Black’s king and bishop. So Bb4+ may look active for Black but, in reality, it creates problems for Black and not for White.

But now here is another question for you. How would you proceed here as Black (Diagram 4)?

In the game, Black decided to neutralize White’s d5-pawn and played 10…exd5. It may seem very logical (Black is trying to stop an eventual d6 push, as well as open the c8-h3 diagonal for his bishop, enabling its future development).

But, at the same time, this is a major mistake because Black violated a very important rule.

 RULE 3: When you are behind in development, keep the position closed.

From this point of view, Black’s previous move 9…e6, and especially his next move of 10…exd5, were steps in the wrong direction. Now that you can see the difference, let’s look again at the position from two moves earlier.

Diagram 5

Black to move

As you can see, White is more active and could have some chances for developing an attack in the future. But right now it is quite difficult for White to start any real direct attack on Black’s position.

Here Black doesn’t have any real weaknesses and so there is no way for White to break through and start an invasion. But after 9…e6 10.Bxe5-exd5, Black has opened a lot of lines.

Now White can attack Black’s king along the e-file. White has an open d-file, open diagonals for his bishops and can bring his queen or bishop to the a4-e8 diagonal. In total, as you can see, White is able to start a direct attack on Black’s position.

That is why Black should not have opened the position. The rule states that when you are defending and are behind in development, try to keep the position closed.

 

I don’t wish to make you feel overloaded.  Therefore, we’ll see the remaining game in the next part.

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