calculation - tag

Smooth Chess: After the closing ceremony of the European Individual Championship that crowned him a champion, I had a chance to talk with the rising Russian star Vladislav Artemiev. A humble fellow, but one that knows his talents. He knows he is good, though he also knows he needs to work more if he is […]

A good player is always lucky. This famous quote attributed to the third World Champion Jose Raul Capablanca means that one way or another, the stronger player will always find a way to escape and get a good result. We see it all the time in tournament practice or even casual play against experienced players. […]

Typical maneuvers that every chess player must know. The Isolated Central Pawn or IQP (isolated queen’s pawn) is one of the classic structures in that every player must learn how to play with both sides. It is a unique structure with established characteristics and plans of playing with it or against it. Part of chess […]

Improve Your Calculation: The ability to calculate is crucial in every chess player’s journey to improvement. There’s no such thing as a completely positional game where no calculation is needed; no matter how calm and quiet things have been going, there’s always a moment where you’ll need to see more than your opponent.

Analyzing Your Own Games: It is common knowledge that the key to making progress in chess is the consistent and deep analysis of your own games. Once you have learned the most typical nuances of positional play and tactics, it is worth finding out what you miss in your own practice. It is necessary to […]

Mistakes are something you certainly want to avoid in your play. One of the best ways to improve at chess is by recognizing your own shortcomings and limitations. It is no secret that the analysis of your own games is a great source of improvement, a fountain of chess knowledge. Even though this praxis has […]

Tactics are one of the most important aspects of the chess game, no doubt. A good tactical vision, an eye for tricks, imagination together with the ability to calculate are qualities desired by every chess player. The general thought among club players is that this ability (the sense for tactics) is more or less natural […]

Chess is tactics. More than one strong player has said some variation of this truth. What does that mean? In simple words, it means that if you are not careful you will lose a pawn or a piece. How do you become careful then? It all starts with board awareness. At all times you should […]

Known as one of the best coaches of our times, Mark Dvoretsky left us a valuable legacy to help chess players improve their training technique and take that much-awaited leap forward. His books are a great source of inspiration and help for every aspiring chess player. Mark Dvoretsky learned how to play chess before elementary […]

In this article, I would like to share my thoughts on the topic that is, for sure, extremely important for every chess player. That is how to calculate variations. Unfortunately, this highly interesting and crucial topic had never been covered in a great detail. The only decent source I know is the book of a […]