Finding Candidate Moves

I sometimes train new players at my chess club, and that gives me valuable insights into obstacles new players experience starting out their chess career. By the way, these new players are not beginners, but typically someone who has played online chess for a while, and wants to try club chess.

All of them have problems with setting up the board, handling the clock, and writing down the moves - their online chess service has always done that for them. However, the biggest problem is finding the move to play. When asked how the pick their moves, they say things like "I want to attack the King, so I look for moves that support that idea" or "I fear that he's attacking my King, so I look for moves that prevent that".

That's when I say "It's not you who decide what to move. The right move is hidden in the position, and your job is to find it." That's typically met with a blank stare. So what does it mean? Is there no room for free will in chess?

In chess books, you'll frequently see the expression "the position demands...". That means that the position wants to develop in a certain way, or more often, in one of several ways. 

To find those moves. you need to develop your positional intuition. You do that by solving a lot of positional puzzles. These are not easily found online, but Lichess has a study on the subject. Combine this with analysing your own games. Find a critical position (i.e. where you didn't know what to play), and now, with Stockfish off, try to find some moves. That's much easier at home than during the game! When you're satisfied with your candidate moves, switch on Stockfish to have them evaluated. Don't worry if they are brutally dismissed. If Stockfish suggests something you didn't consider, take a moment to figure out why that move is good, and your moves were bad. Then move on to the next game and do it again.

 

Why Calculation is Bad for You

We often use pairs of opposites when we talk about personality traits - kind or mean, generous or greedy. In What's Your Style in Chess?, we looked at some opposite pairs used to describe different styles in chess. This time, we'll dive into Calculation.

Calculating players tend to distrust or not paying attention to their intuition. They feel the need to calculate each and every line as deep as they possibly can, and as a consequence regularly end up in time trouble or fatigue. The main cause for time trouble is that they spend too much time on irrelevant lines. Lets do the maths: A standard position offers three plausible candidate moves on average. If each of those has three replies, we have nine different lines to calculate. After your next move, you have 27 positions to evaluate, but only one of them can actually happen in the game. So, if you spend one minute on each position, you have wasted 26 minutes on lines that didn't happen. How many times can you afford that in a single game?

All that calculation can also cause whatever intuition you have to wither and die, and that leaves you with calculation as the only tool in the box.

Intuitive players, on the other hand, tend to pick the candidate move that feels best, and just play it without further ado. Very soon they're half an hour ahead of their calculating opponent. However, this doesn't mean that intuitive players have an advantage. Intuition may provide quick answers to complicated questions, but they're not always right. Calculating players make fewer and less serious mistakes, so if they only succeed in managing their time, they can level the field.

In order to improve, both types of players must venture out of their comfort zone. Intuitive players must work on their calculation skills, and calculating players must learn how to trust and listen to their intuition.

Takeaway

We are what we are, but it's not a good idea to only play on your strengths. Every game requires both intuition and calculation, and to be a better player, you need to work on your weaknesses too. Intuitive players can work on their calculation abilities during their games, but it's harder the other way around. A good training practice for calculating players is to solve puzzles without calculating. Just stare at the position until a move presents itself. If it's the right move, move on to the next puzzle, and if it's not, take some time to figure out what went wrong.