Without going into too much detail, it's pretty much just doing this religiously when solving a position. I don't use this every move, but every time I am able to feel that it's a critical position that requires calculation. Recognizing when those positions are only comes with time and practice, but really they are positions that choosing between the best move, or second best move, has major consequences or changes in the direction of the game. The steps are:
Scan
Golden Rule (recognize all opponent threats, regardless of how dumb they seem)
Candidates (choose your 'possible moves')
Calculate (choose a move)
Blunder Check.
Many calculation courses on chessable reccomend this, or at least something similar, but this seems to work best for me personally.
You'd know better than me, being an NM and having spoken so many NM+! :) You're probably right, but as with many chess metrics, diligence is probably a spectrum. One that I am far too low on! Thanks for the comment.
Well done climbing back from two difficult tournaments to start the year. No easy feat at all. Now for the good stuff in 2024. I am eager to be a part of it.
I see you play the Caro a lot (looks almost exclusive - but I haven't seen a lot of your games overall) - I played it in high school and early adulthood and had some nice success with it, but it ended up stunting my chess growth some. It's very passive and just one of many ways to play. It's a good opening to have in your back pocket of course - but have you considered adding another Black opening that is moderately aggressive, like a Sicilian or something? To kind of help your overall chess growth move forward? I'm not saying - GET RID of the Caro - I'm just saying - maybe consider adding another opening that is a little more aggressive? :) It's always good to have an extra opening in your pocket for players that are booked on you. With Chessable these days you can literally learn a brand new opening (a nice focused line) and play it very well in a matter of a few months if not weeks.
Thanks for the comment, James! Yes you're mostly right, and I'm actually working on a backup option as we speak. Though, many of the most aggressive attacking players of all time have found a lot of success in the caro-kann (Nakamura, Firouzja, Tal, to name a few). So while having a lot of options is great, I don't think it's fair to call the caro 'non aggressive' unless you're certain everyone you will play, will play the exchange or one of the more dry lines, which hasn't been my experience with it.
Yeah, it's a good opening :) I'm not questioning it's value. But, when I worked with GM Igor Smirnov - one thing he had me doing was playing different 'good' openings. He literally told me I had stunted my chess growth by not playing a variety of stuff early on. I've been playing the English for 35 years and he said that was one of the worst things I could have done so early in my career because it STUCK me in certain chess patterns. Learning the English like that was not bad in itself - but I should have been playing 1.e4 and some 1.d4 on the side - so I could see all those different patterns that go with chess, because many of those themes carry over into the different openings and a lot of that stuff I never saw, because I just played ONE opening well. I stunted my chess education as he put it. Most masters I know have several dangerous weapons for each color that they can pull out at any time and it's like - dang - they KNOW how to play it - they know all the intricacies. I was working on that a couple years ago, but I got OLD in there somewhere :) hehehehe :) Hope you can find some value in this info. I'm rooting for you to get to NM ... If I can help you in anyway - don't hesitate to reach out :)
Here's the study for those interested!
https://lichess.org/study/QanvQixt
Hi. Nice article. I have question. Are you able to share the calculation system that you learned.
Thank you.
Without going into too much detail, it's pretty much just doing this religiously when solving a position. I don't use this every move, but every time I am able to feel that it's a critical position that requires calculation. Recognizing when those positions are only comes with time and practice, but really they are positions that choosing between the best move, or second best move, has major consequences or changes in the direction of the game. The steps are:
Scan
Golden Rule (recognize all opponent threats, regardless of how dumb they seem)
Candidates (choose your 'possible moves')
Calculate (choose a move)
Blunder Check.
Many calculation courses on chessable reccomend this, or at least something similar, but this seems to work best for me personally.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply.
Fun article Evan, although I disagree about all NMs being diligent. I would say all NMs are talented OR diligent, but not necessarily both. :)
You'd know better than me, being an NM and having spoken so many NM+! :) You're probably right, but as with many chess metrics, diligence is probably a spectrum. One that I am far too low on! Thanks for the comment.
Well done climbing back from two difficult tournaments to start the year. No easy feat at all. Now for the good stuff in 2024. I am eager to be a part of it.
Great stuff! Thank you!
I see you play the Caro a lot (looks almost exclusive - but I haven't seen a lot of your games overall) - I played it in high school and early adulthood and had some nice success with it, but it ended up stunting my chess growth some. It's very passive and just one of many ways to play. It's a good opening to have in your back pocket of course - but have you considered adding another Black opening that is moderately aggressive, like a Sicilian or something? To kind of help your overall chess growth move forward? I'm not saying - GET RID of the Caro - I'm just saying - maybe consider adding another opening that is a little more aggressive? :) It's always good to have an extra opening in your pocket for players that are booked on you. With Chessable these days you can literally learn a brand new opening (a nice focused line) and play it very well in a matter of a few months if not weeks.
Thanks for the comment, James! Yes you're mostly right, and I'm actually working on a backup option as we speak. Though, many of the most aggressive attacking players of all time have found a lot of success in the caro-kann (Nakamura, Firouzja, Tal, to name a few). So while having a lot of options is great, I don't think it's fair to call the caro 'non aggressive' unless you're certain everyone you will play, will play the exchange or one of the more dry lines, which hasn't been my experience with it.
Yeah, it's a good opening :) I'm not questioning it's value. But, when I worked with GM Igor Smirnov - one thing he had me doing was playing different 'good' openings. He literally told me I had stunted my chess growth by not playing a variety of stuff early on. I've been playing the English for 35 years and he said that was one of the worst things I could have done so early in my career because it STUCK me in certain chess patterns. Learning the English like that was not bad in itself - but I should have been playing 1.e4 and some 1.d4 on the side - so I could see all those different patterns that go with chess, because many of those themes carry over into the different openings and a lot of that stuff I never saw, because I just played ONE opening well. I stunted my chess education as he put it. Most masters I know have several dangerous weapons for each color that they can pull out at any time and it's like - dang - they KNOW how to play it - they know all the intricacies. I was working on that a couple years ago, but I got OLD in there somewhere :) hehehehe :) Hope you can find some value in this info. I'm rooting for you to get to NM ... If I can help you in anyway - don't hesitate to reach out :)