You are sitting in a tournament hall, and your gaze locked on your opponent. All your attention is focused on an upcoming trade. He takes a piece, I take it back, then he goes…. your mind wanders in a labyrinth. You count all the pieces, once, twice, you make sure everything is accounted for. You pick up your bishop, and gorge an enemy piece. You look at the opponent again, is that a smirk? Well, you press the clock anyway.
Fifteen minutes have passed. Your opponent doesn’t exactly seem impressed. Five minutes later, you realize that one of your pawns is missing. What just happened?
Did your opponent pocket a pawn when you weren’t looking? This is a puzzle that happens often. It was supposed to be a casual, tooth-for-tooth, piece-for-piece trade.
Now look at the position below. Black to play.
Black with all his chess math wizardry investigates in his mind, the curious move Nxe4!
A whole extra pawn at the end of the rainbow! Black captures the pawn on e4, while staring down his opponent. Who did not hesitate to take the bishop on e7. What went wrong?
When pieces are being bartered, sold for scraps or traded off, sometimes when the deal is done, you realize you’re missing a toe. It was one such lapse of judgement from Black.
Your opponent doesn’t have to play what you imagined he would play.
Learning to pause is an essential skill while calculating. To pause is to realize there maybe other moves lurking that you are not keeping track of.
The tree of analysis is a great tool to imagine a visual map of the variations that unfold. In the above position, Black missed a key observation, and therefore, an important candidate move.
The knight of f1 is trapped, but the bishop on d8 is a free bird. Black overlooked this simple observation, a simple fact.
White played bishop to g5 and it was Black’s turn to cry!
Some lessons are learnt the hard way – like a punch to the face, a lost game in a decent position, that teaches us to be cautious the next time.
Book Recommendations: Five of my favorite books to help you re-evaluate your thinking process.
- Looking For Trouble: Recognizing and Meeting Threats in Chess – Book Sample / Review / Buy
- Turbo-Charge your Tactics 1 – Book Sample / Buy
- Oops! I Resigned Again – Book Sample / Review / Buy
- The Complete Chess Swindler – Book Sample / Review / Buy
- The Woodpecker Method – Book Sample / Review / Buy
Learning from your Mistakes – Linear Thinking in Calculation
One of the first important lessons we learn in calculation is the presence of ghosts, the “other” moves that are lurking in the dark.
In the position below, White has a tempting idea. Invading the dark-squares and getting a chance to launch a killer attack against the black king. White to play!
Capture the f4 bishop with the rook is an interesting idea, but short-sighted. Did you fall for the same trap?
White play Rxf4, gxf4, Bxf4. Expecting Black to play Ka8 with a decent position for White. What White failed to see is the candidate move Ne5 blocking the check, slowly improving the position and winning the game.
Black to play! Can you capture the pawn on f4?
Black captured the f4 pawn with his bishop. The linear line he contemplated was Bxf4 Nxf4 Rxf4 followed by Qg5+ winning material. What’s the problem with his thinking?
Black failed to see the very second candidate move Rxf4 allowing White to grab two pieces for the rook.
Exercises –
- White spots Nxe6. Is it a blessing or a curse?
2. Black has just sacrificed Nxe4. How would you continue? White to play – Calculate 1. fxe4 and 1. Qxb4
3. The game continued like this – 1…. Nxf3 2. Bxg7. Recapturing Kxg7 is one option, but Black just found a smart move Ne1. Which move is better?
Thank you for reading! Do leave your thoughts, and solutions in the comment section below.
Book Recommendations:
- Looking For Trouble: Recognizing and Meeting Threats in Chess – Book Sample / Review / Buy
- Turbo-Charge your Tactics 1 – Book Sample / Buy
- Oops! I Resigned Again – Book Sample / Review / Buy
- The Complete Chess Swindler – Book Sample / Review / Buy
- The Woodpecker Method – Book Sample / Review / Buy
- Best Chess Calculation Books: Complete Guide - September 8, 2026
- Best Caro-Kann Defense Chess Books: Complete Opening Guide - July 12, 2026
- Book Review: Attack and Counterattack in Chess - June 23, 2026