A Better Way to Calculate Than Checks, Captures, Threats
Chessable
76,792 views
Searching for checks, captures, and threats might help you pass basic tactical puzzles, but in real games, no one tells you when a tactic exists. Relying strictly on forcing moves often leaves you with a massive list of variations to calculate. Even worse, it causes you to miss quiet winning moves entirely.
So how do top players find subtle winning moves like quiet queen retreats without exhaustively calculating dozens of lines? Over the board, grandmasters arrive at these moves because they search for targets before they ever calculate candidate moves.
CM Azel Chua examines the flaws of relying solely on Checks, Captures, and Threats. Through a series of instructive positions (including a famous game between Anatoly Karpov and Larry Christiansen) this video demonstrates how shifting your focus to vulnerable pieces and overloaded defenders helps create a reliable calculation process.
LINKS:
👉 Get Calculation: A Complete Guide for Tournament Players: https://www.chessable.com/calculation...
👉 Explore the full catalog of Chessable courses by CM Azel Chua: https://chessable.com/azel
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro
00:28 Why did CCT become popular?
01:15 Limitations of CCT framework
02:09 Recommendation
03:17 Example 1
04:59 Example 2
05:47 Number of attackers and defenders
06:21 Example 3
08:09 Legendary Example: Christiansen vs. Karpov
09:43 Recap
10:47 Closing remarks
20 Comments
A Better Way to Calculate Than Checks, Captures, Threats
Chessable
76,792 views
Searching for checks, captures, and threats might help you pass basic tactical puzzles, but in real games, no one tells you when a tactic exists. Relying strictly on forcing moves often leaves you with a massive list of variations to calculate. Even worse, it causes you to miss quiet winning moves entirely.
So how do top players find subtle winning moves like quiet queen retreats without exhaustively calculating dozens of lines? Over the board, grandmasters arrive at these moves because they search for targets before they ever calculate candidate moves.
CM Azel Chua examines the flaws of relying solely on Checks, Captures, and Threats. Through a series of instructive positions (including a famous game between Anatoly Karpov and Larry Christiansen) this video demonstrates how shifting your focus to vulnerable pieces and overloaded defenders helps create a reliable calculation process.
LINKS:
👉 Get Calculation: A Complete Guide for Tournament Players: https://www.chessable.com/calculation...
👉 Explore the full catalog of Chessable courses by CM Azel Chua: https://chessable.com/azel
CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro
00:28 Why did CCT become popular?
01:15 Limitations of CCT framework
02:09 Recommendation
03:17 Example 1
04:59 Example 2
05:47 Number of attackers and defenders
06:21 Example 3
08:09 Legendary Example: Christiansen vs. Karpov
09:43 Recap
10:47 Closing remarks
More importantly, I hope you take away something about how to judge any chess technique.
Once the best move is shown, your brain has a nasty habit of making the solution look obvious. A technique can therefore appear to work simply because hindsight gives you an illusion of confidence.
Instead, a higher standard is:
“Could this thought process genuinely have produced the move before I knew the answer?”
For example,
Does it start from evidence that is easy to acquire?
Does that evidence naturally point you towards the move?
Does it assume that you already knew which technique applied?
When evaluating calculation techniques and thought processes in your post-game analysis, look for these gaps in the chain.
If they exist, be suspicious of them.
The best thinking processes don't just explain the answer beautifully after the fact. They give you a realistic path to finding it in the first place.
All the best,
Azel