Tactical Miscalculation - Chess and Board Game Strategy

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Tactical Miscalculation

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05-28-2013 , 08:05 AM

bubsodian

centurion

Join Date: Aug 2009 Posts: 191

I seem to make tactical errors in games from basic miscalculation where I see a move and fail to calculate well when I am 3 or 4 moves into a line

Eg: I had this position tonight:

in the line Qc6, Rxe1, Nc4, Nd4 I failed to see that the black queen can just take the bishop and rejected it and played d4 - I failed to see after Nd4 the bishop wasn't protected. I think other ppl have similar issues, any tips for calculating when you get further and further into a combination / line or just practice?

Last edited by bubsodian; 05-28-2013 at 08:06 AM. Reason: wrong image code

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05-28-2013 , 02:28 PM

EvilSteve

Midlife Crisis

Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 13,195

Did you consider 1.. Nc4

Spoiler:

Last edited by EvilSteve; 05-28-2013 at 02:41 PM.

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05-29-2013 , 06:26 AM

leofric

grinder

Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 470

Other than the obvious "it's just practice" I do remember being told to try to look at all threats you're creating or are being created as a way of eliminating mistakes.

In this instance Nc4 attacks the Q but also adds a second attacker onto the B - so if Qd4 then we can chose either N or Qxb6. Therefore it doesnt matter about Nd4 attacking our queen because the B can still be taken.

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05-29-2013 , 08:51 AM

TexAg06

veteran

Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 2,475

bubsodian, everyone makes errors in calculation like that. As you move up the ranking levels the miscalculations become smaller but due to the quality of opposition, just as significant as a 1400 dropping a piece.

The only way to get better is just to practice (the usual tactics problems) but a lot of that just comes with experience. Calculation is a difficult thing to isolate and work on, so I'd recommend really trying your best to focus and engage yourself during games. And of course going through annotated GM games while trying to follow variations in your head without moving pieces will certainly help.

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05-29-2013 , 10:53 AM

knightrunnermat

old hand

Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 1,571

I'm finding this happens a lot to me too. One thing that I have noticed is that it happens much more often when I'm on the offensive than if I am playing defensively. This is a definite hole in my game right now, I am paying better attention to all possibilities when my back's up against the rope than in other situations.

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05-29-2013 , 04:59 PM

blunder

stranger

Join Date: May 2013 Posts: 3

people with good visualization skills tend to miscalculate less.

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