Don't "Assume Exchanges" when Calculating!

I'm happy to announce the second winner of our ChessPathways "Tournament Challenge," where I encouraged our members to play long-time-control games and analyze them!

Brendan played in the New West Summer Open and scored a respectable 3/5. I enjoyed going through his annotations and selected a game of his to analyze. Congratulations, Brendan - enjoy the game analysis and free giftcard!

In the game below, Brendan outplays his opponent in the opening and early middlegame, but a few key calculation mistakes turn the tide against him. Check out the video below to see how it happened:

When calculating, many players are tempted to look at the most forcing options - but this can lead to some huge oversights! Have you fallen prey to this typical "mental error" of calculation before too? Let me know in the comments.

Enjoy! If you want to make sure you're eligible for the next contest, make sure to visit ChessPathways.com and get signed up - it's totally free, and I'll even send you a free "Move by Move Guide to Chess Thinking" when you join!

Blake