Don't overcalculate

As we get stronger, we calculate better and deeper. As a result, we blunder less often. But that doesn't always mean that our moves are better. We make better-informed decisions, but they can still be wrong because of the information we are still missing.

Better calculation gives us a better guess, but it's still a guess

Take this position from Goloshchapov, A. - Mishra, N.K. 2002:

Imagine players of different levels looking at this position and trying to come up with a move for White:

• Beginner: "I'll play Bc4 to develop my bishop"
• Intermediate: "I'll play Bxf6 to create long-term issues for Black"
• Advanced: "I'll play Bd6 to keep the domination on the dark squares with a clamp on d6, pressure on g7, etc"
• Expert: "I'd love to bring the bishop to c4, so I'll prepare it with Bxf6. With the knight gone from f6, the bishop can safely go to c4 because Black's queen has to defend the checkmate on d7"
• GM: "Of course there's a checkmate trick on d7. So the right move is Bc4."

I've seen this situation many times where a beginner can make a GM move for the wrong reasons. The beginner in this example simply didn't notice the piece was hanging. Lucky guess!

When we have more information, we see problems, and if we don't see the solution to those problems we have to reject that path and look for alternatives. Only when you go deeper enough to see the solution to the problems, you may go back to the ideal move (Bc4 in this case) and know that it works. This is the horizon effect but in the case of humans it can appear at very low calculation depths.

Chess is tough!

Calculate less to keep the tempo of the game

If you're a perfectionist, chances are you spend a lot of time in the opening stage of your games, trying to find the best move on each step. There are so many options to explore with all the pieces on the board, so it's normal that the calculations at this stage take long. And that's a great mindset for learning; how else are you going to learn if not by trying your best anyway?

But if you care more about the result than about learning, you may want to be more practical about when to calculate. After all, calculation is the task that burns your clock and your brain the most.

Take this position from Lorenzo, M. - Doval, P. 2017:

I knew 7. Bc4 is the main move but I never had this position before. So when I saw 7. Bc4 on the board I thought something like this: "Ok, that's the main move and I'm pretty sure the line continues with 7.. Nb6 8. Bb3, but since I'm not familiar with the line let's take a minute to see if there are any tricks after 7.. Nb6". So of course I considered 8. Bxf7+ and I spent a couple of minutes trying to get a feel on how dangerous it could be. I saw this:

1. Spend 20 minutes calculating the ins and outs of the sharp, dangerous but material-wise promising line with Bxf7. Then if all looks good, play the move 7.. Nb6 because we know it's the best move. Then our opponent will instantly answer with 8. Bb3 and we have 20 minutes less on the clock and none of our calculations are useful. But we know we did the right thing
2. Find another "safe" developing move (7.. e6 for example) that we can play fast and save the time and effort for a more critical moment in the game. Deep inside we know 7.. Nb6 was probably the best move, but we're trying to win a game here, not trying to learn the opening

A perfectionist will choose option 1. And that's ok (in their book).
A practical player will choose option 2. And that's also ok.

The reason I bring this example is because this was the first time that I'm aware of making such a decision OTB. Yes, I picked option 2 and I'm very happy about it (later in the game I was able to navigate the middlegame tactical complications with accuracy).

I knew 7.. Nb6 was the best move and yet I played 7.. e6 because I didn't want to figure everything out OTB about that specific sharp line. For once, the perfectionist inside me didn't tell me "calculate everything" but rather "don't play Nb6 without calculating Bxf7". So... I didn't play Nb6

But don't undercalculate!

Some people are the absolute opposite of perfectionism. They would blitz out all their moves until they make a mistake, and only then would start actually thinking. This extreme is of course also far from ideal.

Take this position from P. Doval - J. Soneira, 2018:

After a long game, I'm in a 2 pawns up endgame with great prospects of winning the game. My opponent just played 54..Qc6 attacking g2. At this point I had around 10 minutes on my clock and my opponent less than a minute (with a 30s increment). My first instinct is to blitz out the move Qf3 because it stops the threat and offers the queen trade. But I have time to calculate. Another move that quickly comes to mind is Qg5 as it defends g2 from a very active spot. But as it turns out, both Qf3 and Qg5 are blunders that give away the advantage.

If you have enough time (and I did), there's absolutely no reason to rush in a position where you think you're winning. If you ever played a classical time-control, I don't need to tell you how painful is to give away a game with a rushed decision after hours of play.

A strong player may find the right move quickly because of their better instinct, but at the time my endgame instincts were not that good and I had to calculate the different lines until the "obvious" idea became obvious to me. Of course, in an open board with heavy pieces it's all about activity and king safety. Both kings are exposed, but White can make his king not be exposed anymore:

In conclusion

• We're guessing all the time. 

  GMs don't see everything. And we see even less than them!
  So we don't calculate to see the ultimate truth, but to try and make a better guess.

• You can't calculate it all. 

  Calculating burns time on the clock and gets you tired. Perfectionism may lead you to winning positions that you can't convert because you have no time nor brain.

• Calculate in the critical moments. 

  What is critical? It's a tough question even for top players, because you don't know in advance where are there going to be tricks to calculate or how much time you'll need later in the game.
  But if you don't have a reason to cut corners, don't cut corners!