Calculating with CLARITY!!

What goes through a strong player's head when they calculate hard variations?

I'd like to know what their 'stream of consciousness' looks like.

Is it something simple, like a points tally...

"I take his Pawn with Bishop (1-0) - He takes Bishop with King (1-3) - I take hanging Knight with Check (4-3)"

Or are there multiple methods, and which would be considered the most efficient?

You can hardly run through a huge variation tree in your mind during a Blitz game! 🤣

I watch fellow (and much stronger) Hippo player Robert Drury on Youtube and he speaks all his calculating thoughts while playing. I think weaker players could learn a lot by hearing how the stronger player's mind operates.

Yes we count fast via evaluation with attacking/defending squares and figure out quickly if material loss will happen that way while always keeping check of how much material is on the board still, it’s important to know if we are down or up material when deciding. It’s not deep calculation, it’s quick evaluation. It leaves more time to calculate the important moves. If there’s 3 defenders and I only have 2, I won’t attack, it’s material loss. If I’m being attacked by 2 pieces, I figure out quickly if I need to move or add more defense by how many pieces I have defending.  
It’s simple counting of square control. 

Hi

Hiuo

Considering you are currently 2625 in Blitz I am cutting and pasting your reply into my 'Chess Improvement' notes! Thanks for answering 👍

I’ve been married to an FM for 15 years. He’s coached for over 30 years, including me and our kids. He’s been in the top 50 for USCF for blitz this year, and written books. I think I’ll take his advice.

to even get to what you’re talking about you need to evaluate first. It’s about fighting for square occupation, that’s the whole point of the game, space and square control. Players under a certain level don’t understand this and waste time calculating moves they could have figured out quickly wouldn’t work. This develops your pattern recognition. Always know piece value, always have a tally of yours and opponents in your head, quickly evaluate with that in mind. You will get to the proper task of worthy calculation after that.

It's funny reading this because in my question I asked...

Or are there multiple methods, and which would be considered the most efficient?

Maybe everybody has their own personal tweaks in the way they think when calculating, and two strong players can think in completely different ways?

I intend to do a lot of puzzles and try different thinking methods to find out which one works best for me.

My wife said I should try thinking in Norwegian! 🤣

It’s wonderful to be so open to suggestions and you are correct! Finding the one that works for YOU takes years to master and asking for new perspectives is a wonderful way to learn. My best lessons have come from my husband and his titled friends reviewing the games we played and asking me what my thoughts were, then explaining their perspective as well. The great thing about it is even weaker players have inspired new ideas for stronger ones. I gave my husband a new line to consider yesterday and he asked why I thought it, my idea behind it wasn’t necessarily the most sound one, but it gave away to a new plan with a better middlegame where the isolated pawn was actually a strength for black, something that is usually avoided in this opening. Turns out it can be an asset. 
So I say good for you for wanting to hear all kinds of ideas, the best players are the ones who realize how little they do actually know and how much more they need to learn.

I don't think my calculation is particularly deep, fast or accurate. I can go 3 or 4 moves deep accurately, then it becomes a bit muddled. I'm not sure if it's my thinking style or if I have short term memory issues. I'm 50 now and my memory wasn't exactly greased lightning when I was 20! 🤣 I'd love to see a print out of a strong players exact thoughts during a game rather than their annotations afterwards. A fast chess brain seems to be doing lots of things on autopilot. Thank you very much for your replies. I'm going to try out all your suggestions in my puzzles over the coming weeks.

I’m no spring chicken either, I just turned 44 myself and that’s a huge reason I don’t play bullet, besides the fact my husband says it’s the worst thing you can do for your actual chess skills. That’s a game of reflex and even 3 min blitz is pushing it these days. Yes, you are correct that a lot of it becomes automatic . Basic endgame study is great to develop those skills, especially king pawn endgames. 
good luck and remember the most important part of chess is to have fun!

I just pasted this at very top of my 'Chess Improvement' notes, next to 'Learn to love chess puzzles'.

😁