When people say “calculate,” it doesn’t always mean finding a crazy attack. A good start is to just go through checks, captures, and threats (CCT) for both sides. You don’t need to attack the king — most positions aren’t tactical, but spotting simple tactics or avoiding blunders is already calculation.
I usually do this:
1.Look at all your forcing moves (checks/captures/threats).
2.For each one, ask: what will my opponent probably play next?
3.Go 1–2 moves deeper if it still makes sense.
If nothing works, just improve your position that’s also “calculation” in a way (evaluating and rejecting bad lines). And in games, take your time to ask: “What does my opponent want?” before your own move, that alone avoids a lot of blunders.
hey so idk how to calculate moves do blunders a lot and i know some people will say use forcing moves but that never works for me because their king is always protected and i never got a chance to attack because i cant spot what there up to what they will do and they just keep geting my valuable pices