How to Choose Candidate Moves | Chess Middlegames

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Finding candidate moves quickly and efficiently is something every player needs to master.

I have divided the process of choosing candidate moves into five simple steps, each of which is designed to limit the chances of making a mistake and missing a defensive or attacking move which might decide the game.

Finding moves you are going to be calculating is the first step. What follows is calculation. Here is the video on how to calculate variations correctly to follow up on the lesson: youtu.be/pEsA1eB8RBI

Choosing candidate moves in five stages:

1. Are any defenses needed?

This step is crucial, and that’s why it should be done before anything else. You need to know if your position is in danger. What was your opponent’s last move? Is he threatening anything with it? If you just blindly follow your own ideas, you will often overlook the threat your opponent is posing and blunder. I do this step by playing the worst move I could find in my head and trying to think of ways in which my opponent could punish that. If I can’t find any, I will conclude that my position is in under no immediate danger and that no defensive measures need to be undertaken.

2. Do I have useful checks, captures, or forcing moves?

Look for the aggressive moves first. Moves you opponent will have to react to. Start with checks because they are often simplest to find and to calculate. Don’t miss out on the absurd ones either. There will often be a tactical gem hidden under a seemingly bad move. Same goes for captures and forcing moves. Find them all and discard one by one if they are bad. The ones remaining will be your candidate moves!

3. Do I (or does my opponent) have bad pieces?

Find bad and useless pieces. Find candidate moves which improve them. This will be the most common type of candidate move you consider. The game is long and complex, and there will seldom be attacking moves, while slow, positional improvement will be present at every move.

4. Can I provoke weaknesses?

Take the same approach as with step three. Can you permanently damage your opponent’s position? Look for static weaknesses you could provoke, create or exmploit.

5. How many candidates are there?

List them and do a final check before moving on to calculation.

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