How to Solve Chess Puzzles and Train Calculation

What skills does solving puzzles develop?

Tactical skill is largely about recognising that a tactic may be available. If you struggle to spot forks, skewers or discovered attacks, you will miss opportunities and may overlook the same ideas when your opponent has them.

Visualisation is the ability to see the coming moves in your head. Before choosing a move, you need to picture how your opponent might respond and how the board will change.

Calculation is closely connected to visualisation. Here, I am particularly interested in how far you can think ahead and how many variations you can examine. Can you follow a line beyond the first exchange and keep track of what happens next?

These are the three skills I had in mind when writing this guide. Puzzle solving gives you a way to practise them, provided you do the thinking rather than simply play moves and wait for feedback.

Start with the right mindset

Do not solve puzzles only for the rating, or to show off your tactical ability. Approach them with a genuine desire to learn.

It can be tempting to guess after a few minutes of thought, and an occasional guess is understandable. But it should not become your main approach. Take time to understand the position before attempting the solution.

Visualise before you move

If you want calculation practice to improve your visualisation, you have to visualise. Work out your move, then your opponent's reply, and continue the line in your head. Try to examine the variations in depth before touching the pieces.

Hold on, my dear instinct! Do not let the first exciting move take over as soon as you see the position. This is a difficult habit to change, but start by calming down, counting the material and looking at the position from your opponent's perspective. What are their threats and ideas? Then begin looking for tactical motifs.

Give calculation your attention

Puzzles are best solved in an environment where you can concentrate. If you are in a rush or distracted, that is not the ideal time for demanding calculation work.

For something quick and light, Lichess Puzzle Racer can be a fun way to practise basic tactical motifs. Try to beat your previous score. Just keep that separate from the slower work of calculating variations carefully.

What if I still cannot resist playing the move?

Perhaps you already know all of this, but you still get excited, or bored, and play the move immediately. Do not worry: you are certainly not the first person to do it.

If it keeps happening, though, online puzzles may not be the best format for your calculation training. It is worth trying an alternative that makes it harder to skip the thinking.

The alternative: a tactics book and written calculation

Take a position from a chess tactics book, spend time thinking about it, and write down your calculation. I strongly recommend the writing part. It encourages you to list the lines you have considered and makes it easier to see where your thinking went wrong.

With no move to click and no immediate response to guide you, there is less room for guesswork. You have to do more of the calculation yourself.

Some of my personal favourites are the Manual of Chess Combinations series, The Woodpecker Method and Encyclopedia of Chess Tactics. For beginners, I also like Chess Tactics for Champions.