Improve Your Training With a Chess Calculator

In 1997, a supercomputer called Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in a chess game under tournament conditions. This is one landmark in a long history of how technology has changed chess in the last half-century.

For amateur players, the development has meant online chess, higher standards of play, and new training resources. With a few clicks, you can play against a machine that could beat the best human chess players that ever lived. 

The chess calculator, also called a chess engine or chess computer, is an incredible technology that allows for more thorough, accurate, and accessible chess training. By learning a few techniques, you can quickly learn how to make the most of this remarkable development.

What is a Chess Calculator?

A chess calculator is a tool that analyzes chess positions and identifies the best moves. Today, it is often referred to as a chess engine or chess computer.

They can evaluate every position on a chessboard by searching through thousands of possible variations. With this information, they can determine how safe the king is, which player has a better pawn structure, and all sorts of positional and tactics ideas beyond what a human can calculate. The “best move” a chess calculator selects is the one that provides it with the best chance of winning.

Stockfish is the best and most famous chess engine. It is used on Chess.com and can be downloaded to use the "deepest," or most powerful, version. On easily accessible Analysis Boards, you can set up custom positions, explore a database of openings, follow different lines and variations, explore how often white or black wins in certain positions, and see the computer evaluations for each move. You can also purchase chess computers to give you access to powerful engines that can be used on physical boards.

Compared to traditional methods of chess study, a chess calculator is a no-brainer for amateur and professional players alike. 

How to Train with a Chess Calculator

We know that a chess calculator is an incredibly powerful tool for players. But how can you actually use one to improve your abilities?

Let’s look at several ways you can train with a chess engine.

Game Analysis

Long before the invention of chess computers, players were analyzing their games, looking for the crucial moment when they blundered or missed a winning move. The process is made infinitely easier by using a chess calculator.

A chess engine can quickly evaluate your moves and allow you to explore different variations. Depending on the engine and interface you use, analyzing your chess games tends to involve the following:

• Inputting the annotation for the game
• Evaluating whether each move improved your position
• Looking at moves you could have made and following the lines to see how the game could have developed differently.

It is not always a matter of looking at what you did wrong. Chess calculators can also highlight when you found an excellent move or highlight when you capitalized on a good position.

Studying Openings and Variations

Chess calculators are a great way to develop your opening repertoire. You can input the first moves of an opening and explore different variations to ensure you are prepared against the most common moves your opponents will make. 

As you progress through the variations, you can test yourself by looking for the best move in the position. Making the wrong moves can be extremely instructive, allowing you to understand the weaknesses in an opening and ideas your opponent can explore. Remember that the move the computer suggests is not always correct. Depending on the engine's depth, it may miss certain ideas or make moves that are impractical for a human player.

Related: Tips To Improve Your Chess Opening Study

Calculations and Puzzles

You can use a chess calculator to test your calculations. Find puzzles online or positions from famous games and try to find the best move in every position.

The deeper engines can spot variations that an intermediate player never would. This means that a certain move may be technically the best, but in a game, it is only useful if you understand the idea behind it and where it may lead. Often, chess calculators will make different moves to excellent players. Examining the different lines can be very instructive.

Related: Improve your Chess Calculation

Studying Tactical Patterns

Learning to spot tactics is a common part of chess training. When analyzing your games, a chess engine will allow you to see if you missed a useful tactic or show you when a tactic wasn’t the best choice. 

One useful lesson from chess calculators is that just because you have a pin, fork, skewer, or discovered attack doesn’t mean you have to use it. These computers are completely objective in looking for the best move, while human players will often quickly make a move that looks good at first glance. Take a moment to evaluate your position or consider a few more moves ahead.

A handy trick when using certain analysis boards is to enter the moves rather than simply looking at the annotation of a line. By entering the move, the engine will have to recalculate and may come up with a new evaluation.

Related: Positional vs Tactical Chess: Which is Best For You

Practicing Endgames

Endgames are a deceptively difficult part of the chess game. Even with just a few pieces on the board, you can face extremely complicated positions and have to find hard-to-spot moves. 

Accordingly, the chess calculator is a uniquely excellent tool to help you practice your end-game skills. You can train by trying to find the best move in challenging endgames.

Further reading: Pawn Endgame in Chess: Getting It Right!

Use With Caution: When to Ignore the Chess Calculator

As we’ve seen, chess calculators are incredible tools, better than the best human players. Nevertheless, following them blindly can get you into trouble. 

The main way they calculate moves is simply by searching through more variations and calculating further than any human can. This is why they often make moves that appear strange or evaluate them unexpectedly. They do not take into account how difficult it is to play certain variations, making their evaluations practically incorrect for human players.

So, when an engine says a move is excellent or terrible you need to consider why and apply your own knowledge of chess to see if it is the best move for you and your style of play.

This is particularly true in the opening. A chess calculator doesn’t know what opening you are trying to master and many openings include moves that are technically suboptimal. Nevertheless, they may be the best option for you.

In short, it is easy to rely too much on the computer. Your training should always be an application of your own knowledge and intelligence. While incredibly useful, chess calculators have their weak spots. 

How Chess Engines Have Changed the Game

Chess is a different game from what it was a hundred years ago and computers are part of the reason for that. It is an exciting time to be a chess player. Not only because of rising interest in the game and its endless complexities, but because chess calculators offer the opportunity for you to test your limits.

It is widely thought that the standard of chess has risen among professional and amateur players. The ability to study with the help of modern technologies allows you to delve further into the game. 

Through the training resources and wealth of chess knowledge offered by engines, you can reach a new level and learn more about the game you love.