Book Review: Improve Your Chess Calculation by RB Ramesh

Indian top coach RB Ramesh is sharing his chess wisdom in his latest book Improve Your Chess Calculation, released in May by publisher New In Chess. As demonstrated in Think Like a Super GM (Michael Adams), the ability to calculate is one of the key factors that sets masters apart from club players.
If you are interested in hearing RB Ramesh speak himself about the book and his training methods, then please listen to Ben Johnson's Perpetual Chess podcast.

The book contains 172 calculation exercises. For each exercise, the estimated difficulty level is given ranging from 1200 ELO to above 2600. The book has seven chapters with specific exercises and advice on dynamic and static positions, calculation training with students, the analytical process, forcing moves, common mistakes chess players make while calculating variations, improving calculation through solving studies and chess improvement suggestions from a coach.

Through the different chapters, you learn RB Ramesh’s coaching philosophy:

• Work hard, outside your comfort zone. Have a high standard of work. Take responsibility for your improvement.
• Be fully present when training or playing - with no emotional baggage.
  This emotional baggage can have many sources: your own rating or title goals, expectations from others, prejudices about what you can or can not learn or even your opponent’s rating. In the end, there is a board with 64 squares and 32 pieces and the only thing that matters are the moves.
• A growth mindset: Learning happens when we focus on the process, rather than on the outcome. Winning or losing a game is a learning moment, a step in a journey.
  Realize the difference between knowledge and skills. In the end, it is what you do that matters, not what you know.
• Being radically honest in evaluating your chess and performance. Many players take negative feedback as personal criticism. In the coaching of RB Ramesh speaking the truth is important for defining the path forward.
• Resilience and determination: fighting back in challenging situations is a champion’s quality.

I am a 58 years old Fide Candidate Master and my rating has dropped to the 2100-2200 range. During COVID, I mainly played blitz online and Lichess 45 45, but no classical games over the board.
The following two examples are level 2: 1600-2000.

Exercise 87 - Black to move.
The total solution is about 10 ply. I got the theme correct and was accurate on the first seven ply but a bit sloppy on the final three. I would give myself 80%

Exercise 11 - White to move. Find the forced winning continuation for White. Time to think: 5 to 8 minutes.
Again I got the theme right but missed a key defensive resource for Black on ply 6 and disregarded the winning continuation because I missed a backward capture by White. 40%.

A great book with 157 golden nuggets for analysis embedded in Ramesh' pearls of coaching wisdom. Recommended only for those players who enjoy a tough challenge!

In the print version of the book, the solutions are printed directly under the diagram which is in my opinion a major drawback. (See this sample.) I recommend buying the book on ForwardChess where you have a button Show/Hide Solution. The book is $23 on ForwardChess and 30 euro's at New In Chess.