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This Grandmaster Preparation: Calculation is an English-language hardcover chess training book for ambitious players who want to calculate more accurately and make better decisions at the board. Rather than treating calculation as a set of isolated puzzles, Jacob Aagaard focuses on how to think during a real game: choosing candidates, discarding unhelpful lines and using your analysis time more effectively.
Part of the Grandmaster Preparation series, this book is built around practical improvement. It uses structured exercises to develop calculation skills in a way that stronger players can apply in tournament play and self-study.
What this book covers
Calculation looks at one of the most important skills in chess: working through variations under time pressure and in complex positions. If you often spend a long time analysing only to realise that much of it was not useful, this book is aimed at exactly that problem. Aagaard’s approach is selective, precise and practical.
This is not light reading for a single evening. It is a book for systematic work, and the source material makes clear that it is best suited to stronger players and those seriously committed to improving their game. A sensible starting level is around 2000 Elo and above.
Author and edition
The author is GM Jacob Aagaard, a respected trainer and chess writer who has been awarded the title FIDE Senior Trainer. His training material is used by both club players and grandmasters.
In the foreword, Boris Gelfand describes the book as part of a well-known path towards the grandmaster title, which reflects its practical, work-focused character.
Key details
- Product type: hardcover chess training book
- Language: English
- Author: Jacob Aagaard
- Series: Grandmaster Preparation
- Subject: calculation training
- Recommended level: around 2000 Elo and above
- Number of pages: 304
- ISBN: 978-1-907982-31-6
Tangible precision
Each move strengthens curiosity, concentration, and self-confidence.

