A classic guide to rating the candidates — at the chessboard

On this midterm Election Day, we offer as a public service a tried-and-true method for evaluating the candidates.

The candidate moves — that is.

Russian GM Alexander Kotov, in his hugely influential 1971 book “Think Like a Grandmaster,” first crystallized the idea that the most successful players are like astute political campaign managers at the chessboard, repeatedly generating and vetting a slate of “candidate moves” over the course of a game to find the best “nominee” for the ticket.

Instead of haphazardly analyzing every possible move in a given position, a player must first generate a short list of plausible moves before systematically examining each one in detail. And as with real candidates in real races being decided Tuesday, the player must conduct one final background “blunder check” before moving to confirm he hasn’t overlooked any gross blunders or skeletons in the closet before casting his ballot.

The process, Kotov wrote, was designed to avoid the all-too-familiar scenario where a player in a critical position fixates too soon on one faulty line, hops to another possible move when the first fails to pan out, and — when that one fails as well — plays a third, barely analyzed move because 15 minutes on the clock have already been wasted.

While parts of Kotov’s method have been modified in the succeeding decades, the candidate move approach “remains the single most useful piece of thinking technique ever put into words,” according to GM Mauricio Flores Rios.

“In my coaching, the difference between a 1400 and a 1900 player is rarely raw calculating power — it is that the stronger player considers the right moves in the first place,” Flores Rios wrote in a review of Kotov’s masterpiece.

And as in electoral politics, sometimes a dark-horse candidate proves to be the better choice in the long run.

In one classic passage, “Think Like a Grandmaster” analyzes in depth the famous game between Soviet stars GM Paul Keres and GM Vassily Smyslov at the 1953 Zurich Candidates Tournament. Smyslov, who would go on to become world champion four years later, found himself facing a classic choice in a game that would help decide the tournament.

Keres, needing a win to catch his rival, came out swinging in this Queen’s Gambit line, offering his opponent a full rook barely out of the opening in hopes of a mating attack with 16. Ne5 Nxe5 17. Rxe5 Bf6 18. Rh5 g6 19. Rch3! (see diagram).

Smyslov later admitted he thought long and hard about accepting the rook offer, “the more so as I was unable to see how White would be able to win here.” The psychological pressure of backing down from the challenge also weighed on Black.

But, in the end, Smyslov went with a different candidate move that frustrated his opponent’s attacking plans: 19…dxc4!!. It turns out both players’ intuition was correct: taking the rook was just too dangerous in lines such as 19…gxh5 20. Qxh5 Re8 21. a4!, clearing the a3-square for White’s bishop. There might have followed 21…Qd6 (dxc4 22. Qxh7+ Kf8 23. Ba3+ Re7 24. Rg3 and wins) 22. Qh6 Bg7 23. Qxh7+ Kf8 24. Rg3 Bf6 25. c5 bxc5 26. Qh6+ Ke7 27. dxc5 Qxc5 28. Qxf6+ Kd7 29. Qxf7+ Re7 30. Qf4, and White’s kingside pawns and bishop pair give him a winning advantage.

With Smyslov’s choice, White’s sacrificial attacking hopes dissolve, the rook remains under attack, and the Black bishop on b7 gets back into the game with decisive effect: 20. Rxh7 (on 20. bxc4?, Black can snag the rook safely with 20…gxh5! 21. Qxh5 Be4!, defending; White had better hopes of a draw with 20. Qg4 c3 21. Bxc3 Rxc3 22. Rxc3 Qxd4 23. Qxd4 Bxd4 24. Rc7 gxh5 25. Rxb7 Rc8 26. Bc4, but Keres needed the full point) c3! (starting the counterattack even as White’s major pieces bear down on the Black king) 21. Qc1 (Bc1 Qxd4) Qxd4, avoiding the tempting but suicidal 21…cxb2?? 22. Qh6! Qxd4 23. Rh8+! Bxh8 24. Qh7 mate.

With 22. Qh6 Rfd8, Black creates an escape route for his king just in time, and a few moves later switches from defense to offense with the winning 25. Qg4 c2 26. Be2 Rd4! (forcing a fatal opening in White’s own king position) 27. f4 Rd1+! 28. Bxd1 Qd4+, and White resigned as it’s over on 29. Kf1 cxd1=Q+ 30. Qxd1 Qxd1+ 31. Kf2 Rc2+ 32. Kg3 Rxg2+ 33. Kh4 Bf6 mate.

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There’s no way we could total up all the candidate moves considered and rejected in our second game, but we can say the result helped GM Javokhir Sindarov capture last week’s Clutch Chess Champions Showdown, an elite three-day, four-grandmaster rapid tournament. The victory should provide a nice boost for the 20-year-old Uzbek star as he prepares for his 14-game title match against world champion GM Dommaraju Gukesh of India starting Nov. 24 in Geneva.

Sindarov himself said the attack he generates here against top American GM Hikaru Nakamura from the Black side of a King’s Indian Defense is one of the best he ever played.

With the players pressing on opposite wings, Sindarov lands the first blow after White’s 18. g4?! (g3 was the safer choice) opened the door: 23. Nd4?! (after 23. Rxb3 Bxg4!? 24. fxg4 Nxe4 25. Qd1, Black doesn’t have the b-pawn push that works so well now) Bxg4! (blowing up the White center and allowing Black’s forces to flood the kingside; the engines already say Sindarov is much better here) 24. fxg4 (Nc6 Nxc6 25. dxc6 Qe7 26. fxg4 Nxe4 27. Qd3 b2 28. Rc2 Nc3 is also bleak for White) Nxe4 25. Qd1 b2 26. Rc2 Qh4 27. Bf2 Nxf2 28. Nxf2 Rb4!, bringing more firepower to the attack.

Nakamura is one of the game’s more dogged defenders, but even he can’t withstand Sindarov’s inspired sacrifices, methodically picking off the last pieces holding White’s game together: 29. Nf3 Rxg4+!! 30. Kf1 (Nxg4 Qxg4+ 31. Kf2 Qg2+ 32. Ke3 [Ke1 Nxf3 mate] Nxf3+ 33. Kd3 Qg4 34. Rc4 Qf5+ 35. Re4 Qxe4 mate) Nxf3 31. Nxg4 Rxe2!, and the hits just keep coming.

After 32. Rxe2 (there’s no good way to accept the exchange sacrifice; e.g. 32. Kxe2 Qxg4 33. Kd3 Ne5+ 34. Kd2 Qb4+ 35. Ke2 Qe4+ 36. Kf1 Ng4; or 32. Qxe2 Qxg4 33. Qf2 Bd4 34. Qg3 Qe4 35. Rcxb2 Qd3+ 36. Re2 Qxb1+ and wins) Qxg4 33. Rf2 Qg1+. The White king is flushed out into the open, and Black has yet one more sacrifice on tap to run him to ground.

Thus: 35. Ke3 Bh6+! 36. Kxd4 Qxf2+ 37. Kc4 Qxh2 38. Kb5 Bc1, and Nakamura resigned. Black has four pawns for the exchange, White’s rook is entombed on b1, and Sindarov’s kingside pawns are ready to roll. A brilliantly conducted attack, particularly considering the quality of the opponent and the faster time controls.

(Click on the image above for a larger view of the chessboard.)

Keres-Smyslov, Candidates Tournament, Zurich, October 1953

1.c4 Nf6 2.Nc3 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.e3 Be7 5.b3 O-O 6.Bb2 b6 7.d4 cxd4 8.exd4 d5 9.Bd3 Nc6 10.O-O Bb7 11.Rc1 Rc8 12.Re1 Nb4 13.Bf1 Ne4 14.a3 Nxc3 15.Rxc3 Nc6 16.Ne5 Nxe5 17.Rxe5 Bf6 18.Rh5 g6 19.Rch3 dxc4 20.Rxh7 c3 21.Qc1 Qxd4 22.Qh6 Rfd8 23.Bc1 Bg7 24.Qg5 Qf6 25.Qg4 c2 26.Be2 Rd4 27.f4 Rd1+ 28.Bxd1 Qd4+ White resigns.

Nakamura-Sindarov, Clutch Chess Champions Showdown, St. Louis, October 2026

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. f3 O-O 6. Bg5 c5 7. d5 a6 8. a4 e6 9. Qd2 exd5 10. cxd5 Re8 11. Nge2 Nbd7 12. Ng3 Qc7 13. Be2 c4 14. O-O Rb8 15. Be3 h5 16. Rfc1 h4 17. Nh1 h3 18. g4 b5 19. axb5 axb5 20. b4 cxb3 21. Nxb5 Qd8 22. Rab1 Ne5 23. Nd4 Bxg4 24. fxg4 Nxe4 25. Qd1 b2 26. Rc2 Qh4 27. Bf2 Nxf2 28. Nxf2 Rb4 29. Nf3 Rxg4+ 30. Kf1 Nxf3 31. Nxg4 Rxe2 32. Rxe2 Qxg4 33. Rf2 Qg1+ 34. Ke2 Nd4+ 35. Ke3 Bh6+ 36. Kxd4 Qxf2+ 37. Kc4 Qxh2 38. Kb5 Bc1 Black resigns.

• Got a hot tip or a cool game to share? David R. Sands can be reached at davidrsands18@gmail.com.