SWOTT - Make Better Moves

Intro

SWOTT is an acronym that I can up with to help you analyze the board better so you can make better decisions. Here's what it stands for:

S - Strengths

W - Weaknesses

O - Opportunities

T - Threats

T - Tactics

Let's review what that means!

Strengths

What is good about your position? Do you have a point advantage? Are you attacking? Do you control the center? Are you ahead in development? Ask yourself these questions to find your strengths.

Weaknesses

What are your opponent's strengths? Are you down in points? Is your pawn structure poor? Are you being attacked? How can your opponent defeat your defenses?

Opportunities

Is there a mate in 1? What can you do to improve your situation?

Threats

Is your opponent threatening mate in 1? Is your opponent ready to capture something? How can your opponent defeat your defenses?

Tactics

Can you employ a tactic? Forks, Pins, Sacrifices, and much more.

How to Plan on Chess.com

One of the Chess.com features during a game is the arrow tool and highlight tool. You can use the highlight tool to show your strengths or weaknesses. You highlight by clicking with two fingers on a square. You can use the arrow tool to plan your moves and possible responses or variations. You can use the arrow tool by clicking with two fingers on a square and then dragging it to the next square. But I will warn you don't get to used to this because you obviously can't do it on a real board.