The Patzer Chronicles: Analysis

On October 10, 2020, I was rated 1074 on the Chess.com rapid rating. Three years later, on November 1, 2023, I was rated 1425. At that time, I looked at my percentile ranking on Chess.com and saw that I was at the 95th percentile, and I thought that's good enough and I took a two-year hiatus.  Now I have returned, and my rating continues to tank.

These are the Patzer Chronicles. (see additional notes at the end) 

In my last blog I outlined several steps that I had previously used to achieve the 400-point rise. These included: Playing games, puzzles, opening theory, end game theory, visualization, reading chess, and analysis. Today I am going to go a little deeper into analysis. (For a more in-depth study of analysis see Kuljasevic's How to Study Chess on your Own.)

But before I do, I would like to add that since the last post I have renewed my subscription to the US Chess Federation, and I have enrolled in an over-the -board tournament in LA.  The tournament will be in July.

Also, I had intended to spend these couple of months in intensive study. My wife and I are on a cross-country RV trip in the US, and I thought I would have a lot of time in the parks to play and do puzzles, etc. Unfortunately, the Wi-Fi in RV parks is spotty and erratic. Puzzles are okay, but real games, with spotty connection? I think not.

Now, let's talk about analysis. And by analysis I am not talking about hitting the little button at the end of a game and seeing the computer spit out its assessment. Don't get me wrong, that's not worthless, but it's not enough. 

If you have never actually done an analysis on one of your games, I'm going to show you Chess.com's wonderful tools that will enable you to do a deep analysis into your games. Not only that, but you can record them to come back to later and study. 

So, you finished a game, and you want to analyze it. You want to know how you possibly let this game slip away. The great thing about losses is there is so much more with which to self-flagellate yourself. 

Click on Play on the left side of your screen and scroll down.  (This tutorial only works if you are on a computer, not a cellular phone.) You will find the submenu Archive. Click on this. This will pull up the game. Then again down at the bottom, beneath the tabs for Game Review or Analysis. The second icon from the left looks like a Greek temple, if you put your cursor over this, it says Library.  Move your game to the library and create a name for this file. 

Now escape out to the main menu and below the Social option is More. If you place your cursor over this, the first option will be Library click on it, and find your game. You are now ready to start a deep analysis of your game. 

I strongly recommend that you do your analyzing here. Primarily, because if you do them here, they become permanent records.

So, you have your game opened and you have clicked on analysis. Now set your engine preferences and began clicking through the moves. When you want to make a comment on the game, right click on the move record and then type in your comment. For example, in the game I analyzed (which, by the way, I will drop into the bottom of this blog.)  it started 1. e4 e6 2. Nc3 d4.  I was playing the black and wanted to make a comment on e6. I noted that I was transitioning from being a Sicilian player to the French. 

Also, please note, do periodically scroll down to the end of the game and click on the save button.  Chess.com does not automatically save as you go. Trust me, I have forgotten this, and that is super annoying. 

In my reading of the real experts, everybody notes how important self-analysis is for improvement. It's huge. 

When I am analyzing a game one of the first things I do is a brief search of my opponent. I look to see how long he has been on Chess.com, and what type games does he usually play. For white is he an e4 player or d4.  The same for black. I might at this time also send him a friend request. I like having a collegial attitude on the site. 

But of course, the meat of the analysis is seeing what we did right and more importantly what we did wrong.  And when we have done something wrong, we should try and understand why we made a wrong calculation. What did we miss? What were we thinking? And more importantly why were we thinking this. 

At first your analysis might be rudimentary and unless you are a grandmaster, they may always be that way, but they will improve your game.  So, have fun.  

For this game I was playing Ha1ryCheese. He has been on Chess.com for about a year.  He was playing white. He is an e4 player. I had the black pieces, and I have been making a study to change to becoming a French player.  Just so you know, I had ample opportunities for improvement in this game.

And now to drop my analysis. Enjoy your schadenfreude!

** Note: For those of you who have investigator personalities, you have probably pulled up my statistics and noted that I had previously been above 1400. I will point out, that I never thought those were "legitimate" because in those days Chess.com had games against the computer which counted on your ratings. Thus, when my ratings dropped, I would hop over and challenge the computer. It would pump up my scores and my ego and I would be off again.  In a way, it was akin to the Fed injecting cash into the economy. (What is that? M1, or M2. My college economy class is getting rusty. )  So, while I liked the numbers, I always thought they were not as accurate as what I achieved in 2023. Thank you for asking.