Alright, so you wanna get better at chess, huh?

Here’s one of the fastest ways: Analyze your games.

BUT…only if you do it right.

Analyzing games helps you understand what you need to work on.

It’s an almost perfect feedback loop:

Analyzing games —> discover your big common mistakes —> take steps to eliminate those mistakes —> start playing better chess —> analyze those games —> discover new, higher-level insights about improving —> take steps to eliminate those mistakes —> and so on and so forth.

This is the most personalized learning you’ll ever do because you’ll know exactly what your mistakes are, which means you’ll know exactly what to focus your training on!

Here’s a quote that hits this home:

“You don't actually lose, you learn. You've lost for a reason and you have to figure that out.”

(Bonus points if you know which prodigy said this…but no Googling allowed!)

Most new players don't analyze their games, and that's a big mistake. It’s exactly why they're not improving as fast as they could!

Or even worse — they let the computer do the analyzing for them.

Yes, I get it - it’s tempting to just click on a button and have the computer tell you what went wrong. But guess what? That's not gonna help you grow as a player.

If you want to get better, you've got to make your mind work.

Here's a framework I recommend to my students:

1. Review the game yourself first: Before you even think about using the computer’s analysis, try to figure out what went wrong on your own. Look for critical moments, blunders, and missed opportunities. This will help train your brain to think more deeply and critically. If you can figure it out yourself first, it will stick in your mind a lot better in the long-run.
2. Analyze with a partner: If you can, grab a friend, stronger player, or a coach, and go through the game together. Having another set of eyes can help you identify blind spots or things you’ve missed. Discussing the game helps reinforce the lessons you're learning.
3. Identify patterns and mistakes: As you analyze more and more games, you'll start to see patterns in your play. Maybe you're consistently making the same type of blunder or messing up the same opening variation over and over. Once you know what you're doing wrong, you can start to fix it.
4. Take notes and create a plan: Write down the key takeaways from your analysis, keep them by your side, and use them to create a plan for improvement. Review your notes before you play a game - keep your insights top-of-mind.
5. Finally, use computer analysis as a supplement: After you've done all the hard work, it's okay to check your analysis with a computer. But, this is just to fill in any gaps and confirm your analysis. Don't rely on the computer to do the heavy lifting for you. Again, the lessons you learn will stick in your mind if you do the hard-work upfront.

If you’ve hit a plateau and just can’t seem to improve, try this plan out.

Analyzing your games can be a lot more effective than watching random videos on YouTube or solving random puzzles (although these things are valuable and do have their place in every training regimen!).

Got questions?

Drop ‘em below — happy to help.

-Coach Priyav