Play Like Sherlock Holmes!

Sherlock Holmes, the greatest consulting detective ever known to man was not known to be a chessplayer. In fact, in the entire Canon (as the novels and short stories are known to enthusiasts), chess features in only one case, and that one briefly. This case is "The Retired Colourman", in which they investigate an old retired colourman (who happens to be a chessplayer!) for murder. While investigating the mystery, Holmes says that "Amberley excelled at chess, Watson; one sign of a scheming mind."

Do you see a resemblance?

From this (seemingly uncomplimentary) reference, many have claimed that Holmes was not a chessplayer. However, throughout the chronicles of Dr. Watson, Holmes refers to chess, using terms such as pawn, checkmate, and stalemate. While we cannot be sure that Holmes played chess, we know one thing for certain: If he did, he was a very good player.  If you haven't read the books (I would highly recommend them!), here is a short example of Holmes's detective powers.

"I perceive that you have been unwell lately, Watson. Summer colds are always a little trying."
    "I was confined to the house by a severe chill for three days last week. I thought, however, that I had cast off every trace of it." 
    "So you have. You look remarkably robust."
    "How, then, did you know of it?"
    "My dear fellow, you know my methods."
    "You deduced it, then?"
    "Certainly."
    "And from what?"
    "From your slippers."
    I glanced down at the new patent-leathers which I was wearing. "How on earth--" I began, but Holmes answered my question before it was asked.
    "Your slippers are new," he said. "You could not have had them more than a few weeks. The soles which you are at this moment presenting to me are slightly scorched. For a moment I thought they might have got wet and been burned in the drying. But near the instep, there is a small circular wafer of paper with the shopman's hieroglyphics on it. Damp would of course have removed this. You had then been sitting with your feet outstretched to the fire, which a man would hardly do even in so wet a June as this if he were in his full health."

-The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle

With his skills of analysis, Holmes would see just as deeply into the position as he did into his cases. Did you catch the key to that last sentence? There is a very important piece of advice hidden within it. Following this advice, laborious as it may be, will help you gain rating and improve at chess. So what is this magical advice?

Analyze your (serious) games.

Your mind has probably already started thinking of reasons to reject this advice: "Oh, I already run Game Review after I play a game," or "Does it really matter?". It does. Analyzing your games is one of the most valuable things you can possibly do to help your chess skills. In this blog, we're going to begin to learn how to do this.

                                                                 

To start out, we'll learn why it's important to analyze one's games. Next, we'll look at one of my games, and 'watch' as I annotate it. Third, we're going to look at the engine's evaluations, and see how good of a job I did.  Finally, we'll sum up with a game annotated by Vachier-Lagrave, and try to learn how he thinks.

Part One - Why Analyze?

Why analyze? I can't believe you're asking me this! Oh, wait you're not. I guess I'm asking myself. Ok. Here's why. You're always supposed to be learning: correct? The best way to improve at chess is to play it (no, not to watch GothamChess, whatever he may say ). After every game, there are multiple lessons to be learned, and the way to do that is digging into the position. It's also important to analyze during the game (as I hope you know). While you don't need to see 25 moves ahead, looking 5 or 6 ply into the future is very important.

Not quite Hikaru-level visualization, but it works!

Don't believe me? Let's try it. I'll go play a game on the live server, and we'll see what we can learn.

Part Two - Learn from the Newbie

Ok fine, I'm not that bad. Anyway, right now we're going to watch me annotate a 30-minute game I played on the live server. Unfortunately, I didn't play the endgame well (at all!), but we can still learn from this game.

How did I do it?

How do you even do this? Here's what I did.

1. First, I flipped through the game quickly, trying to find critical moments. Once I did, I examined them, trying to see what exactly I did wrong.
2. Next, I began in the opening, looking at the moves both sides played, objectively examining them.
3. At the end of the opening, I evaluated the position.
4. I continued through the game, examining every move closely.
5. I looked at the endgame, seeing what worked and what didn't.
6. Finally, I looked through the game again, reading my annotations and looking for themes that I missed.

I know, that seems long. But if you do this after all your (serious) games, you will improve. 

The game's afoot!

So what exactly should you analyze? Bullet games? Blitz games? Rapid? Here's my rule of thumb. If it's a 15 minute game or longer, analyze it. If it's a 10 minute game, you should probably analyze it. If it's a particularly instructive blitz game, you should analyze it. If it's a bullet game, don't analyze it. Oh, and I forgot. If it's classical, always analyze it.

Part Three - Attack of the Computers!

No, sentient AI didn't take over the planet yet (at least as far as I know?). But it did destroy my chess game.

If you want to read about AI and chess, just check out this blog by @YEAT

I know you've all been waiting for this - it's time to look at what the engine says.

Yup, that's right. So is it still a bad game if both of us blunder? I think it is. 

Part Four - Learn From MVL

Have you ever wanted to see a game annotated by one of the best players in the world? Here's your chance. The above game was annotated by Grandmaster Maxime Vachier-Lagrave during the Candidates 2016 for Chess.com. Watch and enjoy.

Maxime in action in 2021

Having seen this game, what do we learn? 

1. Maxime analyzes deeply. Going deep into every position, he considers many possibilities.
2. He isn't ashamed to use an engine. Despite being one of the best players in the world, he isn't afraid to use a computer to help him.
3. He writes well! Good writing is a very important part of analysis, especially if one wishes to share their games with others.

Conclusion

Analysis is the most important step in deduction

Having learned from all this, you should now be ready to analyze and learn from your games, as well as those played by others. This blog was written for BlogChamps, a blogging competition in which I am participating. Hopefully it's good enough to beat both of my opponents. Good luck to the both of them, as well as to my readers, as they use the skills learned in this article. 

-Luke