analyze your game by engine or by yourself?

Hello everyone. As a chess beginner of course we would like to improve ourselves everyday. I searched a lot in internet and one of the theory is you shouldnt rush to use Chess Engine like stockfish to examine your game immediately. Intead, it says its much better to go thoroughly by yourself first. I know it is time consuming and sounds not efficient in nowadays, when technology could save tons of time on it. may be we can play much more game as a practising.

Anyone has tried this before? I wonder if a beginner like me, could really go through the game by myself and gain any insights.

thanks for your time and lets share your experience.

Of course. Why don't you try it? Find a game you lost after a difficult struggle, not because of a huge obvious blunder.

it isnt as hard as it seems

go through it on your own; find moments you deem critical and note a line that may be different- it doesnt have to be right

after you do this through the whole game start again at move 1 and turn on engine; look for significant shifts in the evaluation (i find that even a +/-1.0 isnt terribly significant unless there is a concrete mini tactic- a lot of time it is just engine mumbo jumbo)

when you reach positions where you gave your own pre-engine analysis now check these with the engine; was your new line working? if yes- them make notes in your annotations; if not give a new line why it is refuted

really pay close attention when the engine finds tactics- i believe this is the best tactics training because it is springing out of positions you are likely to see a lot if your play consistent openings

yes it is time consuming but it really is the best learning- one 30 min rapid game that can take 1 hr and then another hour really maximizes your chess study

get some database software (i use chess studio for ios {i only use ipad for my online games}) to really organize and, again maximize, efficiency

the database software makes it really easy to annotate and analyze and share games

getting this software was actually a game changer for me because i was keeping notes on pad and paper; now everything is organized and in one place