How on earth do I analyze my games

Hey there folks,

Ive found that im pretty much stuck around the rating of 1200 and I think my biggest set back up until this point is that I dont feel like I benefit in any way from analyzing my games.

Win or lose, I always open up the analysis and look at what I did right/wrong. However, thats all it is. I say to myself "yup should have done that" and I personally gain nothing from this. It doesnt register in my head at all and every guide Ive seen online acts like it does?

its the virtual equivalent of a backseat driver but instead of a passenger its someone telling me which turns I missed after I reach the destination.

does anyone feel the same way and does anyone have any advice/alternatives to this useless form of analysis? Id really like to perfect my chess skill as I know I have what it takes but I make the same mistakes game after game 

I am at the same rating and experience the same thing except that I play for fun. Just realize that you are playing a GAME. If you want to feel good, play in a tournament and you will get a chance to beat 900 & lower rated players although today I got slammed by a guy rated 640... no way that was his real rating.

You only play Blitz. Naturally you aren't improving.

Blitz is for fun. Slow time controls are for improving.

Im not sure, I think 10 minute games are perfectly fine? I have never felt super rushed for time in a 10 minute game

That's a clear sign that you're not improving. You're not trying to calculate longer lines, consider alternative options, or device strategical plans to improve your position. These time-consuming in-game activities are probably not inside your comfort zone, but instinctive chess will not bring you to a higher level.

Analyzing your own games follows the purpose of not repeating the same mistakes. However, some believe that they lose only because of tactical mistakes.

In truth, tactical mistakes are the main reason why beginners lose games, but tactics are not the main reason why they remain as beginners for years. Favorable tactics tend to arise from superior positions, yet most don't work on understanding why a position is superior or not.

As a simple exercise, check GMs games following the opening systems you are playing, then pay attention to where are they placing their pieces and pawns, and then work on understanding why. Then check your own games and see if you are doing the same, or at least similar. If your analysis is beyond the opening and its typical plans, then check an engine's evaluation to see if it matches what you thought the position was like (good for you, equal, or inferior). Maybe you thought you had a winning attack, but the engine shows your rival's threats were stronger and faster, or that he just had enough defensive resources. Or you thought your position was solid and the engine shows you missed weak points or lack of defensive coordination in your position.

Win or lose, you can be sure you made mistakes in your games. Work on finding which and then why. Then work on fixing the sources. And you'll notice how your chess strength grows.

To answer your question, it sounds like when you analyze your games you start by looking at the engine analysis. Now, admittedly I'm no GM or close to it, but you'll consistently find that strong players advise you to (1) use the engine less in analysis the less skilled you are as a player, and (2) start your analysis without the engine, and only when you have completed your own analysis, turn on the engine.

This makes sense! Even if you 100% memorized every correct move the computer told you to make, it still wouldn't make you a better player. During analysis, you have a chance to practice the skills and tasks that will make you succeed during a game. Go through after your games, move by move, and ask yourself questions like "I see his knight was undefended. Did I miss a tactic to take it?" or "I didn't know how to improve my position from here. Which of my pieces are inactive? What's a good plan to make them more active or trade them off?"

Once you've gone through and done all this, then and only then should you turn on the engine. Now that you've done all this work, you can essentially use this to "grade" your analysis. If you came up with a tactic to take that undefended knight, did the computer not like it? What defense against the tactic did you miss? Etc. And most importantly, if you're finding that using the computer isn't helping you understand your games more, then use the computer even less, not more. It isn't helping you.

If you look at the last week of my games youll see a lot of losses lol, I tilted pretty hard 

I took a look at your latest game, number 5144634452, against Almanath.

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/5144634452

1. e4 e5 2. Hf3 Hc6 3. d4 Hf6 4. d5 Hd4?

Now the e5 pawn is hanging, and after that the d4 knight is trapped, so you win a piece. Instead, you played Nxd4? after 1.5 seconds of "thinking". Wow.

Are you calculating candidate moves to sufficient depth that you've come to the end of reasonably forced responses or reached a stable position you like? If you are comfortable with 10 minute games it may be you aren't doing this enough. I can easily spend several minutes on candidate moves, different move orders following the same initial move, different replies by my opponent etc. I can spend several minutes trying to find the solution in a 1600 puzzle. You may be missing a lot of opportunities.

Ill start playing longer games and trying to be more patient before I start a true analysis of my games

But anyway, how long have you been playing chess and how long have you been analyzing your games? If you're not a talented player, like myself, it will take time to benefit of analyzing your games. And i'm not talking a week or a month, not even a whole year. It could take a couple. But you will get better over time. But not by playing blitz.

Ive been playing for about two years now, a little less. However, only recently have I started to take it seriously. Before 6 months ago I only played games and never tried to learn anything from them, no tactics puzzles or anything

Well there you go... I've been at it for about 20 years trying to improve on my own.

Oh i see... You misinterpreted my post. And i can't blame you. But what i was trying to say is that i'm NOT talented. And if the OP is anything like myself, it will take quite some time to benefit of analyzing your own games.

The idea of doing your own analysis isn't necessarily to find the truth of the position. It is to get better at simply finding better moves and ideas and to help you reflect on the decisions you made in the game. It's important not to conflate asking the engine and self-analysis. They are different things. Your self analysis will only be as good as your ability. This is fine. But it will reveal to you the moves and ideas that you can find when you give yourself time to pause and reflect on a position. You are far more likely to remember and apply the ideas you find yourself than the ones the computer shows you and you will certainly take more pride in those insights and enjoy the game more. You may even play longer time controls when you discover what is possible 😉

Like i said, i cant blame you. I took a look at my post again, and one could indeed think i was trying to say i'm talented, which i am absolutely not. But what do you mean with my awards?

Oh those. Well i wouldn't be to impressed with them. I didn't get those by beating masters or anything