Beginning to analyse

Hey all, I'm a beginner and I want to start analysing my own games to hopefully improve, I don't know where to begin really. Do I just go through every move asking myself what I thought of when I made the decision? Do I just go to the main events and try to think of a better option or maybe trying to predict my opponents move a good way about doing it? Well all in all I basically don't know what I should be doing/looking for is there a particular theme that good players go by?

Sorry if I broke forum rules here.

Thanks.

A few thoughts for going over games that you  LOST. ( It makes very little sense to go over your wins from the point of instructional value, unless you felt your technique was seriously lacking or if you won (by opponent blunder) from a lost position.)

Phase 1 : Reviewing the early opening

1. Grab yourself an opening reference book (NCO or MCO) or at the very least, an opening repertoire tree available in most free and paid chess software (I'd recommend SCID)

2. Go over your game and figure out the first point either you or your opponent deviated from the "theory" repertoire in book/software.

3. Make a note of this. If you deviated from theory,  figure out of if the recommended move was the better choice.  Chances are (given your current playing strength), it was.  Convince yourself that this is the way to play going forwards ... if you can't convince yourself, GET a stronger player to convince you why. Or better yet, an opening reference book specifically catered to this opening.

4. When you encounter this position again in the future, you should hopefully be playing it correctly.  

Rinse and repeat for every game you go over and you'll find your knowledge of openings to be growing organically (slowly, but accurately) in an "I understand this" way and not via rote memorization.

Phase 2 : Reviewing the positions/moves PRIOR to material loss (later in the opening and onwards)

1. While material stays equal (except for gambit pawns), go over this phase and ask why your opponent played each move he did.   It's easier to do this know as the script for the entire game has already been written out ... so work your way backwards. e.g. b6 was played to get the bishop to b7 so that he could hit your king castled on g1.  Compare this "after the fact" observation with what you had thought he was doing in-game.  This is the most instructive part of going over games, learning to get better at "reading" your opponent's moves/intentions. This ability alone separates beginners from more advanced players.

2. At every point where there are forcing moves (checks, captures or threats), grind out the lines and make sure your moves or your opponent moves were safe. Look at EVERY forcing move, including the crazy ones ... one of these might strike oil ... and you  might notice tactical shots that you missed in the actual game.

3. Make sure you're developing efficiently....not moving pieces more than once in the opening unless there's a tactic.  A quick way to tell is to see how many pieces + pawns he has out vs. you. If he's developed better and castled quicker, chances are you are being sloppy. Avoid running around making cheapo threats with the Queen ( a famous beginner bad habit).

4. Watch for purposeless moves you might have made. Pushing a central pawn randomly, without a concrete reason (which ends up explosively changing the game in your opponent's favor!) , or a rook pawn because you "just didn't have a plan".   Take these positions to a stronger player and ask him to tell you what "he" would have done here.

5. Likewise, watch for purposeless moves by your opponent. Figure out if you could have exploited this better.

6. When a plan is not clear, did you try to develop your worst placed piece?  Chances are, you didn't.  Look for those moments.

Phase 3 : Reviewing the positions/moves AFTER  material loss

1. It is imperative that you figure out why you lost material the way you did. You evidently missed a forcing move, tactical shot or heck, hung a piece.  Errors all come from some place ... record this position "right before the screw-up" and go over it later to convince yourself that you won't fall for it again.

2. Okay, now if you lost material (pawns, pieces), you'll be fighting the rest of the game with your back to the wall. Ask yourself these questions on each move from here on end:

- Am I trading down more pieces even though it makes it easier for him to win?

- Am I actively making sensible threats with my pieces or playing passively?

- Am I playing emotionally or irrationally, lashing out with easily parried threats that actually help him more than they do me?

- Am I creating problems for my opponent ... making him "earn" the win or am I just giving it to him?

Identifying these key moments in your games (I'd save these positions and go over them again and again until you learn to deal with them better) is a good step towards cleaning up your chess.

Good Luck!

Shivsky--I liked your last post very much.

Excellent reply Shivsky.  Very good methodology and a question I have had in the past but haven't really had a good answer for.

Also, do you have any experience with Dan Heisman's book, The Improving Annotator? I was thinking of getting it (it's actually on my wishlist) to hopefully help with going over my own games. Your method will be a great start though.

@Martin_Stahl: I know Dan as one of his former students and while I haven't read the Annotator book, I can bet that it is good! A lot of what I posted above is sponged in some way or form from the lessons I had with Dan.

"It makes very little sense to go over your wins from the point of instructional value, unless you felt your technique was seriously lacking or if you won (by opponent blunder) from a lost position."

Well, if you are an overly critical guy like me who would bang his head on the chess board after finding out that my plan or intended combination flunks (winning only after the opponent erred in defense), studying your wins can be beneficial, too!

I mean we don't have to wait to lose before we remedy this or that part of our chess game. It's just that it's easier to see when we actually lose. :D

Anyway, onto Shivsky's reply...man that was tight! Like your post there. Matter of fact I like it very much I'm going to create a post relating to that on my blog later today. Of course, giving you credit for the idea.

Analyzing one's games - We all agree this is a powerful improvement tool...BUT we don't have any good advice how to go about doing it sadly. Or maybe I wasn't looking for it hard enough.

As for the thread starter, well, if you can post some of your games right here for us to analyze (BUT you have to do your homework too :D), that would be great. I will post my silliest losses too so we can take turns bashing each other. Hahahaha.

Oh! My first post and first day on the site by the way.

The Fighting Chess Amateur

http://how-to-improve-in-chess.com

Well I would like to thank Shivsky for that awesome reply! :) I'm gonna go over what you've spoke about and try get into the habit of studying my games. I probably won't spot everything at first but hopefully will start to see things a few weeks/months down the line.

I will post some of my own games once I've figured out how to make annotations :P

Cheers guys!

Pretty good advice so far. One other thing: Ask stronger players to help in analyzing your games. In person, you can go through and tell them what you were thinking, and they can point out mistakes, both in your moves and thinking process. If you don't have anyone who can do this with you in person, then post the games with your own analysis (this is key), and ask others to tell you what they think.