16 important questions we all must ask ourselves when analyzing a move

Which squares does it vacate?

                Which squares does it leave uncontrolled?

                                Which piece(s) cease to be attacked?

     Which piece(s) are left undefended?

Which file is opened?

Which rank is opened?

Which diagonal is opened?

Which squares does it occupy?

Which squares does it control?

Which piece(s) are attacked?

Which piece(s) are defended?

Which file is blocked?

Which rank is blocked?

Which diagonal is blocked?

Which move(s) does it allow?

Which move(s) does it restrict?

Good questions, but I think having sixteen of them may be a bit overwhelming.  Of course, you could practice using this system in turn-based chess, and once you have it memorized you could use it long live games.

HOw about these:

Which pieces are attacked? (You have which pieces cease to be attacked?)

Who has the initiative?

There are many more. Once you come up with a complete list, multiply it by 2 as you will need to ask all the same questions for your pieces AND your opponents pieces.

You are correct. This type of approach is ultimately inefficient.

But, it does teach you what the truly important questions are and how to ask better questions.

What I do is this:

What did my opponent's last move change on the board, files opened, pieces discovered, new squares attacked?

What is my move going to change, same as above?

Can my opponent capitalize on any of the changes, and if so, is what I'm doing worth allowing him these chances?

Yes, chess is truly a complicated game.

(Refer to orange text in quote)

This is the place that I am finding many people seem to ignore or not know exists.

I am playing vote chess for the first time and am finding a lot of players make moves because 'they look good' or follow some reason based on 'the basics' (this second one is fine as a last resort where no plan supporting move can be made).

I'm talking about once you find a move, as finding one varies radically between positions and TC etc. You said questions asked when analyzing a move, those are the main things, other than, obviously, calculating out the variation to it's finish.

I like the list, I would never use it because my brain is prone to wearing down. If I had the capacity I would do it for both players like someone pointed out

Yes, you're correct; the OP was asking about analyzing a single move.

But, I feel that analyzing a single move does not begin or end with the analysis of that move. It is tied in with what happens when you are not analyzing the move. 

So I was just curious if you or anyone else was interested in talking about this area of strategy since hardly anyone ever does. Seems most people are only interested in discussing tactical maneuvers rather than maneuvers that are not so obviously tactical.

For example, some questions I often ask myself before looking at possible moves:

Who has the initiative?

Where is/are the active area(s) on the board?

What non-immediate threats are on the board. By this, I mean not a piece being attacked, but do I or my opponent have the ability to make a 'quiet' move that would achieve an advantage.

I think finding a move does not vary that radically depending on position and time controls when you are able to ask questions that can be answered in most any position you will find yourself in.

I think certain tactical situations can affect how you look at a position. You might find the weaknesses but taking advantage of them might require some calculation. 

Here is an interesting puzzle:

Sorry guys I messed the puzzle up twice... But it's definitely worth trying. It really changed how I look at my game now.

Did you put the solution in there? It appears not to be there.

OK I fixed it again...

I tried asking all of them, but my brain began hurting after the second one.

Okie. Maybe I am being dense, but I don't seem to see the 'tactical situaion' you are wanting to show here.

I see the move, but am just not sure what it does other than loses a pawn.

Here is the puzzle I am seeing and the posted solution:

Yeah it's ridiculous. It took me 30 minutes to figure it out... Black's problems are that he isn't developed, the the queen on f3 is staring at the hanging rook on f8, the really weak dark squares and that Black's queen is unfortunately misplaced on b2. 

What makes the puzzle hard is that all these things only happened to be an issue (at least to me) because of the ability to kick the queen around. If the queen was somwhere else maybe Black would just be a pawn up with some uncomfortable development ahead. The queen was the last thing I looked at before I was about to throw in the towel and then I was able to find the cheapos: 

I really had a hard time with this one and it's really what got me thinking about my problems with calculation. If White doesn't find the tactical 1.c3 then he may not actually have a way to take advantage of all those weaknesses in the position

Nice find.

There are a couple of optimistic moves on your part, but it the idea is pretty good anyway.