Beginners and Chess Engines

That's exactly the kind of advice I was hoping to get. Brutally honest and to the point. Now I have another question. I hope you don't mind. When I start going over GM games what should I be looking for? Thanks urk. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me.

Look at their openings, that's a good place to start.

Thanks again urk!

And thank you to Petter

I've found some improvement by reviewing my games. Lessons from personal experience tend to be the ones you learn more quickly. You don't have to go in depth. But, for example, go through and find tactics you missed, where you blundered, how a principle was violated, etc. The computer analysis in depth is not something I'm too keen on except as an objective evaluation and a guide to see what I didn't see in the game. Also, I look at the opponent's play to find the genesis of their successful attacks, etc. Self-review is definitely something you should not disregard as you study games by the classic masters.

I agree 100% with you PawnosaurusRex. Last year at this time I had never played a game of chess in my entire life. If I compare the way I play now to the way I played back in November my games have certainly improved and the reason they improved was because I would analyze each game by myself as best I could and once I was finished I would run the games through an engine to see what moves I missed. I am also going to study GM games and see what I can hopefully pick up. Chess is difficult for me. I am not like the hundreds of Chess.com members that claim they reached a 1600+ blitz rating after only playing for six months. Cheers everyone.

 I saw the last game you played. You played very bad opening. My suggestion is " start with basic chess principles" , for example.

https://www.chess.com/blog/NimzoRoy/chess-opening-principles. And there are tactics training for middle games and learn good endgame books. 

Thanks boss! I need all the help I can get and I really appreciate you taking the time to post me. Cheers!

Your awesome jengaias! I'm overwhelmed that you would be so generous with your time and chess knowledge. You Rock!

I don't know if this person is laughing at me or not, but thank you Jen. Ditto everything Dobra said and more. 😄

A beginner should study tactics, opening principles, and strategy in order to better interpret what the chess engines tell us.

Note that the engines are useful to some extent at all levels, but they won't, until hopefully within a decade, say, "You shouldn't have attacked on the Kingside because you had no material advantage. You should have planted your Knight on the excellent, safe from attack, c5 square and then Pawn Stormed up the middle with your d, e, and f Pawns."

If the engine repeatedly says you should have played Nc5 and repeatedly says moves like d5, f5, e4, should have been played you can interpret that the quote above is what the engine is telling you - but it's hard to see that if you don't understand the reasons for and mechanics of Knight Outposts and Pawn Storms.

The engines also evaluate some positions in ways different than what works best for humans. For example, using the Principle of the Opposition can guarantee Queening a Pawn and a winning position, but the engine, in a game with several pawns, may see a complicated way of getting checkmate faster and considers keeping the opposition for your King a blunder.  But a human may overlook a losing move while calculating the complicated way while the Opposition is sure and is what you should play.

I use chess engines (Stockfish 8 and Houdini 2) mostly to identify combinations I missed. I then identify the kind of combination it is and spend a little time analyzing why I missed it.  That's worthwhile, especially in 3 day/move games.

I'm also not aggressive enough, especially with Black, so when the engine says I should have played ...d5 instead of ...d6, or ...Bc5 instead of ...Be7 - or another more aggressive move and keeps preferring that for a few moves in a row, it gives me a hint of how and where I should have begun to attack.

I do use the Indexes of engine analyses (Stockfish 8) in the freebie Lucas Chess to evaluate whether or not I played a bad, good, great overall game - chess.com's CAPS Index is unreliable.

yes

I checked your last game.  On move 5..... u missed Nc2 fork. (always alert Knight fort when the color of your knight and the color of the enemy major pieces , all those three pieces ,are in same color. Remember the tip, same color--->fork alert, different color--->never fork).  On move 6. ---u can get free rook by simply playing Nb3.  U missed same chance in move  7 --- Nc2 as well.  On move 10. u played 10... b6 and gave free c6 pawn( In the initial position , the third rank is the strongest cos the initial 8 pawns protect that rank. Whenever u plan to move a pawn , it attack somewhere but it always leave weakness somewhere). 11....c5. free pawn. c5 square was protected by his b4 pawn and queen and u have only one b6 support.

Thanks Boss. This is the kind of help that I really need. Thank you for taking the time!

Hey Randi, I am glad u r back. I checked another game and would like to point out some background theory you missed. On move 4.--- u played c5?.  As a general rule of opening theory, dont open the center if ur development is behind your opponent. White has half move advantage, and white's adv is bigger if the center is more open. Cos you are playing black , dont attempt to open the center in the first 12 moves( opening).  6. --- Bxb5.  Ur d7 bishop is well defended, ur opponent's bishop is a weak one cos there is  a risk of losing that piece by  Qa5+. and Qxb5. Instead you should do development of another piece like Nf6.  12.....e5? Illogical move. Look like you run out of idea how to do next after the opening. In that opening the plan should be attacking those pawns a5 or b6 while your opponent's rooks are not connected yet. Why e5 is weak? It is a waste of tempo, cos it is controversial .It has adv in controlling d4 and f4 but it also create the weakness in d5 and f5( d5 is a potential Knight post for your Nd5. Why dont take b6 pawn from move 14-16.? 16--- f5? It is weak move , cos as a general rule, dont attack king side when center is open. (as a reverse rule , if you are being attacked to your king or wing side, open the centre or exchange pieces). 18--- Rf7 save your kt but your opponent did not see free kt as well. 20---Ne7?? very bad, kt going backward and also it is a  pin with your rook. From move 23 and onward , you lose instantly cos you suicide by opening your king. (It will work if the center is closed)