Do you learn more from losing, or winning?

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amkat4

I always told my son that in general we learn more from our mistakes than from those things we do right, but does that apply to chess? I find it easier, not surprisingly, to study analyses of games I won, especially when coming from behind, or in the wake of reversals. But I think it's imperative to study the losses even more. Just not sure which I get more out of.

Anyone in general?

GMPatzer

You should learn from whatever your result, you can win a game and make mistakes, and if didn't learn from opponents mistakes! draw maybe you could have improved or your opponent!

Praxis_Streams

It's important to learn from all your games, but I tend to learn more after losing for 2 reasons.

 

1.) My motivation is higher; winning is my expected result. If I get an unexpected result, I feel like something needs to change now in order to fix whatever the problem is. If I win, I don't get the same sense that something is wrong.

2.) There's typically more to learn when I lose; Losing necessarily means I made some serious mistake(s). Further my opponent necessarily exploited them, making identifying the mistakes relatively easy.

QueenRushes

I honestly learn a lot with both lost and won games, simply because I usually make mistakes in all my matches (Although my positional play is becoming better, and that's where I often make my mistakes).

 

I think that you should analyze all of your games. First alone: see where you think you made positional or tactical errors/blunders. Then when you're done, do it with a computer and compare the two. This is my best way to learn from your mistakes and remember not to make them again wink.png