Examining games

Hey everyone,

I've just started trying to learn this game in more detail.  I'm wondering what the best way is to examine past games, both master level games and my own.  What things should I be looking for?  Sometimes I can't figure out why a certain master made a particular move when something else seems intuitive, but I can't find any explanation offered for it.  As for my own games, other than finding my mistakes, what are the things to look for?

Does anyone have a successful model for reviewing games in order to maximize their learnings?

Any help is much appreciated.

--Fate 

You must first learn what kind of style you like.  Are you an attacking player? A defensive player? A positional or tactical player? then study the games of masters that have the same style.. If you are an attacking player, study the games of fischer, if you are a defensive player, study the games of karpov, if you are a positional player, study the games of capablanca and kramnik.  iF you are a tactical player... study the games of tal.  Improve your endgame technique first, then the middlegame and lastly the opening.

you should use your analisis board so you can see what your opponet is trying to do in the situation.

Heres a collection of games from chernevs classic "Logical chess: Move by move".  Its a great book to pick up if you have some spare money, its an absolute classic and you will be hard pressed to find somebody that doesn't recommend it!

http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chesscollection?cid=1004861

Reviewing games is an acquired skill, just like everything else in chess. Do a lot of it, and do it regularly and you will see improvement. Going thru games quickly is very tempting to do but it's a waste of time. Going thru a single game slowing really doing your best to work out the ideas is much better than going thru 5 or 10 games superficially.

You have two resources available to you that make this easier than ever before -- computer software! and forums like this one.  Get a chess engine (either commercial or freely available on the internet) and use it to read .PGNs (these are the chess move lists formatted so computer chess engines can read them... there are a great many collections of master .PGNs freely available on the net)  Using the engines you have a device that lets you keep track of moves, work out variations, and above all figure out those head-scraters where you don't understand why, for example, Master so-and-so didn't take the Knight on b5 although it looks "free." Computers are great at figuring out these kinds of tactics. It'll take you a little while to get up to speed with any particular chess engine interface, but it's not rocket science.

Secondly, if a game really puzzles you -- post it on a forum and ask your questions... you'll get explanations (of varying quality) from other chess players.

Good luck. Enjoy.

Btw. Logical Chess Move by Move is a true classic and I second the recommendation.

I think I'm having some of the same issues as the original poster.  I try to analyze my games, but often by the time I get to the point where I 'obviously' blunder, there are no games in the 'game explorer' that have my position (I know, that tells me that I'm screwing up ahead of time, but still I'd like to see how to work something out).  I don't really understand the analysis board - it looks pretty, but it doesn't seem to let me make any 'test' moves other than the ones I made during the game.  Am I missing something?  Am I like supposed to have a chess board next to me or something?

Someone mentioned some 'engines' which sound great to me.  Are there some you recommend that I could download?  I try reading books (Nunn's Chess Openings, for example), but I feel like I'm doing good to keep one or two positions in my head, much less the 25 or so variations they always seem to list.

I'd appreciate any advice.  I feel like I do o.k. for a beginner on online chess (maybe because I think things through without feeling pressure), but when it comes to live chess, I'm just abysmal.  In any event, I don't feel like I'm improving in either arena and certainly not analyzing my own, or others' games very well.

Thanks in advance.

Tolob: I try to analyze my games, but often by the time I get to the point where I 'obviously' blunder...

If you have an "obvious blunder" that's all the analysis you need to do of that position.  It's a clear bad move and you tell yourself simply "try not to do that, again"

there are no games in the 'game explorer' that have my position...(I know, that tells me that I'm screwing up ahead of time, but still I'd like to see how to work something out).

I think you misunderstand the game explorer. By no means does departing from the game explorer necessarily indicate you've screwed up, although, If you play moves very early on that no one else has it is likely that you've played some non-first choice moves.  But don't let that trouble you.  The GE is wonderful tool for looking at other people's games and seeing where openings lead, but it's not a strait-jacket you are supposed to conform to... everyone's game departs from the GE sooner or later.

I don't really understand the analysis board - it looks pretty, but it doesn't seem to let me make any 'test' moves other than the ones I made during the game.  Am I missing something?

The analysis board is for testing out moves during the game. Once the game is over the analysis board is just for replaying the moves of the game.

 Am I like supposed to have a chess board next to me or something?

Some chess software will take care of that. But there's nothing wrong with having a chess board next to you. I do, it comes in handy.

Someone mentioned some 'engines' which sound great to me.  Are there some you recommend that I could download?

I did mention free engines -- you need an engine and an interface, the main (pretty much only that I'm aware of) free interface is Arena... then you plug an engine into the interface, there are (many many) chess engines compatible with Arena... the best free ones are Toga II, Fruit, Crafty, and Rybka 2.0.1 (something like that) BUT don't slog into this unless you really enjoy tinkering with software trying to figure it out. Free software means = non-existent or bad documentation. Frankly I think spending a few bucks on Chessmaster or Fritz is money very well spent. The nonlatestgreatest version of Chessmaster can be had for 20 bucks or less I think, and you'll get an intuitive interface, decent help files, and a program that functions right out of the box. Ditto for Fritz.  Fritz is IMO actually a better program and you wouldn't go wrong buying it but most beginner's seem happier with Chessmaster. Neither program is perfect, both are good. CM was my first chess program and I was very happy with it. 

I try reading books (Nunn's Chess Openings, for example), but I feel like I'm doing good to keep one or two positions in my head, much less the 25 or so variations they always seem to list.

If you are a beginner or advanced beginner for that matter stay away from books that focus on memorizing variations, like opening manuals do. You need to get solid on the basics of opening, middlegame, and endgame play. I'm sure there are threads with good rec's for some books at whatever your chess level is. (And most versions of Chess master include some good tutorials)  There's also the Chessmentor on this site... it seems like a great way to learn. I'm a fan of Jeremy Silman's books. He has quite a few Chessmentor lessons here I believe.

I'd appreciate any advice.  I feel like I do o.k. for a beginner on online chess (maybe because I think things through without feeling pressure)...

thinking things through will lead to improvement... it is the only way to learn.

but when it comes to live chess, I'm just abysmal.

Live chess online almost always means quick games. The quicker the game the less value it has for learning. Blitz chess is for fun, NOT LEARNING. You might learn a little about time managment and playing under pressure, but in pure chess terms blitz has NO VALUE for study.  Don't worry about being abysmal.(We're all abysmal compared to someone) Play some live chess for fun... but concentrate on your slower games, and you'll see improvement over time.

Play slow games!

In any event, I don't feel like I'm improving in either arena and certainly not analyzing my own, or others' games very well.

There's no reason to think you should be able to analyze games any better than you can play them. Use the Chessmaster, or whatever software you decide on,  to show you tactical points you missed in your games. Use lessons (as found in books, websites etc.) and studying master games (ideally, with annotations geared for the student) to learn the larger concepts of strategy. 

I hope this helps.

 Thanks for both of your replies.  I downloaded Chessmaster, am listening to Josh, practicing tactics, and utilizing the Analysis Board more effectively.  And, it turns out that Nunn's Chess Openings makes a great paperweight.

Good luck!

Diskamyl also wrote a very helpful post IMO and I agree with all his recommendations (including overriding me on Fritz ;)  -- except one reccommendation... the chess.emrald.net site for tactics. It's ok... but it is very time-pressure oriented.  I think the tactics trainer here is at least as good and probably better than chess.emrald.net trainer -- it uses a timer for rating, but you can turn off the timer.

There are A TON of tactics resources on the web. Use google, you'll find plenty of stuff to do. The better your tactics (and ability to calculate) the better your results, and also oddly enough, the better you are able to make sense of strategic elements.   

For tactics I think the chess tactics software CT.Art 3.0 really is the standard to beat. At some point you're going to want to go thru it.  Download the free demo version. It's the full program (or nearly) just without the full set of problems, but even with the small set of puzzles, and even smaller subset of beginner level puzzles, it's got enough to keep you busy for a little while and you can decide for yourself whether you want to buy the full version. (You probably don't, yet.) 

I believe the people who put out CT.Art.3.0 have a program that uses the same format but that has more problems geared to the beginner, and that's probably more appropriate. If it's as intelligently put together as Ct.Art.3.0 it would be ideal. CT.Art.3.0 gets pretty difficult, pretty quickly, so don't get demoralized if you find much of the material, "impossible." It will be very satisfying when you come back to material that was impossible and discover you can do it.