Use of Analysis Board

I have a much higher rating in Online/Turn-based chess than in live chess.  I play mostly 10 min Blitz games for live chess and my rating drifts between the mid 1200s and low 1300s.  While my Online rating is in the 1600s.   I have observed that this is a common condition.  In fact, the average rating for live chess is in the 1100s while the average rating for Online chess on chess.com is in the 1300s.

I believe some of this difference is a result of use of the analysis board.  I do not use the analysis board on every move, but often when the position is complex, I play out alternative lines and doing so often reveals issues, dangers and opportunities I did not see through unassisted calculation.

So do you think that my use of the analysis board is helping me develop a better understanding of complex positions?  Or is it retarding my ablity to calculate complex positions?

It's retarding your ability to calculate complex positions

The analysis board does become a crutch to lean on, and when you don't have it your position becomes hopeless!

Thanks for your comments.  I have considered playing for a while without using the analysis board and seeing what happens to my performance.  However, in the heat of the game, the drive to win over-powers the desire to experiment and I usually retreat to the analysis board when the game gets dicey.

On the other hand, I do practice my calculating skills in tactics training and live chess.  And I have speculated that the interplay between turn-based/analysis board assisted games with live chess and tactics training might offer a balance for improvement.

In addition, the history of turn-based chess is in correspondance by mail chess when players set up a chess board and played out alternative lines to come up with each move.  Part of the purpose of the turn-based chess is to learn to play at a more advanced level.

Still at my level, I am probably better served just learning to calculate better.

It is interesting, though, that when I have been playing a lot online and not much live, I get crushed the first live game or two - then I do better when I get my rhythm for live chess back.  Of course, that may not be due to impaired complex calculating since at my level, 10 min Blitz games do not really allow time for a lot of precise calculating.  Blitz chess is more about playing by feel for me.

I suppose a better test of unaided calculating would be 30 min + live games.

Yeah, but who plays 30 min plus live games? 

True - I certainly don't. 

Games of the type for which analysis board use is most appropriate are somewhat different from the games in which you just use your mental faculties without one.

If a great deal of your chess interest lies in correspondence chess time frames, then I think the analysis board can have some real merit. I use one for this purpose and feel pretty good about it.

But if a great deal of your chess interest is ALSO in OTB, blitz, or shorter time controls generally, you should make a point of cultivating your mental calculation skills.

I don't see these as mutually exclusive. You prepare for the kind of chess you enjoy, and if you enjoy more than one variety, you just have more preparation in store. :)

GnosticMoron - Great comment.

I have been more aware of my decision making process in making moves recently and it is different when I use the analysis board.  Use of the analysis board tends to favor decision making based on calculating the tactical strength of alternative lines where as, I tend to base my moves more on strategic considerations when I do not use the analysis board.....  Interesting.....;

Don't let people discourage your use of the analysis board in turn based play. I think it really helps novice and intermediate players like ourselves. And the Tactics Trainer will help push you to visualize and quickly run variations in your head. So, it's not an either/or proposition. You can do both and check your visualizations with the analysis board and get even better. 

Thanks - I agree.

Well, sorry, but I respectfully disagree. I consider the analysis board poison for our calculation and especially visualization abilities. The tactics trainer only trains pattern recognition (because of the timer), NOT calculation/visualization. Only complex puzzles help with that. Now: Would you do the daily puzzle with the  analysis board? See ... I didn't think so. 

I feel it's worthwhile to note that the analysis board isn't a training tool as much as a tool for extending one's capability to explore certain ideas. Yes, this can be used for pure training, particularly by examining themes after the play has been carried out.

But although I carry a loaded pistol with me and practice its use in case I ever have to use it, I don't think that this poisons my ability to do tae kwon do. It's just an additional weapon in my arsenal.

If using an analysis board is poison, isn't the use of a chess board at all poison to our ability to calculate and visualize?

I'm pretty sure that the difference in the average rating for Live Blitz versus Online Standard has nothing to do with how we think, what our skill level is, or what time control we use in Live Chess. It has to do with the the influx and outflux (sic) of players to the Online Standard playing pool and the transfer of rating points from those that enter and leave to those that enter and stay (along with any formulaic bias imparted by differences in the Glicko Rating parameters used for Online and Live). That's why the 200-point difference exists between those ratings.

Interesting - As far as I know the Glicko Rating parameters are the same for both.  Why would the influx and outflux of players affect online and live differently?  In any case, if I had a FIDE OTB rating, I suspect it would be closer to my live rating in the 1200s than to my online rating in the 1600s.  Whether the analysis board is good for skill development or not is debatable, but it clearly results in me playing at a higher level when I use it.

I'm not quite convinced yet. To stay in your metaphor: I think people tend to so get used to the online pistol that they only realize their OTB-Jiu-Jitsu sucks when it's already too late.

The use of the anaylsis board certainly increases your playing ability, but I don't think it hinders your ability over all. Rather it is a good indicator of your highest playing potential, similar to those who don't play with chess clocks and can study any given position for lengthy periods of time. Using the analysis board doesn't mean you'll always find the correct move or play without errors, but they can increase the likelihood of finding the best move, or eliminating errors and tactical blunders. Your strengh is still limited to your best understanding of chess, either strategic, tactcial, or positional.

For example, if you take someone who is rated 1400, and allow them to use an analysis board, and then take a master who doesn't use the analysis board, the master will very likely outplay the 1400 player regardless, because the analysis board only gives you a increased visualization, not knowledge. It make help you see a tactical shot or avoid one if you know the pattern or concept, but it won't help you avoid a weak pawn if you don't know anything about that, or a positionally lost position if you don't understand why it is bad. The use of the analysis board then can be very helpful in showing your strongest ability and where your greatest weakness is.  So while I agree probably using it all the time wouldn't be good for you over all in chess, using it sometimes like in the turn based games here on chess.com can be a great tool and measurement of your "highest potential" of play.

The analysis board can't solve errors in thought process for you. If you fail to see that playing X would be a good idea to respond to your proposed move Y,  you won't follow it through on the board and you won't see how it can undermine your plan.  And so you will still be caught by surprise in an unpleasant way.  Similarly it's never going to create ideas for you in the first place.  What it does is extend your ability to calculate scenarios where you do already see all the reasonable responses (especially forced ones), and substitutes to some lesser extent for visualization skills.  So I think that it can hurt people who play OTB or in formats that don't allow it, simply due to not getting as much practice with those skills as you would otherwise.  But I don't think it hurts chess skills in any other way.

As for the overall ratings difference, since all ratings on this site are relative to all other ratings on this site, my first guess would be that the faster time controls simply have a greater population of people who sign up, play 20 games, get pasted in all of them, and leave with a 550 rating never to return.  It's much harder to lose a ton of games fast in turn-based.

Hmmmm...... I first thought that your explanation would have the reverse effect and cause live ratings to be higher than turn-based ratings because of the impact of these transient players boosting the ratings of the regular players, however, if the transient players remain in the population with a very low rating, it could have the effect you suggest.