A Simple 3-Step Process For Analyzing Your Chess Games

Do you want to learn the correct lessons from each chess game you play?

If so, you've come to the right place!

One of the main reasons that a chess player fails to improve is that they repeat the same mistakes in their chess games. 

Analyzing our games gives us a path to recognize those recurring mistakes, and then develop ways to handle similar situations better in the future. 

With that said, let's dive into my 3-step game analysis process. 

Step 1: Identify The Mistakes And Improvements (For Both Sides)

This is quite easy to do - we can simply submit our game for a 'Game Review' on Chess.com, getting an immediate analysis of what mistakes we made, and what we should have played instead.

We can also learn from the opponent's mistakes and improvements, which will, in turn, help us understand the position better (and what we missed).

Step 2: Figure Out What Moves You Needed To See To Play The Best Move

Just knowing the top line of the engine in a position isn't enough to improve our chess; we need to understand what stopped us from playing that move in a game. 

Usually, it's the result of missing a good move for the opponent or for us in a possible variation, but sometimes it can also be a result of not understanding the game position (or a position from an arising variation) correctly. 

Step 3: Adapt Your Thought Process & Chess Training To Handle Similar Situations Better In The Future

This is the toughest one to do on your own - having a coach to guide you through the process really helps a lot, as that 'outside perspective' will often see things that you'd miss (it's hardest to see ourselves clearly and accurately). 

However, there will be some cases where the weakness is quite obvious:

- Didn't consider the best move at all (for you or the opponent)? You should probably work on the 'candidate moves' calculation technique. 

- You lost because of a 'silly' blunder? You should probably work on your tactical vision/calculation. 

- You felt very uncomfortable in a strategic position, even though the engine says you were fine? You probably need to improve your understanding of that position (and perhaps your positional/strategic play in general). 

- You made a bad exchange that left you much worse? You should probably work on evaluating exchanges better. 

But sometimes it's more subtle, e.g. having some issue with your chess mindset/psychology that is manifesting in your play. And for that, it's harder to give a 'cookie cutter' solution, as e.g. the cause of time trouble will vary somewhat between players. 

Summary

Hopefully, this simple model has given you an awareness of how to get the maximal learning from your chess games, without spending oceans of time on each game or feeling overwhelmed by the more complex 5-10 step processes you'll often see recommended by other trainers. 

Like Einstein, I believe that everything should be made as simple as possible - but not simpler. And the 'Rule of 3' has held up not just in marketing, but also pedagogy (the art of learning). 

I recommend trying to remember the 3-step process yourself, as the process of 'retrieval' will help you to remember it and thus apply it. If you need a refresher, my 3-step game analysis process is:

1. Identify the mistakes/improvements;

2. Figure out what you needed to see/appreciate to play the best move;

3. Adapt your training/thought process to play better in similar situations. 

What's your thoughts on this game analysis model? Is there anything you would like me to explain again, or elaborate on? 

Let me know in the comments below.