Analyzing Your Own Games: A Step-by-Step Process That Actually Works
Self-analysis is the most personalised form of chess improvement available — it shows you your specific weaknesses. Here's how to do it properly.
Your own games are the most valuable training material you have. They contain your specific errors — your recurring tactical blindspots, your habitual positional mistakes, the opening problems that cost you points. No general training material can replicate the precision of studying your own games.
Step 1: Annotate Before the Engine
Immediately after the game, before looking at anything, write your honest account of how the game felt: what were you thinking on the critical moves? Where did you feel uncertain? Where did the game slip away from you? This immediate record is invaluable because it captures your actual thinking process.
Step 2: Find the Critical Moments Without Help
Play through the game and identify two or three moments that felt pivotal. Analyse each one in detail — twenty to thirty minutes per critical moment — using only your own thinking. What were the candidate moves? What were you afraid of? What did you see and miss?
Step 3: Check With the Engine Selectively
Once you've done your own analysis, consult the engine — but only on the positions you've already analysed deeply. Look for the discrepancies between your assessment and the engine's, and investigate each one. The engine is a corrector of your analysis, not a replacement for it.