Analyzing your chess games is the best way to improve.
It helps you turn losses into lessons and wins into stronger play. While playing gives you experience, analyzing your games shows you why you won or lost, which makes your decisions sharper in different parts of the game, openings, middlegames, and endgames. Players who regularly analyze their games often gain 100 to 200 Elo points faster than those who don’t. In 2026, with tools like Lichess and ChessBase 26, analyzing your games has never been easier. This guide provides a comprehensive system for analyzing your games effectively.
Why Analyzing Your Chess Games Is Essential for Improvement
Without analysis, you keep making the same mistakes, like blunders, bad plans, and weak openings. Analyzing helps you develop better pattern recognition, calculation, and evaluation skills. Top players like Magnus Carlsen spend a lot of time after each game to turn solid play into world-class performance. For you, analysis stops hope chess, where you rely on the opponent making errors, and helps you play more actively and thoughtfully.
When Should You Analyze Your Chess Games?
Analyze every serious game, including classical and rapid losses, close wins, and draws from tournaments.
You can skip blitz games unless you notice repeated mistakes. The best time to analyze is within 24 hours after the game, while your memory is still fresh. Aim to review 3 to 5 games each week.
Step-by-Step Process to Analyze Your Chess Games Effectively
- Replay without engine: Think about your thoughts and plans at important moments.
- Mark critical points: Note where the evaluation changed by more than a pawn.
- Self–evaluate moves: Figure out what you overlooked or missed.
- Engine check: Compare your moves with the engine’s suggestions.
- Summarize lessons: Take one clear lesson from each game that you can use in the future.
Self-Analysis Before Using a Chess Engine
Before using a chess engine, do some self-analysis. Start by replaying the game manually. Ask yourself: “What was my plan? What threats did I have? What were the candidate’s moves?” Try to guess the best move and then compare it to the engine’s suggestion. This helps build your intuition.
How to Spot Important Moments in Your Game
Critical moments include big mistakes (like losing two pawns), turning points (when the board situation changes by more than two points), and the last correct move before an error.
Look for these things:
– Tactical moves (like forks or pins)
– Pawn moves that change the game
– Exchanging pieces
You can use the “game chat” feature on Lichess or Chess.com to get engine arrows for help.
How to Use Stockfish Without Becoming Engine-Dependent
Run Stockfish with multi-PV to see alternative lines after you’ve done your own analysis.
Ask yourself, Why is the evaluation like that? What are the key ideas? Set the depth to 20-25; focus on the top three lines. Don’t just follow the engine’s suggested moves, try to understand the human plans behind them. Occasionally run sessions without the engine to stay independent.
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Enroll HereCommon Mistakes Players Make When Analyzing Games
– Only looking at the engine’s evaluation: No personal thoughts or opinions.
– Focusing on wins instead of losses.
– Saying “bad move” without explaining why it was bad.
– Skipping the endgame part of the game.
– Going too deep into one game instead of analyzing several games more briefly.
How to Make a Chess Mistake Journal
Use a notebook or Google Doc.
For each game, write down the date, opponent, phase (opening, middle, or endgame), type of mistake (blunder or plan), what you were thinking at the time, the correct idea, and the lesson learned. Review your journal every month to spot patterns, like “I always miss knight forks.”
Analyzing Opening Mistakes and Improving Preparation
Check: Did you break any basic principles?
Are you playing moves that aren’t in your prepared repertoire? Use the opening explorer on Lichess to find out. Fix: Study 10 to 15 moves ahead, and learn about common traps. Update your opening repertoire every three months.
Middlegame Evaluation: Understanding Plans and Strategy
Assess: Look at your king’s safety, how active your pieces are, the pawn structure, and who has more space.
Ask yourself, “What’s my plan? What’s my opponent’s plan?” Replay: Did the trades you made make sense? Spot any imbalances, like having a bishop pair versus a knight.
Endgame Analysis: Converting Winning Positions
Pinpoint: Did you miss the right moment to create opposition?
Was your king passive? Did you miscalculate the pawn race? Practice key endgame positions, such as king-and-pawn vs. king or rook endings. Aim to convert a +2 evaluation into a win 80% of the time.
How Grandmasters Analyze Their Games
Grandmasters do a lot of thinking out loud questions like, “What are the main plans and threats?”
and then use a chess engine to check their ideas. They focus more on ideas than individual moves, and they often discuss their games with other players. They don’t print out the whole game only the key positions.
Turning Your Analyzed Games into Training Exercises
Extract: Take puzzles from the mistakes you made, or create positions to practice planning.
Upload them to Lichess Studies and solve them without looking at the original game. Do this once a month and repeat.
Weekly Chess Review System to Boost Your Rating Fast
– Monday to Wednesday: Play 3 to 5 games.
– Thursday: Do deep analysis of your games.
– Friday: Solve 50 tactics puzzles.
– Saturday: Review your journal and study openings.
– Sunday: Practice endgame techniques and play one game from a Grandmaster.
Check your rating every week.
Tools and Platforms to Help with Chess Analysis
– Lichess.org: Free access to Stockfish, studies, and infinite analysis.
– Chess.com: Get game reviews and take lessons.
– ChessBase 26: A powerful database with AI training tools.
– Chessify/DecodeChess: Use cloud engines for analysis and get clear explanations.
– SCID vs PC: A free desktop tool for using Stockfish with a friendly interface.
Free Demo Class for Kids
Let your child explore 60-minute free interactive session with FIDE Rated coaches.
Enroll HereConclusion
Good analysis turns chess from just a pastime into a true skill.
Begin by reviewing your own games, then use engines for deeper insights, and keep a journal to track progress. Set up a weekly routine and watch your rating climb. Start right away: choose the last game you lost, replay it, and begin improving. Growth is waiting for you.
Conclusion
Good analysis turns chess from just a pastime into a true skill.
Begin by reviewing your own games, then use engines for deeper insights, and keep a journal to track progress. Set up a weekly routine and watch your rating climb. Start right away: choose the last game you lost, replay it, and begin improving. Growth is waiting for you.
FAQ
30 to 60 minutes; it takes longer for games that were lost.
It’s done selectively, with a focus on identifying patterns.
Yes, Lichess offers tools that are just as good as paid ones.
No, it’s still playable; focus on the ideas rather than the score.
Keep a journal of patterns you notice and use a rating graph.
It’s about understanding the “why” behind moves, not just the moves themselves.
