According to Dan Heisman in his great article Bootstrapping Analysis Skills The following are what make you a good analyst: Will to analyze the position correctly, move after move. Patience to analyze the position thoroughly (but keep in mind the clock – see “g”). Analytical thought process to know what steps to take. Board vision…
Core Evaluation 1. How has the opponent’s last move changed the position? Has your opponent made a blunder? 2. What is he trying to achieve? 3. Has he weakened his position (positional concession, piece en prise, open to a tactic) ? 4. Are there any threats? Tactical Evaluation If 1 or more of the following…
In Kotov’s great book “Think Like a Grandmaster” he taught the average chess player the inner workings of how a chess master thinks about a position by creating a tree of candidates and then proceeding along the tree. While there is much to learn from Kotov’s work, I have always been facinated how computers can…
I have made an observation while solving puzzles, that I feel will improve my tactical puzzle solving skills, and might have direct application during actual games. When solving a tactical puzzle of intermediate to advanced level I either: 1. Have no clue how to go about solving it and get it wrong. 2. Have multiple ideas that…
GM Dorfman, has suggested that every game has 5 or 6 critical junctures “forks” at which important decisions need to be made. By understanding that the game has reached a critical moment, you can take extra time in analyzing and evaluating your moves. These critical moments are where games are won or lost, and identifying these milestones in a…
According to Mark Dvoretsky the analysis of one’s own games is the main means of self-improvement. In Secrets of Chess Training Dvoretsky offers the following guidelines: Find the turning points – Decide where mistakes were made, where the evaluation of the position changed or an opportunity was missed. Seek the reasons for your own mistakes…
Black to move (Stefanova – Shirov 2005) r3rq1k/8/p2p3p/P1pPnp1P/1p3Q2/5PNR/1PP2K2/R7 b – – 0 29 Download game Evaluation The first thing I did was to evaluate this position, and I gave it the following evaluation: Material =, King Safety +/=, Activity =/+, Pawn Structure =. So the game in my opinon is even. (When I gave it…