As a beginner and who has learning difficulties and autism who doesn't have a clue on how to analyse chess games, I found this video to be VERY helpful! Thank you for making this video.👍🙂
Have never had this sort of explanation of what to do when I analyze. As a low rated player all I ever saw was "analyze your game", which I dred and would force myself to comment on every move. As a result I've analyzed almost no games lol. Although you didn't talk about engines much, you made a great point on why they are bad for low rated players... because if the analysis itself doesn't even matter (ie. finding the best move, getting the right answer) - why even use the calculator. Thank you for this content!!
I was suggested by a fellow lichess player to go here because I posted on the forum. I have no regrets. Your video is great and I think you should not change those positions like the chess board and the time with its corresponding activities. You have a new subscriber, I hope you get big and I believe I can be as good as you someday. Patience is a virtue. Time is of essence. Time is fleeting. Live in the now. Do everything you do with 100% effort so you don't regret everything you do. Just my cluster of quotes which you can use. I have others (many many more) but I don't want to waste your time any longer. Have a nice life! :D
I'll have to come back and watch the rest of this video. The first 6:45 was good. If you ever wanna give lessons, and create videos about those lessons, to a ~1200 player to provide insight into the misconceptions of a weak player, let me know. Thanks again for spending the time creating the video.
Great video for those people who think that analysis means plugging the game into an engine and looking at the lines. I see that very often on lichess. People come into analysis mode after the game we had just played, click that magic button and then exit soon after the engine finishes. I was guilty of that myself, but a while ago I realized that an engine is just the crutch and the promise of the easy way and to improve you need to go the hard way. And I am so glad that lichess now allows to switch the computer permanently. Great video, I might become a regular viewer.
fir +David Pruess I was never one of these people who just look over the engine lines. I always tried to get my own thoughts first. But I seeked confirmation from the computer anyway, which I now stopped doing ;)
A more specific question to ask the beginner is, "When did you start losing the game?" You usually find out it is in the middlegame. Since beginners nowadays memorize openings & do it to a tee. Then explain how analysis would have prevented it from happening. Intermediates would also make this. mistake in many games.
Excellent video. A question: In the video you demonstrate making variations by moving the pieces. Do you recommend strictly *not* moving the pieces in analysis, or does this not matter.
When playing practice games, you should probably practice not moving the pieces, as this is disruptive to your opponent, and not how people play in almost any situation. When looking at a completed game, doing some analysis, or considering some ideas that were not played during the game, it's perfectly normal to move the pieces, and I see nothing wrong with doing so.
Love the video! Very instructive, liked and subscribed ;). As for the first pgn, 3 years late, but I think f6 is the losing move? fxg5 is no threat as that opens black up to a mate in 1, so f6 does not do anything. I think be6 would have been better, as it protects both f7 and d5. Qd7 would also prevent the mate but would be losing d5. Correct? The second pgn: I think Bf4 was the losing move. It opens the bishop and knight up to a fork, which was then of course capitalised on by black. Probably Nc3 (protecting the king from being checked on the dark diagonal) would have been better, as it also prepares to control the center more with e4, which in turn protects c4 with the light square bishop.
Great video, this is the first of your videos that I watch. Wonderful attitude towards teaching chess; easy flowing ideas. Also, really wonderful attitude towards developing your own practice of learning. Thinking of buying Chessmaster 10 to begin practicing on my own; I am very much a beginner. Of your videos, is there a playlist that I should hit first? Many thanks!!
sorry for the uselessly late response; I missed your comment at the time. Best starting off place is probably the playlist this is part of called "how to study chess"
You are a great teacher of these chess concepts. Well done. I'd like to join in on your chess lessons on twitch. What's the best way to find out when you are teaching?
at twitch.tv/dpruess below the video player there's the schedule for the upcoming week (generally). there's also occasionally an unscheduled show; the best bet there is to follow me on twitch and get an email notification.
Great video that's still very much relevant. And these days I think I can guess who is the old-school friend who likes writing down lines by hand :) I'm a recent convert to the Pruess Church of No Engines, and cutting the engine evaluation of a whole game loose does make chess much more fun for me. Still, I often analyze and analyze and reach a conclusion, but being too curious I end up checking the engine for a specific position. Often it shows me something beautiful that I hope I'm learning from, but as you said in the video, when it's not knowledge acquired by yourself it doesn't stick with you the same way. Not sure if this is a good or bad way to go about it. What do you think? Thanks
Hi Alex, thanks for your comment and question. Personally, I think there's pretty much no benefit in satisfying your curiosity in this way, but I understand that for most people that curiosity is overwhelming. Obviously, analyzing the game yourself first is much better than just turning on the engine. And I don't think that looking up the engine answer to one position from a game is going to hurt you-- just that it won't help you. The danger though, which you should be clear on before doing this, is that checking one position per game can turn into checking 3 positions per game, can turn into checking the answer real quick right after playing the game, with the best intentions to also analyze it on your own later, etc. etc. If you are vulnerable to that kind of a slide, you'll have to be very deliberate in setting your limits on computer usage and sticking to them.
@@chesscomdpruess Thanks for the detailed and thoughtful reply. You're definitely right, I'm prone to going "okay let's just verify this one too, and this one". And while I do think that some of the things the engine shows blow my mind and stick with me, eventually it doesn't seem to be improving my actual chess results, so I might as well just let it go.
Great video! I'm wondering when you consider a game to be lost. In the symmetrical English game, white is only down a piece for a pawn, so maybe resigning is the losing move. In the two knights defense game, I saw black was down a piece after f6, since capturing the knight was an empty threat. However after looking at the position more closely, any followup I could find lost even more material, to the point where it gets difficult to blunder away such an advantage. I followed a link here from the chess subreddit, and I will surely check out some more of your videos.
I consider a game to be "lost" when one player with theoretically best play would be able to beat the other played with theoretically best play. e.g. two perfect chess machines playing each other. Now, this is often difficult to determine! Part of why searching for "the losing move" can be a tricky exercise. But I will give you a couple rules of thumb as a starting point. You will however have to over time refine your evaluation abilities to know which positions are winning and which are defensible. * 2 extra pawns is almost always winning, absent compensation. * 1 extra pawn is winning about 50-60% of the time, absent compensation. * 1 piece for 1 pawn is almost always winning. * A computer evaluation of +1.5 is pretty close to my own cut off for "winning." Hope that helps :) and please remember not to take those guidelines as rules or principles.
Hi David! With regard to Tactics, how does this playlist compare/contrast to your "4 Exercises To Become A Tactical Genius" as found on chess.com? (I subbed)
The two "how to learn tactics" videos are equivalent-ish to the first two videos of that chess.com series. The other videos in this playlist cover other topics related to studying chess. Btw, currently my new work is going up on the chessdojolive twitch and chessdojo youtube channels (group project with 2 chess-teaching friends).
in the first pgn, when black captures on d5 with the knight, the white bishop is already on c4. so Qxd5 would actually lose the queen to white playing Bxd5.
I'm glad you're trying to solve this game :-) Nc6-a5 is the most commonly played move there, considered to be the best move for black. An improvement on Nxd5, however Nxd5 is not losing for black, nor a blunder. It has been played many times without white proving a decisive advantage. Keep working :-)
Hi Pruess, thanks for the insightful video:). I have been trying to figure out how to visualize the knights movements for a couple of moves ahead, rather hard for me...could you give me some suggestions so as to play effective knight moves that do not come off as inaccuracies. It would help a great deal! Cheers!
Running an online teaching program and producing a prepared lesson are two different things. Canning an online teaching session does not constitute the production of a prepared lesson. It's just recycling your garbage under a false label. In writing it's called "shovelware." In all areas of life, it's laziness.
Finally somebody who explains things! I can't tell you how many times I've heard the advice "analyze your games," and no one explains how to!
Your videos are some of the most educational on youtube. Kudos.
thanks :)
As a beginner and who has learning difficulties and autism who doesn't have a clue on how to analyse chess games, I found this video to be VERY helpful! Thank you for making this video.👍🙂
Have never had this sort of explanation of what to do when I analyze. As a low rated player all I ever saw was "analyze your game", which I dred and would force myself to comment on every move. As a result I've analyzed almost no games lol.
Although you didn't talk about engines much, you made a great point on why they are bad for low rated players... because if the analysis itself doesn't even matter (ie. finding the best move, getting the right answer) - why even use the calculator.
Thank you for this content!!
Sounds like this video was exactly for you.
I was suggested by a fellow lichess player to go here because I posted on the forum. I have no regrets. Your video is great and I think you should not change those positions like the chess board and the time with its corresponding activities. You have a new subscriber, I hope you get big and I believe I can be as good as you someday.
Patience is a virtue. Time is of essence. Time is fleeting. Live in the now. Do everything you do with 100% effort so you don't regret everything you do.
Just my cluster of quotes which you can use. I have others (many many more) but I don't want to waste your time any longer. Have a nice life! :D
thank you!
You're welcome! :D
I'll have to come back and watch the rest of this video. The first 6:45 was good. If you ever wanna give lessons, and create videos about those lessons, to a ~1200 player to provide insight into the misconceptions of a weak player, let me know. Thanks again for spending the time creating the video.
Thanks, Shion. Right now I'm busy with a full-time teaching job, but thanks for the offer.
Great video for those people who think that analysis means plugging the game into an engine and looking at the lines. I see that very often on lichess. People come into analysis mode after the game we had just played, click that magic button and then exit soon after the engine finishes.
I was guilty of that myself, but a while ago I realized that an engine is just the crutch and the promise of the easy way and to improve you need to go the hard way. And I am so glad that lichess now allows to switch the computer permanently.
Great video, I might become a regular viewer.
thanks :-) i'm glad you've shut the computer off.
fir +David Pruess
I was never one of these people who just look over the engine lines. I always tried to get my own thoughts first. But I seeked confirmation from the computer anyway, which I now stopped doing ;)
:-)
A more specific question to ask the beginner is, "When did you start losing the game?" You usually find out it is in the middlegame. Since beginners nowadays memorize openings & do it to a tee. Then explain how analysis would have prevented it from happening. Intermediates would also make this. mistake in many games.
Thank you! I took a bunch of notes and I look forward to trying out these exercises!
Best chess analysis how to video I've seen.
I really enjoy watching your tuition, I'm only about 1100 rating but enjoy playing chess, thank you.
great!
Excellent video. A question: In the video you demonstrate making variations by moving the pieces. Do you recommend strictly *not* moving the pieces in analysis, or does this not matter.
When playing practice games, you should probably practice not moving the pieces, as this is disruptive to your opponent, and not how people play in almost any situation. When looking at a completed game, doing some analysis, or considering some ideas that were not played during the game, it's perfectly normal to move the pieces, and I see nothing wrong with doing so.
Love the video! Very instructive, liked and subscribed ;).
As for the first pgn, 3 years late, but I think f6 is the losing move? fxg5 is no threat as that opens black up to a mate in 1, so f6 does not do anything. I think be6 would have been better, as it protects both f7 and d5. Qd7 would also prevent the mate but would be losing d5. Correct?
The second pgn:
I think Bf4 was the losing move. It opens the bishop and knight up to a fork, which was then of course capitalised on by black. Probably Nc3 (protecting the king from being checked on the dark diagonal) would have been better, as it also prepares to control the center more with e4, which in turn protects c4 with the light square bishop.
Great video, this is the first of your videos that I watch. Wonderful attitude towards teaching chess; easy flowing ideas. Also, really wonderful attitude towards developing your own practice of learning. Thinking of buying Chessmaster 10 to begin practicing on my own; I am very much a beginner. Of your videos, is there a playlist that I should hit first? Many thanks!!
sorry for the uselessly late response; I missed your comment at the time. Best starting off place is probably the playlist this is part of called "how to study chess"
You are a great teacher of these chess concepts. Well done. I'd like to join in on your chess lessons on twitch. What's the best way to find out when you are teaching?
at twitch.tv/dpruess below the video player there's the schedule for the upcoming week (generally). there's also occasionally an unscheduled show; the best bet there is to follow me on twitch and get an email notification.
Great video that's still very much relevant. And these days I think I can guess who is the old-school friend who likes writing down lines by hand :)
I'm a recent convert to the Pruess Church of No Engines, and cutting the engine evaluation of a whole game loose does make chess much more fun for me. Still, I often analyze and analyze and reach a conclusion, but being too curious I end up checking the engine for a specific position. Often it shows me something beautiful that I hope I'm learning from, but as you said in the video, when it's not knowledge acquired by yourself it doesn't stick with you the same way. Not sure if this is a good or bad way to go about it. What do you think?
Thanks
Hi Alex, thanks for your comment and question. Personally, I think there's pretty much no benefit in satisfying your curiosity in this way, but I understand that for most people that curiosity is overwhelming. Obviously, analyzing the game yourself first is much better than just turning on the engine. And I don't think that looking up the engine answer to one position from a game is going to hurt you-- just that it won't help you. The danger though, which you should be clear on before doing this, is that checking one position per game can turn into checking 3 positions per game, can turn into checking the answer real quick right after playing the game, with the best intentions to also analyze it on your own later, etc. etc. If you are vulnerable to that kind of a slide, you'll have to be very deliberate in setting your limits on computer usage and sticking to them.
@@chesscomdpruess Thanks for the detailed and thoughtful reply. You're definitely right, I'm prone to going "okay let's just verify this one too, and this one". And while I do think that some of the things the engine shows blow my mind and stick with me, eventually it doesn't seem to be improving my actual chess results, so I might as well just let it go.
Great video! I'm wondering when you consider a game to be lost. In the symmetrical English game, white is only down a piece for a pawn, so maybe resigning is the losing move. In the two knights defense game, I saw black was down a piece after f6, since capturing the knight was an empty threat. However after looking at the position more closely, any followup I could find lost even more material, to the point where it gets difficult to blunder away such an advantage.
I followed a link here from the chess subreddit, and I will surely check out some more of your videos.
I consider a game to be "lost" when one player with theoretically best play would be able to beat the other played with theoretically best play. e.g. two perfect chess machines playing each other. Now, this is often difficult to determine! Part of why searching for "the losing move" can be a tricky exercise.
But I will give you a couple rules of thumb as a starting point. You will however have to over time refine your evaluation abilities to know which positions are winning and which are defensible.
* 2 extra pawns is almost always winning, absent compensation.
* 1 extra pawn is winning about 50-60% of the time, absent compensation.
* 1 piece for 1 pawn is almost always winning.
* A computer evaluation of +1.5 is pretty close to my own cut off for "winning."
Hope that helps :) and please remember not to take those guidelines as rules or principles.
Would the point of analysis be not to figure out IF e5 is correct, but rather WHY e5 is/is not corrrect?
Hi David! With regard to Tactics, how does this playlist compare/contrast to your "4 Exercises To Become A Tactical Genius" as found on chess.com? (I subbed)
The two "how to learn tactics" videos are equivalent-ish to the first two videos of that chess.com series. The other videos in this playlist cover other topics related to studying chess. Btw, currently my new work is going up on the chessdojolive twitch and chessdojo youtube channels (group project with 2 chess-teaching friends).
@@chesscomdpruess THX! for the fast reply and will def check out your other channel!
Do you think the "multiple choice" book format is helpful for players to develop the analysis and evaluation skills you describe here?
great video. picking up chess and thank you for the video. i will do the analysis without the chess engine.
Nxd5 is the losing move since it allows bishop to come to c4. Qxd5 would be a better move. I think! What do you think? For the first pgn.
in the first pgn, when black captures on d5 with the knight, the white bishop is already on c4. so Qxd5 would actually lose the queen to white playing Bxd5.
Nca5...is this good? since it attacks the bishop on c4. Taking pawn with knight is surely a blunder.
I'm glad you're trying to solve this game :-)
Nc6-a5 is the most commonly played move there, considered to be the best move for black. An improvement on Nxd5, however Nxd5 is not losing for black, nor a blunder. It has been played many times without white proving a decisive advantage.
Keep working :-)
Hi Pruess, thanks for the insightful video:). I have been trying to figure out how to visualize the knights movements for a couple of moves ahead, rather hard for me...could you give me some suggestions so as to play effective knight moves that do not come off as inaccuracies. It would help a great deal! Cheers!
in doob bib ly
Running an online teaching program and producing a prepared lesson are two different things. Canning an online teaching session does not constitute the production of a prepared lesson. It's just recycling your garbage under a false label. In writing it's called "shovelware." In all areas of life, it's laziness.