How to Analyze Your Chess Games: A Complete Guide
The fastest way to improve at chess is analyzing your own games. Learn the systematic approach used by masters to find mistakes and improvements.
Why Analyze Your Games?
Many players make the same mistakes over and over without realizing it. Post-game analysis reveals patterns in your play—where you consistently go wrong, what types of tactics you miss, and which openings give you trouble. Without analysis, you're practicing your mistakes. With analysis, every game becomes a lesson.
The 6-Step Analysis Method
Play Your Game
Play normally without taking notes. Focus on finding the best moves during the game, not on remembering to analyze later.
If playing online, your game is automatically saved. If over-the-board, write down your moves.
Review Immediately
Analyze while the game is fresh in memory. You'll remember your thought process for key moments.
Even 15-30 minutes immediately after the game is worth more than hours days later.
Find Critical Moments
Identify turning points where the evaluation changed significantly. These are your learning opportunities.
Look for moments where you felt uncertain—the computer will reveal if your instinct was right.
Check for Blunders
Use an engine to find outright mistakes. Mark moves that changed the evaluation by 1+ pawns.
Don't just find them—understand WHY they were mistakes.
Find Better Moves
For every critical position, ask: 'What did I miss?' Look for tactical shots and strategic improvements.
This is where you learn new patterns and ideas.
Save Key Positions
Create a 'positions to study' collection. Review these periodically to reinforce learning.
Plychess Pro lets you save unlimited positions to your cloud repertoire.
Understanding the Evaluation Bar
The evaluation bar shows who's winning and by how much. Here's what the numbers mean:
White has a winning advantage (roughly 2-3 pawns worth)
White is slightly better—still a playable position
Position is completely equal—best play leads to a draw
Black has a significant advantage
Rule of thumb: A change of 0.3+ is an inaccuracy, 1.0+ is a mistake, and 3.0+ is a blunder. At beginner levels, focus on the bigger swings first.
What to Look For
Opening Analysis Checklist
- Did I know the theory for this opening?
- Where did I diverge from book moves?
- Was my deviation a theoretical improvement?
- Did I come out of the opening with a good position?
- Should I study this opening more deeply?
Common Analysis Mistakes
❌ Only checking for blunders
✓ Annotate good moves too! Understanding what you did right is just as important as fixing mistakes.
❌ Using too deep engine depth
✓ Start with depth 15-20. Deeper analysis is overkill for most players and can hide simpler explanations.
❌ Skipping the opening
✓ Your opening preparation matters. Check if you knew the theory and where you diverged.
❌ Not writing annotations
✓ Write down your thoughts! 'I played Bc4 because...' forces you to articulate your reasoning.
❌ Analyzing only wins
✓ Losses teach more than wins. Analyze your losses thoroughly—they expose your weaknesses.
Free Analysis Tools
Stockfish Engine
The world's strongest chess engine. Plychess runs Stockfish 16.1 directly in your browser—no installation needed.
Free Analysis LabOpening Explorer
Check if your opening moves match Grandmaster theory. See what strong players play in your positions.
Opening ExplorerStart Analyzing Now
Import your most recent game and apply what you've learned. Our free Stockfish-powered analysis lab makes it easy.
Sample Analysis: A Real Game
Let's walk through analyzing a real position. This example shows the thinking process:
What happened: Black played 6...Bb4+? which seems to win a piece temporarily.
Engine evaluation: After 7.Bd2 Bxd2+ 8.Nbxd2 d5! Black has excellent compensation for the pawn.
But wait: The engine shows Black should have played 6...Bb6! maintaining the bishop and keeping options open.
Lesson: Check if your "natural" moves are actually best. Sometimes the most forcing move isn't optimal.