Quote:
Originally Posted by RoundTower
do you move the pieces when you analyse?
Really, even claiming that I "analyze" at all would be ambitious. I go over every game I play (blitz or correspondence, I don't really play anything else) with an engine, but I do it quickly in "infinite analysis" mode, just checking to see how each of my moves compares to the computer's evaluation. I give myself a quick pat on the back when my move is the same as the computer's, ignore moves where it isn't, but the difference is miniscule in terms of numeric evaluation, and when it's a blunder I take a few seconds to figure out why. Like after Rhe8 the evaluation shifted from about 0.5 in my favor to about 0.5 against me. I looked at the computer's best line for about five seconds, smacked myself on the forehead ("D'OH, that drops a pawn!") and moved on.
What I DON'T do is actually analyze in a way that would actually do much to help me improve. Recognizing that Rhe8 dropped a pawn, after the fact, doesn't really by itself do anything to reduce the frequency with which I will make similar moves in the future. If I cared more about improvement I would definitely analyze more seriously (and play some slower games, and do a lot of other things that I don't). I mostly just play chess for the fun of it though, and haven't been working much on improving lately.