Learning from my games without a coach

Posted by Divinum from the Sports and Fitness category at 18 Aug 2026 06:43:04 pm.

Thumbs up or down

Share this page:

I've been playing a lot more online chess lately and I can usually tell when I make an obvious blunder, but I struggle to understand the smaller mistakes that slowly turn a decent position into a losing one. Looking at the engine evaluation alone doesn't help much because it might tell me a move was bad without making it obvious what I should learn from it. I'd like to review my Chess.com or Lichess games after playing and get something closer to a proper breakdown of the important moves. What are people using for detailed game analysis without paying for a coaching session every time?

2 Comments

Add a comment

Comments

Chess review

Engines are easier to learn from when you already know which decisions you want to examine. Go through the game once with the engine hidden and mark every move where you considered two plans or felt unsure. Put the PGN into a Lichess Study, add your own comments at those positions, and only then switch Stockfish on to compare the moves you were actually considering. Save one corrected line and one short takeaway for each position. You'll finish with a few lessons you can recognize in another game, not a long list of computer moves.

Posted by Freddy at 18 Aug 2026 06:43:04 pm.

Chess review

The smaller errors become clearer when a review explains why the position got worse, not only how far the evaluation moved. A useful report should identify the move that started the decline, show the stronger continuation, and explain the idea behind it in normal language. You can run a free chess game review here https://chessgrader.com/ . It accepts Chess.com, Lichess, and PGN games, then gives you move grades, accuracy, an evaluation graph, and plain-English explanations for the key mistakes. That makes it easier to see whether the real problem was a missed threat, a tactical oversight, or a poor plan.

Posted by Edgard at 18 Aug 2026 06:47:01 pm.