TheChessWorld.com
TheChessWorld Facebook TheChessWorld Twitter TheChessWorld Pinterest TheChessWorld YouTube
  • Start Here
  • Play
  • Learn
    • Training Techniques
    • Openings
    • Middlegame
    • Endgames
    • General Information
  • Tournaments
  • Academy
  • 21-Day Course
  • Store
    • TheChessWorld
    • TCW Academy
    • Chess-Teacher
    • Modern Chess
    • Roman Chess Lab
    • Foxy Chess
    • Grandmaster Magazine
    • ChessLecture
    • ICC
    • Rules Chess Strategies
    • Others
  • Contact
TheChessWorld.com
Close

Finding Strengths and Weaknesses of Your Chess

Yury Markushin
Yury Markushin
07.21.2012
Category: Training Techniques
Tags: chess game, chess game analyzes, chess plan, chess strengths, chess weaknesses

Many people ask me over and over again how to improve their chess game. I have written multiple articles on this theme including How to get better at chess: guide for all levels and Chess self improvement guide (if you haven’t yet, you may read them as well).

Today I will give you some practical advice that will help in chess training process. You will learning your strengths and weaknesses through opening and middle game classification and analyses.

 

1. Opening classification and analyses of results

When I tell chess players to analyze their play they say well, I have already analyzed my games. What they don’t understand is that not only they need to analyze their particular game, but also they need to analyze their chess play in general. What do I mean by that? Imagine a player who has played 15 tournament games in his chess career. The opening of these games and the results are distributed as following:

Queen’s Gambit Declined: won – 3, lost – 0, draw – 1

Ruy Lopez: won – 0, lost – 2, draw – 0

Petroff Variation: won – 1, lost – 1, draw – 0

Sicilian Defense: won – 0, lost – 3, draw – 0

King’s Indian Defense: won – 3, lost – 0, draw – 1

From this little statistics it is possible to draw some conclusions about our player:

– Queen’s Gambit Declined and King’s Indian Defense are the most successful openings resulting in least amount of loses and highest amount of wins

– Sicilian defense and Ruy Lopez don’t work well for this player and need to be switched to some other opening

– There aren’t many conclusions can be made from Petroff’s statistics yet

The point I’m trying to make is simple, in order to understand what kinds of positions you understand the best you should look at the openings you played in your games and see the results you achieved. If you start seeing patterns, for example good results in one opening and bad in the other one, you should substitute the bad opening with something else, while keep track of statistics. Finally, when you find the right choice of opening you results with improve significantly.

2. Middle Game classification and analyzes of results

Some people may disagree with the point I made in previous bullet and say that our imaginary player may have lost 3 games in Sicilian defense due to some other reason rather than the opening. In order to have a more precise “portrait” of a chess player we need to also analyze his middle game/endgame results. We can create analogous table to one above for our player:

Type of Middle Game

Open: won – 3, lost – 0, draw – 1

Semi-Open: won – 4, lost – 3, draw – 1

Closed: won – 0, lost – 3, draw – 0

Chess Themes

Sharp Lines: won – 1, lost – 4, draw – 0

Isolated Pawn: won – 0, lost – 3, draw – 2

Center Attack: won – 1, lost – 1, draw – 0

Minority Attack: won – 2, lost – 0, draw – 1

From the above statistics we see that the imaginary player needs to work on his tactics more, aim for open/semi-open position and avoid closed games, especially the isolated pawn ones.

When you create a middle game/chess theme profile for your own play you will learn a lot of useful information about the types of position you play the best and the type of things to work on. The chess theme list can be extended depending on your needs with things like rook endings, pawn endings, opposite side castle, passed pawns, etc.

By combining the opening classification and middle game classification statistics it should be possible to make conclusions about the types of openings and position that suit you the best.

3. Game Analyzes: Pattern Recognition

You should use serious chess games you have played as a learning tool. By serious games I mean the actual tournament games played in the long time control, when you were fully concentrated and focused on the game and played at the max of your chess ability. If you did not yet analyze/annotate your games you may use the following guide how to analyze a chess game to help with your analyzes.

The most crucial part of the analyzes is to draw the right conclusions about strengths and weaknesses of your chess. The ultimate goal is to eliminate your weaknesses and build up strengths.

Check out our store:

  • Capitalizing on Your Opponents Weaknesses – GM Roman Dzindzichashvili

Good luck and comment with your results!

Find this post useful? Share it?
Become a Chess Player You've Meant to Be!
TCW Academy is the fast, fun & convenient way to become a MUCH better chess player.
Join Academy Today!

Related Posts

  • How to Win in Equal Positions: for Club PlayersHow to Win in Equal Positions: for Club Players
  • How to Calculate Like a Grandmaster with GM Marian Petrov [TCW Academy]How to Calculate Like a Grandmaster with GM Marian Petrov [TCW Academy]
  • Identifying and Fixing My Chess WeaknessesIdentifying and Fixing My Chess Weaknesses
Related Products
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Login
4 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
eugene ray bolanos
10.11.2019 15:39

wow thanks for the info

0
Reply
AHMED
12.10.2015 06:21

I want accurate method to calculate or measure my ELO

Which software I can use ??

in some software my ELO = 1800
when I played online on DR. CHESS software against many online players
it gives me a rate of 2020

so would you please help me in this issue

0
Reply
Silversurfer
05.01.2014 17:23

I mostly agree with this article but there is key point missed at all…strong of your opponents (average rating)! Let’s say I’m 2100 rated and I win 4 games with players around 1.900 in the same opening (for example a Ruy Lopez played as White ) and lose 4 games with players around 2.400 in another opening (for example a Queen’s gambit played as white)…is it something only about my opening play or is it natural result according my skills compared with opponent’s ones ?

0
Reply
ChessCoach
08.08.2012 23:23

Nice article. Those who enjoy this type of diagnostics will find my 3 books in Chess Exam series both entertaning and helpful in diagnosing their weak and strong areas with fairly accurate rating assigned.

Best,
Igor

0
Reply
Join the FREE Road to 2200 Masterclass (and learn how to Attack Like a Chess Master)
We value your privacy
Supercharge Your Chess in 21 Days!
Join Academy Today!
TheChessWorld.com
http://pogonina.com/
Company
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • F.A.Q.
  • Partnership
  • Blog
  • Grandmasters
  • Jobs
Chess Resources
  • TCW Academy
  • The Store
  • 21 Day Course
  • Play Computer
Top Resources
  • Opening Lab
  • Mastermind
  • Chess Mastery Series
  • Academy
100% Secure Purchase
Money Back PayPal SSL Comodo
Customer Support +1 (410) 656-9104
Email Us [email protected]
Contact Us
Facebook Twitter Mail Pinterest Youtube
Copyright 2007-2023 • TheChessWorld.com • All Rights Reserved
Cookie Policy | Acceptable Use Policy | Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept”, you consent to the use of all the cookies.
Cookie SettingsAccept
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
CookieDurationDescription
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
SAVE & ACCEPT
wpDiscuz