Analyzing : How much is enough (or too much) at...

By this level, I mean non-professional. There are various degrees and levels that are "non-professional", but for simplicities sake, lets just say "non professionals" who study their games and look to improve. CC chess provides an opportunity to analyze games with some "leisure" or peace of mind in regards to time controls. I have 4 boards (2 mini chess boards, a larger wooden board, and a chess wallet) that I like to set up the position and play through. Now the problem is my moves (and replies) aren't anywhere near "top play", but if it is "in book" at least I can come up with reasonable replies. What I would like to know is "HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH". How far in do I need to analyze if it is only the second move? Do you need to analyze more in the opening, the middle, or the end game? Can you analyze a set number of moves, say 5 every time? Is this one of those things "you just learn with time" and intuition takes over?

Originally posted by pawntorook4

This is a difficult thing to get right, so no easy answer.

Calculation is very closely related to evaluation (i.e. assessment of a given position). If you can evaluate a given position with 100% confidence then you won't need to calculate any further. However, this is the exception since most positions are hard to evaluate.

In these cases we need to decide if analysing deeper will help clarify the evaluation. Many sharp tactical positions and endgame positions require thorough calculation in order to assess them correctly.

There are also many positions that are complex enough that trying to calculate further becomes too difficult due to the number of candidate moves. Here, we may have to use approaches such as intuition and risk assessment.

Finally, the early moves in a given lines are often more relevant than deeper moves. The further you calculate the more chance that something has been missed earlier. So you need to be sure that a line is forced/likely before spending effort going deeper.

I currently seldom write down lines for my RHP games. But I have done so in the past and I used ChessBase to manage the variations. I found this to be helpful for analysis, but it removed some enjoyment since the process became a bit more tedious and brute force.

Analysis in layman's language is simply thinking if he does this what do I do? For example in the position from z00t-nehemia move 28 white to move.



Game 1984036

Qg7+!

Originally posted by jvanhine
Qg7+!

That is a free Queen. What do you do if he gulps it what is the followup? I'll link the game below the fen so you can see what happens.

oops...seemed like there would be some sweet combo...my bad😳:'(😞

I just looked at it quickly but Re1 looks ok... Take that knight out.

Rg3!?

from Z00t's game:- Be2 is the key move, but first, Qh5+

if g6 fxg6+ [nxf6? Ke7 Rh7+ Ke6 Bf5#] Ke8 g7+ Kd7 gxf8=Q

if Ke6 Re1+ Nxf5 Qxf5+ Kc6 d5+.....

so that leaves...

Kg8 Be2! (intending both Qh7+ and Bh5+)