Opinion wanted on use of analysis board

Do most of you use the analysis board to play through a move before submitting it? I try and limit use of this feature as it becomes a crutch that effects me when I play OTB and can not check out a variation. I do find myself bringing it up when I can't convince myself that I'm not throwing away the game. Then I feel guilty about it. Just curious about how others use this feature.

Brian

almost everybody uses it. when they're not being too lazy.

some don't, exactly for the same reason regarding OTB. some do it in their head first, then check with analysis board.

but most use it. and you'll certainly play a lot better CC if you do. it's your call.

you'll be better OTB if you never use it.
You'll be better CC if you DO use it.

personally I only use it on tournament games against players 1500+

On unrated or just friendly rated games I don't use it, but tournaments are life or death my friends

I almost never use it. I think it's important to train the mind to picture the variations without actually seeing it.

However, I love sacrifices, and if I'm about to make a very questionable (most are for me) sacrifice I might use it to make sure I didn't miss an exit for the opponent.

I say use it: use the resources that are available and appropriate for the type of game you're playing.

If I were playing basketball, I wouldn't keep running up and down the court unnecessarily to help me train for a marathon.

i would use it occasionally, but i don't recommend it. Since i once caught myself looking about 7 moves deep into a relatively easy/common position and realized my candidate move would actually lose a piece, haven't used it since.

I'm going to limit my use to the bare minimum. When I play on ICC or anywhere without an analysis board, I am beginning to doubt my ability to calculate more than 1/2 move.

Thanks for your opinions.

Originally posted by albin1e4
I'm going to limit my use to the bare minimum. When I play on ICC or anywhere without an analysis board, I am beginning to doubt my ability to calculate more than 1/2 move.

Thanks for your opinions.

i don't see any reason to calculate beyond 1/2 moves. The strongest move in your plan, can be seen 1/2 maybe 3 moves ahead, sure knowing variations in tactical positions is nice... but i think training the basics of the game and learning theory on what is correct, and strategically sound is more important than trying to keep pushing your mind into extremely deep variations...

thats what engines do...

As for what to do with the analysis board, I like to use it as a learning tool, but I won't use it to guide my game play. Its nice to utilize it in pre-game...but after the start of a game, i try not to abuse it. If i'm interested in a position, i use my own databases (of personal games).

I also use it as a popup version of the game history board. Replaying the last few moves helps get my head back into a game if it has been a while since the last move.

Originally posted by Adorea
i don't see any reason to calculate beyond 1/2 moves. The strongest move in your plan, can be seen 1/2 maybe 3 moves ahead, sure knowing variations in tactical positions is nice... but i think training the basics of the game and learning theory on what is correct, and strategically sound is more important than trying to keep pushing your mind into extremely deep variations...

no offense, but maybe that's why you're below 1400. 1/2 moves is certainly not an "exteremely deep variation", and actually, trying to keep pushing your mind into -maybe not extremely deep, but- deep variations is exactly what you should learn to do to become a better player.

i always use it and haven't really thought about the drawbacks... i think i may quit using it to train my mind better as someone already said

The anaylsis board is OK, but I use a standard chess set
to anaylize on, just like any other correspondence chess
section. The time controls are the same, so I figure why not?

Originally posted by incandenza
I say use it: use the resources that are available and appropriate for the type of game you're playing.

If I were playing basketball, I wouldn't keep running up and down the court unnecessarily to help me train for a marathon.

Exactly. If you intend to play only correspondence chess, you can spend days and weeks planning your moves. You can write down variations. You can use analyse board.
Over the board, the skills involved are very different - mental reslience, visualisation, and even speed of thought become more vital.

However, one thing is universal to both. Unless you know the quality of what you are visualising (be it in your head, or on analyse board), you wont play better chess! The top guys on this site still have to know WHAT it the best variation they have calculated, and why! This requires the same depth of positional, strategic and tactical understanding, whichever forum you play in.

If using analyse board helps you to develop better positional intuition, it will still improve your OTB game, as long as you don't stop training your ability to visualise and calculate. So don't beat yourself up about it. My informed guess is that all the top players here either use analyse board, or written analysis, at some point. Most of them also play at a high OTB standard.