How do I remember my analyses?

Question

From How do I analyze my game after playing?, I've been annotating my games after playing. I used to turn on the engine immediately to see my blunders, but recently I've been analyzing without engine to work through lines myself, only afterwards turning on engine.

My problem is that I'm the kind of person who can barely remember what I had for dinner last night. Things I've learned will not stick unless I bash them into my head over and over. I will write some comments on my Lichess study and then pretty much forget what I wrote. How can I help remember my analyses? My new idea is to try to boil down my comments into a few "key lessons" that are associated with each game.

Answer 1

You are not supposed to remember all the lines in your analysis (except maybe some theoretical opening line that may appear in a future game of yours).

The point of analysis is being able to go again through your game without time pressure and being able to dive deeper into alternative moves that weren't played.

If you want to learn some new strategic concepts, you should maybe start from the examples in a book and then using the ideas you learn in your games and analysis.

Answer 2

You are in the right path! Congratulations! The great Alexander Alekhine was one of the first world chess champions who had deep analysis of his own games and his opponents. In fact, he used that technique to dethrone José Raúl Capablanca. I also have bad memory, so I fully understand your problem. However, do not worry about it because the former world chess champion Anatoly Karpov, and the GM Eugene Bareev, share the same problem as well. My suggestion would be to hire a chess trainer if you have budget. Some charges\ 10 dollars per hour, but others charge 100. So, everything depends of your economic power. If that is not possible, keep doing the analysis by yourself! PhD. in Philosophy and chess grandmaster Jesse Krai has a lot of fantastic free videos about it! Here is one of them: https://www.chessbase.in/news/How-to-analyze-your-own-games-by-Jesse-Kraai

I also suggest you "The Perpetual Chess Podcast." You can find all of them on YouTube and many other websites. There many of the best trainers of the world offer free advice. Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtcudElmRsQYTwULtd_gnFw

Four tricks are important. First, look for ideas more than moves. Second, do not analyze only the opening. Openings are connected with the middlegame, endgame, strategy and tactics. Third, play the same openings always. In that way, it is easier to remember, and to understand. Fourth, try the free version of AI for Chess, DecodeChess: https://decodechess.com/first-ai-chess-tutor/ Good luck with your chess journey!

Update:

The International Chess Federation just gave the 2022 award to this book, which sounds perfect for you. There are free sample pages that you can read for free: https://www.newinchess.com/how-to-study-chess-on-your-own?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=fide_book_awards_2022&goal=0_ca50167f55-dca0fc2f14-191307513&mc_cid=dca0fc2f14&mc_eid=42d224334b