Questions tagged [analysis]
Questions relating to the objective assessment of a position. The assessment may entail which side has the advantage, or what the best move might be.
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How do I analyze my game after playing?
What techniques do you use to analyze your games or other people's games?
How much time do you spend on analyzing the game?
Are there any tools (electronic or manual, such as a piece of paper) you ...
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Free online analysis engine?
Is there an online analysis engine that allows you to enter a PGN and get a game analysis, showing where suboptimal moves were made?
I know there are programs for download/purchase that do this, but ...
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If there was perfect play from both sides, will it be draw or win for one?
If there was perfect play from both the colors, will white win because of the first move advantage or will it be a draw?
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What thought process should one use to find candidate moves?
Do you have a thought process for finding candidate moves?
Once you find all possible candidate moves, how do you narrow it down to your final choice?
Regarding the process, do you have a ...
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Computer evaluations: How trustworthy are they?
Fritz 12 with Rybka gave a friend of mine an evaluation of +3 for white in this endgame position,
[Title "White to move"]
[FEN "8/8/8/3k3p/3P3K/2P3R1/8/7r w - - 0 1"]
which turned out to be a draw. ...
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Is there any free software to automatically analyze and annotate games?
I'm looking for free software that automatically analyzes and annotates chess games (post-mortem), preferably marking blunders, suggesting good alternatives, pointing out missed tactics (forks, pins, ...
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How can one improve their over-the-board analysis skills?
I think of analysis as the ability to mentally move through variations, recognize tactical ideas in those variations, and draw accurate conclusions regarding the fitness of the resulting positions.
I ...
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Bishop vs Knight
I read in a book written by Fischer about piece values, and he said that a knight is worth 3 pawns, and a bishop is worth 3,25 pawns. I know that in closed positions knights are better, and I have ...
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What are the best scoring openings in Chess960?
I don't play Chess960, or Fischer Chess as it is also known. I've seen a lecture or two about it, but I was never interested.
Last week I was a bit bored so I decided to participate in a tournament ...
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What can I learn from my "80 average centipawn loss" game, which I thought I played well?
In a LiChess game (Vakeesh vs. becky82), during the game I thought I played well, and won as black without and real complications. Here's the game:
[fen ""]
[Event "Rated Classical game"]
[Date "...
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What proofs for refuted gambits are there?
I've stumbled upon this article a while ago, and I've also seen refutations for the Muzio Gambit (Joseph Kling & Bernard Horwitz - Chess Studies on Endings of Games). I'm wondering what other ...
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Why do chess engines sometimes miss good moves (or take forever to spot)?
It is not the first time that I found a greatly superior move than the chess engine did, it even takes them a while to understand these moves after you make them.
For example, the move 15 ... Bf2 in ...
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Understanding vs. Memorization
Is memorization necessary in modern chess? Whenever I play chess, I always run out of time because I move slowly in the opening; unlike others who move fast in the opening because they have memorized ...
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Is there an online chess evaluation engine with a REST API?
Is there an online chess evaluation engine with a REST API? I'd like to be able to send a game or position (with castling ability presumably) to a simple REST API and get back the positional ...
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Chess Tempo #97369 - Theoretical win or draw?
The following tactics problem is problem #97369 from ChessTempo. It is a position from a game between Yuri Yakovich and Pavel Kotsur. It's black's move.
The idea of the tactics problem is to find ...
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Minimum moves to checkmate?
What is the minimum number of moves, counting both sides, in which a checkmate can be made?
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How many steps to mate the only king with all pieces?
Suppose Black has only one king in its initial place and White has all 16 pieces in their initial places. How many steps does it take to ensure a checkmate? And what are all solutions?
Now that White ...
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Is there a better winning plan from move 37?
From move 37-43 my plan was to convince my opponent to open the position for me with f4. This worked. If they did not oblige then I was going to walk my king to c7 to free up my rook from defense of ...
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Online tool for chess analysis: comment, add variations, insert diagrams, print
Sometimes I like to analyze and annotate my own games and print them on paper. This would usually include commenting some moves, adding variations, inserting diagrams for certain positions, etc. I ...
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Engine's 2nd best move
Especially for checking studies (maybe also for teaching), it would be helpful to have an engine finding the second best move and assess it (or even give refutations of all alternatives). For a ...
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Why can Stockfish give different evaluations at the same depth?
When I let Stockfish get to a certain depth (say depth 33), it gives some evaluation. Then I refresh the position (while leaving Stockfish on) and when it gets to the same depth it gives a different ...
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How to analyse an endgame quickly?
I am a relatively new player (less than 1 year, ungraded) but I feel I have made good progress so far. I am playing competitively with players in the 1300-1500 region and would like to continue my ...
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ChessDB databases import
I've just installed the ChessDB software hosted at SourceForge. While discovering the software I see that the databases that come with the software are empty and I would like to know how to import ...
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What practices do you recommend for handling openings and variations?
What practices do you recommend for handling openings and variations?
After learning how to move the pieces, after understanding how the game is divided into stages, and after finding that openings ...
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Engine output: FEN string when blundering
What is the best way to go through a database of my games and have the computer generate a FEN string as well as the next move any time I make an error greater than, say, a minor piece loss?
I've ...
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What goes through the mind of a chess player in the middlegame?
What goes through the mind of a chess player in the middlegame?
After learning how to move the pieces, after understanding how the game is divided into stages, and after finding that openings can ...
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As regards the opponent's moves, what things do you usually pay more attention to in the openings?
As regards the opponent's moves, what things do you usually pay more attention to in the openings?
After learning how to move the pieces, after understanding how the game is divided into stages, and ...
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How would you determine that the player is cheating in online chess?
There are a lot of online websites, where players can play chess in real time with each other. Most of the games are 5-10 minutes long. With the availability of chess software one can take an ...
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Strategy in middlegame from boring positions
I get into these rather vanilla, or as I call them, boring positions. Not much is happening tactically, and I can't fathom what the right course of action should be strategically.
Here is an example....
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Is this endgame (sort-of Q vs K) a draw?
I think the following endgame is a draw.
[FEN "7k/5BpP/3K2P1/8/8/8/8/4q3 w - - 0 1"]
My reasoning: I'm playing white. I will only move my king, always. Black's king cannot move. If the queen decide ...
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What is the worst opening move in Chess960 for White?
Is there a first move for white in Chess960 in which white can immediately blunder a piece or lose a significant advantage (say -2.0 or so)?
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Can a knight move through all squares from its original position?
I'm so confused about this. I googled it and read about knight's tours, however they all start from illegitimate positions. I want to know if a knight can move through all squares from its original ...
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Given a legal chess position, is there an algorithm that generates a series of moves that lead to it?
Given a FEN board position, is there an algorithm that can return a PGN move list that evaluates to it from the standard initial position?
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Do Grandmasters think using algebraic notation?
Is algebraic notation used just to communicate chess moves in written and spoken form, or should players strive to use it during their thinking process as well?
In Dan Heisman's excellent The ...
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How to play for a draw
In this video: Levon Aronian vs Magnus Carlsen Round 1 - 2013 Candidates Chess Tournament
[FEN ""]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Bxd2+ 5.Qxd2
And now, Kevin said: "You can tell that the game is ...
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What is the status for EIGHT piece endgame tablebases?
An earlier question here asked in 2012 about the status of 7-piece tablebases. Today complete 7-piece tables are widely available.
So today, what is the status of 8-piece endgame tablebases?
How ...
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Is game analysis based on "squares" instead of "pieces" of any value?
Most all analysis I've seen in chess focuses on pieces development, and not the development of unoccupied spaces. Is there any value in analyzing game play in this way, and if so, how is this done?
...
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What was the point of Shirov's 47...Bh3?
One of the most famous moves ever is Shirov's 47...Bh3!! in Topalov - Shirov, 1998.
[FEN "8/8/4kpp1/3p1b2/p6P/2B5/6P1/6K1 b - - 0 47"]
[Event "Linares"]
[Date "1998"]
[White "Veselin Topalov"]
[Black ...
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Why can a chess move improve the chance of winning, according to the computer?
When watching the Sinquefield cup on http://grandchesstour.org/, it is possible to try different moves qnd see how the computer evaluates the position after your suggested move.
Most moves will ...
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Which methods can be used to prove that a position is illegal?
Given a board position, there are programs that try to find a series of legal moves that lead to it.
Are there algorithms that can do the opposite - prove that the position is not reachable by a ...
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Typical Good Bishop vs. Bad Bishop endgame - how to decide if stronger side has a definite win
Black here has 3 weak pawns; if any one of them falls - he will very likely lose the game as well. If he lets White king break through via c4-c5(d5) - White will also likely win. c5 pawn is a passed ...
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Chess Tempo #97369 - Is the problem's solution wrong?
Can black force a win (against perfect play) after the following moves?
[FEN "6k1/5p2/1Pp3pb/2q4p/1rNpPP2/3Q2PP/8/5RK1 b - - 0 1"]
[StartPly "3"]
1... Rxc4 2. b7 (1. {Chess Tempo #97369})
A quick ...
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Kasparov's Immortal Game. Flawed? 24...Kb6! Suggest an improvement for White
Kasparov's immortal game vs Topalov is often regarded as one of the best games in chess history.
However, after analyzing it, I find that objectively speaking, Kasparov played some bad moves and got ...
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How not to use a chess engine?
How not to use a chess engine? What are the bad practices when using a chess engine, and the good ones? How trustworthy are their suggestions and evaluations?
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Chess software to analyze games
My son is into chess and plays chess tournaments. I would like to know what good chess software is available to analyze his games. The software should analyze move-by-move and should point out weak/...
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Is there any chess engine that can show if one side has a forced draw?
Is there any chess engine that has an analysis mode that can show if a position is a forced draw by either side?
It is common for engines to output evaluations of 0.0 when they detect a draw. But an ...
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Giving moves as odds, what's the least number of moves by White which forces checkmate by the time it's Black's turn?
If one player (Black) gives another player (White) odds of x moves, stipulating that White must not move any man beyond his fourth rank until Black has made one move, what's the smallest value for "x" ...
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Is this endgame position a draw?
It’s white to move.
[FEN "8/8/8/3k3p/3P3K/2P3R1/8/7r w - - 0 1"]
I was white, and this was a blitz game which ended up as a draw because I didn't know what to do. My friend and I later analyzed this ...
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Stockfish evaluation of a position from PGN
I am trying to get Stockfish's evaluation of a board position(which is in PGN format) using command line.I know it accepts board position in FEN format, but is there any way i can provide PGN format?
...
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How does analyzing help me improve?
This has been really frustrating for me since I don't get it. When I go through my games I spot errors and simply find better moves but then that's it. I just don't understand how this improves your ...
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