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Like most adult improvers, I’ve spent years knowing I should analyze my games… without ever feeling confident that I was doing it in a meaningful way. I’ve probably reviewed hundreds of games, clicked endlessly through engines, and mindlessly scrolled through Chess.com’s Game Review so many times. But ask me what lessons stuck from all of that?
Honestly: not many.
So when one of my favorite chess creators/coaches, GM Noël Studer, released a video explaining a simple system for analyzing games: How To Analyze Your Chess Games (the simple way)— I paid attention. I’m a long-time fan of Noël’s work. I get his newsletters, listen to his podcast, and I’ve bought several of his courses. His advice tends to be practical, grounded, and focused on how to improve rather than just what to memorize.
So I decided to test his method for a full month.
What follows is the story of what I learned — and why this approach finally helped me extract real, actionable improvement from my games.
Why Game Analysis Is So Hard for Adult Improvers?
It’s not that we don’t want to learn from our mistakes. The real problem is that most analysis methods feel overwhelming or unhelpful:
Engines explain what was bad, not why you made the mistake.
Chess.com’s Game Review often struggles to explain why the “better” move is actually better. That said, I feel like this is slowly getting better.
Deep annotation is intellectually satisfying… but feels unsustainable for anyone with a job, kids, or a to-do list.
I kept feeling that same frustration: “I know reviewing games is important, but I don’t know how to get value out of it.”
So I’d analyze, forget the lessons, and repeat the cycle.
That’s why Noël’s method appealed to me: it’s lightweight, structured, and focused on my decision-making, not on memorizing moves.
The 3-Why Method (Simple Enough That I Actually Stuck With It)
Step 1: Choose 3 Moments
Not necessarily blunders. Not engine-defined “mistakes.”
Just the positions where:
I wasn’t sure what to do,
I spent time,
or the game took a turn.
(And yes, some games had fewer than three, some had more. I didn’t force it. I just included what mattered.)
Step 2: Ask the 3 “Why” Questions
For each of those 3 moments, ask yourself:
Why did I choose that move? What was I thinking? What was I afraid of? What idea did I have?
Why was my move not ideal? What did I overlook? What assumption was wrong?
Why is the better move better than mine? What is the principle or idea behind the improvement?
Step 3: “Next time I will…”
This is where the learning becomes a habit. For each game I added one thing I wanted to do next time.
That’s the whole system. No obsessing over every move. Just three moments and three (plus 1) questions.
Using ChatGPT as a Weekly Pattern Finder
One twist I added: at the end of each week, I dropped my notes into ChatGPT and asked it to identify common themes.
I don’t use ChatGPT much for chess advice, it isn’t always great at that.
But as a pattern-spotting assistant, it’s incredible.
It was able to:
summarize my notes
group my mistakes
point out tendencies I didn’t see
keep me focused on the right priorities for the following week
This became a weekly ritual: analyze three moments from each game → send to ChatGPT → get patterns.
It made the whole process consistent and surprisingly insightful.
So What Did I Find Out About My Game in November?
After four weeks of the 3-Why method (plus weekly pattern summaries), clear themes emerged.
1. Speed is my number 1 source of blunders
Nearly every mistake was traced back to moving too fast:
instant recaptures
“autopilot” moves
switching moves at the last second
not checking the opponent’s reply
following a plan without re-evaluating it
This wasn’t a knowledge issue. It was an execution issue.
2. My plans were good… but my timing wasn’t
I repeatedly found the right ideas:
improving piece activity
preparing pawn breaks
targeting weaknesses
trading into better endgames
But I often played them one move too early or too late. The ideas were correct, but the positions weren’t ready for them.
3. I often didn’t consider my opponent’s forcing replies
The majority of my blunders came from missing something very basic:
simple captures
forks and skewers
discovered attacks
attacking loose pieces
losing tempo because my pieces weren’t defended
My notes were full of phrases like:
“I didn’t calculate their move.”
“Didn’t look for tactics.”
“Missed the fork.”
This pointed toward an obvious improvement path: Check the opponent’s forcing moves before making mine.
What Actually Improved During the Month
Not everything was doom and blunders. Real progress happened.
✓ My explanations of plans became clearer and more strategic
✓ I became more aware of why I make mistakes
✓ I trusted my openings more and feared ghosts less
✓ My middlegame understanding improved
How This Changed My Study Routine
The biggest surprise?
My analysis became short, sustainable, and actually memorable.
Most games took 10 minutes to review
I stopped obsessing over engine lines
I could clearly articulate what I needed to improve
Patterns weren’t lost… they accumulated
For the first time, my post-game process feels like it’s building something.
Should You Try This Method?
If you’re an adult improver who wants to analyze games but feels overwhelmed, I can’t recommend this system enough. It’s:
simple
sustainable
reflective
focused on your thought process, not your accuracy
And it works even better if you summarize weekly and look for patterns (with or without AI).
Final Thoughts
A huge thank-you to GM Noël Studer for sharing such a practical and elegant method. If you want to try it yourself, here’s the video that started my experiment:
👉 How To Analyze Your Chess Games (the simple way)
If you end up testing the method (for a week, a month, or even a single game) I’d love to hear what patterns you discover about your own chess thinking.