By IM Nikhil Dixit
Open one of your recent losses.
Choose a game in which you had time to think, made some serious decisions, and eventually reached a position you did not understand or could not handle.
That game is your training material for the next hour.
Your goal is to finish with three things: a clearer explanation of one mistake, a better way to handle the position, and something specific to practise in your next games.
If your current training feels busy but disconnected from what happens over the board, this is the session I would suggest.
Start with the decisions you actually make.
In one coaching review, three tournament games from a student rated around 1750 revealed rushed pawn breaks and weak candidate-move selection.
That gave us a concrete theme: consider improving the worst-placed piece before committing to a pawn break.
It was something the student could practise. At a relevant position, they could compare the immediate break with a preparatory move, examine the opponent’s replies, and explain their choice.
Of course, sometimes the pawn break needs to be played immediately. The purpose was to improve the comparison between candidates, rather than turn one positional idea into an automatic rule.
Your own games can help you find similarly useful questions.
One game gives you a starting point. Several games are needed before you confidently call something a recurring weakness.
Here is how I would use the hour:
| Time | Task | What to produce |
|---|---|---|
| 0–5 minutes | Choose and load one game | A recent game you can still remember |
| 5–15 minutes | Replay it without an engine | Two or three decisions worth investigating |
| 15–30 minutes | Analyse one critical position | Your candidates, variations, and assessment |
| 30–40 minutes | Check your analysis | A correction you can explain |
| 40–55 minutes | Practise the relevant decision | A short exercise based on the position |
| 55–60 minutes | Record the lesson | One specific cue for future games |
For the first five minutes, choose a useful game.
A recent rapid or classical loss is a good starting point. Look for a game where you remember being unsure, spending a lot of time, or choosing between competing plans.
You can also use a draw in which you lost an advantage, or a win containing an important mistake. The result matters less than whether the game contains a decision worth studying.
Load it on an analysis board with the engine, evaluation bar, and move feedback hidden. A physical board is also suitable.
Spend the next ten minutes reconstructing your thinking.
Replay the game and stop at moments you remember finding difficult.
Write short, honest comments:
- “I considered the pawn break but never looked at improving my knight.”
- “I expected a recapture and missed the possibility of an intermediate move.”
- “I spent several minutes here because I could not choose a plan.”
These are examples of useful notes. Record your own experience, and write “I don’t remember” when necessary.
Do not rewrite your thoughts to make them sound more sophisticated after the event.
Mark two or three positions, then select one for deeper work. You are not trying to explain every move within this hour.
ChessDojo’s game-analysis guide similarly recommends identifying critical moments, explaining evaluations in words, and noting time spent on important decisions.
Use minutes 15–30 to give yourself another attempt.
Return to your chosen position before the mistake.
Ask what your opponent threatens and what the position requires. Then identify a small number of serious candidates.
Calculate each against the strongest replies you can find. Write down enough of the variation to show why you prefer one move over another.
For a positional decision, explain the resulting position: which pieces improve, which weaknesses appear, and what each side can do next.
For a tactical decision, follow the important forcing sequence far enough to assess its consequences.
Finish with a choice and a reason.
You may still be wrong. That is useful information for the next stage.
Use minutes 30–40 to check the work.
Now turn on the engine and compare it with your analysis.
Start with your chosen move, the move you played in the game, and the opponent’s strongest response. Investigate the important difference between them.
If the engine rejects your idea, play through the refutation until you can explain the problem. If it prefers a quiet move, explore what that move prevents or prepares.
Avoid copying a long variation that you do not understand.
Most importantly, identify where your thinking broke down.
Did you overlook a candidate? Stop calculating before the critical reply? Misjudge the ending? Know the right idea but fail to consider it?
An engine can help check variations. Your notes from the game help explain why the mistake happened.
If the position remains too difficult after ten minutes, save the unresolved question for a coach or a longer analysis session. Keep the conclusion provisional.
Spend minutes 40–55 practising the decision.
Keep the exercise connected to what you found.
If you missed an opponent’s resource, return to the position and analyse from their side. Find their best response to your original move and to your improved candidate.
If you rushed a pawn break, compare that break with one preparatory move. Explain what changes in the timing.
If you misjudged an exchange, set up the resulting position and work through the concrete consequences.
If you forgot a familiar endgame method, review it and then attempt the position again with the explanation hidden.
You already know part of the answer, so this is rehearsal. A later, unfamiliar position will provide a better test of whether you can apply the lesson independently.
Use the material in front of you. Searching for the perfect collection of exercises can become a separate project.
Protect the final five minutes.
Write a short record that you can revisit. Here is a hypothetical example:
Decision: I pushed a central pawn while my least active piece remained undeveloped.
Missed alternative: Improve that piece and prepare the break.
Question for next time: What changes if I improve my worst-placed piece before pushing?
Follow-up: Look for similar choices in my next three games.
Keep the lesson specific and conditional. “Always delay pawn breaks” would be the wrong conclusion.
Before your next game, read the note. Afterwards, check whether the relevant situation appeared and how you handled it.
You will not repair every weakness in an hour. But you can leave with a position you understand better and a decision you are better prepared to make.
This week, give one of your own mistakes an hour of serious attention.