Review Decisions, Not Just Moves (Fix the Real Thinking Mistake)
Most players review games like this: “I played the wrong move. The engine says play X.” That method rarely improves your results. The real improvement comes from finding the decision mistake: missed threat, bad candidate list, calculating at the wrong moment, or choosing the wrong simplification. This page shows a simple system to review your chess games in a way that upgrades your thinking habits.
- Position / Move #: ____
- My move: ____
- What I was thinking: ____
- What I missed: (threat/tactic/plan) ____
- Better candidates: ____
- Decision lesson (1 sentence): ____
One sentence lessons are powerful because they stick in your mind during real games.
Why “Engine Says…” Is Not Enough
Engines are great at finding strong moves — but they don’t automatically teach you how to think. If your review ends at “engine preferred X”, you may repeat the same mistake next game.
Common outcomes of engine-only review:
- you learn one move in one position
- you don’t learn the decision habit behind the move
- you keep losing points the same way
Instead, you want to diagnose the type of decision error.
The 5 Most Common Decision Errors
Most bad moves come from one of these:
- Missed threat: you didn’t notice what the opponent wanted
- Bad candidates: you never even considered the right moves
- Wrong calculation moment: you calculated when it was quiet, and guessed when it was forcing
- Wrong simplification: you traded into a worse ending or allowed counterplay
- Time pressure error: you rushed without a safety check
- The 10-Second Safety Scan
- Candidate Move Selection
- When to Calculate in Chess
- Simplifying Positions Correctly
- Decision Making Under Time Pressure
Step-by-Step: How to Review a Game the Right Way
Use this 6-step method:
- 1) Find the decision points (the moves where the evaluation swings or you felt unsure).
- 2) Re-create your thinking: what were you trying to do?
- 3) Identify what you missed (threat, tactic, plan, or endgame transition).
- 4) Generate 2–3 better candidate moves now (without engine first).
- 5) Only then check the engine to confirm your candidates.
- 6) Write a one-sentence “decision lesson”.
This forces your brain to practice the same skill you need during real games: generating candidates and evaluating them.
How Many Moves Should You Review?
You don’t need to analyze the whole game deeply. Most games are decided by a small number of critical decisions.
Practical targets:
- 3 decision points per game (fast, effective)
- 5 decision points if it was a serious long game
- focus first on blunders and big evaluation swings
The “Decision Log” (A Simple Improvement Engine)
If you write down decision lessons, patterns repeat. This becomes your personal improvement map.
Decision log fields:
- Date / game link
- Move # and position type (quiet/forcing)
- Error type (missed threat / candidates / calculation / simplification / time)
- One-sentence lesson
After 20 games, you’ll see exactly how you lose points most often.
Examples of “Decision Lessons” (Short and Sticky)
- “Before improving, check their threat.”
- “Forcing position → calculate; quiet position → improve safely.”
- “Don’t trade my active piece for their bad piece.”
- “When ahead, reduce counterplay first.”
- “If I can’t explain my move in one sentence, it’s probably random.”
Bottom Line
The fastest improvement comes from reviewing your thinking, not just your moves. Identify the decision error, correct it with a one-sentence rule, and your future games change. Over time, your decision process becomes more reliable — and so do your results.