How to Become Good at Annotating Your Chess Games
8 Ideas to Improve Your Chess Annotations
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When you read about how to improve at chess you will often read that you have to annotate your own games. I have recently written about the Botvinnik method for chess improvement, which relay on annotating and publishing your annotations as a way to improve.
Less is however written about how you actually become good at annotating your games. I would not characterize myself as a very good annotator. I often rush and do not spend enough time, because I’m already thinking about the next game. But I want to improve this skill. So in this newsletter, I have tried my best to list ways to improve at writing good annotations (in my opinion).
“I have a journal of everything I’ve ever climbed since 2005. For the entry about free soloing Half Dome, I put a frowny face and added some little notes about what I should have done better, and then underlined it. Turns out that is one of my biggest climbing achievements.”
Alex Honnold
1. Clarity and Simplicity
Annotations should be clear and understandable. If you are writing something very complicated it might be a sign you do not fully understand it. The same goes if you are following a long engine line without really understanding why. Stop and try again. By shedding overly complicated lines and opting for clear explanations, you will force yourself to understand the position.
If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.
- Albert Einstein
2. Structure
A chess game, like a good story, has a beginning, middle, and end. Set the stage with an overview:
What was your state of mind going into the game?
Where, and when was the game played?
Who was your opponent?
Delve into the middlegame with detailed breakdowns of key positions, and wrap up with reflections and lessons from the game.
3. Highlight Key Points
In the narrative of a chess game, some moves dramatically alter its course. By emphasizing these important moments, you guide the readers through the game's most crucial junctures. It is also a healthy exercise in itself to locate these moments. Fellow Substacker FM
Example: Pointing out, "Move 17...Qh4 is the turning point, because.." can help you and readers to understand the importance of a specific move.
4. Use Emotions
Some like to think of chess as a pure rational game, but chess is as much a battle of emotions as it is of tactics. Sharing how a move or decision made you feel can provide readers a glimpse into the game's psychological dimension. It might also help you understand what caused a specific mistake.
Example: "After 25...Rxd4!, a surge of excitement mixed with caution hit me when I played this move."
5. Get Feedback From Your Peers
It can be helpful to get feedback on your annotations either from a coach or fellow chess players. Sharing your thoughts and getting feedback will hopefully result in questions that you did not think of and will make you think further about the game.
6. Active Recall
Before diving into databases or engines, pause. Try to recall your thoughts during the game, also what did you calculate? A practice that not only strengthens memory but also ensures authentic, non-engine annotations. On Lichess you can write notes down while you play in the side panel, which can be helpful to review your training games.
Example: "During the match, I believed 20...Nxe4 was solid. But post-game analysis showed me its flaws due to 21. Re1 pinning the Knight..."
7. Learn to Speak Chess
Effective annotations weave specific moves into the broader concepts of chess principles, tactical combinations, and strategic plans enhancing their instructiveness.
Learning the names and language used about chess concepts and relating them to your own games should also help connect dots in your mind for when a similar moment happens in future games. You can add to your vocabulary by reading master games collections or just chess books in general.
Example: "15. a4 is a classic overprotection strategy on the queenside, emphasizing the control of the b5-square before expanding."
8. Personalize
Personal anecdotes or reflections make annotations memorable. They reveal the human side of the game, relating specific moves to your chess journey.
It will also make it more fun to write and read your annotations if they are not only dry lines.
Annotating chess games is more than a simple review, it allows you to reflect, learn, and grow. Each game tells its own story and carries its own lessons. As you delve into your moves, emotions, and decisions, you will hopefully gain new insights. This concludes my 8 ideas for improving your annotations. Hopefully, you found something useful. I’m at least motivated to work on upping my annotations.
If you have other suggestions or feedback, please leave a comment.
/Martin
One more point I would emphasize: write down as much as you can about what you were thinking during the game. It's best to do this as soon as possible after the game (although I would still wait until the tournament is over) and certainly before you use the engine. Having these thoughts down is so valuable when it comes to analyzing your thought process and where it breaks down. Many people are tempted to fudge their recounting to make their thoughts seem more reasonable than they were, but if you can be honest about what you were really thinking, that is a superpower that will turbocharge your improvement.
I am at fault of not improving my analysis much after putting in my initial thoughts right after the game, but for me it seems to be more important to take some time to check my older games from time to time than do a full 3 hours analysis and never look back at it. I need some repeats for my brain to remember a mistake and what I should’ve done instead.
I liked the part where you say it’s good to acquire some knowledge to have the vocabulary and know some key concepts to improve your analysis. It’s trendy to say that beginners should only do tactics, play and review their games but my analysis would be pretty shallow if I had no knowledge of pawn weaknesses, piece activity, harmony etc. Dan Heisman’s videos plus a few books have helped me tremendously in that aspect.
Nice article !