Analyzing your own games

You can learn a lot from your own games. Games can be analyzed with different persons, at different places and in different ways. You can choose a suitable combination of the following

(1) With your opponent
Talk to your opponent after you finish a game. Try to understand his views. Normally you are not allowed to talk and analyze in the tournament hall if other games are still in progress but you can request your opponent to join you in Analysis Room or Cafe. It is interesting to learn what your opponent thought and calculated during the game. During this session you can get new ideas in your openings, see what you missed in your game while calculating and learn how the other person thinks differently in the same position. It is interesting to interact with different types of persons. I know some players who always claim that they were winning throughout the game and if they lost, that is because of one simple oversight or any other excuse. During analysis they will always try to prove how they had a clear plus position. Some of your opponents will try to avoid discussion about the opening because they do not want to disclose their preparation.

(2) With your coach
If your coach accompanies you for a tournament, you can analyze each game after the round. Otherwise you can analyze all games after you come back from a tournament. In case you need to solve any problems in the opening that you played in a game and if you are planning to repeat the opening in the tournament, you can either call your coach or meet him online if possible. Your coach will keep a record of your games and he will be able to observe your strong and weak points and he can advice you on how to overcome weakness.

(3) With computer
Computers are very useful for maintaining databases of your games with analysis. You can annotate your own games and add comments after you analyze the same games with different persons, adding new lines or ideas. You can search for games played by Grandmasters in the same openings and maintain databases of different opening lines for future reference. Computer programs can also be used for analyzing a highly tactical position from your game. They can be used to check your own idea tactically or to get new moves/ideas in the position.

(4) With friends
A friendly analysis with players from your chess club is also useful. You can get new ideas from different players and such sessions are an interesting way to overcome tournament stress. Analysis in a group, in a semi serious atmosphere sometimes gives new ideas that can be added to your annotations for future reference.