Analysisphobia in Chess

I am around 1800 on here and now that I am breaking into intermediate-advanced territory, I have gotten recommendations from my higher rated friends that I should start analyzing the games I play. However, when I have done this in the past, I have gotten quite frustrated and overwhelmed due to moves not making sense or finding out I had just blundered a very important tournament game. It got to the point where I didn't even touch the engine for around a year, but now I am starting to reconsider. What are some things I can do to make this specific process less frustrating and intimidating? My goal is to hit 2000 by the end of the year and many have said that this is the next step, but until this point I have been too scared to take it. I will take any suggestions!
Happy Chessing,
Lucy

Consider engine as your teacher.

I can't answer your question, but John Bartholomew always says to analyse your game without an engine first, and then with an engine.

remember what your plans were and why you made the move you made if you can, and then without an engine try to find better moves as you step through the game.

Without the pressure of being in a tournament your thought process might be more fluid and creative.

After you've done that, step through the game with an engine.

Some other things I've seen chess professionals say while analysing a game with an engine is some moves the engine proposes as being the best move would never be played by a human. Maybe a strong player could take one of those un-human moves and step through a bit further to understand it, but they would never consider playing it during a game. I guess if you come across a move that doesn't make sense, it's OK.

Talk about your games with your friends, too. Show them a position of yours, tell them your thoughts and ask for their thoughts. Look at their games and tell them your thoughts about their positions and compare your thoughts to theirs.

The engine is quite mad to human play but everyone using it ,so, you may aswell too , to keep up xxx I don't take it too seriously as my rating suggests but there is something to be said to keeping the balance between intuitive play and learning book lines,in my humble, honest opinion xxx good luck for your goals xxx

@Gravija said in #2:

Consider engine as your teacher.
when machines can teach, I'll look for a new job. I'm not worried.
@h2b2 said in #3:
<snip>
remember what your plans were and why you made the move you made if you can,
this is why I'm not worried about a machine taking my job. Teaching isnt about what; it's about who, and how they learn. The machine can't tell you what your plans were, what you saw, missed, or misevaluated. The machine can't ask you the critical questions, it can only spit out answers. Good teachers never give the anwers easily.

Without the pressure of being in a tournament your thought process might be more fluid and creative.

true.

See your games as works of art, like paintings or performances of music. The engine doesn't appreciate your artwork at all. It's just a tool which is there to show up inaccuracies in the brushwork on the paintings or moments when a note in the music wasn't perfectly in tune, and these flaws are often not actually noticed by humans, even expert humans, admiring the works of art.

We cannot play perfect games of chess. No-one can. We have to accept that and still appreciate our imperfect games for the works of art that they nonetheless are.

Well you don't have to analyse ALL your moves - at my level ~1500 your looking at around a dozen+ dodgy moves. When I play OTB and make a move I am not too convinced is right but lack time I put a dot against the move in the score sheet - this isn't quite legal btw - after the game I only really analyse the dot-moves. Alternatively you can use the engine to find the first dodgy move you make and only analyse that move or if on-line tag the move that takes the longest time to make etc. And as suggested probably best to analyse moves without the engine first, then you can recall your thinking at the time.

Doesn't have to be all-or-nothing.

If engines can annotate also why specific move and not the one you played is good lest both make sense to you while playing . Then they can be useful for Middlegames + endgames . Otherwise prefer engine only to consider and learning opening lines but the thing is play from other side so you can check all logical moves from your opponent .

Pleasure is in the Journey not in the destination !!!

I am sure at 100 % percent that if you enyoy what you do you will achieve this goal one day. But if you have a too ambitious goal in term of elo or in term of short period of time then you will endure frustration and perhaps give up. That is a paradox.

I would advice you to go on a cycle to improve basics. Opening / Middlegame/ endings. Tactic motif, mat schema, calculation method / weaknesses awarness etc. And at some point it will work :)

Hey Lucy, a trick I use is to use the engine to identify critical moves and then explain out loud or write down your ideas in the position and your reasoning behind the move(s). Then, instead of just looking at the best move in that position, follow the top engine line for the next 4-5 moves to understand what ideas it has. That way, it's not a quantitative comparison between your move and the engine's, and it's more of a neautral compare-and-contrast scenario. Remember, your ideas and evaluations in a position are equally valuable as the engine's, because you are the player at the board, not it. This strategy has really helped my mental health in games and has stopped me from overstressing and self-deprecating.