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Comment by shric | Hacker News Reader

Yeah, not particularly proud of the "achievement". I play for fun. My rating has not increased much since I started because I don't really do deliberate practice. I don't analyse my games, etc.

You're pretty much spot on. My average game length is 5 minutes and 7 seconds. lichess tells me my time spent playing is 54 days, 5 hours and 6 minutes and now 15,273 games.

It works out to average just under an hour a day, and I play most days.

Breakdown: 6,157 bullet (90+% are 1+0 but a few 2+1) 7,430 blitz (90+% are 5+0 but a few 3+2) 1,368 rapid (99+% are 10+0) 184 classical (100% are 30+0)

I've also played a small handful of correspondence, chess960, etc. which is why it doesn't quite add up.

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This conversation is very nostalgic for me as I used to play a lot with my father (who passed away almost 20 years ago). Now, my seven year old daughter seems to be very intrigued by chess.

You said you don't analyze your games? Is there a standard methodology for analyzing chess games, especially given that everything being discussed here is happening electronically?

I would be fascinated to hear about how people are combining technology with the practice of chess to ramp up their learning efficacy.

Sites like lichess allow you to run a computer analysis of every move so you can find how often you made what the chess engine considers the strongest move. It will also clearly show you any blunders regardless of whether your opponent took advantage.

Further, you can easily compare your responses during openings to what master level players play and you can also just look at how effective certain opening lines are just for your own games.

Lichess also has an "insights" feature where you can look at all your games in aggregate and ask questions like "how often do I win playing Ruy Lopez opening compared to when I play the Italian opening", etc.

These sites also have endless tactical puzzles which you can practice with.

I guess deliberate practice to improve consists of some or all of these tools plus studying certain aspects such as end games and openings.

I'm too impatient to do any of these which is why I improve very slowly despite playing thousands of games.

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