Strategy · Keep a cool head

Review calmly: decisions, not results

Chess players review their games move by move, win or lose. Off the board, judging decisions apart from results becomes a habit only if you practise it there, as this week’s task asks.

On the board, a result can hide its mistakes. Here Black has just played Nf6, and Qxf7 is mate. Suppose White missed it, and Black went on to win. Judged by the result, Nf6 was fine. Judged by what Black could see when playing it, it was a blunder.