Game Analysis - ShogiBoardQ

Set Up Analysis

Set the analysis conditions in the Game Analysis dialog

1 Prepare a Game Record

Show the game record you want to analyze. You can analyze a game right after playing it, or a record loaded with File → Open… (see Game Record Management). If a variation is shown, that variation is analyzed.

2 Game Analysis Dialog

Choose Game → Analyze Game Record… (or the toolbar button) to open the Game Analysis dialog, and set the following:

The engine to use (Engine Settings changes the engine's options)
Analysis Range: From start to last move, or a Custom range from one move to another (move 0 is the starting position; each position is analyzed after the given move is played)
Thinking time per position (1 to 3600 seconds)

The bottom of the dialog shows how many positions will be analyzed and an estimated time. Click Start analysis to begin. Your settings are restored next time. Terminal rows such as a resignation are not analyzed.

Game Analysis dialog: choose the engine, range, and thinking time

During and After Analysis

Review the score, best move, and principal variation of each analyzed position

1 During Analysis

Once analysis starts, the Game Analysis panel opens at the bottom and adds a row as each position is finished. The board and the game record move to the position being analyzed, and the evaluation graph is drawn as the analysis proceeds. A progress bar and the number of analyzed positions show how far it has gone.

To stop partway, click Stop analysis (or choose Game → Cancel Analysis). The results so far are kept. You cannot operate the game record or the board during analysis.

During analysis: the board follows the analyzed position and rows are added one by one

2 Reading the Results

When the analysis finishes, the panel shows Analysis complete. The columns are:

Column	Meaning
Move	The move in the game record. The position after this move is analyzed
Best Move	The move the engine judged best in the previous position
Match	Shows ◯ when the played move is the same as the best move
Score	Score from Black's point of view (+ favors Black, − favors White). A mate is shown as mate N
Position	The assessment based on the score (see Position Assessment Criteria below)
Score change	How much the score changed from the previous position (Black's point of view)
Board	Show plays the principal variation on a board
PV	The continuation the engine expects

Select a row to move the board, the game record, and the evaluation graph to that position. A large score change marks a move that swung the game (here, move 45 ▲N*5f). The results stay until you start another analysis, load another record, or start a new game. Right-click a row to register the first PV move in the book, for one position or for all of them (Joseki).

Analysis results: selecting a row moves to that position

3 View the PV on a Board

Click Show in the Board column (or press Enter) to open the Principal Variation Display window, where you can step through the variation from that position. You can also flip and resize the board.

Principal Variation Display: step through the variation from the analyzed position

Evaluation Graph

Follow how the game changed on a graph

1 Viewing the Evaluation Graph

The Evaluation Graph tab plots the analyzed scores from Black's point of view. Up favors Black and down favors White; positions with a mate are marked at the top or bottom edge. Click the graph to move to the position at that move.

The |◀ ◀◀ ◀ ▶ ▶▶ ▶| buttons above the graph work like the buttons of the Game Record pane: go to the start, back 10 moves, back 1 move, forward 1 move, forward 10 moves, and to the last move. Like those buttons, they cannot be used while an analysis or a game is in progress.

Choose Automatic or Fixed for the range, and use Display settings… to change the ticks and font size. Save the graph image with File → Save Evaluation Graph Image to File…, or copy it with Edit → Copy Eval Graph Image.

Evaluation graph: the selected move and its score appear at the top

Position Assessment Criteria

Positions are assessed on five levels from the score

Score	Assessment	Display
0 – 100	Even	Even
101 – 300	Slight	Black: Slight / White: Slight
301 – 600	Better	Black: Better / White: Better
601 – 1000	Superior	Black: Superior / White: Superior
1001 or more	Winning	Black: Winning / White: Winning
Mate	Win	Black wins / White wins

Scores are from Black's point of view: positive favors Black and negative favors White
The assessment is based on the absolute value of the score
When a mate is found, Black wins or White wins is shown regardless of the score thresholds