Don't stress about specificity of your blunders (forks, hanging pawns,...). You have to have the proper system to avoid them in general. Not sure if insights can determine your style. Don't worry about openings, just pick something that you are comfortable with.
The biggest reason people struggle in lower-level chess is because of blunders. They make them in almost every game.
A mistake can instantly put you in a bad position, no matter how well you played earlier: if you had great opening knowledge, great positional skills, great endgame skills, whatever; a single mistake can change everything (you lose a piece or get checkmated).
So, how do you avoid blunders? Follow this simple algorithm:
While avoiding blunders is crucial, I also share a few basic principles with my students. These principles help them figure out what to do in each part of the game - the opening, the middlegame, and the endgame. Understanding these simple principles is like having a map for your moves. I provide my students with more advanced algorithms that incorporate these fundamental principles. When you use this knowledge along with being careful about blunders, you're not just getting better at defending. You're also learning a well-rounded approach to chess. Keep in mind, chess is not just about not making mistakes; it's about making smart and planned moves to outsmart your opponent.
I like the insights, quite cool (I’m sure that makes me a geek), but I’d ideally like to use them to learn.
Some are obviously no use for this (nationalities of people I’ve played against), but are there any tips regards what to look for first? Thinks that I can address?
E.g. I seem to see many forks with knights, but am much worse seeing them with queens. So simply start specifically looking at queen moves that may fork?
Or, and I can’t remember my stats, but say if I miss hanging pawns more than any other piece just start making extra effort to double check for them?
I also want to learn what type of player I am (which, I understand, might be a controversial idea). Tactical or precise, for example. And maybe 73 games isn’t enough to work this out.
I figure I might then be able to work out what types of openings will be good for me and start learning them in more detail.
Sorry, ended up waffling on a bit there!
Essentially do people have strategies for analysing insights? Are there key stats I need to look at for common pitfalls?
Also is it something people find coaches/experienced players look at for them and gain very useful overviews of their game and devise ways for them to improve?
Many thanks!