Most players want to put a defeat behind them as a bad experience - to be forgotten as quickly as possible. But there is no better way to improve your game than by analysing your lost games to find out what went wrong and ensuring that the errors will not happen again. This original work, designed for average club players, identifies typical failings, such as poor opening preparation, inappropriate choice of openings, being tricked, losing the thread of the position, miscalculation, lack of confidence, faulty judgement, time trouble, missing opportunities, confusion, failure to adjust, and losing the initiative. Players suffering a defeat will take heart and derive benefit from this upbeat book, written in the author's informal style and gentle sense of humour.