A model game shows how an opening position develops into a middlegame and sometimes an endgame. Its value is the connection between decisions: why a player improved a knight, kept central tension, or opened a file at a particular moment. Choose a game in the structure you actually play and prefer clear annotations to a spectacular result you cannot explain.
Replay the opening until you reach a familiar position, then slow down. Before each important move, suggest a candidate and describe its purpose. Compare your idea with the game's continuation. In a French Advance, follow the pressure on d4 and watch when Black changes the pawn structure. Note which pieces become more active after an exchange and which lose useful squares.
Study the defender's resources as well as the winner's plan. A beautiful attack can depend on a mistake, so copying the attacking setup against every opponent is unreliable. Look for the moment when the position changed and ask whether another defensive move would have altered the plan. Engine analysis can help check tactics after you have formed your own explanation.
Finish with three notes: the characteristic structure, the critical decision and a reusable lesson. Then train a relevant opening line and imagine the position beyond its final move. One carefully studied game can generate several useful questions; collecting dozens of unexamined game scores rarely gives the same understanding. Compare a second game later to see which ideas recur and which depended on specific circumstances.
Try this at the board
Choose an annotated game in your opening and pause before its first central pawn break. Predict the purpose of the break.