What is the most effective way to practice solving puzzles in order to improve`? • page 3/4 • General Chess Discussion • lichess.org

Tae7

#21

@achja Oh cool, no wonder you are good ;)

@jomega Thanks for the resources!

@achja Oh cool, no wonder you are good ;) @jomega Thanks for the resources!

SeniorPatzer

#22

Is there a tutorial for how to use Chess Tempo tactics? It didn't seem intuitive or easy to use like LiChess puzzles.

Neustart

#23

Building good thinking habits via a planned training procedure is the way. If you're interested I write more. Mostly this thought is not appreciated. So I will spend time only on demand.

Tae7

#24

@Neustart I would appreciate hearing your thoughts :)

teerdurchzogen

#25

@SeniorPatzer First I would advise you to create an account. Then go to "Tactics Training". Now on the new page click on change set and choose a problem set. Rated: Blitz, Mix, Standard. You can also solve tactics via theme/motif, those will be unrated. Just select what you would like to do. (You can also select a difficulty, but you could also just use the default "medium") Now click on start and there you go. After you solved an exercise you will see your rating on the upper right side, also the rating of the problem and the moves of the problem. It shows the motifs and there are also options for showing the pgn, so that you could copy paste it into the lichess analysis board afterwards or into a lichess study if you want to safe that problem. On the upper left side you can see comments people made, those can be helpful sometimes or serve as motivation. Also it shows the session statistics (you might have to toggle these): How much time did you use overall, rating change for the whole session, performance rating, average puzzle rating, if you have been faster than the average user or slower... You can also rate the problem, but there is no compulsion. Now just click on the button "next" at the bottom and you get your next puzzle. There is also a "retry" button. Once you are done you can click on "end session" or just close chesstempo. It's actually not even that unintuitive, you will get the hang of it very soon, I am sure.
Hope this helps.

@SeniorPatzer First I would advise you to create an account. Then go to "Tactics Training". Now on the new page click on change set and choose a problem set. Rated: Blitz, Mix, Standard. You can also solve tactics via theme/motif, those will be unrated. Just select what you would like to do. (You can also select a difficulty, but you could also just use the default "medium") Now click on start and there you go. After you solved an exercise you will see your rating on the upper right side, also the rating of the problem and the moves of the problem. It shows the motifs and there are also options for showing the pgn, so that you could copy paste it into the lichess analysis board afterwards or into a lichess study if you want to safe that problem. On the upper left side you can see comments people made, those can be helpful sometimes or serve as motivation. Also it shows the session statistics (you might have to toggle these): How much time did you use overall, rating change for the whole session, performance rating, average puzzle rating, if you have been faster than the average user or slower... You can also rate the problem, but there is no compulsion. Now just click on the button "next" at the bottom and you get your next puzzle. There is also a "retry" button. Once you are done you can click on "end session" or just close chesstempo. It's actually not even that unintuitive, you will get the hang of it very soon, I am sure. Hope this helps.

Neustart

#26

@Tae7

Simple idea first: Before you take a cure you have to look what the illness is.

So the first step is looking at the mistakes and how they come to life. There are many sources possible. So the individual training starts here. Some questions as hint:

Lack of concentration?
Lack of knowledge about typical procedures? (Double-Attack, Mating Patterns, ...)
Lack of calculation depth?
Is a special stone involved more often than others?

Following this step you decide if you train general or special, b.e. knight attacks or opponent threats.

Now something I remark atm: It is sometimes difficult to find a good way to train. I found three sources while playing classical chess games and tried to isolate them The rule: One problem after the other. The first two ideas were to difficult. So I have to go back to self-observation and look at the analysing categories and the training procedure. This needs some perseveration. The hints in the books about training didn't help me, so far as I remember. (And I have read some!)

Another point is building good habits. The first step was easy. You need 6 weeks, 6 days each week, at least 15 minutes, try no more than 30 minutes and stop then. I used the training tasks on another website and started according to the Lasker rule: Is there a chess? If yes, calculate it. After this 6 weeks my rating had risen 200+ rating points. I reviewed after 15 minutes as many tasks as possible, where I failed.

Two years later I checked my thinking habits and found, that the search for chess has been a fixed behaviour and is surely responsible for some rating points.

It is important to take a break. After establishing the first habit and thinking and deciding what now. In my case the next step were captures. Later followed threats. After this I had to change to some special gaps in my knowledge.

Aagaard recommends using cards with noting the categories of mistakes and tells, that the categories change with progress. He could use this method even after reaching the GM title, iirc. His blog on quality chess about training, starting from the beginning, NOT from the end, is worth looking for such hints.

Summary:

Individual diagnostics lead to individual training.
Analyze and collect your mistakes.
6 weeks, 6 days, may 30 min. to build up a well-defined habit.
Take your time to rethink.

Questions are welcome.

@Tae7 Simple idea first: Before you take a cure you have to look what the illness is. So the first step is looking at the mistakes and how they come to life. There are many sources possible. So the individual training starts here. Some questions as hint: - Lack of concentration? - Lack of knowledge about typical procedures? (Double-Attack, Mating Patterns, ...) - Lack of calculation depth? - Is a special stone involved more often than others? Following this step you decide if you train general or special, b.e. knight attacks or opponent threats. Now something I remark atm: It is sometimes difficult to find a good way to train. I found three sources while playing classical chess games and tried to isolate them The rule: One problem after the other. The first two ideas were to difficult. So I have to go back to self-observation and look at the analysing categories and the training procedure. This needs some perseveration. The hints in the books about training didn't help me, so far as I remember. (And I have read some!) Another point is building good habits. The first step was easy. You need 6 weeks, 6 days each week, at least 15 minutes, try no more than 30 minutes and stop then. I used the training tasks on another website and started according to the Lasker rule: Is there a chess? If yes, calculate it. After this 6 weeks my rating had risen 200+ rating points. I reviewed after 15 minutes as many tasks as possible, where I failed. Two years later I checked my thinking habits and found, that the search for chess has been a fixed behaviour and is surely responsible for some rating points. It is important to take a break. After establishing the first habit and thinking and deciding what now. In my case the next step were captures. Later followed threats. After this I had to change to some special gaps in my knowledge. Aagaard recommends using cards with noting the categories of mistakes and tells, that the categories change with progress. He could use this method even after reaching the GM title, iirc. His blog on quality chess about training, starting from the beginning, NOT from the end, is worth looking for such hints. Summary: - Individual diagnostics lead to individual training. - Analyze and collect your mistakes. - 6 weeks, 6 days, may 30 min. to build up a well-defined habit. - Take your time to rethink. Questions are welcome.

achja

#27

@Neustart
Interesting, thanks for sharing.

@Neustart Interesting, thanks for sharing.

Tae7

#28

@Neustart

Thanks for your thorough response! The questions you posted have given me a good idea of where I’m at.

Lack of concentration? ✔️
➡️ I find it hard to stay focused on the board when its my opponent’s turn especially if they take a long time to move ;)
Lack of knowledge about typical procedures? (Double-Attack, Mating Patterns, ...) ✔️
➡️ Definitely, this happens all the time in my blitz games
Lack of calculation depth?✔️
➡️ I seem to reply on intuition a lot of the time and don’t spend enough time calculating. I also tend to miscalculate and overlook my opponent’s threats
Is a special stone involved more often than others?✔️
➡️ yes I mess up winning positions quite often.

As I’m not a particularly experienced player (well I feel like an absolute noob right now) I would say I probably need to spend time on every aspect of the game. My mindset has changed quite a lot since two/three months ago when I was 1600 blitz as my knowledge of this game accumulates, I feel less confident with my skills as I’m now aware of my limitations. Rating wise, I havent hit a plateau as such but I still make the most horrendous mistakes in a lot of my games. Your plan sounds pretty sensible I might give it a go but kind of need to think of a detailed outline first.

A general question - For players of my level, it is important to study endgames (I have got de la villa’s 100 endgame course on chessable but havent yet started working through it) in order to reach the next step and is it necessary for me to learn another opening as white as the Italian is the only one I play atm.

@Neustart Thanks for your thorough response! The questions you posted have given me a good idea of where I’m at. - Lack of concentration? ✔️ ➡️ I find it hard to stay focused on the board when its my opponent’s turn especially if they take a long time to move ;) - Lack of knowledge about typical procedures? (Double-Attack, Mating Patterns, ...) ✔️ ➡️ Definitely, this happens all the time in my blitz games - Lack of calculation depth?✔️ ➡️ I seem to reply on intuition a lot of the time and don’t spend enough time calculating. I also tend to miscalculate and overlook my opponent’s threats - Is a special stone involved more often than others?✔️ ➡️ yes I mess up winning positions quite often. As I’m not a particularly experienced player (well I feel like an absolute noob right now) I would say I probably need to spend time on every aspect of the game. My mindset has changed quite a lot since two/three months ago when I was 1600 blitz as my knowledge of this game accumulates, I feel less confident with my skills as I’m now aware of my limitations. Rating wise, I havent hit a plateau as such but I still make the most horrendous mistakes in a lot of my games. Your plan sounds pretty sensible I might give it a go but kind of need to think of a detailed outline first. A general question - For players of my level, it is important to study endgames (I have got de la villa’s 100 endgame course on chessable but havent yet started working through it) in order to reach the next step and is it necessary for me to learn another opening as white as the Italian is the only one I play atm.

pointlesswindows

#29

@achja How do you search for tactical motifs? I've been on chesstempo since 2011 and haven't seen such a feature.

achja

#30

@pointlesswindows
That is a long time !
You can choose "change set" and then proceed and make a choice. Not sure if this is a premium feature or not.
You can also create custom sets for checkmates (or non mate) puzzles and then choose the length of the moves of the solution.

@pointlesswindows That is a long time ! You can choose "change set" and then proceed and make a choice. Not sure if this is a premium feature or not. You can also create custom sets for checkmates (or non mate) puzzles and then choose the length of the moves of the solution.