I'm curious if there are spikes in puzzle difficulty. Often I'll get 10-20 in a row that are super easy, the entire bottom will be filled with green, and then all of a sudden I hit a wall, and then it's red all the way down. I don't spend a lot of time on any one puzzle, so it's possible I'm just imagining things, but I'm starting to get really annoyed by the trend. I just did 765 puzzles, with exactly half wins and half losses, but managed to lose 227 points because wins don't count as much as losses. great motivation, let me tell ya.
@Gakumerasara
You will never improve your puzzle rating if you play too many puzzles.
The trick for improving in this task, is to understand why a tactic works and why you fail to see it.
You must analyse your failures, because here you can learn the most.
You can learn nothing from your solved puzzles.
Believe me, I know what I am talking about. I am at 2764 now, after only 451 puzzles.
Check out my puzzle solving tutorial and my checklist with the tactics,
You will never improve your puzzle rating if you play too many puzzles.
The trick for improving in this task, is to understand why a tactic works and why you fail to see it.
You must analyse your failures, because here you can learn the most.
You can learn nothing from your solved puzzles.
Believe me, I know what I am talking about. I am at 2764 now, after only 451 puzzles.
Check out my puzzle solving tutorial and my checklist with the tactics,
Master Bishop 1964....Valuable tutorial from you...Compelling all tactics with in one file is going to help amateurs like me....Thanks again Master
@Bishop1964
I'll have to check out your studies later this afternoon. Thanks for the links.
Honestly I don't care about rating so much as improving, though it is annoying seeing -15 over and over when I've made it 80% of the way through a puzzle only to get zero credit for it, despite being in a decent position. Or losing the puzzle because it wanted me to force a secondary exchange I have no interest in forcing.
I am using it as practice for, well, practical application. I only have 10 minutes in a rapid game so I'd better be able to spot tactics quickly. That means I don't want to spend more than about a minute or two on a puzzle, ideally 30 seconds or less.
The issue though is that I get a ton of super easy ones in a row, and then all of a sudden it changes to one's I can't figure out definitively in the allotted time. For these, I take my best guess and play it by ear, the way I would in a real game. I'm wondering if this difficulty variance is intentional.
I'll have to check out your studies later this afternoon. Thanks for the links.
Honestly I don't care about rating so much as improving, though it is annoying seeing -15 over and over when I've made it 80% of the way through a puzzle only to get zero credit for it, despite being in a decent position. Or losing the puzzle because it wanted me to force a secondary exchange I have no interest in forcing.
I am using it as practice for, well, practical application. I only have 10 minutes in a rapid game so I'd better be able to spot tactics quickly. That means I don't want to spend more than about a minute or two on a puzzle, ideally 30 seconds or less.
The issue though is that I get a ton of super easy ones in a row, and then all of a sudden it changes to one's I can't figure out definitively in the allotted time. For these, I take my best guess and play it by ear, the way I would in a real game. I'm wondering if this difficulty variance is intentional.
I can understand some part of your argumentation, but not all.
@Gakumerasara
Of course in a blitz game, you only need to see the easy tactics. Forks and pins and easy mates.
I recommend that you log out from your account and play as unregistered user. Then you get a lot of easy tactics and mates in 3,4 moves. I do this sometimes just for fun. And then I also make a lot of mistakes, because I play fast.
But if you play games with longer time controls, then you have to improve to see the more complicated puzzles. And this stuff can get really ugly.
By the way, I recommend that you go to chesstempo.com and register there also.
Then you can play tactics in 3 categories:
standard : the same like here on Lichess / solving time doesn't matter
mixed : here you can get also drawish positions / solving time matters
blitz : solving time matters, If you are too slow, you lose rating points.
@Gakumerasara
Of course in a blitz game, you only need to see the easy tactics. Forks and pins and easy mates.
I recommend that you log out from your account and play as unregistered user. Then you get a lot of easy tactics and mates in 3,4 moves. I do this sometimes just for fun. And then I also make a lot of mistakes, because I play fast.
But if you play games with longer time controls, then you have to improve to see the more complicated puzzles. And this stuff can get really ugly.
By the way, I recommend that you go to chesstempo.com and register there also.
Then you can play tactics in 3 categories:
standard : the same like here on Lichess / solving time doesn't matter
mixed : here you can get also drawish positions / solving time matters
blitz : solving time matters, If you are too slow, you lose rating points.
@Bishop1964
The variation in tactics categories that you described at chesstempo sounds exactly like what I need. Thank you very much for that.
The variation in tactics categories that you described at chesstempo sounds exactly like what I need. Thank you very much for that.
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