Hey,
I'm trying to figure out how to improve as efficiently as possible. I understand many people have probably asked this question but I would like to ask it together with a few thoughts I have.
Among those opinions that I have read so far, I would say quite a few of them advised against rushing the puzzles, and suggested that you do not try to solve the puzzle before you are absolutely certain that you have found the correct solution.
The other option is to do perhaps 5 puzzles during the same time it takes you to solve that one puzzle. Your first guess will probably be wrong half of the time or so, and you might not have calculated the entire sequence when you've decided the first move. But still, 5 puzzles compared to 1, that you learn the correct answer to, after spending atleast some time trying to figure them out.
One could of course argue that it's better to go for quality over quantity.
What do you think?
Chess. com has a feature that's called Puzzle Rush. You basically solve an amount of puzzles in a short amount of time, and the puzzles get harder.
I would love it if Lichess would implement a similar feature.
Otherwise I would recommend that you spent at least some time solving the puzzle. If you failed a puzzle, you should definitely check the correct answer, so that you will remember the tactical ideas.
Also, if you spend more time thinking about the puzzle, you will eventually get harder puzzles, and solving them will improve your tactical skills.
You say you're trying to improve but you only play blitz and bullet. Might want to think about playing longer time controls first.
Also your idea of doing 5 puzzles in the time of doing 1 and subsequently "learning" the solution to is not going to help you improve. You will see the solution through the failures, granted, but you won't learn, as you won't be practising accurate calculation. In the same way, playing 50 games of bullet will not improve your game, whereas 1 game of classical chess with analysis will.
Have you ever try this :
www.chess.com/article/view/the-legendary-15-minute-drillI think also that it important, some days later. to practice again the failed puzzles.
@Vycm I do enjoy that feature on that site. But I fear, as many of you have suggested, that fast (or even medium-fast) is not the way to go to learn. I agree that the main focus should be on the problems that I find difficult or am unable to solve. (I think that's what you meant with your second paragraph?)
@cheddarman1 Unfortunately, I enjoy shorter time controls over longer time controls but at the same time I do want to improve. The longest games I can sit through and still enjoy is around 15min+10sec increment (mostly play that on another site though). Would that be enough to learn significantly more from the games? Or would you advise more classical time controls?
I am also becoming more and more convinced that it is in fact more efficient to do that 1 puzzle instead of the 5, even though that originally seemed counter-intuitive to me.
@Sholmes49 I'll save that link for reading later. And yes, that makes sense. Perhaps one should begin a session of puzzle-training by going over the failed puzzles from the last session.
You need to do longer time controls than blitz. 15+10 is fine.
Furthermore, puzzles aren't the sole answer to improvement. Yes, they are important, but there are things that are just as important.
Build a repertoire and add these repertoires to studies in lichess. Play your repertoire every game and ANALYSE the game. If you win, think about why you've won. Tactical wins aren't as interesting as positional wins. For example, when you're playing as white and your evaluation is +1.5 on move 10, you have basically won the opening. Memorise WHY you won and add that to your lichess study. Contrary, if you lose, analyse why you have lost. Again, losing on position is more important to analyse than losing by a tactic, as tactics are likely to be a consequence of an opening gone wrong. This is especially true once you climb the ratings. Lichess has a nice feature for openings, set it to "Masters" and you can see the most popular lines.
Endgames are according to many the most crucial, as calculating lines often end in endgames. You want to be able to evaluate these endgames to see if they are winning or losing at glance.
So, to sum it up:
- Practice some puzzles every day
- Longer time controls
- Build a repertoire
- ANALYSE your own and master games
- Study endgames
Just do tactics
Discover what you cannot solve easily and practice those types of tactics.
Example I rarely use tactical attractions during my games.
So maybe I should be practicing tactical attractions.
The problem is there. Where do I find puzzles only with tactical attractions?
When I will have acquired the skill of tactical attractions, I will have a new tool to use during my games.
It's not what you know, it's what you use during your games and how you use your knowledge. Memorizing without understand or using a bot is not the best solution. That's like having the answers to an exam. It might give you the passing mark or rating, but in fact you're not at that level yet.
Play games with a position or tactic in mind. It's called a plan. You need a pawn structure plan, a tactical plan and a end game piece plan. You might want to always plan on capturing a bishop in the opening. That way the board has weakness in a particular color. An imbalance of the chessboard. You might also want to prevent any pieces from staying inside your side of the territory.
If games could be sorted by dominating tactical names, it would be wonderful.
Imagine having the chance to see games that have lots of tactical attractions. You might end up playing that style.
