The Cruel Tutelage of Tactics Trainer

Observations about Tactics Trainer

- It's like a drug.  Actually, it's like how video poker machines are like a drug.

- I get any more invested in Tactics Trainer, & I will no longer need the *game* of chess at all.  I had a friend I used to play chess with.  Now we just chase each other's rating in Tactics Trainer.  The SOB had 9 points on me this afternoon but I got past him (only took me 30 puzzles to do it too)

- I read Malcolm Gladwell's _Blink_ to see if it would make me better at Tactics Trainer.  So far the results are inconclusive.

- Tactics Trainer has taught me some things I already knew:  for instance, I do not tend to flourish under time pressure.  I'm good at seeing smother mates.  People who think "easy" and "first" are enlightening editorials probably have esteem issues

- Tactics Trainer has taught me things I did not know:  for instance, how easy it is to miss that one of my opponent's units is pinned.. and how easy it is to miss.. well.. Bishops, frankly.  Move order is important.  Sometimes you have to move the Knight twice to get to the forking square.

- Tactics Trainer here is better than other tactics regimens; some of the puzzles are just straight-up taking pieces that are en prise..  Hey, dumb-dumb, instead of taking another 2 minutes looking for a creative way to sac your Queen, why not just take that Rook for free, eh?...   Sneaky.

- ...Tactics Trainer seems to mock me sometimes.

- Beware.  There is a special algorithm in Tactics Trainer that throws you a brutal "curve-ball" puzzle every time your rating approaches any number that's divisible by 100.

- On a given day, my rating will rise and fall by as much as 500 points.  On another day, it will fall and rise, instead.

- On more than one occasion, I have been observed to give my laptop "the finger" since discovering Tactics Trainer.  Also, my wife walked into the study the other night, and found my almost throwing a mug at her an odd rejoinder to her what-do-you-want-for-dinner diversion.

- Tactics Trainer has no patience for your daydreaming!  You got all the moves right?  Sure, but you looked out the window first, didn't you!  Minus 20, dreamer-boy!!

- Tactics Trainer can make you feel really, really stupid.  Then, of course, rage.

- Speaking of rage, if you never understood the expression "blind with rage," you should try Tactics Trainer when you're really angry.  (Best to try this when you're home alone or at least when there are no mugs around.)

- When my rating is relatively high, I'll "take a break" for a few days.  Secretly, I don't need a break, I'm just afraid of what will happen next.

- I always come back though, because as much as hate the damned thing, I do love Tactics Trainer.

Wow.  This was me the other night, when I dropped from something like 1800 to slightly less than 1200, then back up to 1600 in the space of an hour.  The whole time, my girlfriend was giving me funny looks for alternately mumbling, turning bright red, and pacing in between puzzles.  And I am also "taking a break" from tactics trainer...

this made me laugh!

Spot on. It affects me for the rest of the day, with my mood rising and falling with the tide of my TT rating. 1605 down to 850 in a day.  How can it be?

Never assume you know the game for it will find a way to own you.

Thanks for the great write up.

What percentage of TT have you completed to become this... er... enlightened?

So funny.  I find I have "groove" tactics trainer sessions when I just fly through, and other days when I see absolutely nothing clearly.  And, like you, I get a little mystic/superstitious about when to stop doing problems if all is going well.  But I have definitely learned more about the game from the program.  

  I'm a mere newbie at 4.38% (1137 exercises over 11.1 hours).

DeepGreene,

You are my new FAVORITE member!!! I need a Poster of you on my wall!

You nailed everything I Love and Loathe about Tactics Trainer. I can tell you one thing for certain; Bear the Pain and the Agony and you will one day be able to drive your fingers through you coffin when others have buried your and left your for dead.

I broke the 1900 threshold after months of on again off again TT time. Recently, for no apparent  reason; I'm seeing the board better, I don't see the clock on TT, and the Tactics are visible to me when I play. It's like having, pardon the pun, X-Ray vision on the board. Hang in there brother!!!

Your perseverance will be rewarded.

easy

In my opinion, giving puzzles that are very easy at higher levels (like just taking a piece, or an obvious protected check that leads to mate) are just stupid, not clever. To solve a puzzle you should be more creative than that, it shouldn't be a test of knowing when pieces are hanging. Sometimes the answer is the most obvious thing that comes to my mind! How can that be considered a puzzle? These puzzles have to stop at these higher levels.

Great Post DeepGreene!

I almost ROFL with your post, DeepGreen. Thank you very much, I feel part of a help group now. (My name is Marcelo and I am addicted to TaticsTrainer).

But let me tell a secret.

The Tatics Trainer was the reason I signed for Gold Membership.

AND it is the reason I will never sign for Platinun nor Diamond...

I just fear the feeling of not having to stop.

A worthy combination of:

1. seeing something many people experience but don't express
2. finding the humour in it
3. putting it eloquently

I only get the 3 problems a day deal, but I've been humiliated by this program enough to resonate with your points. Like anything that challenges us, we'll have a love hate relationship with it.

I dislike losing points for winning moves. a win is a win.

As long as you can find the winning line you should get the credit.

Equally I dislike gaining points for losing moves.

BTW, I got back above 2000 with a mate in 2 so I'm stoping for the night.

Tactics Trainer has added a few hundred points to my CC rating, and taken years off of my life in the process.

So worth it.

Great post!

This pretty much covers my addicition to Tactics Trainer!

A refreshingly good, honest, funny ,creative post...and i do exactly the same, well done mate!

my highest score in the tactics trainor is 2399. that's really annoying.

first of all: I just needed one more point!!!

second: 23!!! 23!!!!!!!!!!!

third, the bright light blinds me from seeing pieces on white squares, but still I go on without seeing half the board.

sometimes I take a break for a week when I have a high rating so when I come back I will see in my history that I have maintained a high rating for a long time.

Count me amongst the addicted.

Currently 82% complete. They keep adding more problems.....

I'm still waiting for it to teach me the 5 pawn exploding queen technique.

Remember, RESPECT Tactics Trainer! You don't want to lose an eye.....

;-)

G

Brilliant post