How do i get better at puzzles?

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Jimemy

Hi im really trying hard to get better at puzzles to prove to myself that i still can improve. But im kinda stuck around 2200. My goal is to beat 2300. 

Any tips or advice? 

batinyaren

Try to solve puzzles every day. Don't get angry for the wrong puzzles, it will cause you to lose more points. analyze the answers to the puzzles (especially when you get it wrong)

 

Also, watching puzzle solving masters will help you improve yourself.thumbup.png

justbefair
Jimemy wrote:

Hi im really trying hard to get better at puzzles to prove to myself that i still can improve. But im kinda stuck around 2200. My goal is to beat 2300. 

Any tips or advice? 

You may have reached a plateau.

The only thing I can suggest from looking at your last 25 is that in most cases, you are still solving faster than the posted average time. You have time to double-check your solutions without hurting your score.

In one case, you made a wrong guess after only 9 seconds in an endgame puzzle.  The target time was 35 seconds. You had plenty of time to check your solution.

This is the type of puzzle you have to work out to the end before committing to a move. The knight can clearly hold off the f and g pawns by itself. So the only ways to make progress are to bring up the king or bring up the h pawn. 

I am guessing you went with the king. Did you even consider the h pawn?

Jimemy
justbefair skrev:
Jimemy wrote:

Hi im really trying hard to get better at puzzles to prove to myself that i still can improve. But im kinda stuck around 2200. My goal is to beat 2300. 

Any tips or advice? 

 

You may have reached a plateau.

 

The only thing I can suggest from looking at your last 25 is that in most cases, you are still solving faster than the posted average time. You have time to double-check your solutions without hurting your score.

In one case, you made a wrong guess after only 9 seconds in an endgame puzzle.  The target time was 35 seconds. You had plenty of time to check your solution.

 

This is the type of puzzle you have to work out to the end before committing to a move. The knight can clearly hold off the f and g pawns by itself. So the only ways to make progress are to bring up the king or bring up the h pawn. 

I am guessing you went with the king. Did you even consider the h pawn?

Yeah you are correct i am kinda rushing ahead sometimes. And it might also be the fact of the mode of the day. The more puzzle i solve in row the usally more i rush to finish as many as possible rather then to be fully correct on everyone. So yeah slowing down would do the trick and maybe i could hit 2300 if i really took it slow.

 

Oh its embarissing when you point of a puzzle like that, i think i rushed the Gpawn forgetting that after knight takes, knights still protect vs the other pawn to advance. So im gonna try to do some puzzle today but in slower speed. Let them take 5 min or 10 min. Just let them sit there on screen for as long as needed.

daxypoo
my “puzzles” scores started rising after drilling checkmate patterns (craftyraf on chessable)

before i was drilling “1001 chess exercises for beginners” which is a really good tactical motif and, eventually, mixed motif book

but adding in the checkmate patterns really filled in some pattern recognition gaps; there are some really fundamental techniques needed to get down in many of these mating patterns
Shizuko

P r a c t i c e    M a k e s    P e r f e c t

Jimemy
daxypoo skrev:
my “puzzles” scores started rising after drilling checkmate patterns (craftyraf on chessable)

before i was drilling “1001 chess exercises for beginners” which is a really good tactical motif and, eventually, mixed motif book

but adding in the checkmate patterns really filled in some pattern recognition gaps; there are some really fundamental techniques needed to get down in many of these mating patterns

 

Oh this is an interesting post. I have never heard of chessable. Is it a site with chess books?

daxypoo
yes

it focuses on spaced repetition where you drill and repeat more often the exercises which are missed

chessable is known more for openings but i find it much more useful for tactics training

it is free to sign up and there are free courses

but the “1001 exercises”book and “checkmate patterns” book cost as much as a hardcopy book

personally, i get much more out of training and drilling these books regularly rather than relying on the tactics trainer here for practice (though- more savvy users can get more out of tactics trainer than i can)
justbefair
daxypoo wrote:
yes

it focuses on spaced repetition where you drill and repeat more often the exercises which are missed

chessable is known more for openings but i find it much more useful for tactics training

it is free to sign up and there are free courses

but the “1001 exercises”book and “checkmate patterns” book cost as much as a hardcopy book

personally, i get much more out of training and drilling these books regularly rather than relying on the tactics trainer here for practice (though- more savvy users can get more out of tactics trainer than i can)

Hmm, you say that you get more out of those books but you have done nearly 39,000 puzzles here in the last two years...

When did you start reading those books? The effect on your puzzles rating should be visible.

daxypoo
i did tons while i had diamond

now i just do my five a day (if at all) for kicks but drill on chessable for tactics practice
justbefair
daxypoo wrote:
i did tons while i had diamond

now i just do my five a day (if at all) for kicks but drill on chessable for tactics practice

I see.

So it looks like your rating stagnated at about 2200 when you could do 100 puzzles per day and only started improving once you were limited in the amount you could do to 5 per day.

daxypoo
that is sort of the point

i dont really think the puzzle rating really means anything

there was a point maybe a couple of years ago where the tactics trainer had a major overhaul and since then the ratings became almost meaningless

but what has had significant help in last year or so in my games (pattern recognition wise) was hammering checkmate patterns,

the basic motif exercise book really helped up to “stagnation” point as well

but i reiterate that i am not able to maximize chess.coms tactics trainer- i find it difficult to “get under the hood” just using the app

and having tactics books to drill and train has served me better
BroiledRat
You’ll get there soon, I’m awful and I’m well past 2300 in puzzles.

Just take your time with each puzzle, and avoid guessing/getting lazy. :)
Shizuko
Caffeineed wrote:
Is anybody actually a beginner in this forum? Bummed that “only” 2200 in puzzles? Really?

I am lol

Jimemy
justbefair skrev:
daxypoo wrote:
i did tons while i had diamond

now i just do my five a day (if at all) for kicks but drill on chessable for tactics practice

I see.

 

So it looks like your rating stagnated at about 2200 when you could do 100 puzzles per day and only started improving once you were limited in the amount you could do to 5 per day.

That actually makes sense to me. Because when i could only do 3 puzzle per day, i used more time per puzzle. But now when i got infinity puzzle i spam them a little more. Doing more puzzles but with less time per puzzle. 

wraevnward

Yes, having fewer puzzles a day makes you want to make each one count more. That definitely lets you raise your score a lot quicker than you might think.