There's no denying the importance of tactics in chess.

I stopped playing in the seventies. The biggest difference in American chess I have noticed since coming back is the emphasis on tactics and the means for tactical drills. There is a cornucopia of books, web pages and software programs for working your tactical muscles.

I've been having a great time with the Polgar books -- 5334 Prolems and Chess Tactics for Champions -- and Lev Alburt's Chess Training Pocket Book plus some of the standard tactics websites. It's made a difference in my play, though not 400 points worth.

What do you do? How well has it worked?

Chesstempo for 9 months 2 years ago => 11 consecutive wins in OTB chess

I completed all the tactics lessons in chess mentor and have done a lot of work on tactics trainer.  Hard to say how much I improved because I do not play OTB right now, however I do know more patterns, I can calculate a little better, and my online rating went up a couple hundred points.

chesstempo.com

tChessPro on iPhone with database of tactics problems

tactics puzzle books

I like the Polgar books and the Alburt Pocket Book because the puzzles are relatively simple and designed to instill the patterns into your brain.

I was shocked to discover how hard it could be to see some two-move mates.

I began my "chess education" by reading Ward Farnsworth's Predator at the Chessboard back in 2008. Since then, I've used chesstempo, I've gone through about 2000 problems in that time. 

I like this quote from Dan Heisman:

The most important goal of studying tactics is to be able to spot the elementary motifs VERY quickly, so studying the most basic tactics over and over until you can recognize them almost instantly is likely the single best thing you can do when you begin studying chess.

This is the approach I'm taking with tactics for now. I stopped doing ChessTempo and GameKnot tactical problems because most of the problems quickly went beyond the basic motifs I want to absorb.

Perhaps I'll return later when I feel I've mastered the basics at a blitz response level.

I used to play/solve tactics on chesstempo, but got bored. Maybe I should start again.

But generally, I do 3 per day here on chess.com, just to "keep myself" in a good form. Sometimes it works, sometimes not.

Quoting from your op:

"I've been having a great time with the Polgar books -- 5334 Prolems and Chess Tactics for Champions -- and Lev Alburt's Chess Training Pocket Book plus some of the standard tactics websites. "

Are these the materials you have been studying to get the basics?

nicefork: Sounds like you have a point you want to make.

(mostly) standard mode?

LOL no actually I agree with you and would like some materials to study the basic motifs.  I have polgars huge book and like it.  I also used pandolfinis beginning chess which is very basic, and I think good.  

I am not familiar with the others you list.     

Famous last words of a chessplayer: Its not a trap. 

Tactics until you drop is the strip mall version of chess training, what you really want is a deep positional understanding.  Sure you should still study tactics, but remember, the tactics need a context.  Sometimes puzzles mess up your thinking and in a current game I have I could have sacrificed the queen, then remembered the opponent isn't obligated to waltz into checkmate just because he can take a queen. 

I asked myself what else would the passive queen sac do?  The answer was I'd lose a pawn and black gains coordination by generating threats, while taking the sting out of my threats by cutting off important attacking lines and offering exchanges.  In other words, I concluded the move was unsound and overcame my urge to be "brilliant" and played a more prosaic move that goes after weaknesses and prepares to generate threats myself. 

Go with the Mr.Miyagi school of chess, not the chess that churns out "black belts" like nobody's business.  Anyone can have an IM or maybe even GM opening knowledge (via memorization only, people won't understand the moves below that level), or master level tactics, but still be in a class-C or B rut. 

Do any of you know a 1600 at a chessclub who has a 2200+ chesstempo score?  I do, there is more to chess than tactics and openings. 

How do you train yourself in tactics?

Just as everyone else does - becoming a chess puzzle freak.

You get a book that's suitable for your level, in other words challenging is good. Online puzzles also work nowadays.

Do you have a club near you with better players? Nothing makes you better at tactics than being on the recieving end of them.

nicefork: The big Polgar 5334 Problems is good, but contains many overwhelmingly won endgame positions where the trick is to see the mate in two but not in three or more. Lately I've been sticking with the the two-movers from middle game positions.

However, the 5334 are all mating attacks, so they strengthen your visualization and attacks on the king, but not necessarily your awareness for tactics that might win a piece or a strong positional advantage.

The Polgar Chess Tactics for Champions might strike some as superficial. The problems are relatively easy: two-or-three movers illustrating basic tactic motifs -- forks, pins, skewers, etc --  grouped by chapter. I think they're perfect examples of the motifs Heisman speaks of. They're exactly the tactical positions I want to memorize as buidling blocks for solving more complex problems.

Lev Alburt's Chess Training Pocket Book is his personal collection of 300 positions he has used as touchstones informing tactical play. Each illustrates a different motif. They include tactical temptations -- positions where your tactical cleverness is wrong! He's also got some endgame tricks to remember plus some positions where there is no classic tactical hammer blow, but a subtle positional stroke that parlyzes the opponent's mobility. Very rich material, better than I expected.

If your Queen Sacrifice doesn't produce a checkmate, then its not tactical :)

I solve problems most days. I vary my tools: Tactics Trainer on this site (accessed via PC, iPad, and phone), ChessTempo, several iPad apps (http://chessskill.blogspot.com/2013/02/chess-tactics-training-on-ipad.html), Anthology of Chess Combinations (electronic edition), other print texts (Polgar's monster was my daily regimen in 2002). I blog my training routine and progress. http://chessskill.blogspot.com/search/label/Personal%20Progress

In 2013, I attempt enough problems to get 300 correct per month (I failed in August, as noted on the blog).

A mix, but I usually don't spend a lot of time on standard anyway...