Puzzles on chess.com Incredibly Annoying

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sophiajoy1

Just started online chess 2 weeks ago and grabbed chess.com . At first, it was great. My puzzle rating jumped from 500 to 1300 fast. But then the puzzles got super tricky and I started stressing more about my rating than actually learning from the puzzles. Anyone got tips for making the most out of this trial without getting hung up on the ratings? And how to improve my game overall?

https://www-krogercomfeedback.com/

tommaso_gambit

It happens even to me.

CaitDe

There's a popular chess psychology book called "Chess Improvement: It's all in the Mindset". I'm not saying you have to read the entire book, I haven't finished it yet myself, but just the first chapter really helped me stop worrying about things like losing rating points or losing to lower rated opponents or making embarrassing blunders. It has made chess in general a little more enjoyable for me. Another thing you could do for puzzles specifically is study tactics and how to think through tactics. There's a free online book for this that, again, I haven't finished but I've loved so far. It's called "Predator at the Chessboard: a Field Guide to Chess Tactics". For every tactic it covers, it walks you through exactly what a chess player could look for to notice the tactic and successfully play it.

wickedNH

Do 30,000 of them.

JBarryChess

Puzzles can be fun to try to figure out. I'm stumped about half the time so I learn quite a bit from them.

RUBAGALLlNE

Yeah, they can be. I often get like positional 3 moves puzzles which are WAY above my skills, to not talk about getting paired to people that has 3 times my level in p.battle.

I guess the trick is in the habit.

ChessMasteryOfficial

Treat puzzles as a learning tool rather than a rating contest. The primary goal is to improve your understanding and recognition of tactics, not to achieve a high puzzle rating.