tactics rating

Hi, I just started using the tactics trainer and as I progress, my rating number ( presume it is that?) goes down, as when I make a mistake it always seems to take more off than it adds when I get it right...? Is this correct? How does the system work? I stared at 590 and now I am at 512 after an hour of useful learning , that cant be right? It's a bit frustrating as if you win, you get some points added , but if you lose next time it starts you unrated again at a lower number.....Obviously if you make no mistakes, this wont happen, but surely, no one makes no mistakes? Thanks!

V2 penalises you for solving tactics slowly.  V3 awards you for being fast.

OK, thx, sorry, what is v2 & v3 ? Versions of the training software? 

At the moment chess.com is running two versions of itself, V2 and V3.  If you see the following (down by the green pawn) you are still in V2.  V2 will be gone soon though, so you might want to try getting used to V3 now.

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OK, I think I am on V3 then, as in the bottom left corner it has a link to the old site...V2 presumably? 

Just played another hour and got myself back up to level 590, where I started! This is the ELO rating then I presume? And the tactics puzzles get harder until you but up against those that will beat you and cant get any further until you improve your play? Is the rating persistent,IE will it stay at  the level I left next time I start tactics puzzles? Thx

Whatever you feel.  I would give it a week of practicing something to get the hang of it and find a representative rating.

The tactics trainer is slightly misnamed; it should really be called the tactics tester.  Luckily there are a couple dozen tactics courses on the ChessMentor and IM Danny Rensch has a nice video series on tactics as well. Just in case you get a little frustrated with your progress...

Thank you!

Well, I am still finding it extremely frustrating,  - it forces you to hurry and therefore miss things and make more mistakes...you make a mistake , it takes off 7, 8, 9 points, so you spend a little time making sure you thought it all through and when you do win, you get a lousy point or two....one step forwards, two steps back. 

MarkTurner: I read through a book called "Bobby Fischer Teaches chess" it's not actually written by Fischer, but it has definitely helped my game a ton. I read through it every few months and each time it helps me. I'm reading through it again right now, and in the past 3 days my tactics rating has gone from 1142 to 1316.

In addition to the book, and probably the most helpful tip is this: I always wait to make a move until I am absolutely sure that it is correct. Sometimes I only gain 1 point per tactic, and some times it takes several minutes before I figure it out. Other times I don't figure it out. However, I have found that finding the answer, no matter how long it takes, helps me learn a lot more from the problem. In addition reading along with a book that discusses even the simplest tactical ideas has gelded tremendously.

 

Agreed. If you are new to the game like myself then try to focus on the success rate rather than the rating. I think I average around 1 fail in 5 or rather I try to stay below a 20% failure rate. It's hard to do that but then chess is not easy.

Each puzzle has a tactics rating so you may be getting lower rated puzzles wrong which can reduce your tactics rating quite a bit. Since tactics trainer awards points based the time you take compared to the average time of correct solvers, people rushing the puzzle will make the average time really low in some cases which makes it hard to gain a lot of rating points from the puzzles. For example I checked your tactics puzzle and for one of them the average time was 0:22 and you only got +1 for solving it in 0:40.

 

 

 

DO u know who won last nights titled tuesday

 

 

Take your time man, forget about points. If you think about all the lines in a tactic puzzle and then you earn 1 point, well, it is a nice and more than deserved point. The thing of TT is to improve, so not rush things up. If you want to try some TT without time pressure you can try ChessTempo, it is free and you can do as much tactics problems as you want!

Hi, yes, its kind of a double whammy - you rush to solve it and then lose points for getting it wrong if you miss something....but conversely if you take your time and try and make sure you are correct, to avoid a fail, you also get penalized...

 

However, as you say, forget the points and try and learn. After all, it IS teaching you that to be correct and fast is good!

I will restate what some other guys have said. Forget about the rating points. Take as much time as you need to solve the position, depending on your available free time. Even if you only work one position a day, the main thing is that you learn a new maneuver, or motif. If you have a good memory, you could also work more problems quickly, and ask for hints. That way, you'll learn more stuff per session. Eventually, you'll know a vast variety of combos, and your rating will increase as a result.