The Seven Circles Program

For people who know what this is..

Do you think this is effective in order to get better at Tactical play?

I'm sure if you explaied what the program is people here could answer your question.

The seven circle program..

It is a program where you do 1000 tactics puzzles in a period of 64 days (you get 10 minutes to figure it out) The tactical puzzles goes from easy to difficult, starting with 1 move mates, 2 move moves ,3 move mates and then eventually 6-7 move mates/ or combinations whcih win you pieces.

After doing 1000 puzzles in 64 days, you then do the SAME 1000 puzzles in 32 days, but this time only 5 minutes to think, then after 32 days you do the Same puzzles in 16 days wwith 2 minutes 30 seconds to think, then eventually it goes down to 1 day where you have to do 1000 puzzles in 1 whole day (only max 30 seconds for each puzzle, do this with cycle 6 and 7 [30 seconds max]! (About 8-10 hours of tactical puzzles)

This is called the 7 cirlces program because you do the 1000 tactical puzzles 7 times in a row (1st cirlce - 64 days 1000 pizzles 10 mins max, 2nd cirlce - 32 days, 1000 puzzles 5 mins max, etc..)

This is supposed to help you on your Calculation abilities (First 4 circles/cycles) and last 3 circles you will focus on your recognition abilities ( you then recognize the mating patterns, combination and you dont need to calculate, which is why you focus on the "Recognition ability" in the last 3 circles)

During games you have to move very quickly, often within 2 minutes (avg 2 minutes per move in games [for GMs as well]), this helps you on recognizing tactical opportunities..

NOTE: Tactical plays are important for Class players (Under 2000 rated) because positional play doesnt matter, Tactical play overcomes positional play because people are highly likely to make mistakes Under 2000 rated.

Even in GM games tactical threats are made in order to force positional weakening.  I have read that those who do this program swear by it; with any game/sport one must practice practice and practice!

I am reading the book currently..

and i have read 98 straight pages (no breaks or anything.. unless drinking water counts as a break :P) .. i am now reading the stories of people who used this and looking at information and seeing if this is actually effective.

can it be random puzzles or the puzzles in the book.

The 'success stories' sound as though they were made up. Examples include 'I can't wait to read this book'. Surely, this does not count as a success. It sounds to me as though the stories are just page fillers in Rapid Chess Improvement - skipping the whole chapter would probably do you no harm.

Doing tactic puzzles does improve your calculation ability but do not just study tactics to the exclusion of all else! Far better to mix it up, read books on positional stuff like "My system" and "winning chess strategies" for with a superior position tactics will fall on your lap like ripe fruit. This is speeking from personal experience.

 I am going to use CT Art to do the 7 circles program, may any one post some link to download an applciable file (working In CT Art) for the 1000 tactics puzzles pls?

1000 puzzles in a day is intense, im sure if anyone did that even on TT without any time limit and stuff theyd still improve a ton.

Still sounds interesting, whats the book called? 

It amazes me the number of opportunities to improve your chess which are out there nowadays!

be careful to find a version that is working with windows 7
many places you can download a version that isn't working with win 7.

I purchased a version that only worked in xp
this one should work with win7

http://chessok.com/shop/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=312

I agree thats the reason I'm not to intrested in it.

gotta try that 7 circles prodram... soundsnteresting!!

Working on tactics is certainly helpful, and internalizing key patterns is equally helpful. There's no doubt that someone doing this program will get better at tactics. 

However, a couple of points to remember: 

1) De La Maza was unemployed when he did his own tactics work. Doing this program as written for most people is not realistic. 

2) Many coaches, including Chess.com's Dan Heisman, recommend focusing on simpler tactics, not the hard tactics that are the focus of De La Maza's later circles. 

3) Having a good thought process, positional understanding, the ability to choose good candidate moves, and the ability to evaluate resulting positions are still essential to success in chess. If you don't achieve positional superiority, then the only tactics on the board will favor your opponent. 

There a re a lot of 'graduates' on the web who have blogs. Check them out, as it will help you learn more and decide if it's something for you.

Its amazing there are no chess games of de la Maza to find.. Maybe somebody know where to find the stuff?

While tactical exercises are great keep in mind that not all positions will have tactical blows, so you'll need to use your positional understanding too.  If you have positional understanding but are unfamiliar with the opening you could use your knowledge of principles to help you obtain a playable position, and tactics and positional understanding compliment each other and aren't mutually exclusive.  You also create gaps in your knowledge by only focusing on tactics: what if you enter a strategic endgame? 

I will rephrase my question (4 years Old :) ) , can we find a ready file or a collection of files that works in CT Art or any other program (name it pls) so to apply and exercise the 7 circles program??

guys I want to practice the seven circles program. however, the CT-ART  3.0 link mentioned in the book is expired. any suggestions for a similar software that does the job. I would hate to input the position in other chess GUI for the exercise.