Why are chess.com puzzles so frustrating?

15% of the puzzles I get have multiple solutions and whenever I get one wrong it's -12 and when I get one correct it's only like +10. Sometimes the puzzle is rated way lower than it is supposed to be.

It is rare to find a puzzle which is "incorrect" (has more than one solution or has something else weird going on).  Chances are, a puzzle may seem like it has more than one solution but actually other solutions fail or not nearly as good as the correct answer.  If you don't understand a puzzle solution, I recommend opening it in the analysis and playing around.  This will usually reveal why one idea works but another doesn't.

As to rating loss and gain, it is based on your puzzle rating and the rating of the puzzle.  You are guaranteed a minimum +5 for a successful puzzle.  If you miss a puzzle that is rated much lower than your rating, you can get hit by heavy decrease.  This is by design and is similar to losing rating to a much lower-rated opponent.

I understand your frustration, I think that they should be more balanced, giving me x amount of puzzles in a row that are mate in 1-2 moves and then adding a 10 move deep puzzle is ridiculous. I used to enjoy the puzzles but now I find them irritating. This morning is a typical example, one right gave me x amount of points, one wrong move and I lose all those points and then some, that gives me no incentive to continue playing and completely destroys any enjoyment so for the remainder I pressed the hint and move button to lose as many points as possible. Removing how many points are given during play would be much better and I'd like to see that option added to the app.

I know you would find that puzzles have two solution but when you will check it with engine later, it will show the refutation for wrong move

The puzzles are excellent if frustrating. You should work harder and think longer before moving.

I forgot to mention that if you don't have premium membership you only get 3 puzzles per day.

I have tried puzzles on the android app, every time I select a range, the puzzle are always within a small rating band, for example if I pick puzzles within a certain rang, I always get puzzles rated within a small rating range within that, e.g. 400-900 range selected will always get puzzles rated in the 640's even with all themes selected.

When doing custom puzzles in the app, I would also like to type in the rating range of puzzles I would like you can on the website.

I completely agree. I’m not very good at chess as I’ve only played for a year. But even I can see their puzzles are stupid. The main issue is the time, if you use more time the less points you gain. I’m only rated 2700 on puzzles and it takes me more than the “target” time for most puzzles. If I for example solve a 3000 rate puzzle but it takes me a minute I gain +5 for example but then if I lose at that same puzzle I will lose -15. Lichess does it better in the sense you’re not punished for taking your time. It’s meant to replicate the scenarios of real games, you’re not taking 15 seconds in a real classical game. You could easily take 10 minutes + in a real game.

The part of puzzles which frustrates me is the lack of a goal. 8 out of 10 times the goal is Checkmate. The other 20% decide they are complete when a queen is captured or some other advantageous position is reached.

In those cases you are wrong.

Yes, there are some faulty puzzles. But those are rare. No more than 1 in 1000.

Psychologically, humans tend to feel the pain of a loss more acutely than the pleasure of a gain. This might explain why losing points on a puzzle feels more frustrating than the satisfaction gained from solving one.

I had a 2900 in puzzle rating (technically 2895), and then it dropped to 2777. It does infuriate me, yet it is my fault since I never did the puzzles OTB, and I never took my time on the puzzles. Luckily, you do not need to learn puzzles in order to be amazing at chess, you mainly need to focus on different parts of chess rather than only tactics (for example: learning postional chess, where to pawn break, learning how to defend, where to place my chess pieces, how to play in open and closed positions, etc). However, it is annoying that you only gain 5 rating points from 3000 puzzles, and then lose it by miscalculating a 2400 puzzle. Additionally, it can be more annoying if you do not have premium, as anyone with premium can do several chess puzzles in one day; whereas if you do not have premium, you are only allowed to do 3 puzzles, 1 puzzle rush, 1 puzzle batte, and 3 customed puzzles.

Alternatively, using chess books and other chess websites (including lichess) for puzzles, can help with this problem! It will take a while to improve tactics (obviously), but it will come with time and practice! If you have miscalculated a puzzle (everyone does), try your best to not let it overcome you!

P.S. Sorry if my typing and grammar is not amazing. This isn't an English essay. 💀

Overall puzzles are enjoyable. But this seems to happen to me every time I play puzzles. I play them for 30/40mins and do very well. I then come back five mins later and then I will get 50 puzzles in the row that even einstein himself would struggle with. I for example just went up to 1500 elo in puzzles, then after my 5 min break and the 50 bizarre puzzles, I'm back at 1300 and have quit them for the day as there is no fun left to be had, just stupid puzzles that make no rhyme or reason.

They really need to look at their algo for these puzzles. Its clearly punishing me whenever I have a good run by then giving me non-stop horrendous puzzles. There's no denying its their algo either, I went 1300-1500 so fast and easy, knowing the answer to pretty much 95%. TBut then with the next batch of hard ones, every single one I am there scratching my head like wtf does it want me to do? - Every single one...

Please fix the stupid algo so it does not go from easy, to robot brain levels that make no sense.

big red checkmark

I don't like the puzzles either. The points lost for losing a puzzle is more than the points gained for winning a puzzle. You can win 2 and lose 1, and end up netting 0 points.