why do I suck at tactics?

I mostly practice tactics on chesstempo.  I like that chesstempo has an "untimed" option (standard mode) so you can think as long as you like until you find the answer.  Sometimes I spend an hour before I finally figure it out.  I'm 2139 for standard (ranked 84/10745!) and 1802 for blitz on chesstempo.

I think one thing that helps is that you have to understand the threats and possibilities in the position BEFORE you start calculating specific lines.

Another thing that I think helps is, every once in a while I will go over the list of my last 100 problems and open whatever ones I got wrong in new tabs.  Then I re-solve the ones I got wrong to make sure I learned them.

Thanks.  Your advice is welcome!

Well, here's how I look at it, tactics means that there is per definition something forced, so what you want to look for are forced lines. So you sort of scan the possibilities.

-checkmate

-win big material

- win small material

and then there are the others like stalemate and stuff but you don't need to focus on that unless you are down a ton of material.

There's always something forced, no abstract moves, clear checkmate or winning material. So you apply the techniques you know, pins, skewers, double checks etc etc

O.K.  Where can I get that free coaching?

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The reason you suck at "tactics" is because you call it "tactics"

rather than "chess". 

Wow.  Thats some great insight beardog.  So very helpful.

I think that the statement is in fact witty - it just contains too much [unnecessary] personal attack. If this were removed, it would be a great "ism". And "chess is 99% tactics" doesn't quite get across the right sentiment.

How about one of these:

• Separating tactics from chess is like separating education from learning - it can't be done.
• You can't get better by compartmentalizing your weaknesses. You get better by seizing them and conquering them.
• "Tactics" inexorably flows from the rules of chess. You take turns, here's how the pieces move. The next step in a player's development is always going to be the question "if I move here, what will my opponent's move be?"

one thing that helped me was never to look at the solution.
don't move till you have something that makes sense --> keep looking at the puzzle --> if your brain figures out the solution - your brain will start to work out the logic for you.
if you just try to solve it. fail and look at the solution ...your memory will remember the solution and you will forget it. you will not learn anything.

I think the worst thing about tactics trainer is that if you fail you can view the solution. you should workout the solution yourself.
I think the solution should only be visible to a few seclected group of people in order for them to validate the solution.
As Josh Waitzkin always says in chessmaster the harder you try to find the solution the more you learn. if you have tried to solve a tactic for more than three weeks and suddenly find the solution. you will have learned a lot and it will make more sense to you. because you have worked out the logic yourself.

I understand what he was getting at.  It was just an arrogant attempt to belittle somebody.

Chess is hard,I hate this screen name now because I'm certainly no Chess Genius and I have lost games to people who..........hmm.   

I'm not a big fan of losing period but I don't think I'm good as maybe I thought I once was.   So to whoever wrote this post,I feel your pain dude,I feel I totally suck at this game at times as well,it's frustrating to the point of almost making me give up the game!  

Things that I found helped me:

1. Eating better (cut out sugary junk food, high GI food etc.)
2. After finishing a tactic, pass or fail, replay it 3 or more times, talking myself through the important aspects of it (eg exploitation of pin, removal of kings flight squares etc).
3. If I don't understand the answer, play the position against a computer to see why my other ideas don't work. The chess.com computer sucks so I use my own.
4. Doing a lot of tactics (including the previous site I've used, I've done 9000 exercises in 2 years).
5. Resisting temptation to guess, or at least these days I do not make a move in the first 2 minutes unless I am confident I can see the combination.

As an aside a lot of new tactics seem to have been added recently, sending my rating crashing from over 1800 to 1650 although I've gained a little bit since. I'll get back up to 1800 in time though.

I suck at tactics too, lately my rating almost fell to 2300 again :(

Watch Jerry, Chessnetwork, on youtube.  He commentates on what he's thinking while doing it which is very instructive.

I repeat to myself before a puzzle this - look for pins, skewers, forks, mates ect.

Thats what I have done anyway.  I still suck though, varies from 1300-1400.

I think it's more to it then just even that and just "solving" a position but it's alot to get into here,if anyone is interested,they can shoot me a message here. 

When it comes to tactics i tend to prefer quality over quantity. Of course I don't train on puzzles here because of the time constraints and limited puzzles ( I don't play here either, I find lichess to be better) but I advise you to take as much time as possible for your problem and I recommend tactics frenzy app by Magnus Carlsen (if you don't know him he's the chess world champion) or lichess puzzles or even chesstempo (despite the complicated interface). I was solving puzzles on the tactics frenzy app 2 hours a day for 3 months and I would put all my effort into the given problems (as if they are my own games) and sometimes I'll be staring at a problem for one whole hour. This thinking process for long times is what benefites you (that's why all chess masters tell people to play slow games). And I really did benefit from them and now I'm around 1800 to 1900 on lichess (my rating here is bad because I didn't play from a long time) with almost 0 playing experience before starting my training(I played some games and I was around 900)