Studies in tactics trainer

Hi,

I feel like the high rated tactics trainer problems have become way too heavily biased towards studies. Sure solving a pretty study every now and then is fun, but currently it feels like half of the problems are studies and they are coming out of my ears by now

Besides, some researchers of chess improvement propose that solving studies is of very limited use (i.e. http://www.saladehistoria.com/fotoblog/Training_in_chess.pdf , pg.15).

I hope their amount would be reduced and the problems would be more focused on what tactics training should be about: positions akin to tournament chess games.

Yes, this a great idea which I believe should be enforced in the tactics trainer. I would definitely vote for this- a tactics trainer which contains puzzles which will be more relevant to otb tournament games. For example, chess.com should make some of their tactical puzzles based off of certain openings. For example, they could make a tactic which can be widely found in the sicilian grand prix for black.

I'm fairly new to tactics training. What is meant by a study problem?  How is this different from a tactics problem? Can someone provide an example? Thank you.

Most important characteristic of a study is that it isn't a position taken from an actual game but rather has been made up by someone (the composer). More accurately studies are subtype of composed chess problems. Wikipedia offers the following explanation.

(A study is) "an orthodox problem in which the stipulation is that white to play must win or draw. Almost all studies are endgame positions. Studies are composed chess problems, but because their stipulation is open-ended (the win or draw does not have to be achieved within any particular number of moves) they are usually thought of as distinct from problems and as a form of composition that is closer to the puzzles of interest to over-the-board players. Indeed, composed studies have often extended our knowledge of endgame theory. But again, there is no clear dividing line between the two kinds of positions."

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_problem for further details.

studies help calculation, if you don't guess your way through, and hope that the "correct" icon shows up. Unfortunately, that is what most of the time I do.