Do chess puzzle actually work on getting better at chess?

Hello, future chess masters. Welcome back to another blog, this blog is something I came across in a forum by @Wind titled "Are doing puzzles really worth it?" (Click here to go to forum.) So this blog is seeing if doing puzzles matters on your chess journey. So what are puzzles before we start. Puzzles are when you are dropped into a position from a chess game (So it's kind of like Fortnite so you understand) and you have to find the best move or winning combination to either win a piece, get checkmate, or just have a clear winning position. Okay so say you have this position in a game.

You know there's something but you can't wrap your head around it. This is why puzzles are important. Most puzzles are just pattern recognition that you can see in your games. So why do you practice something that has already been played, shouldn't you practice calculating in unique positions every time? Well yes, but puzzles are for you to calculate faster. Doing puzzles is very good to make your play much better. There have been people doing puzzles a lot and have become chess masters (I wish I could say that for myself ) But I don't know how to do puzzles Cassian! So there are many types of puzzles that I will go over. Cassian why are we going over puzzles even though the title says "are puzzles useful?"Okay but on a serious note, why would I just end the blog after two words? And you might as well just learn this stuff for free and not buy courses and books to learn this stuff. I mean what psycho would do that, totally not me, ha ha *nervous laughter* So as I was saying me telling you puzzles are important and not teaching you all the puzzles is not that fun right. So here are some of the Puzzles you must know.

                                                             The Magnet

The Magnet (Or fishing poll to some people to try to make it sound cooler) Is where you attract a piece to do something to try to make it look nice and pretty with a bow on top gift. But when they open it a cream pie comes flying at their face, And they get checkmated, lose a piece, just lose the game, or their boring and resign. The Magnet is like this.

And I think this guy was studying his tactics. This is why you must study tactics. So 1/5 types of tactics. Now time for 2nd type of tactics.

                                                    Removing the Defender 

Removing the Defender is when you have one piece guarding another piece, but you can take that piece like this.

Yet another one that you must see in your games. 2/5 you're doing great.

                                                                        Forks

Fork (Which is by a knight is where you attack 2 pieces at once, and they can not defend it's other.)

So this is how your brain should go if you need to see these things. And that's why puzzles are important, so you see these things in games so you can win. I should give it a try. 3/5 almost there.

                                                                         Pin

The Pin is a very nice tactic to use. Used by every piece except the knight. Sorry horsy. A pin is where you pin a piece, that is in front of a Higher piece. Like this.

So you feel like you getting the hang of it. Let's keep going. 4/5 There's only one more. You're almost there.

                                                            Discovered Attack
Discovered attack is where you move a piece, and the piece behind the piece you just moved sees another piece. How many times did I say piece? So here is what a discovered attack is.

So this is a nice puzzle to do lower rated you are because your opponent will not see it. And if they see it, sue me. (Please do not sue if you do not win a piece with a discovered attack) 5/5 of the puzzle patterns, now time to move on Puzzles.

                                                                       Puzzles

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

                                                                  Conclusion

So of course I think puzzles are necessary on your chess journey. They help us to better recognize the patterns in our games, train our brains to see opportunities in different kinds of positions, even those where we think nothing is happening, and teach us some of the most common situations where we can spot a chance.

Given that almost every game below ELO 2000 is likely to be decided by tactics, doing puzzles every day is the fastest and most effective way to raise your rating and sharpen your chess skills

And there that's it. Yep, it's over. I hope you enjoyed reading this and learned from it.

As always set goals and crush them. And keep doing puzzles.

God Bless. Peace. ✌️