Second Circle Completed

Chessmo

Updated: Feb 8, 2025, 3:55 PM | 4

Yesterday I completed the second circle of the seven circles tactics training program that I started on July 1st.

For those of you who haven't heard of the Seven Circles, each circle comprises solving 1200 tactics problems. The same 1200 problems are repeated (instead of using new problems) a total of seven times. For the first circle you give yourself 64 days to complete all the problems. Then, each time you complete a circle, you cut the number of days in half for the next circle. So for circle two you get 32 days, etc. Eventually, if you stick with it, you end up completing the final seventh circle all in a single day.

Today I started circle three, completing the first 120 problems in my tactics set in just under 30 minutes with a 99.1% accuracy rate. Keep in mind these are the easiest problems in the set, as the whole problem set is ordered by difficulty. These initial problems are simple mate in 1's. Last week I finishing the final 50 or so problems of the whole set--the most difficult problems--and it took me an hour and fifteen minutes each day to complete just seven problems! And, my accuracy rate was only 74%! So, the problems get pretty difficult towards the end.

Here are my results so far:

Looking at the table above, you will see I highlighted two stats. One, my overall accuracy improved from 87% to 92% from circle one to circle two. I noticed that many of the problems that I had difficulty on, I remembered from my first circle. Even if I didn't remember the exact answer, I sensed danger with the problem--I.E. I sensed a need to tread carefully. Here is an example of one of those problems that I missed in my first circle and had an uneasy feeling about in my second circle:

Another thing that you'll notice from the table above is that I improved my accuracy the most on the hardest problems. I can report that for most of these it was not because I just remembered the answer. I often remembered the idea but still had to calculate out the different lines to confirm each line was correct. But for others I simply didn't even remember the idea and often my first impulse was to choose the same incorrect line I tried the first time around. So I had to go slowly and analyze carefully. I'm very happy with the additional 11% I gained there.

In two weeks I'll be done with circle three and then during the end of November and the first week of December I'll be completing circles 4-7. Yikes!

Second Circle Completed

The Long Road