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The Secret Difference Between Good & Bad Puzzles

The Secret Difference Between Good & Bad Puzzles

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 Chess puzzles are are supposed to be a way to improve your strategy, position understanding, Exploiting tactical opportunities, and more... 
In fact most of the puzzles are tacticial options, where you know there is a forced checkmate, or some dead matirial by a crazy tactic, or defending a checkmate, and so on...                      What all of these have in common is that you know there is a tactic here or a clearlly winning move, and you look for it and you delve deeper thinking only of tactics, until you find the solution. 

But on the time where on real - time chess games you just play and you do not use enough brain power on tactics who are some times there (also, you need to know how much time to spend looking for tactics it can It depends on a number of things, for example which opening it is, and your playing style...)

and because of that,  in fact many puzzles including chess.com or lichess.org puzzles are almost useless for improving at positional understanding, or strategy during the game.  and taht's way some players have a very low rating at chess, and a crazy high puzzles rating, because solving puzzles, you are improving your puzzles rating, not your chess skills. 

(even if chess.com puzzles can maybe help you to get tacticlly a bit sharper, we are looking for a type of puzzles who well be helpfull during the full game, in a way you can make every move on your game a puzzle).

 

For example: and as a proof for this,   GM   Hikaru nakamura, when he was breaking his "Puzzle survival" record (on stream) when he got a puzzle who he was not sure 100%  on a move if it's winning, and he though about another move, which is also a great move, but it's not a "winning" move, said: (16:39)  "it is a draw maybe... but it a puzzle so it must be a win, it's a puzzle, i mean this hasto be the right move" - this is what hikaru said!!!     what do you need as a proof more then taht?! you can clearlly see, because it's a puzzle, so taht move must be a winning move, it must work, but if that same position was on one of hikaru's "titled tuesday" streams, on a real game - he will not be so sure it work's, he will  check out more other move, like the moves he said on the stream. 

 

Another example: take a look for example at this position as a puzzle: (mate in 2 tactics).

mate in 2
This puzzle for example, on the average level, about 35% are gonna find this mate during the   game  ( which is wrf8+ bbxf8  wqf8# ).   on the time if the same position was a puzzle on the average level, even if he is using the same time to think - about 90% are gonna find this mate, because he knows there is something going 
on this position because taht is a puzzle!!! 
Same thing you see on this position as a puzzle: (mate in 5 settings). 


  Which is quite harder, but also here for the average player, only about 10% are gonna see this amazing queen sacrifise during the game ( wqe8+ brxe8  wnf7+ bkc8 wbg4+ with checkmate on the next moves... ).
 ...Belive it or not but about 65%+ on the average level are gonna actully solve this as a puzzle
  
:Accordingly, the big question arises
''What type of puzzle is actully going to improve your chess skill faster?"
In fact, the real good puzzles who actully help you improve your chess skills, are puzzle where you don't know which type of puzzle is it, if it's a tacticial puzzle or it's a positional puzzle oe even just winning a tempo and so on. when i say "positional puzzle" i mean a position where there is only 1 move to save the position playable, not winning a pece or something like taht, a move you need to understand positional (or tacticial). 
and the great thing about puzzles like this (who chess.com & lichess.org almost never creat) is that you don't know at all which type of move is the solutio.
 wink Thank you very much for going along with my blog! blogs 
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Levi B.