a few tips for Puzzle Rush and Tactics solving

Clearly I am very far from world puzzle battle champion Ray Robson.

Ray Robson solves puzzle rush problems at a speed and accuracy which is unparalleled so far.

51.4 or 50.8 is the average he is solving in 3 minutes.

Let me share a few tips about tactics solving

1) it's a good idea to study the patterns like : double attack, smothered checkmate, backrankmate, skewers, deflection, checkmate patterns ( like the Anastasia checkmate). I call this " know the basic tactics

2) in order to increase solving ability, look for checks, captures and threats. i.e forcing moves. usually they will provide a clue into the solution. For more difficult puzzles, if none of the checks or captures work, try a quiet move to prepare a deadly threat.

3) compare if you hesitate into 2 different moves or lines. as the difficulty increase, see if there's a defense

4) look at the whole board, consider really a large range of moves. consider captures,checks and threats even if  it seems silly at first. Maybe there's a hidden point in giving up the queen on move 1.

5) practice makes perfect. repetition makes you more familiar with patterns, and practice makes you stronger as you keep solving. try puzzle battle, survival puzzles or timed puzzle rush ( 3 min or 5 min) whichever format you prefer.

Now this is a recent battle I played.

I hardly go above 37, and I can also score much lower if I make mistakes or encounter a tough batch of puzzles.

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But here are puzzles which come up all the time on puzzle rush especially in the first 20

This is a classic backrank checkmate.

Here's a very similar one, this time Black to play !

and yet another one

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the other pattern I see a lot in easy puzzles on puzzle rush are with a deadly queen check.

Here's what I am referring to

top players see these kind of puzzles instantly and go very quickly with easy puzzles.

But of course gradually puzzles are more difficult

Here 2 examples of Medium Level Puzzles

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Medium Puzzle 1

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and here's puzzle #2 (medium level)

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This is close to my peak tactics rating, which went down quickly after scoring a meager 28 !

Please let me know if you have other tips for tactics solving, and if you would like more puzzles to solve for instance harder ones !