Has Chess Mentor Improved Your Game?

Veteran users of Chess Mentor: How effective have you found Chess Mentor to be in improving your game?

Definitely. It's improved my positional play in a way that reading books alone could not

I'm also interested in others' opinion about Chess Mentor. Keep the responses coming

I found it to be pretty useless and mentally stultifying. Never buy a chess tutor that does not have

a full engine behind it.

I'm a long way from being a veteran user of Chess Mentor with less than 2 weeks of experience, but I have already found tremendous benefit.  Yes it is mentally exhausting at times and extremely frustrating at others but that just means that you are working hard and hard work is necessary to improve.  The wonder of this site is that, at least for diamond members (and if you're an adult with an income,why wouldn't you spend $100 a year to improve your chess?), there are multiple ways to improve! Is Chess Mentor the best way to learn rook and pawn endgames?  No, probably not; but if you first view half a dozen videos on the subject and then use Chess Mentor to test and reinforce what you got from the videos..... Likewise is Tactics Trainer the best way to learn tactics?  Probably not

unless you already have a good idea of basic tactics and then you can use the trainer profitably.  I'm still using the trainer in "dummy" (unrated, untimed) mode because my skill set isn't polished enough to benefit from time pressure.  I haven't been this excited about chess in decades.  I hope you youngsters recognize what an amazing resource this site is.  If something like this had been available to me 50 years ago.......

Yes Chess Mentor is good for me. Possibly if you are a high graded player you will not get the same benefit from it that lower graded players get.

I find Tactics Trainer very good it is hard for me in the time given to look at all the things going on but I find it gives me sharpness and helps me find ways to look for moves I can use in my games.

I like the program. It seems to teach strategy rather than tactics.

Chess Mentor uses the Socratic method. By asking questions, it makes you think.

So I'm a fan... but I was wondering what the justification is for the claim it is the best training program in the world?

I'd say that the maximum benefit goes to  people who already have a disciplined approach to making safe moves consistently and not waffling between  "puzzle solving" and an "actual game" modes.   You know the kind .., where If I tell you a position is "White to win", you'll put X amount of effort into it and if it's during an actual game, you'll put in Y : "a much lower quantum of effort".  The really good players out there (which I'll never be) don't differentiate X and Y.

Strategic/Tactical mentor exercises train your ability to tackle OTB critical positions correctly "WHEN" the moment comes.  For all the other moments in between where you need to play clean, safe and simple chess and not introduce weaknesses, move discipline is where most us are lacking and this cannot be spoon-fed to you by any training program.  Though a coach / human who yells at you often enough might help :) 

I think it helped me improve my positional chess by the middlegame courses especially by Jeremy Silman!

There is no possible way regular study can't improve your play.  Chess mentor makes it very easy with a wide variety of actual master game positions from opening,  middle, and end games.  Just within five days of pretty intense study I have noticed a difference.  Chess mentor alone won't make a huge impact on your game.  Use it as a supplement to a good book (I'm currently reading "How to Reassess Your Chess" by Silman), analysis of your own gameplay (with emphasis on your mistakes!), and study of master games.

I found Chess Mentor frustrating.  I regularly use Tactics Trainer though.

I have not used Chess mentor a lot, just have not gotten into it.  Tactics trainer can be very fun sometimes.  I do enjoy that,  I would imagine at lower levels any, any chess work out would help you improve. 

I absolutely agree, it's meaningless to spend your time trying to "improve" without having some understanding of the basics, for "improving" basically means getting better, which requires that you already have some sort of an initial start so you can build on it.

And Sir, it's never too late :)

I don't play to be a GM, or to win for that matter, I play chess as a way to improve myself as a person, which I think I will continue to do for the rest of my life - to the very last breath. And this site, as you have mentioned, is an incredible resource (although I'm a free member, but the same goes for me) and believe me, I do appreciate what it offers to people all around the globe - even in my country!!

Regards...

I find that if I read the strip along the side 'religiously' I benefit greatly from the CM. One day I was thinking how much I enjoyed the TM, but I would like some improvements. And then I realized that was the CM. The TM with improvements was the CM.

The Chess Mentor DOESN'T improve my game. A lot of times I get the problems wrong, then, once I move on, I can't remember which of the multiple answers was the right one.

I don't doubt what you say, but recently I discovered a way to start at the lowest rating and work my way up. Things are now making better sense.

Arthur, that sounds like a good idea, how do you do this? Start from the lowest and move up?

I think chess mentor is great I can't say if it's improved my chess play (I've only played for like 5 days) but It seems very intresting I like it.

it seems frustrating at times but I guess that's how you learn.

 like how it provides a guide to positional evaluation, not just tactics.

Chess is more than Effin tactics peoples dont belive me check out my game with dannyhume and tell me i should focus on tactics