2300 puzzle rating.. 👍👎?

I've been doing a LOT of puzzles to try and improve my tactical knowledge and help me capitalize on more opportunities when they appear in games. Just broke 2300 today after being stuck between 2000 and 2200 for weeks. I enjoy doing the puzzles but man, sometimes they make no sense. Everything is clearer in the analysis but does anyone ever get the feeling that certain moves made in the puzzles would never be played in a real game? Like, you would have never calculated a certain sequence and it just makes no sense? Anyway, good vibes to everybody. 👊👊👊

I was stuck at 2000 for a good 3 months. I just literally sucked.

I was pretty much clueless up to 2600 then things started to click like pattern recognition and intuition in live games.

I literally sit on my hands when I do the calculations to improve my board vision.

Congratulations on reaching 2300.

A lot of the puzzles are taken from real games but some of the opponent responses that are made are very strange.

Gongratulations. Puzzles-wise, you should be able to reach that 1000 rapid you have been going for pretty easily now.

Maybe add some master game study or endgame study into the program if it proves hard to get to 1000 still.

Good luck.

How is it possible these 900s are this high in puzzles? I can't comprehend. If you can calculate so much then you should be winning all your games

Yep, I'm around 1000 rapid, 700 blitz and my puzzles is 1700. Don't think that is record breaking but HOW IN THE WORLD DO 900'S AROUND MY LEVEL DO THOSE PUZZLES???

Well one thing, some moves ARE pretty stupid in general.

Certainly when I come a cross a "how on earth would you think of that" move, I let the engine tinker with it. I try to consider what general principles it follows or breaks, as well as what principles my preferred moves follow or break.

Sometimes I even go by process of elimination, e.g. I see moves that look good but can't work.

As for people having puzzle ratings far above their actual ratings?

I know I take my time with puzzles, unless I am very sure I see a quick solution. You may note that you can lose a maximum of 14 points and gain a minimum of 5 points. So I can generally slowly improve unless I try to do too much at once. I think puzzle ratings are based more on if you'd expect a person of that rating to solve the puzzle during 5-minute puzzle rush, rather than on survival mode.

Oh, and don't underestimate the small nudge of *knowing* there's a right move in the situation. That's not possible in games, but it becomes more likely as your intuition develops.

Tactics do not just magically appear on board during games. Pieces need to be developed to good squares and coordinated for tactics to become available. Tactics skills can only be used, when there are tactics on the board.

It's honestly not that much of a mystery. I have a big problem with opening principles and most of my games that are lost are lost in the opening. I feel tactics present themselves when the player sets up for tactical opportunities or when the opponent makes a move that opens up tactics. I have a problem playing confidently through the opening. I'm working on it though. Truth be told, I'm surprised I'm higher rated in puzzles, but if you look s the stats, I get a lot of them wrong. I've been on a bit of a streak lately so maybe there has been an improvement there. 🤔

well i have like 2467

on puzzle

I'll get there someday. I just use puzzles to improve tactical skills. Opening principles and positional play are my bigger weaknesses at this point. 

hi

Just keep at it. I like to mix things up to keep things fresh and enjoyable.

Tactics is my weakest area as well so I prioritize with puzzles when time is limited but don’t over do it. The right amount can be a good warm up before a game or a full hour solo training session for the day but too much is mentally exhausting or lead to tilts.

Bishop pair mate. You’ll get there.

Yeah, some responses in puzzles do seem odd....leading to unnecessary piece exchange or even loss of material. I even found alternate easier checkmate in 1 or 2 puzzles.... At least I could find no reason it wouldn't work. But the more you do them , the more they do make sense. When my puzzle rating was 1,000 there was a lot of puzzle solutions I thought were nonsensical...... eventually I understood why the moves were made and broke thru the higher levels. it does help.... keep doing them... Keep repeating them.... You will go higher and then go lower by as much as 300 or 400 points... and then finally break through that level when you click on what to look for... And do them when you're calm and have the time to focus on them and not rushed. Rushing them you will just fail.

It's often a multi-layered solution to a puzzle. There's an opportunity there for either material gain or checkmate..... And then you have to remove other roadblocks to that first by exchanging material or even sacrificing.

Most puzzles are just a process of elimination until you find the only moves that could possibly be correct.

Contrast that with a real game when you don't know if there is a tactic unless you are so familiar with the motif that you can't not see it. And you have to make maybe 40 moves not just two or three 

The puzzles train you to find the possible moves that will be advantageous for you while ignoring ones that give lesser rewards. There's quite a few puzzles where they bait you with easy captures of material, even a queen....... When the real answer is a checkmate in several moves. You have to learn to ignore the bait and figure out what the possibilities are

Yeah, in most games winning a queen leads to a victory but it might be a much longer solution....

I’m no GM (1200 rapid) but one thing I noticed is that you move way too fast in rapid games.

For example in this game https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/57235649893?tab=analysis 

On move 26 as black you have 26. … e3 forking the bishop and rook. Bishop can’t take pawn as it is pinned to the queen.

I’m confident you would have seen this in a tactics puzzle but you missed it after only spending a few seconds on the move, when you had a full 16 minutes remaining on the clock.