The system is also set that no matter how long you take you'll get 5 points if you are correct.
Why are chess puzzles optimized for blitz?
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Mar 26, 2025
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#3
Sethrudd wrote:
I find it quite frustrating that I'll spend, unironically, hours a day slowly chipping away at puzzles, only to somehow find myself (rating wise) worse than yesterday.
As someone who also likes to take time solving puzzles, I can empathize, but consider that what what you're describing is something of a blessing as well.
Consider how things would be for you if your rating continued to go up after spending an hour on a puzzle. Since your puzzle rating is higher, tomorrow, you may need to spend 2 hours on a puzzle. Then 3 hours, then 4 hours, as your rating keeps going up and up.
And so, great, one can find the best move in a position in 4 hours. And this helps in a chess game how? Aside from correspondence / Daily games, even a classical game is 1.5 - 2.5 hours per side for 40 moves.
Takadrenaline wrote:
And so, great, one can find the best move in a position in 4 hours. And this helps in a chess game how?
It helps because the more often you do it you will get faster.
Sethrudd wrote:
Every step you take forward, you go 4 steps back. Why is it like this? The way its set up, it only helps players who are confident in their blitz-puzzle solving - and punishes those who try to learn slowly.
The exact opposite of this is true. The best way is to solve them slow and steady, and not worry about time. As Martin said, you are guaranteed 5 points if you are right.
You can't gain rating in puzzles is because your puzzle rating is already 1200+ points above your rapid rating. How much more would you want?
Those who are "confident in their blitz-puzzle solving" will never get to +1200. That's a losing strategy.
The way puzzle ratings are set up, how you gain up to 2x points if you complete a puzzle fast is great, but this rewards a style for blitz. And on the opposite side, if you so much as fail the first turn of a move of a puzzle because you were moving too quickly, you get punished hard and lose a lot of points that way.
Puzzles reward and actively punish those who try to go fast, and so most people opt to slowly solve them one by one. You gain less points, but you still get the massive point deduction for failing each puzzle.
Every step you take forward, you go 4 steps back. Why is it like this? The way its set up, it only helps players who are confident in their blitz-puzzle solving - and punishes those who try to learn slowly. Shouldn't puzzles be trying to help people learn, rather than bogging down the players who dare to make a few first-move mistakes in a sitting? Not only that, but the moment the confident player who usually blitzes their puzzles meets any adversity, they too would be punished.
I find it quite frustrating that I'll spend, unironically, hours a day slowly chipping away at puzzles, only to somehow find myself (rating wise) worse than yesterday.