Getting 10 out of 10 in a blitz tournament does help, it improves your tactics skills, you're required to spot tactics on the fly
Do tactics REALLY help?
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Before you can do random tactics puzzles, you have to learn the basic motifs first.
Chess Tactics for Students is a good 1st book on tactics. There are 13 chapters, each with a different motif. I would drill each chapter 6x over the course of the next couple of months. If you're really interested I can give you an exact schedule to follow. It will take you about 40-50 days to complete. Don't listen to any advice about only doing 3 tactics per day. These problems are mostly elementary and very instructive.
A very important idea for studying tactics:
Accuracy first, speed later. Time yourself, but don't declare yourself done until you see the entire continuation in your head. Set a time limit on each problem of 5-6 minutes. If you go past the time limit, that counts as wrong. Record all of your times and whether you were right or wrong. As you go through these repetitively, your accuracy goes up and speed goes down on its own as you see the patterns quicker.
After you've done each problem 6 times, you should've hit the Heisman goal of 85% of the problems in 15 seconds or less. You'll also be much better at solving random puzzles on the intenet went the motif isn't known ahead of time.
SilentKnighte5 wrote:
Before you can do random tactics puzzles, you have to learn the basic motifs first.
Chess Tactics for Students is a good 1st book on tactics. There are 13 chapters, each with a different motif. I would drill each chapter 6x over the course of the next couple of months. If you're really interested I can give you an exact schedule to follow. It will take you about 40-50 days to complete. Don't listen to any advice about only doing 3 tactics per day. These problems are mostly elementary and very instructive.
A very important idea for studying tactics:
Accuracy first, speed later. Time yourself, but don't declare yourself done until you see the entire continuation in your head. Set a time limit on each problem of 5-6 minutes. If you go past the time limit, that counts as wrong. Record all of your times and whether you were right or wrong. As you go through these repetitively, your accuracy goes up and speed goes down on its own as you see the patterns quicker.
After you've done each problem 6 times, you should've hit the Heisman goal of 85% of the problems in 15 seconds or less. You'll also be much better at solving random puzzles on the intenet went the motif isn't known ahead of time.
Thanks for the helpful comments - appreciated. Will also look into the Seiriwan book 
Finally got around to investing in a book on tactics. Dan Heisman Back to Basics. Enjoying going through this slowly and trying to understand where I'm going wrong.
+3000 tactics on this site now and a rating of 1268 (57% pass rate). Here's hoping both rating and strike rate improve over the next 3000 problems....
Jan 12, 2017
0
#26
LuckyDan74 wrote:
Finally got around to investing in a book on tactics. Dan Heisman Back to Basics. Enjoying going through this slowly and trying to understand where I'm going wrong...
A great book! Don't skip the chapter on counting. (I looked at one of your recent games, and within the first 8 moves, you made 5 counting mistakes!)
https://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=1892334915
LuckyDan74 wrote:
Hi there
I try and complete the daily 5 tactics a day here and after today's attempts I find my score at 1023, the same score I was last June! So in 8 months my ability to solve problems has remained the same, I haven't improved at all which is most frustrating and shows that I've learned nothing from tactics. Most people say the only way to improve at chess is to do tactics all the time but I disagree.
Personally I think by playing chess games more regularly and studying where you went wrong, trying to avoid blunders etc is of more use if you want to improve.
Most people do not say that the only way to improve is to study tactics. It is just one of the things you should do. It happens to be the most important in the early days of improving at chess but that does not mean you should do nothing else. And 5 puzzles a day might be enough to keep you in shape when you are already a tactical monster, but ti is nowhere near enough for most people to become one. Try doing 50 a day, alongside playing serious games at time controls that enable you to think, playing over master games, and studying all other aspects of the game.
The Heisman book is a good one on tactics. The difficulty range is wider and the examples more cluttered (they are practical examples from his students' games), which is why I recommended the Bain book first, but you certainly won't go wrong with the Heisman book. I think Heisman is a good 2nd tactics book, when you can take what you've learned and try solving puzzles from real amateur games.
Tactics aren't the end-all-be-all. The biggest hurdle for me in overcoming tactics was actually taking my time and to refrain from guessing. 1000-rated tactics are usually pretty straightforward attacks. And I often think back to Ben Kingsley in Searching for Bobby Fischer repeatedly saying, "Don't move until you see it."
And I just now realized that this post is old and you've gained a few hundred points in tactics. That's awesome. Do you think tactics have helped you, now that you've grown in your tactical knowledge? You've gained about a 100 points in correspondence since you posted this topic as well.
Jan 12, 2017
0
#30
SilentKnighte5 wrote:
The Heisman book is a good one on tactics. The difficulty range is wider and the examples more cluttered (they are practical examples from his students' games), which is why I recommended the Bain book first, but you certainly won't go wrong with the Heisman book. I think Heisman is a good 2nd tactics book, when you can take what you've learned and try solving puzzles from real amateur games.
I agree. I have both books, and I'd recommend a beginner/novice to get both.
tactics are for patzers
CHESS IS 100% STRATEGY
Tactics help
Thanks for looking at that game EscherhcsE, sadly my faster time control games are terrible viewing and it's embarrassing to view them back 
- I didn't skip the chapter. 17/24 correct at the first attempt.
Initially I wanted to improve my daily chess rating (I've been 1300-1400 at daily chess for what seems like forever, maybe 2 years). After asking whether tactics really help, I got a lot of positive feedback and good suggestions (SilentKnight) but then I quickly realised I'm not so hot at tactics either 
There's also been a lot of comments about doing more than 5 tactics a day which is why I decided to buy a book full of them and this is the next stage for me...
T-rex thanks for the reply, I think the biggest thing for me recently was the "take your time" factor as well - mainly thanks to John Bartholomew and his Climbing The Ladder series on Youtube and his very good Chess Fundamental series. It got to a point where I lost the plot when he flew through the higher rated tactics, although the idea of going for the best strike rate no matter how long you take has definitely stuck. I don't however feel as though I've improved and get frustrated when I can't see what everyone else seemingly can. This is why I shall persist with them until they become easier and then hopefully I will start to improve overall. As you say though, tactics aren't everything but I'd also argue it's a good idea to get good at them where possible
Do you play OTB against people who really have no idea what they're doing? I used to be one of them and now I see the board in a completely different way. So I get the feeling of not seeing what everyone else seems to. Because a 1700 rated player must see the board in a completely different way than I do. And yet I can't possibly imagine how. I guess you only know when you get there. It would be hard for to explain the differences between my play now, and my play a year ago. I don't know why I used to hang pieces and why I don't know.
Trex - I live in Manchester, UK where nobody plays chess, nobody in my family, none of my friends (they just laugh if I suggest a game) and there are no local clubs in my community. People around here are obsessed with football, rugby, cricket but not chess so OTB isn't going to happen. I like the convenience of being able to play chess on the bus, in bed or while my better half is watching tripe on the TV anyway
LuckyDan74 wrote:
Trex - I live in Manchester, UK where nobody plays chess, nobody in my family, none of my friends (they just laugh if I suggest a game) and there are no local clubs in my community. People around here are obsessed with football, rugby, cricket but not chess so OTB isn't going to happen. I like the convenience of being able to play chess on the bus, in bed or while my better half is watching tripe on the TV anyway
No chess clubs around Manchester, I'm surprised at that.
Manchester has the Manchester League, plus there's the Stockport League...
vlcosmin wrote:
You should start with a book that teaches you ALL the tactical motifs ( or at least the most common ones ).
I recommend "Polgar - chess tactics for champions", you will it for free in pdf format on the internet. The puzzles are easy, BUT the point is to understand the patterns.
For example: do you know very well the decoy, the blockade, demolition of pawn structure, clearing the space, removing the king from the layer, closing a line/diagonal, opening a line/diagonal, etc. ?
vlcosmin - yes that is why I looked carefully for a suitable book and found the one by Dan Heisman which is divided into separate chapters with different themes. Impressive tactics rating BTW!
Most people in OTB tournaments are tactical morons...just my experience. They fell for the classic Bxh7+ Ng5+ tactic
Well its a year on since the original post and I'm pleased to report my tactics rating is at an all time high of 1397. (I know it's not about a number but the number helps me to see that I have improved).
I put this down to attempting more tactics puzzles from other websites, reading and really focussing on the Dan Heisman book of tactics (once this is completed I'll probably get another book) and looking for tactics that I missed in my own games, win or lose, as well as gaining invaluable feedback from the other helpful members on this site such as Corum, Rat1960 and iProCheckmateKing.
My tactics rating hasn't improved in 4 weeks, I'd still like to get better but don't really believe they are key in overall game improvement
The Tactics trainer is total BS.
You need to invest in books and study on a 3D chessboard, with pieces on the board and everything.
As another person mentioned, get Winning Chess Tactics by Yasser Seiriwan rather than relying on the bullsh*t 5 problems a day. Get out a chess board, and go thru Winning Chess Tactics, Winning Chess Strategies, and Winning Chess Endings by Yasser Seiriwan on a 3-D board and you'll see the major difference. There are themes and ideas that you absorb this way that you don't get from the stupid tactics trainer on this site.