How to get better at chess tactics?

Developing the ability to recognize these patterns is hard! I mulled over Burgess' "bishop sacrifice" section in the "Mammoth Book of Chess" for an hour or so trying to see the pattern(s) that would make the sacrifice viable, and which would not. He kind of gives a half hearted attempt at a checklist to "help you" see the pattern(s), but it's half=hearted(!) There must be better out there (?)

Are there any books, or other resources, that explicitly show, spell out, and highlight, the most important patterns in a systematic manner? 

At some point in every persons life we have to face reality. And that reality is the each of us, sooner or later, reaches a level of incompetence, or, in the case of chess, our highest level of skill. Unless a person is willing to sacrifice something in their life to achieve a higher level of skill (time, energy, resourses) their skill level will eventually level out. Perhapes you have reached that point.

That's a defeatist mentality.  More importantly, I don't think it's true.  I know a fellow in Germantown, Ohio who began playing casually as a kid, did a couple of tournaments as a 20-something year old (and got a rating of 1100), and took up chess upon retirement at 50-something.  For the past 30 years or so, he's climbed from 1100 to mid-upper 1800's and is closing in on 1900 USCF.  He studies quite a bit, and it is slow-going, but he is very likely to achieve his goal of expert in a couple years, maybe before he hits 85.  The truth of the matter is that the amount of work that goes into the average adult's improvement is rather quite a lot (especially compared to children), however, I think it is foolish to assume that 20-some points gained per year is no gain at all.  I understand statistical variance can hide this progress in the short-term, but all the older folks, who study rigorously, constantly improve.  Sure, simply sitting down and playing won't make an adult improve the way a child does, but that doesn't put an upper-bound on an adults potential.  I think only time does that.

"How to Beat Your Dad at Chess" by Murray Chandler does a good job of showing some of the most common patterns, and highlighting the factors that make them work.

However, based on your description, it may not go as far as you'd like when it comes to the classic "Greek Gift" sacrifice (Bxh7+). He's got 4 sections (of the 50 in the book) that cover that one, but he still doesn't go into all the little nuances that make the sac work or not work, and why certain defenses work better in certain situations (Kg8 vs Kg6 vs Kh6 after accepting the sac and Nh5+).

I actually know of two whole books that cover just that one sacrificial pattern, but I don't think they're worth it, since that sac doesn't come up THAT often in games. It's better to learn lots of patterns pretty well than to be an absolute expert on just that one. But once you've got Chandler's book and some others of common attacking patterns down cold, those more detailed books could become worth it.

Tracer, can you do me a favor, the player that you beat was using a chess engine. Go to Help & Support and file a ticket against:  lqpa123

I have analysed his games and its come back as suspicous.

Its obvious hes using software.

do drugs

I'm rather new here, but I don't get the whole "beat the clock" aspect of tactics.  I've played in a number of over-the-board tournaments, usually with time controls in the 1 to 2 hour range.  Never has a good move been based on how quickly it was made.  A good move after 3 minutes of thinking is as good as one made after 30 seconds of thinking.  Sure, too many of those and you may get into time trouble.  But in general, 3 minutes or so is rather adequate as far as thinking time goes.  In addition, I recently "failed" a tactic because my move was a "mate in 3" instead of a "mate in 2".  Again, in all tournaments I have played, a mate in 3 (or even 20) is as good as a mate in 2.

I think the tactics themselves have value, but having a rating tied to time is pretty useless. 

When you're first starting out with serious tactics puzzles, I agree that you should take your time. But after a while, it's good to review the easy ones, and try to do them faster. Being able to spot the simple stuff quickly is part of being able to calculate the long, complex stuff. After all, what good is it to calculate a 5 move combination to win a knight, if you overlook that your queen is en prise in the final position?

For people who don't like the clock, there's always chesstempo.com for tactics.  Check out standard and mixed modes in particular.  However, the clock on chess.com can be useful for two reasons:

1.  It help simulates time pressure situations.

2.  How quickly you can do a tactic is a meaningful measure of your chess strength and helps assess your progress relative to the strength of other players.

Combinations and sophisticated strategies are cummulative, in the sense that requisite to them is relatively immediate pattern recognition.  If you can't immediately see three basic patterns involved in a combination, it will take you forever and a day to find that combination.  Additionally, in terms of general play, you will be much more likely to hang pieces, if you can't see tactical threats pretty much instantly.

Whatever one's strength in chess, the players 400 points higher rated can find the lower rated player's quality of move or better, just about instantly --or under 10 seconds, we'll say.  This is true when I'm playing a simul vs my students (rated 1100 and lower), it's true for me and other 1800-ish players who play a 2300-ish in a simul.  There's a reason for this: the more stuff (i.e., patterns) one sees instantly, the higher the quality of the play.  This is why 2500's will often give 2100's significant time odds when playing faster controls for money.

Checks, Captures, Undefended pieces.

When people say pattern are we talking about check mate pattern like back rank mate..? Where   would i go to learn theae pattern ???

Just remember that tactics is a servant of the strategy.

Some of great player, Spassky I think said once that chess is 90% strategy and 10% tactics.

If you have a diamond membership, it's pretty easy.  In the Old Lessons, GM Wolff has about 20 different courses, each on a different tactical motif.  The usual pins, forks, and skewers, but also more difficult concepts like interference.

IM Danny Rensch has a 2 or 3 part series covering the same ground in a video presentation.

The Tactics Trainer can be studied in custom unrated mode and you can choose to study any of the following:  OK, my bad.  I can't copy and paste the list, but it goes from Attacking the castled king to Zwishenzug (or however it's spelled).  I'm sure there are books and articles that also teach the motifs.  Sorry I couldn't be more help as these all require paid membership, but I'm sure there have to be some free resources out there as well.  Good luck!

Wow, I just saw that I started this topic 4 years ago and then having 1750-1850 rating in chess tactics. Now my rating is a bit higher then 2100, so there is some improvement over the time

And some of us have gone from the 1500's to over 2400 in that time. 

Congrats

Thanks; you, too.

For me, the biggest eye opener about patterns was puzzle rush. I can solve instantly the first ten puzzles (who involve back rank mates or 1 move piece capture/mate basically) and then start to need to find intricate ideas, whereas someone with 10 points or move above myself will insta-solve the positions I have trouble with.

The mode helps identify that limit where you stop recognizing things and have to work out a solution.