I just put a sample copy of Tactics Time on my Kindle. I've been using Chessable, but I don't find the spaced repetition works for me either. What is better for me is to "overstudy" the patterns instead.
I agree that focusing on the same small set of puzzles on a single theme until you can get them all right very quickly. Our older adult brains need to do that in order to deeply imprint these patterns. I'm hopeless with calculation and I'm almost 65 so I plan to improve my intuition instead.
I just put a sample copy of Tactics Time on my Kindle. I've been using Chessable, but I don't find the spaced repetition works for me either. What is better for me is to "overstudy" the patterns instead.
I agree that focusing on the same small set of puzzles on a single theme until you can get them all right very quickly. Our older adult brains need to do that in order to deeply imprint these patterns. I'm hopeless with calculation and I'm almost 65 so I plan to improve my intuition instead.
Yep, it takes time, it's frustrating to study tactics and study and still not see them in your games........well every now and again........ what do u mean improve your intuition, what does that entail?
Hi good day folks totally agree with OP. I play on another chess site and use chess tempo to train I just have an account here to post on the forums.
But it's much more nuanced than that. There's solving/ calculation and visualization ability, then there is pattern recognition of tactics. Solving requires putting aside lines and variations and looking at each of them. Holding them in your memory of lines you want to look deeper and discarding. Therefore, solving is about higher executive decisions, looking at the lines your visualization produced, and then checking certain lines until you are satisfied. Chess tempo set at Standard but not at a certain rating is PERFECT for that. As you solve problems, the problems get more difficult. When you get them wrong it lessens your rating and difficulty so you're always at that "limit" STRETCHING your solving ability. A good rule of thumb is if it takes less than 3 mins and more than 15 mins to solve a puzzle it's not helping you. FM Peter Giannatos said so on a podcast and swears this is how he got to FM level. He COMPLETELY DISDAINS repeating the same set of tactics that take less than 2 mins to solve OVER AND OVER again until they are ingrained. He said he never knew anyone at his level doing that successfully.
Here's my humble and limited take on it. At the lower levels ( below expert/ 2000) the tactics that lose games are 2-3 move tactics and even shorter for the lower levels. Therefore, recognition of these common patterns is key.
However, as you go beyond 2000 the tactics that lose games tend to be "i did not look deep enough into the line" so when a player that level says If i go here instead, he can do this, this and this, which is still good for me ( evaluation) but what if he can do something other than those, is there anything in that line like a hidden resource he can pull off that will make things bad for me?
As you can see, at that level, one hidden resource could completely change the evaluation of the line and result in loss of the game. So their solving and calculation better be on point.
However, for below experts ( and definitely shorter time controls) it's good enough to play a threatening line that is beyond the ability of the opponent to solve and look for the hidden resource. So, if you recognize all the basic patterns and the opponent overlooked one, you will likely win. The opponent won't have the solving ability to find the perfect defense. And more likely, won't have the time to solve for the perfect defense.
So what I think is the higher up you go, the less important repeating the same tactics is and the more important it becomes to solve each line accurately with correct evaluation at the end of the line.
That being said, the way you used chess tempo did not suit your purposes. It definitely would have suited you to repeat the same set over and over ( it's also easier and more rewarding)
SOLVING IS TOUGH! as Giannatos says " It Sucks" but at the longer time controls and at the expert and higher level, it's 99 percent solving.
At the lower levels and at shorter time controls, it's 99 percent practical patterns you could do. You wouldn't have time to solve every line. You would choose lines that look safe for you but dangerous for the opponent.
Both skills are super important. I'm sure Magnus Carlsen with his superior pattern recognition spends less time looking at lines that go nowhere.
Many books can be used for the practical patterns
Many people have succeeded on chess tempo as the people there are more likely to be scholastic teams playing CLASSICAL CHESS. Well in this format as one could imagine, since the time available is a lot more, not seeing variations deeply enough could beat you. As opposed to blitz chess, You could always filter "problems I got wrong" and redo the problems again and then filter "problems I got right at least once" to do tactics you have gotten wrong once.
For basic pattern recognition I have found tactics ninja by and Mating Matador by chess mood the best introduction to ALL patterns. For pattern ingraining I have found benedictine's chess patterns to be peerless. I have all the other books Bain, Masseti and Messa Polgars chess tactics for champions and those are OK.
Let me apologize beforehand because maybe we're talking about two different people here. Recently I purchased a book on Amazon called " Everyone's First Chess Workbook: Fundamental Tactics and Checkmates for Improvers – 738 Practical Exercises Paperback – September 6, 2021", written by a Peter Giannatos. Yeah that's pretty much a direct copy/paste of the title there, and I wonder if this is the same guy that you're talking about.
If so, then you'd be in fact dead wrong, this Peter Giannatos is clearly an advocate for Pattern Recognition and the repeating of basic patterns, otherwise he wouldn't have written this book and worded things the way he did. Also your entire comment here undermines what Dan Heisman clearly recommends along with other Chess Tactics authors/coaches etc. Furthermore, last time I checked, repetition is the mother of skill. Chess tactics is a skill that can be earned through repetition and if you're really wise and smart you'll incorporate "spaced repetition" into your training.
Again, no disrespect meant, no offense meant, like I said we could be talking about two different people here, the rest of it is your opinion, which I'll also respect but I severely disagree with, and apparently other "Chess coaches/teachers" disagree with you as well.
P.S.... I speak of tactics training for mainly Class players and other lower rated players but I doubt that higher rated players couldn't benefit from a ton of repetition of basic tactics patterns that they know or think they know. (Think is the key word there, and me? I'm a GP, which stands for Grand Patzer, but I do have some knowledge of this game and about just general Chess training, I can't tell u how many knight forks puzzles I solved/studied, only to blunder a piece to a.........wait for it, wait for it, right, you guessed it, to a knight fork, so what's the lesson here, repeat repeat repeat, won't eliminate your blunders but will help greatly reduce them) Good day sir.