This is an excellent question.
I suppose you could ask several people and get several different answers. Here's my two cents.
Yes, there IS an upper limit... but that limit will vary with each individual, based upon their ability, their goals, their patience, etc.
For the casual player or student, with limited time available, I do agree it's not very productive to spend, for example, an hour on a single puzzle. Even if you DO manage to solve it at end of that hour, what have you gained? Satisfaction, surely, but you also could have solved a LOT more puzzles during that same hour.
At the same time, you can't give up too on a puzzle quickly. And some puzzles DO require more thought and more time than other puzzles.
Whatever time you decide, if you don't solve a puzzle initially, I recommend not looking at the answer, but saving this puzzle and giving it another shot later. You may find the solution the second time you look at it.
Maximum time to spend on a chess puzzle
I wouldn't spend more than 10 minutes on a single puzzle. If you give up, don't look at the solution, save it for later.
Bumping for interest.
Not looking at the solution to a problem you have given up on so you can try again later is an interesting idea. I don't think I have the discipline for that though. If I miss something, I immediately want to know what it was I missed, or it will distract me while I'm attempting the next puzzle.
I never just give up on a problem though. I will look at a problem for a long time. An extreme example would be 20 to 30 mins. Around that time is when I will 'give up' by trying whatever option i'm leaning toward the most.
Thanks for your answers.
I tend to agree that there is indeed an upper limit. All those puzzles where I spend half an hour are probably not optimal because I could have solved 10 puzzles of medium difficulty instead.
Something like 10 minutes sounds like a good rule of thumb.
I'm still curious about the opinion of a GM (or lower rated but still expert level player) though.
Hi everyone,
To get better at tactics I spend a lot of time solving chess puzzles. But sometimes - when I try really hard puzzles - it happens that I just can't find the solution in a 'reasaonable' amount of time. I just stare at the position for more than 20 minutes and I still can't find anything convincing.
Now my question is: is this still productive? Is there an upper limit to how much time you should spend on a chess puzzle? Is it a good idea to spend sometimes an hour on an extremely difficult puzzle? Or is it better to limit myself to puzzles which are more on my level? (Puzzles that I can solve in a few minutes.)