Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Have you thought about keeping track of which you're missing and trying to study that particular motif? As with chess, try and find the mistakes you're making and correct them.
Perhaps you're not checking every check/capture/threat, perhaps you're not considering every defence, perhaps you move too quickly, it's tough to say.
Thanks, Scott. To this point (I'm pretty early on at chess.com) the theme with the 'easy misses' that I recall has been with 1 or both checking/mating pieces very close to the opposing King.
One thing that I have recently started doing is maintaining a .doc of chess maxims/principles which I read at least once each day. The idea being to have them so ingrained that they end up presenting themselves, so to speak, almost automatically while I am playing.
Sounds like my I have something to add to the list :)
Scott, what a quality site. Appreciate the detail it goes into.
Sure it will be a very helpful resource.
Aside from missing the obvious from time to time, I need to get to the point where I see tactical *possibilities* a move or 2 further back than I currently do, so I can then put myself in a position to capitalize.
Like your avatar, btw!
Thanks again ~
Hello, everyone. Here's my first post :)
I'm using the tactics trainer, and like it very much.
I've done around 60-70 problems. I believe the computer started me at around 1200.
Right now I'm hovering in the 1320 -1340 range.
What I am finding is that, of the tactics puzzles that I miss, I most often miss the easiest ones - ones where I facepalm and say, "How could I have missed *that* one?" I've been pretty pleased with my score on the tougher ones.
Oddly enough, my score after about 30 move choices on the Mentor is 1972 (it says: Highest = 1972; Lowest = 1528).
I'm not concerned with ratings (I just mention them as they might be helpful in discerning something about my thinking), but what causes me to miss the more obvious tactics, while scoring more consistently on the tougher ones (tougher among those the computer is giving me at my level, I suppose).
Would love to hear your thoughts on why you think this might be, and possible ways to help in how I see things. Maybe some of you have overcome a similar issue.
TIA. Very glad to be here.