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This is a very poorly titles post too. Sorry.
Mar 30, 2017
0
#3
I'm terrible at tactics puzzles. I always try to crash my Queen into the square nearest the enemy King.
I am a total novice and a bit of a scrub at that
I have noticed my performance on the tactics trainer has an ebb and flow to it
I will do decently for a bit and invariably run into puzzles where i am- puzzled
"What am I supposed to do here, nothing looks great, wth Chess.com this puzzle seems to be the 3rd or 4th move in an opening..."
After some struggling and following the advice of others I generally follow a simple checklist
- look for mating possibilities, checks, and forcing moves first
- after that I will look for any simple captures (pawn takes knight seems to be a favorite of lowbie tactics trainer problems,) simple forks, taking advantage of absolute pins, etc.
- then there is the issue where nothing seems appropriate and upon further examination I will realize that I am in check and need to deal with that or, even better, that I am actually supposed to play the other color than what I am inspecting
One thing that jump started me (as a total novice) was finding a copy of "bobby Fischer teaches chess" in the book store; it basically revolves around back rank checkmates and it's simple format is very easy to navigate; this alone got me moving in a better direction with the tactics trainer
I have noticed my performance on the tactics trainer has an ebb and flow to it
I will do decently for a bit and invariably run into puzzles where i am- puzzled
"What am I supposed to do here, nothing looks great, wth Chess.com this puzzle seems to be the 3rd or 4th move in an opening..."
After some struggling and following the advice of others I generally follow a simple checklist
- look for mating possibilities, checks, and forcing moves first
- after that I will look for any simple captures (pawn takes knight seems to be a favorite of lowbie tactics trainer problems,) simple forks, taking advantage of absolute pins, etc.
- then there is the issue where nothing seems appropriate and upon further examination I will realize that I am in check and need to deal with that or, even better, that I am actually supposed to play the other color than what I am inspecting
One thing that jump started me (as a total novice) was finding a copy of "bobby Fischer teaches chess" in the book store; it basically revolves around back rank checkmates and it's simple format is very easy to navigate; this alone got me moving in a better direction with the tactics trainer
Thanks for all the advice. As I said I feel like I'm getting a bit better, but on the games I win I often find that I've developed my pieces better than the other player which leads to the win, even though I've blundered all the way through like a drunken baby elephant. It's my lack of tactical vision that seems to be the problem.
I've been playing regularly for a month or so after one of my kids asked me to teach him, and I'm keen to get better.
So far I'm playing mainly 15 mins, or 30 mins games so I have time to think. My rating (while low) has been slowly increasing for live games and most importantly I'm enjoying playing.. I've been doing the tactics trainer a lot too and seem to be stuck in a bit of a rut. My rating is much lower than my game rating and I'm convinced that improving my tactics is the key to improving my overall play. Does anyone have any general advice for approaching the tactics puzzles?
Thanks
Chris