Tactics problems are harmful

At least in my case....... I explain: I am 42 years old, 1850 Fide, so a mediocre players. A few years back I realized tactics were the main area I should work in order to get better results. I started to train myself doing a lot of tactics problems....books, software, online, ...... I am now able to spot tactical themes very quickly and solve lot of them, but I have noted in my otb games that I spend 90% of my time searching my own moves like if all positions were "I move and win". ... I dream with my own tactics all the game, but when I have nothing, I end moving a piece that improves my position, but, sometimes......zassss,...., my opponent has a tactic that force my to loose the game. So many hours spend in solving problems, that I am not trained to see my opponent chances. I have even tried to force myself to look for my opponent tactics on games, but although I can doing for a few moves, my mind ends looking for my own combinations..... I am too trained for that, and need home work to fix. The problem I think is most tactical problems are "move and win", and maybe I should train "move and don't loose"...or maybe "avoid move"..... What can I do to correct my tactic training? Is there puzzles or books aimed to train my opponent chances and not my owns? I have even tried to reverse board without much success. I have also tried to force myself to look for my opponent tactics on games, but I although I can doing for a few moves, my mind ends looking for my own combinations..... I am too trained for that bad habit, and need home work to fix. Ideas? Thanks Fer

That is a good point.  Lucky for you I think this bad habit of yours can be fixed quite easily. With a bit of training with defence tactics you will be back on track!

Use tactics trainer here in V3.  You can tweak your setting so you only get problems with a particular theme (I am sure you will find out how to do this yourself, it is easy) .  In your case you want defence themed tactics.

As a free member you only get a daily allowance of tactics.  I think it is like ten.  But that is more that enough to fix you problem.  Just change the problems you gets' rating to a little above your level and take your time to ponder the position.  These problems force you to look at your opponent's tactics and possibilities and force you to look for a defence.

In a few week you may even be a little biased and look for your opponent's moves 90% on the time.  If this happens you can just balance the training.

Hope this helps.

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I recall reading Cecile Purdy's articles (Australian correspondence champ in the 50's)...where he states that tactical positions don't always exist. An undefended piece for example is a harbinger that a tactical combination may be in the air. So I don't exhaustively look for tactical combinations JUST because pieces are in contact.

You're a much stronger player than I so I won't presume that I know more than you, but "target fixation" is a problem for chess players and fighter pilots. Situational awareness is important in both fields. You've got to assess your opponent's threats, assure yourself that you have a good response and bust up the threat and try to seize the initiative with stronger threats that take less time.

Kempelin:  "So many hours spend in solving problems, that I am not trained to see my opponent chances. I have even tried to force myself to look for my opponent tactics on games, but although I can doing for a few moves, my mind ends looking for my own combinations..... I am too trained for that, and need home work to fix."

 

I thought all, or nearly all chess players, of your strength, have an innate pre-move thought process that goes like this after seeing your opponent's move:  "Does his latest move represent a threat (that I need to attend to)?"

 

I mean, this gets prioritized even before attending to your own threats.  I think it's what scholastic coaches teach their young kids in order to get them to stop hanging their pieces.  I look at my opponent's tactics before I attend to mine.

In daily games I have the same problem - spending lots of time trying to see a tactic that's not there - in after-game analysis Stockfish may find one, though!  In OTB or online rapid games, I try to foresee tactics and if I don't see one quickly enough, I just try to be aggressive because positive tactics combinations tend to flow from that.  I just had a game where allowed my a and c pawns to become isolated, otherwise, I'd be wasting time trying to get my pieces mobilized.

I think tactics solving has helped me in many ways but also hurt me in some. For instance I don't seem to play well against solid players that are more positional in nature. The players that leave very few weaknesses, and seek small advantages as a game plan. A guy like me leaves holes for players like that to exploit because I give up positionally important squares to open things up.  If things don't open up I lose almost every time. A lot of times in games like that I don't even really know what to do. I seem to thrive when tactical opportunities are present in the position. It's also a lot funner to play that way. Well until I lose, that ain't fun. I need to work on my positional awareness just as much as I work on tactics.

Why do you say that your a mediocre player when you know that your not? Don't tell me that you allowed the cyber bullies to take control of your own voice?

Well, if you don't use the tactical patterns you learn, they are useless / harmful even.