Tactics Trainer Opinions

I have recently taken chess up again after a hiatus of several years and am really enjoying this site. I am playing 3 day correspondence for the most part and I am doing OK there but I have started using the Tactics Trainer and I am getting my butt kicked on it!

I only have a limited amount of time to study tactics daily and was wondering the view here: is it better to study a chess puzzle book or use the Tactics Trainer?

I like the trainer because I have no idea what tactic to look for (whereas books are often arranged thematically) or how long the combination will be. I dislike it because there is no context. A few seconds to look over the board and the timer starts.

Which is a better vehicle for learning tactics, then?

Why choose? Spend some time with books; spend some time with tactics trainer.

I really like the tactics trainer. My only complaint is that every once in a while there will be two or more equally good solutions and it will only award as correct the one line it has chosen. 

I would think a book might be best to start.. first there would be no clock, and second you get to set up the pieces on a real board.. this helps if all you play is online corr. (such as myself)

but as Ziryab says a little of both is good. I play on chesstempo, plus do a little Reinfeld bookwork

Don't forget game analysis. That is the final application of the tactics you hopefully mastered. If you can see a tactic while analyzing a game, you've learned it baby. 

I started with books. I think they are good as they force you to see the entire continuation, and you aren't pressured to just "try something" because of the clock. But if you use them correctly, both tools can be just as effective. 

and, Sir, if you will send the tactic number to one of the moderator team, it will be quickly verified and edited if there are two or more equally good solutions.

regards,

Alternating between methods is an option, s.o. mentioned chesstempo also. Is that basically the same as the Tactics Trainer here or is there s.t. you prefer about it?

I like this about chesstempo- the overal look, no timelimit (and still rated) and the problems in general.

only minus is some go waaay too short, and the solution is not human enough at times

Chess.com is excellent and does many things well. For tactics exercises however, I prefer chesstempo. It offers continuation, valid alternate moves are not penalized, and there is a place for user comments, which for the most part, are helpful and constructive. It also doesn't visually overemphasize "time to answer" with a big time-bar graphic counting down the time.

Try/use both maybe.

Perhaps you should use both. I know I SUCK  at the tactics trainer, but I haven't gotten a book yet.  I can't get anybody on here to tell me how to get the analysis board at the bottom to work. I can bring the board up but I can't get the pieces to move when I click on the thing at the bottom.

Decided to try Chess Tempo last night and I really liked it. Scored a good deal higher as I was not distracted by the timer too. I think that at my current level and given that I play CC rather than chess with a timer this is the way for me to go right now. Thanks to all for the tip on Chess Tempo!

I wonder why the Tactics Trainer here does not offer untimed rated problems?

Because many people do not want two separate tactics trainers (one timed, the other one untimed), but a single timed TT where the solving times to be very big.

You can hide the timer. I hid it, as it was a distraction to me and can focus on the problem more.

Go to the Tactics Trainer page, on the right side of the page click settings, uncheck the box that has "Show Timer:" next to it and click the button "Save Preferences".

In fact all those features of chesstempo are present here also. In general, the problems are conclusive and they end when one side obtained a decisive advantage or forced a draw in a losing position. There are a lot of good comments (I'm surprised you didn't find any).

As for valid alternates moves, this is what I hate at chesstempo. For instance, if you have a problem were you find a way to obtain a huge material advantage, but there is also a forced mate in 7, you are told "you made a good move, but that's not the computers' choice. Try again". Well, I don't want to try again. As far as I'm concerned, if I obtain a decisive advantage, what's the point of searching a fancy mate in 7? Here you simply don't have such problems. All the problems have an unique solution and any deviation from that solution does not lead to the same outcome of the game.

Yes, about useful comments, just picking a random example:

http://www.chess.com/tactics/server.html?id=50331

What happens to your score on the Trainer here if you get the correct answer say 30 sec after the timer runs out? Is it a neg. score?

The time that it takes you to solve the problem determines your rating change.  You can get the problem correct and get a negative change.  Keep in mind that the Tactics Trainer is a training tool.  My "rating" continually varies within a 500 point range.  I concentrate on the solution to the problems rather than the rating (I don't feel that it has much significance). 

Costelus seems to be comparing paid Chess.Com usage of the tactics trainer, with the free features of Chesstempo.com.  If you dont have a paid chess.com account, the limit of 3 problems a day is fairly prohibitive.  Conversely, if one is willing to pay for Chesstempo.com, it offers far more features then the tactics trainer here, even if you pay.  Free Chess Tempo usage> Free Tactics Trainer use and Paid Chess Tempo Account > Tactics Trainer with paid chess.com membership.  Its only an (arguably) close call if you are comparing Paid Tactics Trainder with Free Chess Tempo.

You must be joking, costelus? There are hordes of problems where you fail a problem for winning big material when there's a mate. It's simply disingenuous to suggest otherwise.

you know very well that such problems are the exception, not the rule. And you also know that once an user points out that there are two solutions, the problem is edited or removed.