I think we've talked about this before. My approach is to hit the tactics courses on Chess Mentor over and over again until I pretty much have those patterns burned into whatever little is left of my brain. In the last year and a half, I've kicked my TT rating from sub 1000 to the mid 1700's. Danny's pattern recognition videos are killer and should help you out immensely. I've watched those umpteen times too. And yes I do take a tactics book with me on the subway as well. It's all good; hang in there and eventually you will start to see improvement.
Tactics Trainer or Tactics Books
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Which one will improve my tactics faster? Perhaps going over one tactics book over and over again until the patterns stick would build pattern recognition faster than doing a set of random tactics puzzles each day on tactics trainer?
My tactics trainer rating is on the low end, in the 1200's. How long does it take to grow 100 points, when at the low end of the tactics rating?
When you first began to study tactics, how did you go about learning all of the mating and tactics patterns?
I downloaded all of the chess.com tactics and mating net videos produced by Daniel Rensch, and placed them on my iPod. I can see the chess board clearly, all 64 squares, and the audio is perfect. Hopefully, watching these videos over and over again will also build pattern recognation, thus improving my Live Chess performance.
For those with an iPad, I guess you don't need to bother going through and download or conversion process, as you enjoy anywhere-anytime connection with chess.com. Perhaps some of you are even playing Live Chess while waiting 3 hours to see a doctor!