The learning process. Struggling with tactics which used to be easy.

Guys, I started out 2 weeks ago from scratch. My tactics rating was 510 but every day there was a growth of 30 points. Maybe not super impressive but it felt nice to see a steady improvement.

Now it seems I've forgotten all I learned and I'm back down 200 points struggling through the lower rated problems as if I've never seen them before. It's creeping me out because I know the information is in my mind but I can't seem to access it. Is this something you experienced as well and if so what is the cause of this (hopefully) temporary loss of memory? 

woodrow wrote:

I agree with timepass12345. You can't improve by playing turn-based chess. I played over 1,000 games of turn-based before I figured that out. (Just because I'm slow doesn't mean you have to be.) The only way to improve is to play tons of live chess. Bobby Fischer said that if you want to learn to play chess, you must play A LOT and be willing to lose A LOT. Everyone does when he's beginning - even a chess genius such as Fischer. Don't worry about your rating. Nobody's watching you or cares about your rating. They're too busy trying to work on their own games.

If you play turn based in the right way, taking all the time you need to think about move, then it's good. If you play it like blitz, howewer....

bellise, if I were you I wouldn't pay too much attention to those first two replies

Tactics Trainer can be frustrating at times, but I think it's a very useful thing to do.  My tactics rating fluctuates wildly; some days I do too many when my brain isn't working especially well (usually any day with a "y" in it!). It can take a while, but it does fall into place eventually ...  even for bears of very little brain like myself. My tactics rating is some way off its all-time high, but I don't care because I know I'm now seeing things a lot better than I used to. 

and Xeelfiar +1