Now you can get CT-ART on your phone or tablet, the whole thing with all 2000 tactics puzzles for $7.99 on Apple or Android. You don't need the expensive PC program. Just get it for your Phone or better yet, tablet for a bigger screen, for the price of a Starbucks, and you're golden.
thanx
Now you can get CT-ART on your phone or tablet, the whole thing with all 2000 tactics puzzles for $7.99 on Apple or Android. You don't need the expensive PC program. Just get it for your Phone or better yet, tablet for a bigger screen, for the price of a Starbucks, and you're golden.
thanx
Yeah, you're looking for the "Chess King" line of products now, is what they are called.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/dev?id=8196632901699712832&hl=en
https://itunes.apple.com/us/developer/chess-king/id1096660597
I have CT-ART for my Ipad, and it's the same program everyone knew before as CT-ART, (There are about two dozen modules now, but the main one is still called CT-ART 1400-2400). The only difference now is that they have more puzzles, and a much nicer modern looking interface. Best Tactics software I have ever seen.
I get where you are coming from but I am more concerned about the resources of tactical problems here. I wonder if there are any other resources apart from CT-ART.
I don't have the charts and graphs and studies in front of me, but I've heard many times, from numerous sources since I was a child, that to truly learn and memorize something you need to encounter/study it seven times. We remember a very small percentage of what we read the first time, and only after the 2nd, and often even 3rd are we able to pragmatically use it. Seven is designed for the most part to take you from having to think about it, to making it reflexive and natural.
I get where you are coming from but I am more concerned about the resources of tactical problems here. I wonder if there are any other resources apart from CT-ART.
I see... for source material besides CT-ART, check out the Chess King apps which are the same as many of the Convekta DVD's (though differently titled to add to your confusion and to hope that you duplicate purchases). Chess King gives ratings ranges for each of their apps.
I'm not a fan of de la Maza, so I'm going to be in an odd situation of defending his idea here (as it is actually one of the only ideas in his book that actually works).
The idea behind his 7-circles plan is that you will have 1000 puzzles (obviously with several of each motif), and you will be working through them for accuracy at first, and then burning it into your long term memory by increasing the speed until recognizing the motif is almost instinctual. If you have played sports, you'll recognize the pattern here: drill the exercise until you can almost do it in your sleep. Having unique problems of the same motifs will not help with what the plan is trying to accomplish, but you do not want to solve such a small problem set routinely (as it would get boring and would not be as useful). Hence the timetable and number of different problems.
Note that solving 1000 tactics over 64 days means solving ~16/day. If you want to speed up the time table a bit, and have the time, you can start at 32 days (~32/day).
My chief problem with the method is that it gives you a false sense of thinking you can solve a 2500-level problem when in reality you memorized the solution (or at least a few of the key tricky moves). To be a well-rounded strong tactician, you need to be able to recognize the pattern/motif in a variety of set-ups, so I think someone who has gone over 50000 tactics once, I believe, will be better off than someone who has done 7000 tactics 7 times a piece. I don't have any data though for or against, so I could be mistaken.
I don't have the charts and graphs and studies in front of me, but I've heard many times, from numerous sources since I was a child, that to truly learn and memorize something you need to encounter/study it seven times. We remember a very small percentage of what we read the first time, and only after the 2nd, and often even 3rd are we able to pragmatically use it. Seven is designed for the most part to take you from having to think about it, to making it reflexive and natural.
I have heard 17 times, but I see your point. My point is that you want to look for the common pattern that leads to the successful tactical motif regardless of the particular set-up on the board, so as long as you "repeat" the pattern multiple times (even though each problem is unique), then you know without any doubt your brain has abosrbed/learned the "pattern" rather than memorized the "solution."
I get where you are coming from but I am more concerned about the resources of tactical problems here. I wonder if there are any other resources apart from CT-ART.
One resource I forgot to mention was the Chessimo app. It has 4320 unique tactics grouped into 306 sets of anywhere from 60-720 problems, and the entire course automatically has you repeat each problem 6 times in total. It takes a while to get through, but it seems to be built for the seven circles (or in this case, six circles). I have been through the whole program once and my tactics rating did not improve much, hence I am not too keen on that method as opposed to solving unique problems. Some of the problems are very difficult (one user told me that he saw the same position on Chessimo as on CT_ART that was rated 2500 on CT-ART). I like Chessimo best for endgames.
For people who know what this is..
Do you think this is effective in order to get better at Tactical play?
I think it's awesome !!
(uhh, what is it ?)
My chief problem with the method is that it gives you a false sense of thinking you can solve a 2500-level problem when in reality you memorized the solution (or at least a few of the key tricky moves). To be a well-rounded strong tactician, you need to be able to recognize the pattern/motif in a variety of set-ups, so I think someone who has gone over 50000 tactics once, I believe, will be better off than someone who has done 7000 tactics 7 times a piece. I don't have any data though for or against, so I could be mistaken.
I think you misunderstand the purpose of the exercise. It is not so you can solve a 2500-level problem, but that you can instantly recognize 1200-1500-level problems. As 2500-level problems are simply combinations of smaller problems, this gives you a chance to solve those problems when you run into them during a game.
To put it in educational terms: You memorize that 6x7 is 42, and drill it over and over. You do not memorize 128 x 569875, but if you memorized 1) the process for doing the problem, and 2) the values of the smaller pieces, you can correctly solve the expression with some time.
To do the 7 Circles Plan correctly, you are doing simple tactics and combinations over and over. You are not memorizing complicated tactical chains. If you have memorized 1000 common, basic, tactical motifs and can recognize them quickly, you will be able to apply that when calculating more complicated lines. The issue with the 2500-level puzzles is that you start to get into visualization and deep branches that you have to consider. But if you are spending time figuring out basic tactics, you will never have time to even attempt to solve those higher level problems in your games.
I would argue against the notion that 2500-level problems are simply the combination of easier problems.... that may often be the case, but many advanced problems in CT-ART and Chessimo start with a not-easily-understood-by-the-weak-player lure, sac, or other move that say threatens to trap another piece. It is not like these first moves are crude checks, captures, or direct attacks on big pieces. The Crafty engine is too weak and slow on the phone to help elucidate.
Motifs, i.e. basic tactic patterns are the atoms upon which combinations and all attacking play is based. So yes, it does seem like all combinations or high level tactics are just the aggregate of single motifs combined.
Any program that makes you work tactics problems is good. I haven't heard of the Seven Circles before but it sounds like it's worth trying because it can NOT hurt you and will definitely help you to some extent. Whether you are able to see things faster depends, I think, on how fast you recognize the patterns - and knowing them by name has great value, So I don't know if it will speed your calculations up as fast as expected, but it won't hurt to try.
It reminds me of the old Iowa Method for Weight Training that helped me move from the Ectomorph (weak) group in my college weight training class to the Mesomorph (strong) group.
You measure your maxes for each lift (bench press, curl, etc.) then do repetitions (usually 10) at 60% of your max, increasing the repetitions weight to 65%. 70%, etc. each week until you're doing 100% after eight weeks. You then do a new set of maxes and start again with 60%, 65%, etc.
The advantage of that method that the Seven Circles doesn't do is that you have a check every eight weeks: if you weren't able to improve by 5% each week, you would obviously wait another week to try to do so and, at the end of the eight weeks, your new maxes would properly readjust your workout weights.
So, as chessplayer, former teacher, and former athlete/high school head sports coach, my only complaint with The Seven Circles it that it should have a %age-of-successful-solutions target where if you're not meeting that target you either need to be working easier problems or allowed to use more time.
Now you can get CT-ART on your phone or tablet, the whole thing with all 2000 tactics puzzles for $7.99 on Apple or Android. You don't need the expensive PC program. Just get it for your Phone or better yet, tablet for a bigger screen, for the price of a Starbucks, and you're golden.
Wow. That helps. Thanks for the tip.
I did this about ten years ago when I was rated 120 by the English chess federation - probably about 1200 going by my online elo.
I bought a chess tactics books that had progressive puzzles and followed the seven circles structure.
I think the 1000 initially to took me about 6 weeks and i did not get to doing all 1000 in a day - I only managed a weekend.
However, my ECF rating has improved to 170 (probably 1900 elo).
I can't say this is necessarily a testament of the method as it wasn't the only thing I did to improve.
However, along with playing through games of my favourite grandmaster I feel this formed an important part if my improvement.
I would definitely recommend this approach.
Exercise helps in any sport. To be good, you must exercise a lot. Doing the same thing a lot is boring. To fight boredom, you do a variety of exercises. Like the Seven Circles Program.
Now you can get CT-ART on your phone or tablet, the whole thing with all 2000 tactics puzzles for $7.99 on Apple or Android. You don't need the expensive PC program. Just get it for your Phone or better yet, tablet for a bigger screen, for the price of a Starbucks, and you're golden.