why do I suck at tactics?

Whats the trick guys?  I do tactics trainer religiously everyday.  Some days I'll be on a roll getting like 9 out of 10 puzzles.  Other days I'll fail 10 in a row.  Maybe its the time pressure.  I just can't seem to improve my tactical vision.  Ive had a rating as high as 1750 on tactics trainer only to fall back down to 1450.  Anybody have any useful exercises to improve on tactics, or is the key to simply just keep doing em?

I share your pain.  I also suck at tactics, but recently I convinced myself that it's not the rating that matters, but the fact that you have to practice religiously every day (or as often as possible).  I have most certainly seen the difference in my games, even though my tactics trainer rating is not impressive at all.

My advice would be to try difference sites and do some tactics from books as well to keep things interesting.

i have tried chess tempo.  I just don't like the interface as much as tactics trainer on here.

I have been as low as 1275 and as high as 1603. I tend to go back and forth between about 1450 and 1550. I do the same thing you do with getting a bunch in a row and then getting like 2 or 3 out of 10.

I think it choses puzzles you have failed at before and it also seems to attack your weakest percentages. If you look at the screen where it shows each catergory it covers, you'll see where it is likely to go, but it seems to intentionally try to confuse you. After it runs out of puzzles to show you for a given rating range, you can begin to memorize them. I have and sometimes it helps. I instantly know the answer.

Oh yeah, when you fail, do you try again until you get the right answer? If not, do it. It will help you learn, even if you don't get the points now, but most likely you'll earn them later if you keep at it.

I recommend not doing it if you are stressed, have a headache, angry, sad, etc. Try to only do it when you are in a good mood and optimistic, otherwise you are going to get distracted.

You guys are way out of my league.  I practice every day and I can't get over 950.  I keep going down or bouncing around the same place.  Its frustrating and I'm getting nowhere!  I dislike this tactics trainer because of the time constraints.  I simply can't figure out what to do that quickly.  I also struggle seeing more than a couple moves ahead.  Maybe I should stick with checkers!

Sum1 on chess.com told, do not bother much bout the rating on tactic trainer, instead understand the concept of every tactic & the reason behind it. 

with tactics practice should help. keep doing the puzzles...HOPE IT HELPS.

Just try solving many puzzles. Don't solve problems when your exhausted, frutrated, upset etc. Ratings doesn't matter here. All you need to do here is to solve the puzzle given no matter what.

I also fall 200points because on time pressure.

For diamond members (like the o. p.) Chess Mentor can be a great aid in "pattern recognition".  Use the tactics courses to build board vision by doing them over and over again until you can score 100% consistently.  Maybe not all of them right away, but the tactical motifs you can't 100% deserve extra attention.  IM Danny Rensch also has a video series explaining basic and advanced tactics including common mates that deserves your attention also. Still, the advice to keep plugging away at the problems is probably the best.  No magic here, just hard work for sometimes incremental progress.  Frustrating, eh?

Yes. I prefer Chess Mentor for Diamond members.

keep at it scott.  When I first started doing the tactics trainer it was frustrating because I couldn't figure any of em out.  I would attempt it but I stopped out of frustration.  But one day for whatever reason I started doing it and the problems just started coming to me.  If you keep doing it you're going to eventually start recognizing patterns, thats the whole idea.  I feel you're frustration, but just keep doing em.  Trust me one day a lightbulb will just go off out of nowhere and you'll start solving more of em.  If you fail one don't ask for the solution right away.  Try it again a few times.  Only ask for a solution if you're completely stumped.  

One thing that helped me improve is focusing on my "plus score" instead of my rating.

Plus score is number correct -number incorrect. It was bothering me that I had more wrong than right, and after focusing on specifically that my rating improved as well, because I had a better, more rigorous, thought process. For sure it helped me get over the 2900 hump.

I don't know.  I've been using tactics trainer for over a year, and I've been as high as 1060, and now I'm at 866 and I keep going down.  I just can't figure out what to do with all the variations and possibilities on the board.  I just don't get it! 

I think that if you understood the ideas that form the possibilities for tactics, you would recognize the themes when they are presented to you.

Do you know the defintions of all of the following and how they apply in a chess game ?

Attacking f7 / f2 , Fork/Double Attack, Defense, Trapped Piece 
 Hanging Piece, Simplification, Interference, Removal of the Defender Decoy/Deflection, Overloading, En Passant, Pin, Skewer, X-Ray Attack, Discovered Attack/Check, Double Check, Windmill

Desperado, Zugzwang/Zwischenzug, Pawn Promotion, Underpromotion, Endgame Tactic

Sacrifice, Exchange Sacrifice, Clearance Sacrifice, Queen Sacrifice

Mating Net, Mate in One, Mate in Two, Mate in Three, Smothered Mate Support Mate, Back Rank, Vulnerable King, Attacking Castled King, Perpetual Check, Stalemate

I am not asking if you always recognize them in a game or puzzle. Obviously we all miss some of them and admittedly you have a fair amount of trouble with that, or you wouldn't be here. I contend that if you don't understand what it is that you should be looking for, how can you expect to find it? If you have tried to understand these ideas in a written form, as well as, with physical examples and they aren't making sense for you, you probably need some coaching.

BTW, I know where you can get some coaching for free.


               
         

      
    

Anyone that's really struggling with the tactics trainer, I'd advise this site:

http://www.chesstactics.org/

I just tried chess tempo, and that is a good site.  I like how there are explanations on the side as what type of problem it is, such as fork, exposed king, etc. No, I don't know those definitions.  I recognize a couple of them. 

Consider the following two things carefully.

If you don't know, but only a few of those definitions, you are doing puzzles and playing games from almost nothing but your intuition and "raw" calculation ability.I think your ratings are actually pretty good considering.

I knew there was a reason you were attracted to this game. Given your raw ability, learning those definitions and practicing tactics will make your ratings probably go up 50 to 100%. You will have to get intimately familiar with opening theory and end games also, if you want to go any higher than that. Good luck.

At your skill level, considering you are a notch or so above me, I'd say that you need to practice, practice, practice.

I had a 3000ish TT rated player give me a puzzle from that level to try. It was a mate in 7. It took me 4 tries. I have tried puzzles at 1500 that were harder for me.

This tells me you and me need to attack our weaknesses and get a great pool of memorized tactical ideas to draw upon, to be really good at it.

BTW, I am far better at mating puzzles, than mating net puzzles. If I was better at mating net puzzles, imagine how much it would help me to be at mating puzzles? This is an example of how getting better in one area, actually makes you better in atleast one or more areas. It could really compound your rating potential.

Maybe there are period you are solving puzzles but you are stressed out? If you are tired I suggest don't solve tactics. The food we eat also affects our mind.

I can easily drop 200 points after someone dopes my supper with polonium.