tactics trainer feature

What are the thumb up and down for on the tactics trainer?

Is this a way we can give feed back regarding our opinion of an exercise?

I ran into a problem twice. While being asked to pick the correct moves, I found myself declared wrong, even though the final move I chose was still checkmate. It isn't my fault if there is more than one way to win in the same amount of moves. If this isn't a way to report such a problem, is there a way we can still match the moves in masters' games, but have each move reviewed more objectively, instead of us having to pick the exact move they chose, though our may be just as adequate or perhaps even better?

@OP: Yes, we can give feedback.

First, we can add a comment after we've attempted a problem. After either passing or failing a problem, scroll down to see people's comments, if any. Below them, you should see a link that will allow you to add your own comment.

Also, we can suggest tags regarding which specific tactic(s) are featured in a particular problem. Usually, tags have already been suggested by members previously. Once they have, we can agree or disagree with them by clicking the thumbs-up or thumbs-down icon (because sometimes members are mistaken in the tags chosen).

Finally, please be advised that Tactics Trainer problems are very rarely wrong. In the comments section, people often point out what they think are flaws or mistakes in a problem, only to have another member point out why their "refutation" doesn't work at all. If you are absolutely certain that you have found a faulty problem, you might also click the "Report Problem" flag in the upper-right corner.

What specific problem ID number had this flaw?

I didn't take note of a specific number. I figured first of all, I would get the exact answer I got from you, that I am most likely wrong. Beyond that, even if I was right, if the objective is to match a sequence of moves from the games of former masters, the program would be looking for the duplication of a pgn file or fen string. I seriously doubt anyone wrote a feature into the program to look for alternate checkmates, though there are alternate correct moves you can make they don't ding you for( seems maybe they missed a few). Now that I understand a bit more about how everything works, if I have to, I will take a picture of my screen with my phone and email to Chess.com's staff. Thank you for the tips.

I just realized, this actually happened to me, in tactics trainer and chess mentor, once in each.

@OP: Ah. You can go back through your history (or "archive," I think it's called) and review the problems you've done in both TT and Chess Mentor. That way, you can track down the ID numbers of the suspect problems in both features.

I am not positive whether every TT problem is checked for soundness when first designed, due to the high number of TT problems that we have. However, if one is flagged, I am pretty sure that it is then reviewed by either a staff member or moderator. (RetGuvvie98 is usually the moderator who investigates TT problems.) Sometimes, problems are tweaked to either cut off a little sooner or extend a little longer. If a problem reaches a point where the best move isn't necessarily unique, it will be truncated. On the other hand, if a problem doesn't demonstrate a sufficient advantage (of at least 250 centipawns, or 2.50 "points"), it may be extended by a move or more.

Flaws like overlooked checkmates would be extremely rare, but possible. Go back through your TT history (and Chess Mentor history), and you should be able to find those problems again. If you are able to post the ID numbers here, we'll all have the opportunity to try to figure out what's going on in them.

Thanks, I didn't realize I could do that.

I see the Mentor history, but not the TT history, where do I find it?

@OP: Hover the mouse over LEARN in the menu bar, and select Tactics Trainer. (You can also hover over MY HOME on the upper right, and then click Tactics Trainer there.) The TT page should show a list of your 30 most recent attempts. I don't see a way to go further back than that, so if you've done 30 or more problems since encountering this faulty problem, you will have to ask a staff member for assistance.

Ok I found the most recent one in the mentor, it is the last one I did. It is a Timman-Karpov  London -1984  Lesson# AdT090

On move 5.  if you make the alternate correct move, a simple rook check, white can only interpose her queen and thus this leaves black with the option of checkmating with either the queen or rook on the next move,this is simple, straight forward and hard to mess up. Yet they want you to instead make a sacrifice, for a much more difficult and easier to screw up mating sequence, that is harder to see. I won't deny that maybe it is a better test of a players skill per the rating of the puzzle, but in all practicality, are you, or any one else for that matter going to be so arrogent as to show off your skills to win and perhaps miss something, or are you going for the sure fire win? I know what I will do.This puzzle actually has three different mating sequences that end the game on the same move.

I will go try to find the other one.

They are for the tactics trainer tags, appearing next to the tag suggested for this problem by another user before you.

For example, if there is a tag "pin" suggested for a problem, and you see that in fact, you do not agree with it, seeing that it is a skewer, not a pin, then you just vote down the tag "pin" by clicking on thumbs down next to it. In addition, you may like to newly suggest the tag "skewer" from the list of tags available for this problem.

It would be very unusual for tactics trainer to have an alternate solution that also mates in 1 in a given position. All tactics trainer problems are checked, usually first by an engine and then by a human, before being entered into tactics trainer. All the same, there will still be tactics that are bad (e.g. ambiguous or not conclusive) for some reason, one should report these, for example by messaging one of the tactics trainer mods (I am one of them), or by clicking on "report problem", so that they can be removed from tactics trainer or modified.

When reporting a tactics to a tactics trainer mod, include its link or its number so that we can find it.