Tips for improving your Tactics Training

Tips for improving your Tactics Training using Chess Tempo

1) At the start only do Standard. No Blitz. Your goal is to get the problems right and improve your calculation, not to do them fast.

2) In the Preferences make the board as big as will fit on your screen. That's more like a real board so the training is better. And don't choose "Continue on correct" or "Continue on fail" because you want to study the problem after you finish it. Do some problems each day with the "player on top" in Preferences. This gives you practice seeing what your opponent can do to you, which is a very important skill.

3) When the problem first appears, take time to count up the material. Why? Because if you are down a knight at the start, you know that you better win at least a rook or deliver mate. Then ask these questions: Is his King exposed? Is he threatening something big against you, such as mate? In that case you better check him or do something that defends the mate. You don't have time for a quiet move. Which of your pieces are well-placed? Which of his pieces are poorly-placed or unprotected? Lots of combinations happen because the opponent has an unprotected piece. After asking all those questions, then start thinking about what move you will make.

4) Take your time. Don't make a move until you really think it's the best move and after you considered several other moves too. Before making your move, ask yourself if your opponent will be able to check you, threaten mate, or take anything after you make your move. You have to look at all those kinds of moves by the opponent and think what the position will look like after your answer to each of those moves! Consider all of your opponent's possible defenses at every step in the line you plan to play, not just after your first move of the line. Consider the final position of the line you plan to play, and ask what your opponent can do to you in that position. Most problems are failed because you miss a good move by your opponent! I've seen problems where many people made a move that allowed Mate in One by the opponent! There's no excuse for that.

If you can't find a good move and want to guess after 5 minutes, ok. Some people don't have the patience to spend longer on one problem.

5) After you get a problem correct, don't go to the next problem immediately. First look at the problem you just did, and ask yourself WHY you had a combination? Did you have more active pieces? Did you have a lead in development? Was his King exposed? Asking those questions will help you to know what kind of positions to aim for when you play a real game.

6) After you get a problem wrong, study why your move was wrong. What move could your opponent make after your wrong move? Then study the correct moves that are given to the right of the board after you finish a problem. Play through them and try to understand why they work. If you have a silver or gold membership, it shows you which other moves were winning alternates. Study each of those to see if there were some tactical ideas that you didn't think of while solving.

A silver or gold membership helps a lot for improvement. The best benefits are you get the computer analysis of the 4 best moves for you in every position in the problem. And you can do special problems sets, such as all the Mate in 1, then all the Mate in 2. Or you can do all the problems rated under 1000, to get a lot of practice with simple tactics. Then you can work up to harder tactics, doing all under 1100, etc. Or you can make a problem set of all the problems you failed, so you can review them.