Chesstempo VS chess.emrald

[tama]

Hello all, i just wanted to point out that the tactics on chess.emrald seem harder then tactics on chesstempo. my rating on chesstempo is 2400+ standerd  but on chess.emrald it is around 1600.


Also on chesstempo the tactics are more Mating related. what do u think?

[richard]

Obviously I'm biased so take my opinion with a grain of salt :-)

I think it is quite hard to compare problem difficulty between the two sites due to the different ways each site assesses the user's performance.  Overall I suspect a user of a similar rating is likely to get more difficult problems served to them on Chess Tempo, especially under standard ratings mode. Given the very severe time constraints on CTS I suspect that if your CTS rating is only 100 points below your CT rating then you are likely getting much easier problems there, otherwise there would be a much larger difference. 

I think that it is fair to say that solving tactics (for the same rating on both sites) is harder on CTS , I don't think that is due to harder tactical positions though.

In terms of mate versus non-mate mix, I have no idea what the mix is on CTS, I don't think they publish stats on their problem set.  The current mix here after the last problem set update is around 2/3s non-mates 1/3 mate.  Before the latest update the mix was the inverse of this.

Regards,
Richard.

[tama]

Well my blitz rating here is 2000+ very easly. Since chess.emrald is all blits and my rating there is only 1600.

And thank u for taking the time to responde.

[richard]

Hi Tama,

Sorry I didn't check your blitz rating.  CTS blitz appears to be a lot stricter on time than CT,    it would be possible to bring all CTS blitz ratings down to CT levels without making the problems harder but just allowing the user less time, this is what makes it hard to assess the difficulty of each sites problem set (as opposed to the difficulty of their rating methodology).  The only way to work that out would be for me to adopt the CTS time controls and see if the users here were still rated higher than CTS, my guess looking at their problem set is that if was using the CTS time controls with CT problem set , that the ratings would be lower here than CTS.  Of course without doing the test it's is impossible to know what the outcome would be :-)

Richard.

[slacker00]

My rating on CTS is a little over  1500.  That site's ratings is largely based on "super blitz" speeds, where you need  to try to find the answer in 3-5 seconds with 8-10 seconds being the longest before you just flat  out make a random guess.  That's frigging fast!  I'm glad ChessTempo has a "standard" option to take as long as you want.  Even the blitz on ChessTempo isn't super bad, you can still take 30 seconds to look at a problem if  you want to really make sure the move is the one you  want.

[xjamesbx]

Well my blitz rating here is 2000+ very easly. Since chess.emrald is all blits and my rating there is only 1600.

And thank u for taking the time to responde.

I'm in roughly the same position.  I have a 1620-ish rating on CTS with around 10,000 problems tried.  I've used this site a ton less, but I seem to be staying in the 2150-2200 range for blitz.

[tama]

Cool !! I wonder if by just doing tactics my chess skills would increase. I seem to be stuck at around 1700 + on icc.

[pollock]

I think chesstempo problems are generally alot harder. On CTS have to be extremely fast and accurate while dealing with shorter more common patterns. Essentially speed is key. Here accuracy though a maze of precise moves to find best continuation seems to count more. Also percentage correct seems to be generally lower here compared to CTS. On CTS im around 1800+ and here 2700+. - pollock

[dougy]

Both sites are excellent - don't worry too much about ratings, that's just an arbitrary number.  Thanks for making this, I was a bit upset how CTS wasn't being maintained.

[tacto]

Both sites are ok for checking out your skill and learning more tactics and ideas.

But for learning and chess improvement... The choice is definitely - and by far so - ChessTempo.com

I have used CTS a lot more in the past(I have now switched for the reason I am about to say) but you just HAVE to admit that the time constraints CTS demands WILL have a negative influence on your improvement.

On CTS you guess the correct solution(or clumsily calculate) and then maybe learn from the answer you are given etc.

On chess tempo you have time to learn about the position etc. ALSO it has 2 modes for training and a LOT more functions...bigger board...


Oh and if this discussion is about problem/rating difficulty then I would say on CTS the ratings are tougher but here the problems you GET are tougher.

Chess Tempo for the win.

[slacker00]

I think both sites are great.  There's no need to pick one or the other.  Pick BOTH!

I think richard is doing a great job in differentiating ChessTempo from CTS.  Sometimes I'm in the mood to do a mad blitz attack of a couple dozen problems, then I got to CTS.  If I feel like really examining a few problems carefully, then I got to ChessTempo.  It's fantastic  to have that  type of option.

[drahacikfm]

I used CTS last year, but quit after a few days.  To get any kind of good rating, you had to make a move very fast.  You couldn't look in any depth at the problem, check your opponent's resources, analyze different variations, etc.  You just had to react and hope.  That might be good for improving your blitz chess, but it's actually going to hurt your tournament chess.  In tournament chess you have to make the right move, and you have to spend time making sure it's the right move.   Making a bad move 30% of the time isn't going to cut it in tournament chess.  You will lose every game.  One or two bad moves in a tournament game, and you might survive.

So I was very happy to find Chess Tempo with its Standard mode, where you can take your time and really understand the position.  My last two tournament games I missed winning tactics and only drew the games against lower-rated players, about 2200 FIDE, so I decided I have to work on tactics.  And then I found Chess Tempo.

[tama]

Lower rated players? 2200 Fide is a low rated person? lol If i can acheave 2000+ on this site in standard does that mean im around 2000 Fide?

[drahacikfm]

tama:  Tournament chess is not only tactics.  It's also knowing openings, knowing endgames, having good positional feel, using your clock well, fighting well when you have a bad position, etc.

But I would say if you are over 2000 standard here, then you can do tactics as well as many FIDE 2000 players.  It is a completely different question if you could get a FIDE rating of 2000 in tournaments.  Because of all the factors mentioned above.

(By the way, I didn't say 2200 FIDE is a low rated player.  I only said that is lower than my rating).

[chipschap]

As I have posted elsewhere here, I believe CTS is about developing pattern recognition and CT is about learning to calculate.  The standard mode here is a blessing.  Much practice at CTS (10,000 problems) did not translate (for me) into USCF rating points, but I saw rapid tournament gains after only 1,000 problems here in standard mode.  CT in standard mode is helping with my thinking and move selection process.  These are real gains.  I am very grateful for this site.  I will not quit using CTS but practice here certainly has yielded results!