Tactics training on the playchess.com server: comments?

[notyetagm]

These Chessbase links, http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=4273 and http://www.fritzserver.biz/Fritz11_Tactics_Training, describes the new tactics training feature on Chessbase's playchess.com server.

Anyone who has used this feature extensively care to compare this
trainer with Chess Tempo and the Chess Tactics Server (CTS)?

Thanks

[shajbat]

I have used the chessbase.com tactics.  I think ChessTempo and CTS are much better.  Chessbase.com tactics are either really simple or really deep.  One problem might have rating of 1200 and the next 2400.  So this means that the problems are not presented to the tacticians in relation to their actual tactics rating, whereas on ChessTempo and CTS this is the case.  Deep tactics training is good for OTB chess.  But the solution to deep tactics is not something that an average player can see in a few seconds.  Also it seems that they repeat all the time.  Once a tactician does a few hundred he/she sees the same problems.  Also, a tactician must have Fritz 11 interface to do chessbase.com tactics.   In order to for a player to improve in tactics first they must master elementary tactics.  This is what ChessTemp and CTS provide.  So a two thumbs up to both ChessTempo and CTS.

[boybawang]

For serious tactics training, there are only three big sites i know:

http://chesstempo.com                       //best features, best interface

http://chess.emrald.net                      //best problems, ugly interface

http://www.chess.com/tactics            //most enjoyable!, visually attractive