Why “solve 1,000 puzzles” is a poor goal
The number of puzzles you have solved says little. You can reach a thousand on timed puzzles alone, five minutes a day, guessing moves and looking at the answer, and the motifs will not stick.
Solving by theme does more: a week of forks, a week of pins, a week of deflection. Calculate every puzzle to the end with no hints, and write down the motif that worked in it.
Pattern recognition comes before calculation
Many players think that tactics are calculated and that a strong tactician sees 12 moves ahead. Strong tacticians work differently. They first recognize a familiar motif (a fork, a pin, a discovered attack) and only then calculate a line two to four moves deep to check that it works.
So at 1300–1700 the first job of puzzles is to fix as many standard positions in your memory as you can. Training long calculation comes after that.
Themed sets and random puzzles
When puzzles come in random order, a motif has no time to stick: a fork today, a mate in 3 tomorrow, a deflection the day after, and each theme turns up once a week.
Solve 50 puzzles on one theme in a week and you will start noticing it in your own games. After a week of forks you see at once, at the board, that a knight on c7 checks the king on e8 and attacks the rook on a8.
On chess.rodeo the puzzles are sorted into more than 60 themes: open /puzzles and pick one.
A three-month program:
- Weeks 1–2: forks
- Weeks 3–4: pins and skewers
- Weeks 5–6: discovered attacks
- Weeks 7–8: deflection
- Weeks 9–10: mate in 2 and back-rank mate
- Weeks 11–12: the themes where you made the most mistakes
After these three months you recognize the main motifs at once, and random puzzles start to pay off.
Solve slowly
Timed puzzles, such as Puzzle Rush on Chess.com, are good for a warm-up once a week: they keep up the speed at which you recognize a motif. New motifs do not stick at that speed.
The training itself is puzzles solved without hurry. Stay with the position and calculate the line to the end. If you are unsure, keep thinking and do not press Hint or Show solution. If you got it wrong, work out which motif you did not see and which defense you overlooked.
An easy puzzle takes 2–5 minutes, a puzzle at your level 5–15. If you solve three times faster than that and without mistakes, the puzzles are too easy for you. On chess.rodeo you do not set the difficulty by hand: training picks puzzles near your puzzle rating, and the rating goes up after every puzzle solved with no wrong move and no hint.
The core motifs
Fork (double attack)
One piece attacks two at once. At 1300 this is the most common motif, and there is almost nothing to calculate in it. The most dangerous fork is one with check: your opponent has to save the king, and you take the other piece.
Puzzles on this theme: Fork
Pin
A piece cannot move away because a more valuable piece stands behind it. If the piece behind it is the king, the pin is absolute: the pinned piece may not leave the line of the pin.
Puzzles on this theme: Pin
Skewer
It resembles a pin, except that the more valuable piece stands in front and has to move. The typical case: you give check, the king steps away, and you take the piece that stood behind it.
Puzzles on this theme: Skewer
Discovered attack and discovered check
You move one piece and open a line for another piece behind it. If that second piece gives check, it is a discovered check, the strongest form of the motif. A check has to be answered at once, so the piece that moved away can attack anything, and your opponent usually has no time to save it.
Puzzles on this theme: Discovered attack
Deflection and capturing the defender
The defender is a piece that stands in the way of your tactic: it covers the square you need or protects the piece you are attacking. Capture the defender, or pull it away with a check or a threat, and the tactic goes through.
Puzzles on this theme: Deflection
Mate in N
The most forcing puzzles: your opponent has few replies, and the line can be calculated to the end. Go in order: mate in 1, then mate in 2, then mate in 3. Spend extra time on back-rank mate: players overlook it at every level.
Puzzles on these themes: Mate in 2, Back rank mate
A weekly tactics plan
If you have 2.5 hours a week for tactics (half of all your chess time in the study plan), spend them like this:
- Five days of 25 minutes: puzzles on one theme. Solve slowly and without hints, and change the theme once a week.
- Once a week: five minutes of timed puzzles as a warm-up.
- Every two weeks: go back over your misses. Open the puzzles you failed in those two weeks and solve them again.
Do not chase volume: 30 puzzles calculated to the end do more than 100 solved halfway.
How to notice tactics in a game
A common complaint: “I solve 2000-rated puzzles and still hang a piece in a game.” In a puzzle you know in advance that a tactic is there. In a game nobody tells you, and you have to notice the moment yourself.
Three habits help:
- Undefended pieces. Before every move, check yours and your opponent’s. If a piece is attacked more times than it is defended, look for a tactic.
- Checks. Your opponent has to answer a check. If you have one, spend five seconds looking at what comes after it.
- Piece placement. Your opponent’s king and queen on the same diagonal or file: check for a pin and a skewer. Two pieces a knight can attack from one square: check for a fork.
At first you will have to run these checks deliberately, on every move. The more puzzles you have solved, the less effort they take.
Related
- How to grow from 1300 to 1700: the overall study plan.
- Common chess mistakes by level: what 1300 players blunder.
- Free chess puzzles online: how the puzzles section on chess.rodeo works.
- All puzzle themes: more than 60 of them.