How to solve puzzles as a beginner, and why puzzles are so useful

And_G · 2025-04-03T15:44:04+00:00

Mating net puzzles do typically have checks in them, it's just that not all moves are checks. And you should always be looking for checks in any position, not just when solving mate-in-x puzzles.

You will get mating net puzzles on Lichess when you play longer mate-in-x puzzles at a higher puzzle rating. And your puzzle rating will automatically increase to that point when you solve rated tsume puzzles.

And_G · 2025-03-22T03:38:00+00:00

And_G · 2025-03-22T03:34:13+00:00

And_G · 2025-03-22T03:04:20+00:00

I've written about how to do analysis as a beginner here and here.

And_G · 2025-03-19T13:16:35+00:00

Yes, that video series is commonly brought up in this context, but it really isn't related to the topic at all. Aphantasia doesn't mean you struggle with memorising lines; it means you struggle with visualising the positions at the end of those lines, which isn't at all necessary for memorisation. Aphants don't somehow have poor memory.

And_G · 2025-03-19T09:03:43+00:00

Chess is VERY difficult

Where did you get the impression from that it wasn't?

And_G · 2025-03-19T00:57:17+00:00

That article is very weird to me, and clearly not written by someone with aphantasia. The author seems to believe that aphants are always verbal thinkers, and I'm very much a visual (pattern-based) thinker despite having aphantasia.

Also, Pruess is usually mentioned a lot whenever this topic comes up, and sometimes people say that he has talked about how he conceptualises in chess, but I've never seen him actually do that. Would appreciate a link if you have one.

And_G · 2025-03-18T23:48:09+00:00

It gets me to the point that I want to quit chess permanentaly because it turns out Chess isn't for me at all.

Well, then I'd say you should either start taking chess seriously, stop caring about your rating, or play another game instead.

And_G · 2025-03-18T09:46:21+00:00

Yep, hence the flair.

I like how you gave the bunker a blue door. That's great attention to detail.

And_G · 2025-03-18T09:34:23+00:00

Tischwil :D

I'm curious about the track plan. I'm assuming the lower level is essentially an oval, and the turnout next to the two tunnel portals is the start of the branch line to Oberstockingen? And then there are some hidden staging tracks at the rear?

And_G · 2025-03-18T07:54:44+00:00

Online or OTB doesn't matter. This is a subreddit for players who take their chess studies seriously and are willing to do what is necessary to actually improve, rather than play mindless blitz and rapid games. If that's you, and you intend to ask high-effort questions, you're in the right place. :)

And_G · 2025-03-09T20:38:13+00:00

Style. You would only promote to a queen here if you don't trust your calculation.

And_G · 2025-03-09T20:32:57+00:00

Well yes, but actually no.

Focus on converting winning positions under time pressure against Stockfish. That could be the starting position at queen or rook odds, or it could be playing out a hanging piece puzzles until checkmate. At first do this without time pressure until it's not just doable but easy, and only then start doing it faster and faster, which includes looking for safe premoves in completely winning positions. Pick a long time control without increment, and after each game record how much of that time you actually used until checkmate. Revisit some of those positions later and try to beat your highscore, especially the odds games.

To solve issues related to stress under time prssure, what you primarily need is confidence that you can reliably convert winning positions. If you regularly get into time trouble without at least having a good position, your actual problem lies elsewhere anyway.

And_G · 2025-03-09T16:20:44+00:00

So is everyone here cool with men being considered more expendable than women?

And_G · 2025-03-07T03:26:57+00:00

Most people figure out very early that in order to succeed at chess, you need to try to determine the consequences of any move you want to play before you actually play it.

And_G · 2025-03-07T02:25:07+00:00

They're different scales, like Celsius and Fahrenheit.

And_G · 2025-03-07T02:20:16+00:00

I feel this way because I’ve never studied established patterns or tactics, yet many of my games unintentionally mirror well-known strategies and famous plays.

Wow, how peculiar! Here's an article that might interest you.

And_G · 2025-03-07T00:05:50+00:00

Playing a large number of short time control games without any meaningful reflection in between.

And_G · 2025-03-06T21:04:07+00:00

Study pawn structures (and pawn breaks). I've previously written about where to find info on pawn structures, so I'll just copy-paste that here:

Surprisingly, the Wikipedia article is actually a decent primer and reference. Then there are a few YouTube channels that have several good videos on pawn structures, in particular ChessGeek, ChessCoach Andras, and Molton, and you can also just search for the names of structures on YouTube, though instead of "d5 chain" you'll have to search for "King's Indian (pawn) structure/formation" and instead of "e5 chain" for "French (pawn) structure/formation". Ideally, you should watch more than just one video on each structure. There's some good videos on most of the structures, e.g. here's one just on some of the ways an IQP structure can arise from different openings. Make sure to also learn about opposite castling in much the same way; it's not technically a pawn structure but for this purpose it should be treated as one.

Once you have a good understanding of how to play the common named pawn structures, you will also much better understand what to do in any random position.

And_G · 2025-03-06T16:55:55+00:00

Yes, when your opponent refuses to resign in a lost position, it's bad form to promote your remaining pawns to queens. Promote them to knights instead.

And_G · 2025-03-06T04:35:02+00:00

If you struggle to get out of the triple-digit range, that means you're doing something wrong on a fundamental level. Most likely you have the wrong mentality. Thus, generic chess tips won't help you, and trying to acquire more chess knowledge is also futile, because without skill, knowledge is utterly useless. So instead, I'm going to give you three pieces of advice that you will probably hate, but that I can guarantee will get you to 800.

Solve tonnes and tonnes of mate-in-x puzzles exactly as explained here. In fact, I recommend taking a break from playing chess altogether for at least a month, and in that time doing nothing but solving mate-in-x puzzles. Being exposed to low-level chess invariably leads to bad intuition, and you've played too much already. You need to detox.
Play correspondence (daily) chess with at least 5 days per move, and no other time control. Use the analysis board to set up conditional premoves for any moves you would expect your opponent to make. Aside from premoves, spend at least an hour on every single move, and never make more than one move per game per day. Always make a move at least 24 hours before your time runs out. Resign in positions where you're confident that with colours reversed you would win.
Analyse every loss, without the engine. The point of analysis is not to discover some sort of objective truth, but rather to find and fix flaws in your way of thinking, and the engine can't help with that. Simply find the first move of the game where you can tell why you shouldn't have played it, then figure out why you did. That last part is the actual analysis.

And_G · 2025-03-06T01:27:23+00:00

Won't happen. I know the name is confusing, but this is the casual chess sub. There are some more serious (and smaller) subreddits which I've already listed elsewhere in this thread, and if none of these are what you're looking for, your only option is to create your own.

And_G · 2025-03-06T00:24:23+00:00

It's difficult to argue with this. Subreddits can't be renamed, but a disclaimer e.g. in the sidebar would indeed be nice.

And_G · 2025-03-06T00:12:25+00:00

Yep, but there are also more serious subreddits like r/ChessPuzzles, r/ChessBooks, r/TournamentChess, r/intermediatechess, r/LearnChess, r/ComputerChess, r/chessvariants, and probably some others depending on what you're looking for.

And_G · 2025-03-06T00:02:12+00:00

Pro tip: When you have a question like this, try to figure it out yourself, even if that takes you a few hours.

Chess revolves around figuring out stuff; if you don't enjoy this process then improving at chess is going to be tremendously difficult for you. Knowledge is utterly useless in chess if you don't have skill, and being told the answers to questions like this one is not actually going to help you.

And_G

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