Interesting observation. I usually practise 10 tactics problem from a book a day usually no more than 10 minutes. Then I logged on to CTS to practise also no more than 10 minutes. What is interesting is that when I practise "material winning" tactics for a week my score on cts goes to 1400. (Note I go for both accuracy and speed on cts; this means I do not blindly play a check or capture if I do not see what is going on.) The following week when I practise "checkmating" tactics, my cts score steadily go to 1300.
Most if not all of the problems on CTS are of the "material winning" kind so it's not surprising that practising the right type of actually leads to improved recognition.
This suggests that I should practise both "material winning" and "checkmating" tactics before OTB play. Since material winning possibilities should generally occur more often, I would actually spend 75% of my time practicing material winning tactics.
Most if not all of the problems on CTS are of the "material winning" kind so it's not surprising that practising the right type of actually leads to improved recognition.
This suggests that I should practise both "material winning" and "checkmating" tactics before OTB play. Since material winning possibilities should generally occur more often, I would actually spend 75% of my time practicing material winning tactics.
3 comments:
Speaking of OTB play, are you playing in any tournaments? How are those going?
Patrick,
My location totally prevents otb play right now, but in about 6~7 months from now I will relocate to a major city and things will pick up.
Right now I play CC but with a twist to micmic OTB play. I use a timer to limit my thinking time on each move to 1 minute during the first ten moves, and to 3~4 minutes after that.
Practice sure does take time. I think it's obvious from your comments that everybody needs ultimately to integrate both types of tactical thinking to truly play well.
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