Chess Tactics Server

Many of us use CTS so I want to find out what your ratings are and possibly discuss this. I want to compare the ratings between your online (RHP) rating and your CTS rating.

My CTS rating is 1550

Also, how does the short time controls help?

around 1600 with 90% success rate.

in my experience CTS has made all the difference in CC, but left my blitz totally unaffected. pretty much the inverse of what you'd think would happen with the short time control training.

how does cts help with cc and not blitz, that sounds crazy!
1580, trying very hard to break into 1600

About 1750 usually. Dont remember the exact right now.

I don't play in CTS, but the rating comparisons made in this thread so far are pretty interesting/inconclusive.

I've used CTS a lot and I still suck at blitz. But just today I beat someone using a common theme of removing the defender that I saw instantly. It's a great tool.

I'm trying to break 1600 too 🙂

Around 1140 CTS and an inflated 1350 here. My success rate is 85%+. I solve lots of the problems only after several minutes of staring at them. I try not to make a move unless I understand the position and am sure of what I'm doing.

Am I not playing recklessly enough on CTS, or is it just a matter of getting more practice?

depends on your goal... IMHO, if you want to become stronger OTB or at CC, making your move only when you see the tactic is best. There is a good in quick pattern recognition, but moving reflexively (ie, check the king and hope) only occasionally works on CTS and I'd say much more rarely elsewhere. 😉 You lose points for being right and slow on CTS, but the more problems you solve, the faster you'll get.

Originally posted by HolyT
Around 1140 CTS and an inflated 1350 here. My success rate is 85%+. I solve lots of the problems only after several minutes of staring at them. I try not to make a move unless I understand the position and am sure of what I'm doing.

Am I not playing recklessly enough on CTS, or is it just a matter of getting more practice?

going for accuracy makes a huge negative impact on your rating on CTS. around 100-150 points from 70% to 85%. however, your improvement over time will be faster.

it's a lot more exhausting also, which is why I think it also improves you faster. just keep keep doing it daily, and there will be steady progress.

Originally posted by HolyT
Around 1140 CTS and an inflated 1350 here. My success rate is 85%+. I solve lots of the problems only after several minutes of staring at them. I try not to make a move unless I understand the position and am sure of what I'm doing.

Am I not playing recklessly enough on CTS, or is it just a matter of getting more practice?

Just look for the most forcing move, be it a check or capture, then imagine the position after the forced response.

How has the position changed to your advantage?
Is there a check/discovered attack/fork/skewer or pin now available?

9 out of 10 times that will be the key to sloving a tactics puzzle.

Originally posted by Squelchbelch
Just look for the most forcing move, be it a check or capture, then imagine the position after the forced response.

How has the position changed to your advantage?
Is there a check/discovered attack/fork/skewer or pin now available?

9 out of 10 times that will be the key to sloving a tactics puzzle.

The best strategy is:

for puzzles rated under 1700: just look for pieces to be grabbed, pinned, decoyed or skewered. When you find something (=anything), play it instantly. dont waste time calculating anything.

for puzzles over 1800: again look for simple tactics, but when you find one do not play it, but spend few seconds looking for something more subtle. if you dont find anything else that could possibly work, play the combo you found first. but if you find something that might be better, then ditch the first move you found and play the second one.

Now you might wonder whats the point with all this; well the point is that +1800 rated puzzles are very rarely easy ones, meaning that if you find a good-looking move quickly then others will probably find it quickly too. in that case the rating of the puzzle should be dramatically lower (because of the vast number of correct answers), but because the rating happens to be relatively high (+1800), the best looking move isn't the correct one.

Thanks for the help and encouragement!

"if you want to become stronger OTB or at CC, making your move only when you see the tactic is best. There is a good in quick pattern recognition, but moving reflexively (ie, check the king and hope) only occasionally works on CTS and I'd say much more rarely elsewhere. You lose points for being right and slow on CTS, but the more problems you solve, the faster you'll get."

That is bad and it doesn't seem like you understand what the point of CTS is.

The point is not to play 60 min chess games like you only have 5 seconds per move, it's to develop pattern recognition and intuition so when you are playing a game you can instinctively tactics, and after calculating figure out if they are correct.

so u cant take 5 minutes per problem

"The point is not to play 60 min chess games like you only have 5 seconds per move, it's to develop pattern recognition and intuition..."

Agreed, and not sure who you're arguing with. 🙂 My point is that one will learn to see these tactics by looking for them, not by making any promising move quickly because one is being timed. With practice comes increased speed.

Real world example: my 7 yr old likes to make a quick decision on CTS since he loses points if he takes too long. What advice would you give him to improve his tactical skill? Move before he gets it, or wait- even if it takes 5 minutes?

Originally posted by MoneyMaker7
so u cant take 5 minutes per problem

I can. 360 seconds for one yesterday.