How Important Is Tactical Training for Chess Improvement

In this article, I would like to touch on the most important and perhaps the most underrated aspect of chess. Tactical Training is where every beginner starts right after learning how the pieces move. Tactical Training is also what can give you the fastest and most noticeable progress in chess. And finally, Tactical Training is exactly the part of the training process that intermediate-level players start to ignore when they shift their focus to openings or watching video chess lessons, thinking that they have already improved their calculation skills enough and now it is time to move on to something more advanced. Ironically, this is one of the most common reasons players stop making progress despite studying more.

Before we dive deeply into this topic and move on to practical advice (and there will be a lot of it in this article, I assure you), I would first like to introduce two concepts: Chess Skills and Chess Form.

Chess Skills

So, what do I mean by chess skills? Chess skills are essentially all your accumulated knowledge of openings, strategies, endgames, and tactics as well. This is what will be forgotten only after a long time if you stop training and playing chess. These accumulated pieces of knowledge should definitely be refreshed from time to time, but I repeat, they are not forgotten first or even second.

For example, an opening. If you have really studied an opening well and understood its ideas, you will most likely remember them for a long time, maybe even forever. Even if you stop training for several years, you will most likely forget the exact move order, but you will remember the ideas – meaning where each piece is aiming and how exactly you should build the attack in the middlegame.

The same applies to the endgame. If you learned how to checkmate with king and queen and then performed it 10–12 times in your future games, you will be able to repeat it even after a long break.

In other words, your chess skills are your baggage that stays with you and declines very slowly if training stops.

Chess Form

Chess form is your current playing shape, your game sharpness. This is something that can disappear even after a short break of a few months. And this is exactly what tactical training is responsible for. If you do not do it, your calculation weakens and you start recognizing tactical patterns slower during the game. Tactical training should never exist in isolation. It works best as part of a well-organized chess improvement plan. You find fewer winning opportunities and allow your opponent’s winning combinations. Most of these tactical oversights can be eliminated by building a few simple habits during every game. The difference between good and bad form is about 200 online rating points. And this works at all levels, even with grandmasters.

Of course, if a grandmaster has an online rating of 2900 and stops practicing and playing chess for several years, he will not drop to 2000. But he will definitely fall to 2700. The same happens with a 1300-rated player who, after a break, can easily fall back to 1000. At the same time, he has not forgotten how to play chess! He has simply lost his form!

1. Chess.com. First of all, the Puzzles Rush – Survival Mode on Chess.com. I recommend this mode specifically because you solve puzzles sequentially from easier to harder. It is also very interesting because there is an error limit – only 3 mistakes – which forces you to think deeper and analyze positions more carefully. And what is also important, there is no time pressure, which in my opinion harms the training process the most.

Also, another mode can be very useful for training specific tactical patterns: Custom Puzzles. There you can choose the difficulty level and a specific theme. But what I definitely do not recommend is solving puzzles in the standard classic mode. It was already bad before because of the time pressure, but now Chess.com has added unnecessary and annoying gamification there, and now you spend more time watching piece animations, points, and bonus rewards than actually solving puzzles. Even for children, I consider it useless and ineffective.

2. Lichess. There are also many free puzzles divided by topics and difficulty levels. I do not see much point in explaining it in detail, since you are most likely already familiar with this mode.
3. Chessable. Tactical courses. The main advantage of this platform is that all puzzle solutions are explained in detail, as well as all the incorrect moves you could have made. It is a very good way to practice tactics, but I want to warn you right away – be careful, there are quite a lot of low-quality courses. I love Chessable and respect their work, but unfortunately I have to say this. If you still want to try this website, I recommend checking out my list of recommended Chessable courses (link).

Now let’s talk about how exactly to train tactics. Here are several important rules:

1. Try to solve every puzzle in your head without moving the pieces on the board.
2. The most important thing is your accuracy, meaning the percentage of correctly solved puzzles. It should be at least 80%! If you solved 1000 puzzles in one day and 500 of them were wrong, I have bad news for you – you wasted your time.
3. If you do not see the solution within 1-2 minutes – that is okay. Please continue thinking. At least 10 minutes, without moving the pieces. Patiently search for the solution. Chess is largely about patience and self-control. Laziness and impatience in puzzles will inevitably transfer into your games, and this will cost you victories and rating points.
4. Solve puzzles of all difficulty levels. For example, on Monday you solve only the hardest themes and puzzles for yourself, Tuesday can be relaxing – 1-2 move mate puzzles. Wednesday – medium difficulty puzzles, and so on.

How often should you train tactics?

Will the answer “the more often, the better” satisfy you? Maybe not, but there is no need to be afraid of it. I advise focusing on consistency, meaning practicing any amount of time per day, even if it is only 20-30 minutes, but every day or at least 5 times a week. This will already be enough to constantly stay in good tactical form.

Important! Do not take long breaks from tactical training! You risk losing your form and, as a consequence, your online rating.

This is really very important, as I said earlier, because you usually play short games of 10-15 minutes where every second matters, constant concentration matters, and fast tactical calculation matters as well. I explained in more detail how to approach online chess in the best possible way in this article: The Right Approach to Online Chess.

Why don’t we see tactics in our own games?

Some of my students sometimes say to me in frustration: “Valery, I already solve a lot of tactical puzzles, but I don’t see these combinations in my own games! Why does this happen?” This is a very common and interesting question, and I’m happy to answer it for you. Indeed, when we solve puzzles, we can calculate variations more deeply and see more possibilities. And it is absolutely normal that you are able to solve a mate in 4 puzzle but fail to notice a mate in 2 during an actual game.

There is a huge difference between a real game and a puzzle! It is that when you solve a puzzle, you know that right now is that very moment X when you can play a combination. And you keep looking for that combination until you find it. But in a game, you never know when that very moment will come. That is exactly why the depth of calculation during a game is lower than while solving a puzzle.

But don’t worry. As you grow as a chess player, your chess intuition will develop more and more, and on a subconscious level you will get better at feeling that you are just about to deliver a smothered mate, for example. Or lure the queen into a trap. All of this can be trained, I promise! And it is normal and correct to train with combinations that are more difficult and require deeper calculation. But simply accept that during a game you will always do it worse.

A small but interesting remark. The great World Champion Magnus Carlsen once said: “If I wanted to cheat in a tournament, I wouldn’t need someone to tell me the best move, let alone the entire variation. It is necessary and sufficient that, at the critical moment of the game, someone gives me a sign or a gesture that this is that very moment X. And I will find the solution myself.”

And that is exactly what I am talking to you about! Because that sign that Magnus Carlsen is talking about turns the game into a puzzle. And he will already have a completely different approach to his next move in the game. He will stubbornly analyze every possible variation until he finds the solution. Without that information, however, a player might very well miss the winning continuation.

Lessons from Great Chess Players

And finally, I would like to mention some of the greatest chess players who also put solving tactical puzzles at the very top of their priorities and spent an enormous amount of time and effort on them:

Laszlo Polgar.
He built the education of his daughters almost entirely on a huge volume of tactical puzzles. His idea was simple: pattern recognition creates strength. Thanks to this method, the world received the greatest and strongest female chess player of all time – Judit Polgar. I recommend watching the documentary about her on Netflix.

Judit Polgár said many times in interviews that in childhood she solved thousands and thousands of combinations. This became the foundation of her incredible attacking strength.

Garry Kasparov

Kasparov in his youth worked a lot on combinations and analyzed the games of Alekhine and Tal. His tactical foundation was monstrously strong.

Magnus Carlsen

Although Magnus is more known for his endgame and positional play, in his youth he also went through a huge number of tactical exercises. Without this, it is impossible to develop strong calculation.

Bobby Fischer

Fischer spent hours analyzing combinations from old games. He fanatically solved and analyzed tactical shots.

Final words

Once again, I urge you not to ignore this most important element of the training process. Because in online chess, especially at levels up to 1500, tactics are the most important key to increasing your rating. For most club players, mastering tactics is the single biggest factor in reaching the 1500 level. Even among my adult chess students who came to me with online Chess.com ratings of 1400-1700, there were those who did not know a single opening, had never analyzed a grandmaster game, and barely understood endgames. But such students were undoubtedly good at tactics and almost always punished their opponents for mistakes, even when they had a losing position after the opening.

♟ Article prepared by Grandmaster and chess coach Valery Filippov ♟

FAQ

How many tactical puzzles should I solve per day?
I would not focus too much on the number. It all depends on the difficulty level. Remember the most important thing – accuracy is your first priority.

Is tactical training enough to improve my chess?
Up to a certain level, yes, it will be enough. And that level is actually higher than 1500 online rapid. But after that, you will definitely need to add openings and strategy.

How long should I spend on one puzzle?
If it is a difficult puzzle, even 10 or 15 minutes. If it is easy, no more than 5.

What is better: easy or hard tactical puzzles?
It is important to alternate. Most of the time, I would recommend working with puzzles that take around 1-2 minutes each to solve. But from time to time, you should also train with very difficult puzzles.

Can tactical training improve my blitz performance?
Yes, of course. For blitz it can be even more effective than for rapid. But at the same time, I would not recommend playing too much blitz. It is closer to a video game than to real chess.