Improving your chess tactics is one of the fastest ways to raise your rating.

Many chess lovers understand this, but unfortunately, most of them fail.

Often, they spend hours solving tactics on online platforms, but there’s little
to no improvement in their tactical ability.

And at the same time, there are people like Lily.

Being our editor and a big chess fan (yet she plays little because her boss

keeps her busy😄), she had 1,200 on chess.com when she started editing our
Tactics course.

And in just 2 weeks, she raised her rating 100 points! Just by editing it! 🙂

Imagine how much you can raise your rating if you study tactics carefully
and most importantly CORRECTLY!

So what’s the difference between those who grow their rating fast and
those who don’t?

Why often it's not your fault and how chess books, courses, software, and
training platforms can take you in the wrong direction?

What should you do to get better at tactics?

What’s the most effective method to study tactics?

We’ll go through everything in this article, and at the end of it, you’ll have a
very clear plan with actionable tips. Let’s begin from the most fundamental
level.

What are chess tactics?

Chess tactics is a move/series of moves that use the short-term
weaknesses in a position to help achieve a short-term goal.
These short-term goals could be gaining material, checkmating the enemy
King, or even improving your piece position, defending a checkmate, etc.

Have a look at the position below:

It’s White to play.

They have a tactic that allows them to gain material. Can you find it? Try to
find the answer before reading further.

*
*
*
*

Alright, so White wins material after 1.Nd5! It’s a fork, and Black can’t take
the Knight because they’ll get a back rank mate.

This was a simple example of using a fork and backrank mate.

There are many more chess tactics that commonly occur in a game like:

 Pins
 Double attacks
 Skewers
 Removal of defender
 Discovered attack, etc.

As a player, the ability to notice tactics without consciously thinking of

them is what you should strive for.

So how can you train to notice these different tactics in a real game?

You’ll learn about that in the next section.

A 7-step process to get better at chess
tactics
Have you watched GM Hikaru solve complicated puzzles before you even
fully register the position in your mind?

Ever wondered why that happens?

It’s because Hikaru’s tactical vision is razor-sharp. Throughout his career, he

has solved countless puzzles on different themes. Because of it, his mind
has built a collection of patterns he can refer to without his conscious
attention.

The moment a familiar pattern occurs, his mind identifies it and instantly
sees how to solve it.

Source: Hikaru's Youtube channel

1. Learn the tactical pattern

The first step is to imprint tactical patterns in your brain.

Many beginners make a mistake trying to solve puzzles without learning

the patterns. (We’ll talk about it more soon in the section about the typical
mistakes you should avoid.)

They forget the old proverb: “You can't find mushrooms in the forest if you
don't know what mushrooms look like.” I remember my friend sending me
the following position and asking for help.

He couldn’t solve it. Can you?

I asked him if he knows what deflection is. He looked confused and said:

“What? Difleshion?" 😅😅😅

He had no idea what deflection was. No idea about the mushroom, and of

course he couldn’t solve it 🙂

After I taught him what deflection is, he immediately noticed that if White
didn’t have Rg1, Black could mate with Qg2!
And White’s Qd1 controls the h5 square, otherwise, Qh5 would be mate!
And then with a large smile on his face, he got it.

1...Re1!!

Now White can’t take the Rook with either Rg1, because of Qg2 mate, or
Qe1 because of Qh5.

But what if 2.Qg4 attacking the Rc8?

Now my friend offered the move 2…Rce8, which is decent. But when I said
he can mate in 2, he was very surprised.

Are you too?

If you know what an “X-Ray” is, you should find it easily.

When I asked my friend if he knows, he said “Yes, of course. My father is a

doctor. But I have no clue how it is related to chess 😅😅😅”

After I explained to him what X-ray in chess is and showed some examples
he immediately found 2…Qh1! (Hopefully, you too.)

And after 3.Rxh1 Rxh1 White is mated.

So, learn tactical patterns first before solving puzzles.

2. Solve puzzles on a specific tactic

Many beginners think that if they learned what a fork, pin, or deflection are,
they’ll remember it forever and from now on they’ll find every tactic with
those topics.
And then they feel miserable when after their online sessions, the platform
says “You missed this, that and that tactics…”

Knowing a tactical pattern (theoretically) isn’t enough at all.

You should solve puzzles on that topic, so you deeply understand it and it
goes as deep as possible into your brain.

There are many platforms and software, where you can choose a specific
topic (more about it later).

If you’ve worked your way through our Tactic Ninja course, you’ll know this
is our methodology:

1. Learning the pattern

2. Deepening the newly gained knowledge
3. Going to the next pattern

3. Solve puzzles on different tactical themes

During the game, nobody will whisper in your ear “There is a fork” or “You
can do a windmill.”

So, once you’ve learned the basics of all the different tactics in chess, and
solved some puzzles on each of them, it’s time to diversify your training by
solving mixed puzzles, where you know there is a tactic, but don’t know
which theme.

But don’t jump to this step until you have mastered all the tactical patterns!

4. Study the mating patterns

A few days ago I couldn’t sleep.

So, I woke up and came to the office at 4 AM 🙂

Usually, I turn off all the messengers before going to my tasks, but as it was
4 AM, I left them open as I thought my team was sleeping anyway.
At 4.30 AM I got a message from our developer.
“Av, I have a problem, I need your help.”
I took the phone to call him, to see if he has a personal issue or if he can’t
fix the bug he was working on for the last 3 days.

But before I clicked the “call” button, he sent me the following screenshot.

“Av, I saw this position on our Instagram page. The position reads, ‘Black to
play and win’ but after three hours I am still struggling with it.”

(Now you know when there is a bug on the website and it isn’t fixed, it’s

because of whom 🙂)

The problem (I mean his chess problem 🙂) was that he watched the Tactic
Ninja course, but not the Mating Matador yet! And as I figured out later, he
didn’t watch the conclusion section of the Tactic course too, where I tell the
importance of the next step – learning the mating patterns!

He thought about the move 1…Rxd3! He knew the “Annihilation” topic and
wanted to get the e2 square for Knight.

He thought about 1…Bb2. He knew the “clearance” motif and wanted to

open the diagonal for the Queen on b8, but he didn’t know what to do
next.

The problem was he didn’t know about the mating pattern called
Anastasia’s Mate.

I asked him to find a win in the following position.

He wasn’t in the mood to find it. Could you?

We’ll come back here in a second.

Then I showed him the “Anastasia's mate” pattern.

Now he solved the previous one.

1.Qxh7!! Kh7 2.Rh3 Qh5 3.Rxh5#

And when we went back to his original headache in 2 minutes he found the
solution.

And finally went to sleep?

The takeaway:

With tactics often you’ll win material. But too often tactics will be related to
the King! And if you don’t know checkmate patterns you’ll also be awake at
4.30 AM, suffering from an “unsolvable puzzle.”

There will be more about learning the Mating Patterns and the Mating
Matador course at the end of the article.

5. Understand the mistakes you make & work there

There will be some tactics you solve fast but make mistakes in others.
Becoming aware of these mistakes is key before fixing them.

You can find this data by analyzing your games, by solving tactics, or just by
observing which of them you struggle to spot most.

For instance, one of my students misses forks. Another misses decoys.

Everyone’s brain works differently 🙂

Once you’re aware of the tactical weaknesses, solve more positions based
on that specific tactical motif.

The software I’ll recommend soon has a nice feature where you can pick the
puzzles that you didn’t solve correctly in the past.

It’ll be a key step forward for solving those puzzles again!

6. Study from different sources

Unfortunately too many books, courses, and software to improve chess
tactics claim that they’re the only ones you need.

“Solve our puzzles, come back to them, do them again 10 times and you
won’t need anything else.” Does this sound familiar?

As we talked about already, solving the same puzzles, especially the ones
you haven’t solved correctly is a good idea!

In our Tactic Ninja course, in the conclusion section, I also recommend

solving our 777 quizzes as long as you don’t make mistakes and you solve
each in a few seconds.

When you get to this stage my recommendation is to move on to other

places! What are the other places I recommend solving puzzles? We’ll speak
soon.

For now, I want you to take away the following.

Don’t stick with one book or course for a long time. Even our Tactic Ninja.

I wish there were more sources that would care for your growth first and
then their revenues.

And be cautious each time a source says “The only X you need to improve
Y.”

7. Practice to keep your tactics sharp

If you run every morning, or exercise 3-5 times a week, after several months
you are probably in good physical shape. But it doesn’t mean you’ll always
be fit, right?

If you stop taking care of your physical health, you’ll go backward.

The same thing in chess.

But somehow too many chess lovers think/believe (often not because of
their fault, but because of the nice marketed book or course) that if they
put dedicated work, and many hours, into working on their tactics, they’ll fix
it once and for all.
The reality isn’t that sweet. Learning tactics, improving tactical vision, and
staying in a good shape are different topics.

The best players solve tactics almost daily.

Of course, they know all the tactical patterns and have solved thousands
and thousands of puzzles. But they do it to stay in good shape. To keep
their tactical vision “fit.”

My advice is to solve puzzles for at least 5 minutes a day.

If you have more time, go ahead with 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour… Up

to you.

And another good idea is solving chess tactics before tournaments and a
few easy puzzles before starting an online session. More about this you’ll
find in our "BlunderProof” course.

Not to spoil everything, you’ll also find how blunders and weak tactical
vision are related to each other.

The most effective way to improve your

chess tactics
When almost every major website and the best chess coaches who care for
their students first, recommend our Tactic Ninja and Mating Matador
courses, it's probably not the right time to be humble and tell you to go do
other courses.

(Screenshot from one of the best chess blogs by GM Noël Studer)

Also, with my eyes I have seen how my team was researching all the
courses and books, to help me prepare the best possible material.

So let me, without fake humbleness, tell you more about our 2 courses and
what I recommend your next steps should be. I feel it’s my obligation.

Then it’s your life, your chess journey and your choices.
The Tactic Ninja course is designed in the absolute same way as we have
talked about in this article.

1. Teaching you the particular tactical motif and its different

variants
2. Deepening your knowledge by solving puzzles on the particular
topic
3. Going like this step-by-step on 24 tactical motifs (Pin, fork,
skewer, etc…)
4. Teaching you my 3 question technique on finding tactics in the
real games (not just when you a solve puzzle and know there is
something)
5. Solving mixed puzzles

The course is designed for 800-2,200 level (chess com rating). However, as
you can read from the reviews of the course below, we have received
amazing feedback from those below and above these levels.

Solving the Quiz and the mixed puzzles is the last step.
But if you’re not sure if the course is for you or not, you can test yourself by
solving the tactics quiz which is free.

If you find the puzzles challenging then starting the course might be the
best possible move for your chess growth.

And the next step is, as you know, studying the Mating Patterns.

In the Mating Matador course you’ll find 37 Mating Patterns (many not
covered in chess literature.)

After teaching you the mating patterns, together we’ll solve 5 puzzles, using
previously learned tactical motifs and your newly learned mating pattern.

Then we will move to the next pattern. And like that from 1 to 37!
At the end, when you have learned all the Mating Patterns, it will be time to
solve mixed puzzles where you don’t know the mating pattern.

Again, you can start from the end and see if the course is for you or not, by
going through the free mating pattern Quiz.

If you find the puzzles challenging, drop the quiz and go to the course.

P. S. If you have any of our Essential or PRO plans, you have unlimited
access to both courses as well as our additional 50+ chess courses.

If you don’t have any of our plans yet, go ahead. It comes with a 30-day
money-back guarantee, so you don’t have any risk.

***

After you’ve digested all the needed information from the courses, and
want to improve your tactical skills further, you need to follow the
aforementioned 6th step of improving your tactics.

That’s right! Leave ChessMood and supplement your training with

additional practice in other places.

But where?

Where to practice chess tactics?

It can be quite confusing when there are so many platforms claiming
they’re the best or have the biggest databases.

In this section, I’ll share my personal opinion on where you should go.

I’ll not recommend the most famous and the biggest ones, and soon you’ll
see why.

My 1st and absolute recommendation for now is CT-ART 6!

CT-ART 6 is one of the oldest tactics trainers and my 1st choice.

I remember solving all the puzzles of their earlier versions when I was a kid.
(CT-ART 2 or 3, if I’m not wrong)

They have a fantastic collection of puzzles and have filtered them into
categories very nicely and precisely. (Something the major websites don’t)

They also have many features that are fantastic.

Their “hint” option is really a hint/help, not just revealing 99% of the
solution.

They have an option of choosing your wrong or unsolved puzzles!

As we mentioned already, this is a very important feature. And much more…

You can either buy their software or download their app. (not affiliate links;
Once I get a coupon code from them for you, I’ll edit this part.)

Why don’t I recommend going to big websites like chess com, lichess
or chesstempo?

They have huge databases, right?

But most of their puzzles are generated through AI and from online games.

A great feature for fighting for the award “The biggest database.”

But you should care who gets the award “The best place helping to learn
tactics!”

If you’ve already solved puzzles on these big platforms you might have lots
of moments when you solve a puzzle and feel “That’s it?” or “That was a
tactic?” and very often no esthetic pleasure at all.

If you have had these feelings, now you know why.

AI helps generate millions of puzzles, but it isn’t a professional coach who

can pick up the best puzzles to help you improve.

Another problem with these websites is their huge databases. They can’t (at
least now) filter precisely.
Often you’ll find a tactical motif in the wrong section and advanced puzzles
in the beginner’s area.

Maybe one day they’ll fix their errors, and I’ll come back to edit this section.
But for now, in my opinion, CT-ART is still the best!

The only thing with CT-ART is that it must be purchased. If you want to pick
a free one, go with Lichess.

4 mistakes you should avoid while

improving your tactics
Now, let me tell you about mistakes that most beginners make while trying
to improve their tactics. I want you to avoid these to squeeze the most out
of your tactics training.

1. Solving mixed puzzles without understanding the

basics
Many are doing this mistake which we touched a bit at the beginning.

They go to an online tactics platform and start solving puzzles when they
don't know what deflection, X-ray, interference are, and so on.

And often it’s not their fault… 🙂

If you go to the biggest playing website you see this:

Solve Puzzles!

Now, imagine how many click here and start solving without learning first.

Hopefully, one day they’ll change it to at least something like “Improve

your tactics”, take you to a landing page with educational content and then
only - “Solve puzzles!”

Dear friend, don’t make this mistake and you’ll be ahead of 99% of your
peers.
Learn the tactical motifs first and then only solve puzzles.

2. Choosing the wrong difficulty

Too many choose either too difficult or too easy puzzles.

And again, often it’s not their fault 🙂

There are too many books with advanced material claiming they’re for
beginners too. The same about courses.

And as you know, the biggest platforms don’t filter it well either. The
mentioned CT-ART does a great job!

I recommend going from the very first levels – solve all of them, get to the
stage where you do it without mistakes and go to the next level.

3. Not putting enough effort

Especially if you solve the puzzle while using an electronic device, like a
computer, tablet, or phone. It’ll be often tempting to put the move on the
board and see if you’re right.

Don’t do that. Imagine it’s a real game.

The same with using books. If you think you found the correct move, don’t
immediately check the answer if you were right.

Treat the puzzle as a real game decision you need to make.

4. Spending too much time on tactics

I’ve seen many students solving too many tactics in a day. It gives them a
kick of dopamine every time they get a green tick next to their answer.

But this doesn’t mean you forget everything else. It’s a myth that solving
tactics is all you need to improve your chess as a beginner.

It’s very-very helpful, but it's not all there is!

If you spend too much time on tactics, you’ll fall behind in other aspects.
Don’t overdo it.

How to know if you’re getting better at

tactics?
The best sign is when you can notice chess tactics without paying conscious
attention. This is the stage you should strive to be at.

Once you’re at this stage, it’s only a matter of time before you raise your
rating.

Also, another obvious metric you can look at is whether your tactic rating
(on any platform or software including the recommended CT-ART) is going
up.

Just keep in mind that tactics rating and chess rating are very different.

If you get 2,400 on tactics, don’t be confused if your online rating is 2,000?

Epilogue
Now you know why some improve their chess tactics fast and some get
stuck.

Why often it's not their fault and how chess sources can confuse and take
the student in the wrong direction.

And if you read till here, I hope you’ll make smart choices when planning
your chess training.

Wherever we end up, it’s the sum of our choices, right?

Please, make the right ones!

And even if you don’t get started with our Tactic Ninja and Mating
Matador courses, don’t get a membership and start skyrocketing your chess
in all areas with Grandmaster-made courses, and want something else -
fine!
But I hope very much that you’ll do your research before picking up
something else.

Don’t let businesses and people, whose metric is making money, influence
you to make wrong decisions.

Find places and people where your growth is what they care about first.

Wishing you all the best on your chess and life journey!

Make smart choices and I am looking forward to seeing you on the top.

GM Avetik

P. S. Feel free to share your thoughts and feedback in the forum.