
In other words, after you do a particular group of problems, you will either set a longer or shorter period of time to wait to do them again, depending upon if you make the goal that you have set for yourself. If at any point you fail to make goal, then you demote this set of problems to a category that is done more often. If you keep making the goal with this particular set of problems then you will keep doing them less and less often, while gradually increasing the number of problems that are being done per session. If the next day you make the goal, then promote this set of problems to be done less often. Put this set of problems on the list to do them every day. Then set a goal for yourself that you will gradually increase. Start with one set of problems and see how many you can do in 30 minutes.

The objective is not to memorize all the problems but to prioritize them based upon how well you can do them. I am a big advocate of speed chess (5 minutes with 2 second delay) because it helps to keep your tactics sharp.Ī more sophisticated approach than rotating all the sets of problems is to use my Memorization List idea. Speed is important because it will help you to excel at speed chess and tournament time scrambles.

For some people this could take years to the reach the goals. To become a class A player by studying tactics, alternate the different sets of tactics problems listed below until you can reach the goals listed. I think that it is especially helpful to study tactics before bedtime, because research has shown that sleep will strengthen what we have learned. I think that 30 minutes per day might be ideal, but I also know people who spend up to an hour per day on tactics and have shown significant improvement in their chess ability.

I was overly ambitious for awhile and tried to do 40 minutes of tactics per day, but this proved to be more than I have time for.

I study tactics by taking sections from books and studying each section for 30 minutes. The only exception to this might be the days where you play 3 hours or more of speed chess, because speed chess challenges us to think tactically. I think that it is important to study tactics every day. Improve Your Chess Tactics By John CoffeyĬan you really become a class A player by studying tactics? Absolutely! There are other parts of the game that players need to study, but for almost everybody below 1800, tactics is their biggest weakness and the easiest thing to improve!
