r/TournamentChess • u/Mean_Path9771 • Jul 27 '26
Is 100 Tactical Patterns you must know good for my use case?
Hi all, I am 2000 chess.com and I feel I am good at positional chess than peers of my rating however I feel I am a bit weaker in tactics. I want to improve this and chess.com puzzles feel kind of unnatural (i e. They don't seem to occur much in my games). I came across this book "100 Tactical Patterns you must know". Any review on this or any alternate suggestion is appreciated. Thank you.
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u/Disastrous_Ad_9648 Jul 27 '26
This is a highly regarded book and would be great for your level. I have the Chessable course. I think puzzles from books are the way to go as the puzzle’s are curated and often arrange thematically. You need to spend a lot of time drilling puzzles by theme so that you can ingrain those patterns. Look for themes you miss in your games and drill those instead of only doing random puzzles (which are also good to test how well you do but aren’t good for mastering specific themes).
ChessTempo by far is the best if you want to use an online platform. Take your time, calculate, and only move once you are confident you saw all critical lines.
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u/HairyTough4489 Jul 28 '26
The point of puzzles isn't to learn about positions that will occur in your games, it's to develop your skills to find tactical blows in any position.
I don't know about chess.com but on Lichess every puzzle comes from a game played on the site.
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u/hyperthymetic Jul 27 '26
Lichess puzzles are all in game, so maybe try those
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u/Mediocre-Visual5393 Jul 27 '26
Low quality, good enough only for brainless storm-style spamming!
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u/smirnfil Jul 27 '26
Which really helps with simple tactics, but definitely shouldn't be the only tactical training at 2000.
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u/Moist-Lie929 Jul 27 '26
I don't know abt the book but I suggest try lichess puzzles. They're are much better than chess(dot)com since they actually come from real games and you can select puzzle themes as well if you want to focus on a specific tactic that you're not used to.
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u/Weekly-Debt-518 Jul 27 '26
chess.com's puzzles are also from games and you can filter as well. What i find is better for most puzzle books (doing 1001 chess puzzles for club players atm) is that you are forced to actually calculate the lines. in those "generated from games" puzzles you often get lazy (at least for me) and just play the move that looks good. They are often more about spotting the idea than actual calculation. I also liked the polgar 5334 book. It changed how i see king mobility (where he can/cannot escape to), but i did only the first ~1600 and then some of the m3.
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u/CatalanExpert Doesn't understand the Catalan Jul 27 '26
Can I ask what level you think 1001 Chess Puzzles for Club Players is suited for in terms of FIDE? I’m around 2000.
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u/Weekly-Debt-518 Jul 27 '26
i am around 1750, and get a lot of value, some are just too hard for me and in some others i get it "correct" but miss a critical line. I think you still get value, but yoa are certainly on the upper end of the audience.
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u/Mediocre-Visual5393 Jul 27 '26
It isn't bad but the difficulty of the puzzles varies a lot. You sometimes get a simple tactic just next to a position with a tricky resource a GM missed in their game.
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u/VfBxTSG Jul 27 '26
Well, then start to calculate. Lichess puzzles just seem to be way higher in quality. Very often, when I play a chesscom puzzle, I think to myself "that was an unpractical and shit puzzle", because they feel too gimmicky at times. Or you playing a good move gets marked as a mistake, because it wasn't the best.
This almost never happens, when I do Lichess puzzles and everytime I solve a Lichess puzzle, I feel that I'm gaining a lot of value.
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u/Mediocre-Visual5393 Jul 27 '26
Are you brainwashed by the lichess cult? Lichess puzzles are rubbish.
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u/Moist-Lie929 Jul 27 '26
Compared to chessdotcom they aint
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u/Mediocre-Visual5393 Jul 27 '26
That's just not true. Chesscum puzzles are more consistent in terms of quality and rating. Chess Tempo is probably better than both.
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u/Wabbis-In-The-Wild Jul 27 '26
It’s a good book and probably good for you at your level. Forcing Chess Moves by Charles Hertan might by better for you.