I am fairly new to chess (playing about a year now) and would really like to improve my game. I have a hard time reading books and setting up boards to practice the diagrams in the books. It just seem so cumbersome. I thought maybe the Tactics Software by Convekta might help. My concern is that it says it is good for intermediate players. My OTB rating is only 600 and my online (correspondence) rating is usually around 1100. Do you think this software might help me improve?
I was also thinking of getting Fritz 12 as I heard it will adjust its playing stregth to match the player. Thoughts on this?
“Friend mode” exists in earlier versions of Fritz as well as Fritz 12. I’ve always hated playing against computer chess programs in the past, because they routinely stomped me, made me wait ages for the privilege, and never showed me how I could do any better. Friend mode is the long-needed antidote to all of that.
Kevin,
I would highly recommend chesstempo.com. It is a great tactics resource, and has problems beginning from taking hanging pieces all the way up to complex mate in 12s with various lines of calculation involved. And it’s free
I am personally of very high opinion of Convecta Chess tactics cds and I can attest those should not be confused with some poorly assembled “freebies” on the Internet. I personally train my tactics alertness with CT Art 3.0 and it is great!
Those cds been developed based on books of Sergei Ivashenko (the core of tactics training for so-called Soviet chess school) and problems are of high quality, most important is each level is logically follows from the previous one. A friend of mine, who is a couch in NJ tells me that “his kids” accelerate very quickly after they master book Chess School 1a - which is essentially Chess Tactics for Beginners.
To Kevin:
I suggest that if you decide to give Convecta a chance, start with Chess Tactics for Beginners. While you are certainly not a beginner, you will find material in level 3 and up (there are five levels) interesting and solutions not necessarily obvious. I (2100 + USCF) actually started scratching my head (on handful of the problems obviously) on level 2.
Once you aced Chess Tactics for Beginners, you can move to Chess Tactics for Intermediate Players and here it really gets challenging, but Beginners course would be a good foundation.
I set up the CTArt 3.0 OConvekta’s flagship tactics program on a laptop and let my grade school (Grades 1 - 5) loose on it. It was a big hit with them.
Absolute beginners should try the first 300 problems. After that the next 300 are tougher. The last 600 are really hard!
CT-Art 4.0 is great for anyone to study tactics. I sell tons of them.
I call it brute force tactics training. It practically drags you through the problem.
If you get the problem wrong the first time, it shows you the pieces you are supposed to use in red, the pieces you need to concentrate on in blue. Any important squares are highlighted in green.
You get the problem wrong a second time…a secondary problem pops up. It is an overly simplified version of the main problem. Solve it , close the problem, and take the idea back to the main problem.
The 3rd time you get it wrong it pulses the piece you need to use first.
The 4th time you get it wrong it makes the first move for you.
Get it wrong the 5th time you get a green frown face.
I think this is the best tactics study aid on the market in any form. Do not just go through the problems once. Tactics are pattern recognition…the more you go through them the easier they are to see.
Thank you all for the information. I went ahead and ordered it and I am eagerly awaiting its arrival. I tried the Polgar book and found it interesting. My main concern is that if I got the answer wrong I wouldn’t be aware of it. I like that the computer helps me know how I am doing.
Regarding Fritz 12 - Does it have “rated” play on it? While I play will it show me what it thinks my rating should be? I have heard people say that the program can really steam roll over beginners. Can I set my rating and have it give me a game fit for my level. I am pretty sure it does not have levels like some of the apps on my ipod that are simple numbers like “you are playing level 3”. Any info would be great. Thank you.
