[notreallyserio]

I'm middle aged and I'm lucky if I get to 5 on puzzle storm. It takes me several times longer than it probably should to solve puzzles, and even then I get about half wrong. Dunno what it is.

Folks say you should spend time studying past games to learn weaknesses but I feel like that's as bad advice as is asking children to grade their own homework -- it will simply reinforce bad ideas.

Still, I enjoy it. Mostly the self-paced puzzles. I'm hovering around 1200-1300 there (on lichess).

[dj_mc_merlin]

> Folks say you should spend time studying past games to learn weaknesses but I feel like that's as bad advice as is asking children to grade their own homework

Are you using an engine to analyze your past games? It is much more efficient than using your own brain power to find your mistakes. If you think the games that engines show you aren't realistic (they aren't), then play out the opposite side of the engine yourself. That way you can see how to refute players of your skill level.

[jacobsenscott]

Doing these things quickly is mostly an exercise in pattern recognition. As you memorize patterns the moves become automatic. If you need to think through the position it will take too much time. It just takes thousands of hours of play to memorize the patterns as the puzzles get more complex. I don't play a lot so it is a good day for me if I get to past 5 in puzzle rush on chess.com.

I don't know what percentage of high level play is memorization and pattern recognition vs calculation. I suppose pattern recognition instantly culls thousands or millions of branches from the decision tree, and the rest is calculation on what's left.

[lubesGordi]

Just try to find how to put the opponent in check first. Make the move before even seeing the solution. That approach works pretty well until you get to the 1300 rated puzzles (around 16-19 puzzles in).

Of course it's good to have some practice on different types of tactics. You want to be on the lookout for knight forks in the beginning too.

Another thing that might help with your tactical vision is the chessable checkmate in 1. You can just drill that all day and its really great. You can feel your chess muscles flex (chess swol).

[sleepdreamy]

It's never too late to learn something complex. If you tell yourself you will be mediocre/average then those will be your results. I'm 30 so not old by any means but - the secret is to obsess over the thing you want to learn intimately. Obsession beats practice any day.

If you have trouble finding that obsession - you weren't that interested anyway. Let your mind decide what you truly enjoy and want to grasp. Listen to yourself