Hi, is there any good software for making and practicing tactics puzzles?  Other than the software on this site, I would like to have an offline version to practice with.  Any recommendations?  Ideally it would allow me to rapidly run through many puzzles without having to load a file everytime...

CT-ART is the gold standard :)

http://www.wholesalechess.com/chess/Chess+Tactics+ART+3.0

Thanks, I just tried the demo.  The interface is a little annoying, perhaps a case of over-engineering.  But the ratings for CT-ART are good, so I'll see if I can get used to it.

Congrats on building this website, by the way.   I actually like the puzzles and interface on this website way more than the CT-ART 3.0 demo I just tried...

:D

CT-Art won't allow you to make tactics puzzles. But I'm not sure that software exists. It would be great because a fair number of problems in CT-Art are flawed in the higher levels and it would be nice to be able to delete or fix them. (see, http://thebackrank.blogspot.com/search/label/CT-Art%20errors for details)

Has chess.com considered putting out a software that allows users to maintain a library of tactics problems? This is a whole other project and you guys have a lot on your table, but it seems you're already half way there (or more) with the tactics trainer.

personal chess trainor is good too, based on your level. It burns the basic tactical patterns in your head, you just can't help it :). For 1600~, accurate calculation takes it's role too, and CT-Art is the most serious program for that.

A library to which users could submit tactics problems to be solved and (this is important) rated by other users would be great and I wouldn't think it would be that difficult.

Yeah, I can't get past how annoying the interface of CT-ART 3.0 is.  After I make several moves to solve the puzzle, it keeps making the very last move for me interupting the learning process.  If I'm going to play a puzzle through, I want to play it all the way through without the computer making moves for me.  And there's no "show move" option for the times that I actually want the program to make a move for me.

Is this really the best tactics program out there?  It seems like a much better program could be made, especially for the price.

why do you need an offline version?

Not everybody is constantly connected to the internet. :-)

When I go on vacation I always take a puzzle book. If I could load the Tactics Trainer on my PDA (ok, I don't even have a PDA, but maybe I would if I could do this!) that could be better than a book.

Loomis wrote:

Not everybody is constantly connected to the internet. :-)

i am. oh yeah - that's because i never leave the house...

Best is a notebook computer. Then you can take the internet with you where ever you go!

Even with a notebook computer it's not trivial to be connected to the internet everywhere. Other issues are that it's harder to travel with because it's bigger and has a significanly shorter battery life.

I like Renko's "Intensive Course Tactics" CDs from chessbase when I'm not able to connect to the internet. Usually though, it's all about the CTS.

Do the tactics help in real games, i hope so as i try do about 50 aday????

They're the best thing you can do for your game. DO MORE!!

Is there a good way to practice tactics in chessmaster?  I tried it with the earliest version and the only way was to load the file for every setup.

I was checking out "Intensive Course Tactics", is there a demo for it?

I like to use fritzs' NEW POSITION function and set up book positions. You can save them to a seperate database and then just access the next puzzle by the f10 hotkey. I think it is very useful to play these positions against a flawless master like fritz because it cleans up your technique and brings home OTB wins that used to be 'I should have won' - aftergame moans. I find that to be constant area of growth for my own play, learning how to convert the win. So you solve a puzzle and are up a bishop..... but can you win? This is not as easy at it seems sometimes. Playing the puzzles against a computer, while trying on ones will, is certainly the best I've found to turn time spent into skill earned!

Ther's also an other good software: the demo of "chess mentor".It's a real coatch for chess training. 

FoodCubes wrote:

Is there a good way to practice tactics in chessmaster?  I tried it with the earliest version and the only way was to load the file for every setup.

I was checking out "Intensive Course Tactics", is there a demo for it?

Chessmaster is terrible for tactics training.

I would suggest signing up with http://chess.emrald.net