How To Get Better At Chess Puzzles (7 Tips)

When learning to play chess, there are many things that can come to one’s aid. Besides studying the theoretical aspects of the sport through manuals, books, articles, and web pages that analyze games, puzzles are also an efficient way to develop some skills.

There are all sorts of puzzles spread through a virtually endless variety of web pages, books, and magazines. Mostly, as you go through the archive of a web page, puzzles tend to get more difficult.

It’s quite common for most players to find the first puzzles too easy but eventually get stuck on the more complex ones. Don’t worry, they are just asking you to further develop certain skills.

How To Get Better At Chess Puzzles?

There are only good reasons for players to use puzzles when attempting to develop their game. But they are often trying to figure out how to get better at them, especially when more advanced and challenging puzzles come around.

Gladly, there are a number of things players can do to improve their efficiency in chess puzzles:

1. Focus on the objective

Each puzzle has a different goal, and depending on what is demanded of the player, certain combos may be the key to beating the challenge.

2. Consider all possible targets

Chess puzzles normally offer more than one way to reach their solutions. Trying to foresee possible ways to beat them should help you improve your visualization skills.

3. Try to aim at smiting moves

Smite moves are the ones that bring threats to your opponent. Puzzles that challenge players to checkmate in the fewest possible moves should be more easily solved through these kinds of moves. Go as offensive as you can!

4. Establish your strategy beforehand

Considering that every puzzle has a logical sequence of moves planned to bring the solution, choosing the correct strategy should help you figure out the best combination of moves.

Some players risk losing challenges when they change strategies during puzzle solving, so refrain from doing that, and you’ll see your planning skills further developing as you trust your guts more often.

5. Consider the last moves

Keeping an eye out for the past moves of your opponent may give you a better idea of what may be the next one. That is also a great ally when attempting to figure out how to solve a puzzle.

6. Take a good look at the starting positions

Before starting a puzzle, try to get a good view of the pieces’ position, as that will help you plan your moves toward the solutions.

Ideally, the time you take to evaluate the starting positions should reduce as you go through the puzzles, even when they get more complex. This will definitely help you in reacting to opponents’ moves further on.

7. Analyze the solutions

Some puzzles hold more than one possible solution, and the one you reach may not be the intended one. So, take your time to evaluate the proposed solution and compare it to yours.