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What is the chess puzzle rush?
One thing that every chess player in the world love is the chess puzzle rush. One of the most interesting chess mini-games that exists is related to tactics.
You may be wondering: But, how is the chess puzzle rush played?
Its name explains itself, it’s a game in which you will be given several chess tactical puzzles one after another to solve in the least time possible. The more puzzles you can solve in a pre-determined time; the more points you will win.
You can play by yourself or with a friend or rival if you like. Chess puzzle rush modality involves only the tactical factor, the puzzles will constantly get harder and harder.
The good thing about puzzle rush is that is pure fun, and it increases your tactical vision a lot, training it in a fun way.
Methodologically speaking, the chess puzzle rush is one of the best ways to learn tactical chess patterns and not just that, but to detect them faster.
How to use the chess puzzle rush for your advantage?
Now, with several chess web pages on the internet, is pretty easy to play a chess puzzle rush. There is even a new mode called puzzle rush battle, in which you compete against another player to get the best score possible.
There are many advantages of the chess puzzle rush mini-game, for you and your chess. Overall, I think we should start by mentioning is an exercise that trains both sides of your brain.
It improves your creativeness and strains your abilities the most because of the clock pressure. Personally, I think this is one of the best ways to prepare for a chess blitz tournament.
Training with this tool will surely convert you into a tactics magnet, the possibility to miss an important tactical combination is low.
Another important factor to consider is the difficulty of the chess puzzles. Normally, the difficulty of these chess puzzles is low due to the lack of time.
But, what would happen if we dramatically increment the puzzles’ difficulty? Could you imagine what their effects would be?
I’m definitely not saying that it will be a magical pill to beat Magnus Carlsen straight away. But it should be taken into consideration for the amateur’s training, which is the reason why chess clubs implemented it as a common practice.
Puzzle rush’s competitions
Apart from the regular chess puzzles rush competitions on the internet, there are tournaments. Physical boards are prearranged with chess puzzles to solve in the least time possible.
They are regular competitions where you have an arbiter and a clock on that you need to stick to. Here the conditions change dramatically, and the training is even better.
The difference is that in chess puzzle rush battles and competitions through the internet you don’t have physical strain.
However, the real competitions do, it is somewhat like giant chess, but pure tactics!
You can go to chess clubs and see if they do it, if you can go to a club to play puzzle battle, I encourage you to go. There is a big difference and your performance could be slightly better in this case.
Involving movement to the chess puzzle rush may increase their effects on your chess, and the environment you are in. One thing that is important to learn is the environment, sadly, is a factor that not many people take into consideration.
Still, it’s the funniest way to improve your tactical vision and quickness.
A different kind of puzzle rush
You can set up the timer and the difficulty of the positions you solve at your will; this can depend on your level. Changing the ways or difficulty of your training is personal and beneficial.
Don’t think that just for decreasing the difficulty a little you are becoming worse. You are just taking more time to adapt yourself to different conditions, which more difficult.
This is why I will tell you the other way you can train with puzzle rush, making it much longer. The chess puzzle rush is traditionally played with 5 minutes, but why not more?
Playing a puzzle rush of 15 minutes with a considerably more difficult puzzle can also be great for your chess. Maybe puzzle rush is not the best way to train for a classic match, but increasing the timer can make the same effect.
Making chess puzzle rush training before a tournament with slow time control, like classic, may not be the best to train. You have to get used to taking your time before every move, which is harder than it sounds.
But if you increase the time and the difficulty of puzzles you will be forced to use up more time. This is also a great practice to learn how to adapt yourself to different time controls.
The benefits of the chess puzzle rush
We have been talking about the benefits of the chess puzzle rush, but why? It’s a good question that I actually feel glad you asked.
When we are in a blitz tournament we have to react fast, or better yet, know how to adapt our thinking to time control. For example, with plenty of time on the clock, we can take the time to analyze deeply and view various moves.
But with fast time control, we still have to analyze, but more flexibly and superficially. The time usage in chess is mastery, and it takes effort to improve it.
And, there is where the chess puzzle rush comes into play, you can make a personalized puzzle rush training and prepare for competitions.
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