Tactics Boot Camp

A few months ago I completed the most intense tactics training program I have ever seen. The program is from Michael de la Maza's book, Rapid Chess Improvement. (You can get the same information for free in two online articles by de la Maza: 400 Point in 400 Days, parts one and two.) You can also check out an entire blogging group, Man de la Maza, who are working on the program. First let me say that de la Maza presents tactics as the sole solution for class players, and while that claim is rather silly, a firm foundation in tactics is required in order to improve. Fighting for a weak square or aiming for a knight outpost won't be very productive if you drop a piece along the way. But to ignore endgames and strategy and only focus on tactics is not the best long-term strategy. Michael went from a Class D player to an Expert in around two years, which is quite a phenomenal accomplishment, but he now appears to be stuck and hasn't played since winning the U2000 section of the 29th World Open.

For those not wishing to read his book or the articles, here's a quick summary of the training program. After spending a few weeks on chess visualization exercises, select a collection of about 1000 tactics problems. I chose the excellent CT-ART, as recommended by the author. Now set up a training schedule, where you will do all 1000+ problems in 64 days, followed by all 1000 problems in 32 days, then 16 days, then 8, 4, 2, and 1 day. At first spend no more than 5 minutes trying to solve a problem, and 5 minutes studying the solution. Cut that time in half (down to 30 seconds) for each subsequent cycle. A big part of the program is to stick to the schedule, and never miss a day. If you're sick or you're playing in a tournament, you never miss a day. This is a huge committment, requiring many hours of your time, and your brain will hurt!

I followed a schedule very close to that recommended by the book. I was sick and I played in several tournaments during that time, and I stuck to the schedule. Did it help my chess? Most definitely, yes. When I started the program my rating was in the low 1600s, and my first practical test was in the 2004 Peach State Open, held in Atlanta. I scored 4 out of 5 and tied for first in the U1800 section. Now here's the interesting part. I don't feel like I got much more "tactically aware" because of the program. I already had a good tactical eye. But this training program was building up this "tactical chess muscle" in my head. I don't know how else to describe it. When you do the program, there are many times when your head will hurt, very much like a muscle will hurt when first undertaking an exercise program. Over time, you feel the muscle strengthening, and it aches less. In the past when I played in a weekend Swiss tournament, I'd always reach a point when I'd get very tired, and my concentration would start waning, and I'd sometimes play poorly. Well, I still got tired in the Peach State Open, but my ability to concentrate stayed razor sharp! My games in the tournament were not exceptionally tactical in nature, but my concentration remained at a high level, and so I won most of my games. My performance rating was 1912. Amusingly, my only loss was due to a horrible one-move blunder I made that dropped a piece (something I rarely do).

My second practical test was a little over a month later when I played in the 58th Annual Tennessee Open (yes, I brought my laptop to the hotel so I could still do my tactics problems!). This was an open tournament, so I had to play with everyone rated above 1600. This time I beat two experts, tied for first in the U1800 prize, and got a performance rating of 2108! I definitely felt this "chess muscle" at work during my games. Perhaps my proudest game was one I lost, however, against FM Todd Andrews, rated over 2400 at the time. He happened to play the one line of the French Tarrasch that I knew 16 moves of theory for, and I achieved a very promising position in the middlegame. I then gave him a very tough fight, and I'm sure he was starting to worry that this B-class patzer was not making any serious mistakes! Alas, I finally erred near the endgame and Todd brought home the full point. Again, my other loss was due to another horrible one-move blunder in the final round against another expert. This suggests I need to work on de la Maza's final part of the program, which involves modifying your thinking process to look for tactics on each and every move.

So for all those considering or already involved in this training boot camp, I can say that for me it was successful. Just remember that tactics is a fundamental skill in chess, and not the only thing we should work on. I would imagine that D-class players would benefit even more from this type of training program, since they are generally much weaker tactically and have much more to gain. My rating is now "officially" in the mid-1700s, but after winning 1st place in the U2000 section of the 2005 Atlanta Winter Congress, it should "unofficially" be well into the 1800s. What do I do now for chess training? Actually, not that much in the way of tactics. My main areas now are physical conditioning and studying both my own and Grandmaster games. I practice tactics and endgames when I can, and I look for opening ideas in lines I've faced in my games.