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The majority of Chess.com's puzzles are SO stupid!

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Martin_Stahl
stitchedpeanut wrote:

...

One complaint I do have is that in some puzzles, there are moves that win almost as quick as the solution and are easy to see. Why not make a M3 in a M2 puzzle give you a few points?

That type of puzzle, if there really is an alternate forced solution that's only a move or two longer, should be reported. While some do exist like that, they should be rare

Martin_Stahl
GMKaranveer7 wrote:

the 4000 puzzles are so broken even me (300 blitz) can do them with just a few arrows

Do you have examples?

stitchedpeanut
Martin_Stahl wrote:
stitchedpeanut wrote:

...

One complaint I do have is that in some puzzles, there are moves that win almost as quick as the solution and are easy to see. Why not make a M3 in a M2 puzzle give you a few points?

That type of puzzle, if there really is an alternate forced solution that's only a move or two longer, should be reported. While some do exist like that, they should be rare

I do clearly recall one M2 puzzle where I found forced M3 and got it wrong (checked with engine). I'll look out for those in the future, didn't know they were unintentional.

EvboOrielly

Yes. I agree with you in that the scoring could be a bit more clever. It is simply the way the logic is written. I am guessing that it is too much work in software coding to have the computer grade “on a curve”. It only knows one correct solution and any deviation from that it considers wrong and a learning failure. We know, however, that is, especially in chess, not the case. I think it is human nature to not like it when someone or some thing “tells” you that you are wrong when you are partially right.

EvboOrielly

My apologies. I didn’t fully read all the replies. I know now that the way the puzzles are made is that there is supposed to be only one correct answer. Therefore, there should be no need to grade for partial correctness. I will, as suggested, report any time I see an alternate solution that might be also considered a equal solution. Thanks for all the assertive replies! “The King is Dead! Long Live the King!”

PJS81

The solutions to some puzzles are actually a problem. I found one puzzle that had checkmate by two different moves. The admin agreed with me and said they were trying to eliminate bad puzzles.

tommaso_gambit
dons_dogs wrote:

I've read other posts so I know that it's not just me! The majority of Chess.com's puzzles are SO stupid! The only difficult ones always seem to be these stupid computer generated positions with some subtlety that most humans will not see and that would NEVER EVER actually occur in a real game! Tonight I'm wondering why I'm wasting my time looking at these! The first dozen puzzles or so are stupid usually mates in one or back rank mates (or some other ridiculous simple win). But then they follow them up with stupid computer generated puzzles that no one would ever deal with in a real game.

Exactly! You're right! There are 3 tipes of puzzles:

  1. Stupid puzzles (like Scholar's Mate or even Fool's Mate)
  2. Computer pregenerated puzzles that will Never occure in a real chess game
  3. Impossible puzzles from positions from games like the Candidates. I can't even solve the Wednesday puzzle with the positions from the candidates! And today is Saturday and the puzzle is realy easy

The puzzles with something likes 4000 rating are super easy, even of those puzzles (in theory) can't solve even Hikaru! Can't understand this...

x6px

doesn't depend on how likely they are to occur in games, it trains your tactical understanding and finding them

NotAUniqueUserName

How many times do we have checkmate as the wrong answer to a puzzle? Too many to count.

putshort
The worst are the Daily puzzles, because their titles tell you the answer.
magipi
NotAUniqueUserName wrote:

How many times do we have checkmate as the wrong answer to a puzzle? Too many to count.

I have found this once. And reported it. It's safe to say that this occurs in less than 0.01 percent of puzzles.

What mostly happens is that your "checkmate" isn't checkmate at all, that's why it's wrong.

DejaDeJugarBlitz

You could solve more difficult problems if you study tactical topics and try to calculate better. If you don't want to improve your chess, that's fine, life gives you many interesting options, choose a goal and work on it. Also go out and have some fun, exercise and above all remember to get your eight hours of sleep for the sake of your brain.

copperapril

why are the puzzles so hard

copperapril
 

whywhywhywhywhywhywhywhwhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhywhy

copperapril

CAN YOU TELL ME WHY

copperapril
magipi wrote:
NotAUniqueUserName wrote:

How many times do we have checkmate as the wrong answer to a puzzle? Too many to count.

I have found this once. And reported it. It's safe to say that this occurs in less than 0.01 percent of puzzles.

sometimes, but also sometimes checkmate is wrong and the computer makes you checkmate a different way

What mostly happens is that your "checkmate" isn't checkmate at all, that's why it's wrong.

BigChessplayer665

Do lichess their puzzles aren't stupid

Martin_Stahl
copperapril wrote:

why are the puzzles so hard

There can be different reasons a specific person might find particular puzzles hard. Taking your time to calculate, in most cases, should make it easier and as you get better you will likely improve your speed on ones that used to be harder and take longer.

copperapril

I think that IS true

copperapril

ok