Puzzle Rush
After hearing Chess.com's "Puzzle Rush" mentioned approximately 6,543 times on recent chess broadcasts - and not always on Chess.com, either - I decided to give it a shot myself. It's a pretty straightforward setup: you have five minutes to solve as many tactics as possible, and if you get three strikes you're out. (When you miss a move, it automatically goes to the next puzzle.) The problems are trivially easy at first, with lots of mates in one and taking hanging pieces, but the difficulty gradually increases and the puzzles become challenging - at least in comparison with what came before.
The best score I've heard of is 55 (one point per problem solved), by Hikaru Nakamura, and I've seen several other scores over 50 points as well. My best so far is 41, which seems to be pretty decent, and although I think I can improve on it there's no way I'm getting to 55 unless I've memorized all the puzzles. (Readers, what are your best scores? You might also give your rating if you want to, so we can have a friendly challenge to see who can get the highest score in their rating range.)
It is fun, and may be a good warmup exercise, but I wonder if it has any real value for developing one's overall tactical skill. Any opinions on this, especially evidence-based opinions?
Reader Comments (6)
As rapid and even blitz with increment are rather slow -- and four of them in a row, cmon -- once the stately drawing procession is done, I am looking forward to classical chess tournaments being decided by Puzzle Chess.
[DM: I think you're on to something.]
31 is my best, though I’ve only done it a handful of times. It’s quite addictive though! Speed, more than accuracy, is my bugbear. Rating est. 1950 fide though I haven’t played OTB chess for 25 years
32 points, my FIDE (classical) is 1.993. Thank you!
Given it about 10 shots...everything between 25 & 29. USCF 2108.
Between 13 and a high of 18. I seem to do better to wait until I see it. When I tried to make quick moves by "feel" a couple of times I scored in single digits. USCF 1275. Zero games played (rated or unrated) for two years but I do study tactics semi-regularly.
29 - USCF 1917