Thank you for your advices. All avenues are valid for working on calculation and tactics. Note that too much work on tactics is often to the detriment of understanding the position, in my opinion, but it improves our visualization (cf Polgar's 5334 mates) and the rigor of our reasoning. For example, I struggled a bit with the mate in two moves because I had neglected all the chess possibilities (and especially the one that gives the solution!).
Tactics on Lichess can be easily adapted to the player's level (-600, -300, 0, +300 +600) so that it's neither too hard nor too easy (with 60-75% resolution). Solving at maximum performance is not the most useful approach. The level recommended by the Steps Books should probably be reviewed since the correction made to elo by FIDE in 2024. General books are interesting because the pedagogical interest has been well thought out by the author, who explains the solution.
For pattern recognition, we can imagine solving several dozen (hundreds?) easy exercises with a theme (the fork, for example), then when the resolution is automatic, continuing with greater difficulty. In this respect, the Lichess tool is probably under-exploited. On the other hand, I'm more dubious about the real effectiveness of the (famous?) Woodpecker method.
I have tried to teach my daughters the concept of back-rank mates and other very simple mates, both on screen and on the chessboard.
They understand these concepts better on the screen than on the real board. However, even after solving a puzzle correctly on the screen for the first time, they sometimes struggle to solve the same puzzle on the board afterward.
Interestingly, the few puzzles they solve first on the board seem easier for them to solve on the screen afterward.
In addition to Jen's great book recommendations, I'll mention a very nice book by her fellow women's U.S. champion, Sabina Foişor, "Sherlock's Method," which contains many challenging puzzles from top players' games.
Enjoyable read, thank you! Fantastic tactic motif in the last puzzle, from <i>Gary Kasparov's Masterclass</i>. 🤩
However, I found a typo [4. Nxb6] in the [3] footnote solution: "1. Qa8+!! Kxa8 2. Nxb6+ Kb8 3. Nxd7+ Kc7 4. Nxb6". It should be 4. Nxf8 - taking Black's queen, ofc. 😜
Thank you for your advices. All avenues are valid for working on calculation and tactics. Note that too much work on tactics is often to the detriment of understanding the position, in my opinion, but it improves our visualization (cf Polgar's 5334 mates) and the rigor of our reasoning. For example, I struggled a bit with the mate in two moves because I had neglected all the chess possibilities (and especially the one that gives the solution!).
Tactics on Lichess can be easily adapted to the player's level (-600, -300, 0, +300 +600) so that it's neither too hard nor too easy (with 60-75% resolution). Solving at maximum performance is not the most useful approach. The level recommended by the Steps Books should probably be reviewed since the correction made to elo by FIDE in 2024. General books are interesting because the pedagogical interest has been well thought out by the author, who explains the solution.
For pattern recognition, we can imagine solving several dozen (hundreds?) easy exercises with a theme (the fork, for example), then when the resolution is automatic, continuing with greater difficulty. In this respect, the Lichess tool is probably under-exploited. On the other hand, I'm more dubious about the real effectiveness of the (famous?) Woodpecker method.
I have tried to teach my daughters the concept of back-rank mates and other very simple mates, both on screen and on the chessboard.
They understand these concepts better on the screen than on the real board. However, even after solving a puzzle correctly on the screen for the first time, they sometimes struggle to solve the same puzzle on the board afterward.
Interestingly, the few puzzles they solve first on the board seem easier for them to solve on the screen afterward.
In addition to Jen's great book recommendations, I'll mention a very nice book by her fellow women's U.S. champion, Sabina Foişor, "Sherlock's Method," which contains many challenging puzzles from top players' games.
Enjoyable read, thank you! Fantastic tactic motif in the last puzzle, from <i>Gary Kasparov's Masterclass</i>. 🤩
However, I found a typo [4. Nxb6] in the [3] footnote solution: "1. Qa8+!! Kxa8 2. Nxb6+ Kb8 3. Nxd7+ Kc7 4. Nxb6". It should be 4. Nxf8 - taking Black's queen, ofc. 😜