how to create a pgn training chess tactics file

(Difficulty ranges from easy to intermediate, with a small number of hard ones.) From this book, I created a pgn file from scratch, and I converted it to YATT format. (You have to convert the pgn file to YATT format first, but it's easy to do that.) You can merge multiple YATT files and even delete individual problems from a YATT file.Ī while back, I bought Bain's book titled 'Chess Tactics for Students'. It comes with a 5,500 problem tactics set (easy to hard), and you can add your own pgn tactics files. The tactics aren't timed, and it doesn't keep track of the problem statistics, but it does use a form of spaced repetition. Unless they learn how to treat their customers better, I'll never buy anything from them again.įor offline tactics practice, I like to use the freeware program called YATT. Also, I'm not a fan of Convekta, for various reasons. It runs on my older PC, but I don't know if it runs on newer hardware/operating systems.

However, you have to use the program's painfully clunky interface. In theory, you could download several of the easiest pgn files from these sites and then delete the more difficult problems, but that would require some grunt work.Ī number of years ago, I bought a software package from Convekta titled 'Chess Tactics for Beginners', which probably has the level of tactics you'd like. There are a couple of 'DB-book' sites that can only be found via the Internet Archive, and one of them requires a 'secret' password to unzip most of the pgn files. Most of the pgn files were for intermediates or stronger. I had a hard time finding freely available pgn files that were easy enough for a complete beginner. Regarding pgn files for offline tactics practice, the solutions are a bit more problematic.

The Easy tactics may be what you're looking for. If there are smart phone app solutions, I'm clueless (I'm PC only.)įor online sites, I think notmtwain's suggestion of Puzzle Rush is pretty good, if the timed aspect doesn't bother you.Īlthough it doesn't give ratings for the tactics, it has three levels: Easy, Moderate, and Difficult.

How to create a pgn training chess tactics file