Regiment General

Regiment General

What is the best chess program for tactics? What programs have you used for tactics?

I'm not looking for general programs such as fritz but a program that specializes in tactics. I've heard that CT art 3.0 is pretty good but I'm wondering if there are others since I'm starting a tactics regiment. I'm an amateur player but I don't want a tactic program for beginners, so the more advanced the better. Also I'm not looking for a tactics book though there are many good ones out. I will try and give a best answer.

My old coach, NM Aleksandr Kitsis, recomended CT art to me and I finished up the free trial version and liked it a lot but not enough to buy the full version. I suggest trying the demo and seeing if you like it.

If you don't like it then you probably won't like other tactic programs.

For tactics I usually just use books. The absolute best for this is Dvoretsky's Analytical Manual, which is great for any players from 1500 to about 2500, meaning anyone can get better with this.

One of the things Dvoretsky does that I like is, in his practice games, he'll periodically stop, give a diagram, and ask you to find the best move. I set a chess clock for 10 minutes and try to work everything out and I get it right maybe half the time at most. A standard game that he gives will have 30 questions, span 20 pages, and take countless hours to do correctly.

Other attacking books like Jacob Aagaard's "Attacking Manuel" series of the classic Vukevic's "The Art of Attack in Chess" are also excellent.