Originally posted by diskamyl
does it really help to solve difficult problems? have very strong players cracked their head off for 30 minutes over problems they can't solve?

I've been working with CT-Art for a long time, and the late-40 difficulty questions seem ridiculously difficult to me.

here's the last one I've seen a few minutes ago which made me frustrated:

[fen]4r1k1/ ...[text shortened]... should I stick to 30 difficulty problems -which are fairly difficult, too- forever?

I've had the same problem the OP has had, and I've found that it is more helpful to do easier problems many times, so that when you play a real game you will never miss a 3 move tactic, which at my level (approx 1700 USCF) seem to come up much more often than the more difficult ones.

Originally posted by Bedlam
You shouldnt view difficult chess problems (outside your ability) as problems to solve...although that should be your ultimate goal. While you are thinking about the problem you are gaining much more benefit than just tactical solving, mainly increasing how easily you slip into that state of totally chess concentration. If you think of you chess ability at ...[text shortened]... used to thinking deeply in that chess trance you should find your chess performance increasing.