...is obsessed with smothered mates.
Maybe start making puzzles from lichess game database? So no need for the smother fest.
Would make for more realistic puzzles since they are from actual games.
*flies away*
Huh? The puzzles all are from actual games. There even is a link to the game from puzzle.
If that is the case, then please pick less smothered mate games. It's actually really rare to smother mate in a real game.
I haven't seen many of them myself, random things tend to cluster in groups and when it does you pay notice to it.
The puzzles are selected by highest karma first within your rating range, so it depends mostly on how people vote. Play more puzzles and you will probably get more random situations.
I find it funny that your proposed solution in the first post is "sort of" what is happening :) (apart from the sorting). Source for the puzzles:
http://en.lichess.org/blog/U4sjakQAAEAAhH9d/how-training-puzzles-are-generated"Pick less smothered mate"
Well, tell that the players. Lichess can only take what we players give it. Also I haven't seen a smothered mate problem since weeks I think.
Maybe because your tactics rating is relatively low and the smothered mates are "standard" (so well known and thus low rated) you get a lot of them right now. Though that would mean that you should easily be able to push your rating past that "smothered mate zone". ;)
Agreed with Moistvon, I think puzzles below a certain rating are pretty smothered-mate heavy, but once you get past whatever that threshold is, there are very few. Most of the puzzles I do now it seems don't even end in mate.
Though I wondered about something else. It seems to me (I might be wrong though) that most puzzles are from low rated players games. I am not sure why that is though I have the theory that lower rated players play games in which they allow more such tactics (if you get what I mean).
P.S. (offtopic)
@bobby_tables: I read your profile description, very creative. XD
@Moistvon:
The puzzles are made from the suggested engine lines in analyses when players make mistakes or blunders, so it makes sense that weaker players show up more often than stronger ones. There are presumably a lot more mistakes and blunders for the machine to choose from.
It's ironic that since most puzzle-solvers recognize smothered checkmates, those have low ratings and therefore low-rated players are inundated with such problems (and mainly succeed at them, keeping the problem ratings low).
I suppose puzzles are easier when every move but one is terrible.
puzzle 24820 (1855) +12 is wrong . Maybe off topic but wrong.
