That’s because puzzles don’t have a timer.
Also, games need you to know opening theory that is not useful for puzzles.
I’ve been doing only puzzles for over a year now and I just started playing blitz. Either I fuck up the opening and get wrecked, or I survive until the mid-game / end-game and I have my chances at winning.I’ve heard lots of chess content creators make claims like ‘you don’t need to study openings until like 1600 elo. You don’t lose games because of a slightly losing opening, you lose because you still blunder your queen.’ I kind of get it, but if it was ever good advice, it’s at the very least outdated now. At 1100, the first thing I see in sooo many games is some sort of scholar’s mate-esque opening trap and if I don’t blunder outright, I often need to burn a minute or two to evaluate all my options while my opponent clearly knows the flowchart of the opening. It’s a big disadvantage.
That’s exactly where I am. I’ve been doing only puzzles because it’s a shorter time commitment than a full game. I really need to start focusing on openings.
