April: Pandolfini Mailbag Questions

Topic for the month: Speed Chess.

Post your questions here. 

Do u think speed chess is good to help me improve my game?

I play Bullet chess (1/0) or 5/0.I like to play it but I play 45/45 or 90/30 games too.Now,I play the bullet chess and blitz for fun but is this good for my chess?

The answers which I receive from many players is 'No' but can it improve my chess because we are able to play through many positions in a short span of time? Thanks in advance.

If chess is 99% tactics and blitz is mostly tactics why does everyone put down blitz chess? If you can learn from these tactical mistakes surely you can still improve.

Is playing only speed chess detrimental to chess development?

I believe the reason people look down on speed/bullet chess, is that you're forced to act quickly, and can't think well.
Eventually, you'll memorise patterns and strategies, that, of course, will make you a better player, but you'll also neglect thinking about new ideas. 

Is speed chess useful to improve our game? If yes, then what should it be, 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 30 min or what? Also can you give any advise on how to improve our speed? 

What's the best speed chess time control to develop tactical vision?

while playing many time positions occur over the board in speed chess in which i dont know what to play next even finding a plan becomes difficult how to cope with such situations???

Hi Bruce, I am an unrated palyer of around 1400 elo strength. I used to play slow chess before but nowadays, I read a lot of books and I try to apply it is speed chess. Basically, I try to calculate, sacrifice properly etc. I find sacrifices exciting. However, it only works in blitz. Could you advise me how to take the experience of playing Blitz into an OTB game and win?

As a rule, I usually win in speed chess when I am in good mood and look at the chess as having fun. However, after playing couple of games I become very determined: if I win (with ocassional losses ofcourse) then the good spirit of mind allows me to continue, but once I have losing streaks I get nervous and then lose almost all games.

So the question comes: Should I just immediately give up playing after losing streak and do somethng else, get relaxed, and return later? I think you should enjoy playing speed chess, but when you have losing streak, you do not enjoy or benefit from speed chess at all.

I'm trying to hit 1800 and my rating is 1400. I didn't play very good chess for the past few tournaments. I now have my renewed energy of playing chess. How can I improve my chess?Should I just play big big tournaments? Is there a way I can overcome the fear of high-rated players? Should I play blitz chess in tournaments?

How much blitz/bullet should a person play? 

Is it wise for beginner/intermediate players to play blitz? Can it result in bad habits and bad pattern recognition?

I am primarily a correspondence player but I would like to speed up my thinking but when I play bullet and sometimes blitz it makes my brain ache due to the speed I'm having to think and it also has a negative impact on my correspondence games and the difference in my ability is noticeable being correspondence(14 days per move): ~1600, bullet(1/0): ~900 blitz(10/0):~1000 Rapid(30/0) ~1300 ... any tips on this?

Speed chess is a great way to try out new openings and other chess ideas. 

what do you do when you have a perfect combination, but only have a few seconds left and the combination is too long? play it anyway or look for something else, or resign altogether?

Here are the answers to specific questions on this topic.

Remember to read my article on Saturday, June 6 for my final thoughts on speed chess. 

Question 1: The good and bad of speed chess. Answered in my columns. 

Question 2: (submitted by Highratingcrusher)

Do you think speed chess is good to help me improve my game?


Answer 2: Well, it certainly doesn’t have to injure it. One criterion is who you are. Your playing strength, your experience, your character, all of that and more would also go into a proper answer. It’s easy to misuse and/or abuse speed chess. Do that and your general play is likely to suffer. Especially problematic is the transition. Suddenly going from a prolonged session of blitz to a more serious chess endeavor is not a stellar idea. You're apt to play the serious game as if still speeding ahead. That carryover effect, marked by rampant superficiality and breakdown of normal routine, can be significant even days later, long after a blitz marathon has ended. Best way to ward off those trends? Be mindful of the proclivities of speed chess and remember that once serious play has commenced a different, more cautiously observant approach should be employed. Consequently, at the start of a standard chess game, make sure to take a little extra time to remind yourself you’re in a different combat zone. That change in outlook should help you cope better with some problems stemming from an overdose of speed. Who knows? You might even be able to tap the good things about speed chess, such as the practice it gives you sensing tactical opportunity.   



Question 3: (Submitted by IDcode_01)

I play Bullet chess (1/0) or 5/0. I like to play it but I play 45/45 or 90/30 games too. Now, I play the bullet chess and blitz for fun but is this good for my chess?
 The answers which I receive from many players is 'No' but can it improve my chess because we are able to play through many positions in a short span of time? Thanks in advance.


Answer 3: I agree with you that seeing lots of chess ideas over a short span of time can have value. Didn’t Kasparov prepare for a match against a crew from Switzerland (I think) by very rapidly playing through many games of the team’s members the night before the match? Nevertheless, I can’t say that bullet chess is favorable to your total game. I can say, however, the opposite. Too much bullet chess is likely to be injurious to your overall game. It's surely not a panacea for all that ails us. Nor is it to be reckoned a certain bet for serious chess advancement. But look, we live for enjoyment. If playing bullet pleases you, as it pleases legions of zealots playing it on a daily basis, so be it.


Question 4: 
(Submitted by BTCL-MSU)

If chess is 99% tactics, and blitz is mostly tactics, why does everyone put down blitz chess? If you can learn from these tactical mistakes surely you can still improve.


Answer 4: I’m on your side. Of course you can learn from blitz chess. No question about it. But are you certain everyone puts blitz down?  I'm also not sure tactics comprises 99 percent of chess. Some say it's only 95 percent. Nevertheless, I like your question, and I concur with your implication. Speed chess shouldn’t be put down so dismissively.

Question 5: 
(Submitted by AnlamK)


Is playing only speed chess detrimental to chess development?


Answer 5:  Who can say? I think it could be detrimental to one’s chess development. It might even wreak havoc with one’s normal mental development, developmentally speaking. Someone should do a study on it. Who knows? Maybe someone already has. Anyhow, it can’t hurt to play other forms of chess, like regular standard chess. Can it?

Question 6: 


(Submitted by sp1234)

Is speed chess useful to improve our game? If yes, then what should it be, 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 30 min or what? Also can you give any advise on how to improve our speed?

Answer 6: For sure, speed chess can be useful. But it’s also a two-headed monster. Beware of the gorgon! Chess time controls of 15 minutes and 30 minutes are not really considered speed games in the conventional sense. Traditionally, for speed chess in America, people played 5-minute games. Serious European players usually played 3-minute games. More conservative speed players all over the place tended to play 7-minute games. Many things considered, seven minutes is probably a good time control to maximize pluses while minimizing minuses. What’s the best way to improve your speed chess? Play speed chess a lot. What’s the best way to ruin your standard chess? Play speed chess a lot.


Question 7: (Submitted by WacoOne)


What's the best speed chess time control to develop tactical vision?


Answer 7: Again, it depends somewhat on one’s chess strength and experience. The stronger you are, the more you’ll want to feel some pressure to increase your degree of focus. For average players (let’s say 1400 or under), I suggest they engage in games of 7-10 minutes. For stronger players, I’d say games of 3-5 minutes are probably better, though other considerations should be factored as well. How comfortable you are doing speed chess is important. The pool of opponents you must face is not irrelevant. Even the time of day and how alive your mind is while playing are significant. I wouldn’t want to play much speed chess after midnight. You should see what it does to my tactical vision. But then, writing this column after midnight didn’t do much for my tactical vision either.

Question 8: (Submitted by prateektiwari54)

While playing many times, positions occur over the board in speed chess in which I don’t know what to play next. Even finding a plan becomes difficult. How do I cope with such situations???
 


Answer 8: Aspirin? Actually, why don't you revisit positions in question later, after you've played them. You’ll be more relaxed and have more time to mull things over. Practice doing that regularly (reviewing positions afterward), and, over time, you should become at least a little bit more capable of finding ideas and plans during actual play. (I feel like saying this is so even if it's not so.)

Question 9: (Submitted by 
ExchangeSacker)


I am an unrated player of around 1400 ELO strength. I used to play slow chess before but nowadays I read a lot of books and I try to apply it to speed chess. Basically, I try to calculate, sacrifice properly etc. I find sacrifices exciting. However, it only works in blitz. Could you advise me how to take the experience of playing blitz into an OTB game and win?


Answer 9: Thanks for a good question. It sounds as if your blitz play is tempting you to sacrifice intuitively in OTB play, without much analysis. That’s not going to go over too well in serious chess, where your opponents have more time to find reliable defenses that refute haphazard, untrustworthy play. In your speed efforts, if you are truly moving sacrificially and on impulse, try analyzing those sacs a jot more thoroughly before unleashing them on the world. You’ll need more time to do this, so try to play speed at the slower time controls. And get into the good routine of not sacrificing just because you can get away with it in rapids. Even in fast chess, make sure you can validate the sac objectively, by the criteria of standard chess play. What’s more, instead of using blitz play to enhance your serious play, reverse direction. Use the more structured thinking of serious play to impact your speed efforts. That is, conduct your speed play with more concern and circumspection. It’s probably not going to strengthen your slower play much. But even a little bit of extra care, in any kind of chess, is something. Perhaps constant speed play will make you more active in general, even in serious chess. As long as you're aware of the bad habits too much speed can engender, you should be better off.

Question 10: 
(Submitted by Mkhitar)

As a rule, I usually win in speed chess when I am in a good mood and look at chess as having fun. However, after playing a couple of games I become very determined: if I win (with occasional losses of course) then the good spirit of mind allows me to continue. But once I have losing streaks I get nervous and then lose almost all games. 
So the question becomes: Should I just immediately give up playing after a losing streak and do something else, get relaxed, and return later? I think you should enjoy playing speed chess, but when you have a losing streak, you do not enjoy or benefit from speed chess at all.


Answer 10: Your sincere question rings true to many of us. I advise you to see the film “The Hustler,” based on the book of the same title and spirit written by Walter Tevis. I knew Walter fairly well, and it was my sense he really understood the thinking of certain types of characters. In both the film and book versions, Eddie Felson (Paul Newman, the main character), is a “loser.” He’s a loser, not so much because he’s a bad pool player. In fact, he’s a great one. No, he’s a loser because he doesn’t know when to quit or take a break. He continues playing, and that only hastens greater losing. It’s interesting that it’s drilled into most of us never to give up. But that’s a ridiculous attitude accentuating all the ugliness of the world. I'm sure you're aware of it. Life is not just about winning. (Yes, I know about that Vince Lombardi baloney, in essence, that winning is the only thing that matters.) We all lose now and then, even the best of us. And sometimes we need to take a break. If you find yourself in a losing streak, certainly stop playing for awhile. Wait till the muse calls you back. When it does, you can resume play with renewed vigor. You might even escape the downward spiral of defeat, winning many of the games you might have lost before the stoppage. And we all live happily ever after.

Question 11: 
(Submitted by cll3)


What are the best aspects (ie. openings, middlegames, endgames, tactics, calculation, visulization, positional play, etc.) of the game to study for success in speed chess? I heard GM Georg Meier say that he studied tactics and endings and this made him the great speed chess player that he is today. What do you think of this?

Answer 11: Most people want to know what they can get from blitz to use in standard play. We don’t get as many questions going the other way, trying to take standard play to improve one’s blitz. Ask not what blitz can do for you. Ask what you can do for blitz. Generally, the metaphoric truth of what JFK had phrased so beautifully, parallels the chessic truth Grandmaster Meier has highlighted so well. Surely, study tactics. I would also learn opening lines and extend that knowledge to the middlegame and beyond. But take special note of GM Meier’s advice on the endgame. Try to assimilate the principles, techniques, and basic positions of endgame theory. All of that will come in handily when making the quick decisions required in speed chess.

Question 12: 
(Submitted by 
Robert0905)

How much blitz/bullet should a person play?

Answer 12: Generally, as little as you have to and as much as you can tolerate.

Question 13: 
(Submitted by 15 
chesed1973)

Is it wise for beginner/intermediate players to play blitz? Can it result in bad habits and bad pattern recognition?


Answer 13: It can be wise, and it can be fun. As I’ve said before, it depends who you are and how you do it. Notwithstanding, too much indiscriminately conducted speed chess can lead to bad habits. Will it mess up your pattern recognition? Your ability to discern patterns should remain about the same. That’s nature. But the total number of patterns you’re familiar with might increase no matter what kind of chess you play. That’s nurture. Generally, the more you play, the more you assimilate. Since speed chess offers more positions (and patterns) per unit time, playing speed chess is likely to augment your cognizance of basic tactical patterns, albeit superficially.

Question 14: 
(Submitted by 
Tom_Hindle)

I am primarily a correspondence player but I would like to speed up my thinking. But when I play bullet and sometimes blitz it makes my brain ache due to the speed I'm having to think and it also has a negative impact on my correspondence games and the difference in my ability is noticeable being correspondence (14 days per move): ~1600, bullet(1/0): ~900 blitz(10/0):~1000 Rapid(30/0) ~1300 ... any tips on this?


Answer 14: At the risk of appearing absurdly tautologous, don’t play speed chess when it might negatively impact your correspondence chess. Moreover, I would shy away from playing speed chess to improve your correspondence chess. Play speed because you like speed. You don't need other reasons. The pleasure you get is more than its own reward. And who knows? Maybe playing speed chess will speed up your correspondence chess. Let me know how things go, preferably not by post.

Question 15: (Submitted by 
chessperson55555)

What do you do when you have a perfect combination, but only have a few seconds left and the combination is too long? Play it anyway or look for something else, or resign altogether?

Answer 15: How do you know it’s a perfect combination? If you’re sure it is, then play it. If not sure, then don't play it, not without greater analysis, unless you're going to forfeit in two seconds.

Thanks for the great article. It´s very nice of the author to take so much time and answer all the questions! The answers are funny and sometimes even deep. Perhaps nobody has noticed them? How come nobody be thankful? Anyway well done!

i-ck-e  

Thank you for your complimentary remarks. These days, I appreciate every one I get. Again, much appreciated. --BP