Thoughts on Bullet Chess

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28th August 2009, 10:01pm
#1
by steevmartuns
Pennsylvania United States
Member Since: Nov 2008
Member Points: 526

Hey all, I've recently started playing loads of 1|0 time control chess on the Live servers here, and it's gotten really addicting. I had never played at these time controls before, but I think I've already gotten the hang of it.

In a weird way it's almost more interesting than regular Chess, because traps and trick moves seem to be an absolute must. It's downright mean in that respect, because it's almost like hustling... but I actually feel like it's helped me to have a keener eye at spotting good candidate moves almost instantly (even though many people believe that you can't learn anything from 1 minute time controls). I would recommend at least trying it out before you make the assumption (like I did!) that 1|0 games were not useful for learning.

Any other good or bad experiences with Bullet time controls?

28th August 2009, 10:48pm
#2
by Elubas
Buffalo United States
Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 2605

No, I have played about 70 quick games. I play them when I feel like it or don't have time for a longer game. It can be fun, but it's incredibly mindless and when you make games that quick you only use about 25% of your knowledge and just blitz out moves. And say you're up a knight but you're down 10 sec, you're pretty much lost if it's not an endgame yet. At least in 5 0 you combine calculation and intuition to make unclear moves sometimes, but basically I think 1 0 takes that to such an extreme that it helps you so much less. I think you can get something out of blitz, but not quick and best is standard to long time controls. 1 0 is fun, but I don't see how it helped any aspect of my game. In a real game it is not that important to see something that quickly. You're doing deep calculations in real games. I don't know, it just didn't help me and I should mention that chess was suposed to be the opposite of reflexes. But yeah it can be fun and addicting sometimes, but always incredibly unclear. I don't know how chess network wins that consistently because if he loses just one he probably loses hundreds of points.

28th August 2009, 10:56pm
#3
by AnthonyCG
Washington DC United States
Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 2888
Bullet is just something to pass the time imo. It's fun but it won't help your chess.
28th August 2009, 10:58pm
#4
by Skwerly
Yucaipa, CA United States
Member Since: Jun 2009
Member Points: 615
28th August 2009, 11:01pm
#5
by Elubas
Buffalo United States
Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 2605

I think long helps your bullet (because it's your general knowledge in sped up form) but not the other way around.

29th August 2009, 01:13pm
#6
by peterwaffles
Fortress of Solitude Panama
Member Since: Jun 2009
Member Points: 753

i dont touch the stuff. Well not yet, maybe latter on in my chess adventure. But i suppose with that time situation its all instincts.

29th August 2009, 01:24pm
#7
by BlackWaive
Michigan United States
Member Since: Oct 2008
Member Points: 400

Bullet chess on this server is far different from bullet on other sites: the fact that you can only premove on your opponent's time, the intermittent lag, and disappearing pieces make "chess.com bullet" a whole different species.

29th August 2009, 01:28pm
#8
by Lord-Chaos
Devon England
Member Since: Feb 2009
Member Points: 1961

bullet chess? not with the live chss now, so many people have problems. only people who can play safely and nicely can play bullet chess atm. but you can!HELP TEST LIVE CHESS 2 NAO! OR I WILL KILL YOU

www.chess.com/live
and report any bugs to kohai or somin. theres a thread... called "help test live 2" in caps.

29th August 2009, 01:36pm
#9
by bondiggity
United States
Member Since: Jun 2008
Member Points: 1571

It helps your openings for sure. 

29th August 2009, 01:49pm
#10
by NM tonydal
United States
Member Since: Oct 2007
Member Points: 4868

I don't like the emphasis on mouse utilization.

29th August 2009, 01:57pm
#11
by Gonnosuke
Southern California Germany
Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 2592

I've never liked to mix adrenaline with chess but it's definitely one of my favorite chess variants to watch.  Very entertaining.

29th August 2009, 02:05pm
#12
by TheGrobe
Calgary Canada
Member Since: Nov 2007
Member Points: 4617
tonydal wrote:

I don't like the emphasis on mouse utilization.


It's the de-emphasis of chess skills that I don't care for.

29th August 2009, 02:20pm
#13
by Skwerly
Yucaipa, CA United States
Member Since: Jun 2009
Member Points: 615

You guys would be surprised.  There are SEVERAL GMs who have a 2600+ bullet rating.  While it may not do much for most of us, those GMs are definitely using chess skill to acheive a rating like that.  I have seen 1 0 games from grandmasters that make some of my BEST long games look tragically amateur.  Cool

29th August 2009, 03:26pm
#14
by Elubas
Buffalo United States
Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 2605

Seriously? What were the games? And again I think general skill makes your quick games of higher quality but not the other way around. I don't know how I could ever learn a new plan or combination from one of those games, and if it was it would be in ultra simple form except for the GM games.

29th August 2009, 03:31pm
#15
by ilikeflags
Las Vegas, with Scouser blood United States
Member Since: Apr 2008
Member Points: 1736
AnthonyCG wrote:
Bullet is just something to pass the time imo. It's fun but it won't help your chess.

i agree 100%.  it's all smoke and mirrors for me.  gimmicks...  tricks.  maybe more harm than good.

29th August 2009, 03:41pm
#16
by TheGrobe
Calgary Canada
Member Since: Nov 2007
Member Points: 4617

I find the faster the game the worse it is for my chess, and the slower my game the worse it is for my time management.  Currently time management is a problem for me because I play 3-days-per-move almost exclusively.

29th August 2009, 03:49pm
#17
by aansel
Long Island United States
Member Since: Dec 2008
Member Points: 686

GM's are in a definite class. I am a pretty good blitz player--Dzindzi gave me 5-1 which sounds good AND i got to pick the square where he had to mate me i.e if I was not mated on that square I won--I lost both games we played this way (and this was for fun there was no money involved)--so GM"s can do a lot in 1 minute chess--personally I think 5 minute can produce some pretty good games but anything faster for me the clock over compensates for the chess.

29th August 2009, 03:53pm
#18
by Elubas
Buffalo United States
Member Since: Aug 2008
Member Points: 2605

That sounds pretty hard aansel; to outplay someone in 5 min to one and mate on the very square you choose? GM's are that good I guess.

29th August 2009, 04:14pm
#19
by aansel
Long Island United States
Member Since: Dec 2008
Member Points: 686

They (GM's) are unreal how much they see and how quickly. GM Baburin was at my office playing through some games on Chessbase--the board and pieces were moving so fast not one of us could make sense of the game as he was going through them--we then challenged him on the game--he mentioned the opening, a missed tactic (and this was a GM v GM game) , the ending and what he though--then we played through the game and saw he was 100% correct. 

The level of chess knowledge and ability of GM's should not be under estimated--they really are at a super high level. I firmly believe that any GM on this site would beat all not titled players if they spent enough time on the games and took them seriously.

29th August 2009, 04:17pm
#20
by Gonnosuke
Southern California Germany
Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 2592
aansel wrote:

GM's are in a definite class. I am a pretty good blitz player--Dzindzi gave me 5-1 which sounds good AND i got to pick the square where he had to mate me i.e if I was not mated on that square I won--I lost both games we played this way (and this was for fun there was no money involved)--so GM"s can do a lot in 1 minute chess--personally I think 5 minute can produce some pretty good games but anything faster for me the clock over compensates for the chess.


Hopefully you chose a square on the other side of the board? Wink  He's a well known hustler.  I guess it shouldn't be surprising that he can pull something like that off....

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