Bullet Players are Players Too

      Chess titles. These are the way the chess community honors and recognizes great players, and makes them feel better about wasting hours of their life on a board game (I know I will receive hate messages for that, but it was worth it). Chess titles are given to those who have reached certain levels of talent in classical chess. From these titles though, springs a controversy. Should chess titles be awarded to bullet and blitz players?

      First, let’s look at the facts. Not counting women’s titles, there are four official FIDE titles that one can earn. At a 2200 rating, you become a candidate master. At 2300 you become a FIDE master, 2400 earns you the title of International Master, and once you reach 2500 elo, and attain three norms, you enter the ranks of the grandmasters. The real kicker though, is that these titles are only awarded to players of classical chess. Classical chess is usually chess with a time control of 90 minutes for the first 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes for the rest of the game, with an increment of 30 seconds per move.

      While these titles allow chess players to get the recognition they deserve, they fail to recognize players who excel at bullet and blitz chess. Just because these players play for a shorter period of time, doesn’t mean they play with any less skill. These players deserve a way to be recognized for their contribution to the world of chess.

      I’m not saying that bullet players are better than classical players. In fact, one could argue that it’s a whole different set of skills. So maybe we need a little whole different set of titles. Maybe instead of grandmaster, we could award them the title of speedmaster. Actually no, that sounds like a niche Batman villain. Maybe we can do it in the same style as women’s titles. Just like one can be awarded the title of Women’s Grandmaster, we can give exemplary bullet players the title of Bullet Grandmaster. This will allow them to get proper recognition while still being differentiated from classical chess players.

      Some people argue that bullet chess is just played for fun, and isn’t actually real chess. I mean is it really a victory if you just win on time? Yes, yes it is. And bullet chess is most definitely real chess, just faster. There is a whole community of bullet chess players out there who are not receiving any recognition. This needs to change. We as a chess community can change this by emailing title@fide.com that ‘Bullet players are players too’.

      - Daishukyo

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