How to Beat Me, Lesson #4: It's Daily, Not Bullet

I've never played a blitz or bullet game, and it's very unlikely that I will ever do so. Here's a short video of Magnus Carlsen playing a bullet game in 2016.

At the risk of sounding like an old fart, to me that's not chess; it's Hungry Hungry Hippos.

I'm no expert in daily games, having played only 20 total, but I've won all of them, so I do have a pertinent observation.

You have 24 hours to make a move. Why are you in such a hurry?

Oh, I never take that much time myself, and I probably make most of my moves within 10 minutes, but only after I've tried mightily to rule out any blunders. Sure, I still make them, but not the most egregious ones.

Here's a game I was winning handily — Stockfish later put it at about -9 — when I played g6, which the engine says halved my advantage.

My opponent immediately played Nc7, which was not the best move, but it did fork my rooks. I can't really take with the queen because of Qxf6, threatening mate in 1. The engine-approved reply — bxe2 followed by a series of queen moves and trades — I never would have spotted in a million years.

I figured I can't help but lose the exchange, so I played e4, threatening the light-square bishop and protecting f6.

White doesn't have to take a rook right away. He should play bc4 and save his bishop. But my opponent was in a hurry and he quickly took a rook. But incredibly, he took a8 instead of e8.

If he had thought it over for a few minutes, never mind 24 hours, he surely would have seen it was a mistake. And it didn't even help him that I missed the best move - Qa5+.

I played exd3, and he's toast. He played cxd3, and even though I again missed the best move - bc3+ is mate in three - I played rxe2+ and he resigned.

If you're playing me in a daily game, you have a much better chance if you can get an early advantage. There are too many pieces on the board for me to properly calculate all the different permutations, even in 24 hours. Once we're in an endgame, where I only have to consider your rook, knight and a few pawns, I will literally take a look at every possible square you can move to and see if it leads to disaster for me.

I don't know how many times I've caught myself about to make a terrible blunder by simply checking each available move for my opponent. I'm far from flawless. I can still do some pretty stupid stuff, but it's the kind of stupid stuff I would have done even if given a year to examine the board.

Moving as fast as possible in bullet is critical; in fact, it's more critical than making the best move. In daily, it's a liability. Take the time you're given and you're likely to outmaneuver me.

Previous entries in the "How to Beat Me" series:

There's No Secret to Beating Me - Here's How
How to Beat Me, Lesson #2: Never Resign
How to Beat Me, Lesson #3: Lock Your Back Door