"I play way too much blitz chess." -GM Nigel Short

Going Hyper!

Mar 27, 2022, 5:41 AM | 3

Going Hyper

Hyperbullet is faster than bullet. The only non-custom time control that chess.com gives is 30 seconds with no bonus. Recently, I've been playing a few rounds of hyperbullet, and it is the most emotionally exhilarating and frustrating control I've ever played.

Game 1

In this game, I was playing black against an 1874 from Australia. He started off with d4, and I responded with Nf6. The game would soon become a Grunfeld with c4 - Nc3 and g6 - d5. However, my opponent would then play e4, which isn't a common move, so I decide to take with my knight, and we exchange knights. We both have 27 seconds left.

The game continues with white developing his pieces quickly, although, he places his knight in a strange position. If I had taken it with my light bishop, it would have severely damaged his pawn structure. But I continue by castling and fianchettoing my dark square bishop. My opponent is able to get an important asset, however, with a passed pawn on the d file, which will prove to be very difficult to get rid of. At this point, we are still even with 23 seconds each.

My opponent also castles short and continues by maneuvering his queen to go pawn hunting. However, I try to finachetto my other bishop and target his passed pawn. The problem is that he continues to apply pressure and protection for his pawn. At some point, I did have enough defenders, but I didn't calculate this and just put my rook in a file that I thought would be beneficial. We are still even on time with 18 seconds remaining.

White is able to advance his pawn one more square, but I use my queen as a blockade (not a very royal duty). We trade light bishops, and the beauty of hyperbullet shows itself. I begin to advance my pawns, but I am able to advance my g pawn to threaten white's bishop and then fork the knight and queen. Often in hyperbullet, you have to make your first instinctual move, as every second counts. Often, that means moving the fastest piece, the knight, over the queen. So I was able to capture white's queen. But the game wasn't over yet - we both had 12 seconds.

I continue the pressure, by rerouting my knight and giving the oddest check to make white lose a little bit of time. Soon, we simplify the position, with my queen looking over the opponent's king. This entire game, we have been even on time, and we both have 6 seconds remaining.

I pick up white's passed pawn, and I set the king in a trap that I think is checkmate, so I pre move but miss that he can block the check with his rook. I lose my queen, but it doesn't matter because I have 3 seconds, while he has .2 seconds. On move 38, white flags, and I win on time.

Game 2

In this game, I was playing white against a 1613 from the UK. I began with c4, and he responded with the English Defense. Now, the English Defense is pretty annoying because it prevents me from fianchettoing my light square bishop, which is important in most of my repertoire. So, instead, I advance my c, d, and e pawn, as well as develop my knights for dominant control of the center, as well as cancel black's long diagonal. I have 26 seconds, but black was pre moving his entire opening and had 29 seconds.

My opponent continued aggressively by long castling and e5. Now, I did not en passant, which was the best move, instead, I began an aggressive pawn storm on the queen side. Meanwhile, black continued developing his pieces. He was still going crazy on the pre-moves, with 28 seconds while I had 24.

I continue with trying to open the queen side, while my opponent continues making moves that can burn time. However, while he was making hyper speed moves, he would lose his queen. This just goes to show that in hyperbullet, maybe the most important thing isn't material, but it is how fast you can move your pieces. I was up material and position, but he had only used 4 seconds for 16 moves, which is 4 moves per second. I was down to 19 seconds.

The game continues with black making another gambit, although it isn't a sacrifice, it is a gamble of whether or not I would react fast enough. In a way, he would sacrifice his knight, not for positional advantage but for time. Luckily, I did see the fork and captured it with my bishop. I continued my advance on the queenside. He was now ahead in time, as I had 15 seconds, while he had 20.

However, that's when I was able to get massive infiltration with the queen. My queen would begin harassing my opponent, and when she started on move 24, there was a mate in 11, although I wouldn't see that, even with a few minutes on the clock. The time gap was also closing, as I now had 13 seconds vs black's 16.

My queen just started beating everything. Soon, I was up a massive amount of material. However, I now had 8 seconds, while my opponent had 13. I began pre-moving everything from move 30, so the next few moves will look like an insane person was playing.

If you are wondering why I was pre-moving what I was, then there is a fairly simple premise. I just had to ensure that I first captured all of my opponent's pawns with my queen, while making sure that my queen wasn't captured. I made careful moves that couldn't threaten my queen. Also, I kept tabs on my opponents pieces, and if a pawn began coming to close to promotion, I could cancel the pre-move. But, it was working because we were now even at 7 seconds.

The rest of the game was basically cleaning up black's pawns as quickly as possible. I now had 4 seconds vs black's. .3 seconds. There is mate in 1, can you find it?

Rg4 is checkmate, but you have to remember that I was pre-moving, so what do I do? I play Rxe4-Stalemate.

But what are your thoughts on these games? Is hyperbullet fun or frustrating? Let me know your best hyperbullet games in the comments!

Game 1

Going Hyper!

The Phoenix Blog