Blitz Robot | April 16th, 2025
My sleep deprived brain (not necessarily deprived of anything, but it's a funny reference) just invented a new metaphor for my blitz addiction, and I could probably think of seven more if I actually try hard enough. But all of those metaphors: zombie, a 9-5 office worker or a robot all probably have the same thing in common: they all do the same thing over and over again, without much care to whatever they're doing, and they just repeat the cycle day after day.
So, dear viewer, what exactly is wrong with this picture?
It's not the fact that I'm starting to win again, or how some games are miniatures while other games last 50-60 moves: no, it's the fact that I literally haven't pressed game review for any of my games. This is probably why I don't consider myself improving: even though occasionally I do analysis of some of my blitz games: they're blitz games, and you can't gain nothing much of it other than repetitive conclusions. But even then, not relooking at your games and just mindlessly click the play button, queuing for the next game, is also not a correct approach: knowing repetitive mistakes is probably better than not knowing any mistakes.
What I've realized from this, and this is also why I titled this blog "Blitz Robot": I'm playing blitz in a mindless manner. I'm playing for elo, not for improvement. And that little gain that I got, pushing my blitz peak? It was a nice way to boost my confidence, but eventually when it inevitably tilts, that where reality just gives you a really hard slap in the face. You're not learning anything. You have the delusion that you're learning, or you're probably learning, but blitz games is probably not the best ground for you to apply your studies.
And this is why my elo has been fluctuating in wild swings like the stock market recently: I gained 200 elo in less than a week, pushed my blitz peak to 2135. The very next day, I tilted back to 2050, with my lowest being 2030-ish: immediately losing three digits worth of virtual numbers. As for today in particular, I played 24 games, bagging in a harmonious 50/50 winrate, and gaining 7 elo. 2053 to 2060.
Obviously I'm not that good of a gambler: if so, I would've immediately stopped when I tilted out of 2100 just to get it back, and I would've stopped playing at 2080. But predicting the highest of highs and the lowest of lows to know the appropriate time to stop is something that even the best day traders can't do precisely.
So, what will I do from now on forward? A lot of broken promises have been done on this blog: I announced a blitz hiatus: immediately played blitz after. I feel like I'm playing mostly for enjoyment and not for improvement, if so, I should probably start implementing improvement in enjoyment itself, you can probably gain so much fun playing rapid chess. I'm trying to allocate some time playing rapid games: I like my rapid games to be quality and my blitz games to be entertaining, and yet, I'm not associating the same amount of value for those respective time controls.
I'll probably still continue to play blitz: it is an addiction, just like drugs or alcohol, albeit probably healthier if used with the right dose. However, I'm still very much studying: I'm trying to memorize the b5!? Pseudo-Catalan I showed yesterday, I'm still following the GMNeiksans Boot Camp series in small bites, and at some point, I'll have to apply those studies into real gameplay, instead of wandering around and playing mindless blitz. A great way to apply those is an OTB tournament: I've signed up to one this Saturday, and so hopefully we'll see some good results and good experiences from there.
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