If you want to get better at Blitz, do you need to play other time controls?

People often parrot the old "if you want to get better at Blitz then play Rapid" etc.

But is this really true?

There are many "lower" rated titled players with very high Blitz ratings. So it seems they got there by playing more Blitz/spaming tactics.

Of course what is relevant for higher players is not always relevant for lower. But my friend jumped from 700 to 1000 elo playing Blitz only by simply playing 20 games a day.

I mean I personally think playing Blitz makes you better at Blitz. And if you want a high Blitz rating you should study, do tactics, endgame etc.. but ultimately actually playing OTB or longer time controls is of little relevance to improving Blitz.

Agree or disagree? Would be interesting to hear the thoughts of higher elo players.

You need to play 15 games of 3 min chess per day. Review every game and keep memorizing more moves in your openings. In 2 - 3 months your rating will increase by 300 points guaranteed.

Uwu

You do not have to be GOOD at longer chess, but ultimately playing long tc will only help. If we think of it like piano- you don’t learn a new song by blazing away, but by starting slow and later adjusting the tempo as needed. You can get good at playing the song even if you only play it fast, but ultimately it will be riddled with inaccuracies. I would not say that it is of “little” relevance although I do concede that if you only aim to play blitz, you can be quite good at it without playing longer games.