Blitz or rapid for a beginner ?

Hello guys.

I am wondering what to do, I mean, I've been playing chess for 10 months now and I am curious to understand if it is better to spend time on Blitz or Rapid games to get the best from chess ?

I have almost only played rapid (10 minutes), but I am guessing if I am missing something and maybe blitz can help me to improve my chess understanding ?

Is it better to improve until a certain level on rapid and then switch to blitz, or what, maybe mix the twos ?
What's your experience ?

First I only used to play 10 min, then I thought let's try blitz 5 min then after some time I went 3 min and after a long time I went to bullet. You have to master your time in blitz and bullet before going to a lower time control. I haven't played rapid in a month, I think

If improvement is what you seek, the longer the games, the better. The shortest I would play is 15|10 games, and if you can, play longer games than that.

Small amount of people will improve with blitz as well, but you stand better chance of improvement with longer games.

@Daniel ... I'm not shaming or anything but I'm not sure that you've mastered rapid by any means.. my advice to the OP stick with rapid.. the more you play rapid, the quicker you'll be able to see patterns and best moves.. I tried playing blitz and bullet but I don't nearly have the quickness in finding correct moves even at my rapid rating. Longer games = higher percentage of good or best moves.

Rapid or slower is the best for learning. However, I can understand the appeal of fast time controls, and sometimes an all out blitz is just more fun than rapid. Just do what you want. If what you want is to improve as quickly as possible, however, I would stay with rapid.

None of them above. More time you can think,more likely to improve the skill and learn the pattern. Ppl tends to make more blunder in shorter game and that is not a good learning "opponent". I think review ur past game and learn from mistakes is a better way to improve.

Maybe play blitz when u and ur opponent doesn't have obvious blunder. (to test ur knowledge and skill)

Rapid is better. It is much harder to calculate in blitz.

Play 15|10 rapid and use all your time before move 30 to finish on increment.
Whenever you lose a game, stop playing and analyse it thoroughly to learn from your mistakes.

the play at blitz is extremely sloppy. in my latest game my 1500+ rated opponent blundered his queen and the only reason was the time control.

you wont become a better player by playing blitz.

If you want to improve, I would avoid playing blitz. I would focus on rapid, preferably quality 15|10 games.

Rapid. 🙂

Rapid chess is better for learning. Bullet/Blitz will just rush you and condition your mind into being lazy about calculation if you aren't disciplined and you won't have the time available to calculate deeper if you need to, or time to double check for blunders, hanging pieces, possible tactics etc.

I'd stick with 10 min chess or longer and if starting out then, preferably longer such as 15/10 or 20 min chess.

What you are "missing" might be game analysis afterwards, or working on other things such as puzzles. Post-game analysis is extremely beneficial because you identify possible improvements for next time and minimize the chance of you repeating the same errors over and over. Puzzles are useful because there are many tactics in chess and especially in beginner to intermediate level chess games.