Looking for improvement

Hello everyone, due to self-quarantine from COVID-19 (don't worry I am healthy), I am stuck at home for a while and want to pass the time playing some chess. I am a beginner, but I am not a newbie. I used to play here frequently 6 years ago. I already practice tactics puzzles and think I do well with endgames. Because I am only a recreational player, I haven't studied openings much, I would rather play intuitively vs memorizing patterns, but I know generally to develop pieces quickly, attack or occupy the center early, and don't hang pieces. When I have plenty of time to think of my moves I actually do ok, my Chess.com rating for daily games is 1426 for standard and 1580 in daily 960(that may be artificially high because it's a small sample size, but because you don't need knowledge of openings in960, I probably an legitimately better at it than standard). With quicker games though, I just get rocked. With "rapid" I go down to a rating of 1067, and in "blitz"(generally 10 minutes, I wouldn't want to go shorter) I am a very lowly 477. So my question is how do I get better at shorter games? Do I just need to bite the bullet and start memorizing some openings? Or is there just a fundamental difference in how you approach shorter games?

I looked at the last 3 blitz games you lost, in each one you were either in severe time pressure or you flagged. So it suggests you are not playing quickly enough. Generally, I would say your play was above the standard of a 500 rated player, but it doesn't matter if you are nowhere near the end of the game and you have 20 seconds left vs 2 minutes for your opponent. Once it gets to this point you cannot hope to play well anyway. So on openings, I would pick 1 or 2 that you like and play only these. Thus you will become more and more familiar and should 'know' what to do instead of having to spend time working it out. And you must also force yourself to play faster - it is more important, particularly at lower levels, to simply make a decent move. It doesn't have to be the best one. And even if you make a mistake there are still great chances to recover - you are playing blitz vs 500 players after all, they will also make mistakes. Generally as well I would say that it is much easier to be on the attack than the defence at fast time controls. So if you see something that looks threatening just play it. Finally, blitz is not for everyone so if you don't find this sort of chess enjoyable because you don't have time to think then don't worry about it. Simply continue to enjoy the longer versions 👍

Play Longer Time Controls...

Here's what IM Jeremy Silman, well-known chess book author, has to say on the topic...
https://www.chess.com/article/view/longer-time-controls-are-more-instructive

And Dan Heisman, well-known chess teacher and chess book author…
https://web.archive.org/web/20140627052239/http:/www.chesscafe.com/text/heisman16.pdf

and the experience of a FIDE Master...
https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/how-blitz-and-bullet-rotted-my-brain-don-t-let-it-rot-yours

Chess Openings Resources for Beginners and Beyond...

https://www.chess.com/blog/RussBell/openings-resources-for-beginners-and-beyond

you might want to check out the several links at the end of the article relevant to opening repertoires.

Dear Chessfriend,

My name is Gabor Balazs. I am a Hungarian FM, fighting for the IM title. My top ELO is 2435. I have been playing chess for 21 years. I won the Hungarian Rapid Championship twice (U16 and U18).

I love teaching chess and it is very important for me that both of us enjoy the lessons beside the hard work. I have pupils almost all the levels from beginners to advanced players (1100-2200 ELO).

Why should you choose me?

- I have a widespread opening repertoire (a lot of openings are analysed by strong Grand Masters).

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Please, contact me (balazsgabor1991@gmail.com), if you are interested in working with me, I am looking forward to your message.