Are some people just not meant to

play live chess? I play chess OTB a reasonable amount, and I'm happily mediocre (by amateur standards). But I'm absolutely abysmal at live chess. 10 minutes just isn't enough time for me, and it has gotten frustrating. I'm fine with "online chess", as I have plenty of time to think and plan, but I seem to actually get worse the more live chess I play.

Should I just give up? Are there others out there who just can't (and never will) play speed chess (speed meaning 10 minutes or under per side)?

--Me

Live chess doesn't have to be 10 minutes or less. That's not a lot of time. People who are actually good at short time controls are much better at chess in general, mostly because they have played and trained for a long time. Try 30 minutes. I barely get by on 30min and I'm around 1600 uscf...

play 30 minutes

If you are trying to improve OTB play, stick to online. The other stuff is too fast and encourages bad habits.

do not think that ratings are comparable. My "online chess" rating is 1700, but my bullet is about 1250. Do not compare apples with oranges.

Also, I do not care AT ALL about getting better. If my rating is where it is when I die, that is fine.

BUT...if you want to improve, stop playing blitz. NOW. FOREVER. Your rating is NOWHERE near good enough to play blitz. It will RUIN your chances of improving.

This may sound strange coming from me, as I'm not sure if I want to even continue playing the game (see my post) but when I was interested in improving my game, the simple facts were:

• if you go from one fast game right into the next, unless you are a gifted or highly skilled player, chances are you will learn nothing from your games.  What happens is you have a game, with good moves and bad moves, but you don't step back and go over the game to see what it can teach you.
• you absolutely must balance play, with study.  The more you play without studying, unless you are already at a high level, the less you will learn and the lower your rating will be.
• you should practice tactics until you are at 1800 or so, more so than other things.  If you cannot see the way a tactic works, you won't be able to understand and play the game at any point.
• limit your opening studies to one at a time.  like one opening for a few months until you know fifteen or so variations of it cold.
• play 15 minute games minimum.  in the Toronto club, when it was one of the strongest in North America, we played 15 minute game tournaments 5 nights a week and I found the clock was a huge problem for the longest time.  like for years.  once my rating was over 1400 then 15 minutes was manageable.  But anything less than that is just beating yourself up.
• good luck.  Remember, speed chess is a fairly recent invention, in the centuries-old history of the game of chess.  

Blitz can be hard to get used to since you have to move faster than you might like. It's also significantly easier to make mistakes if you're tired, unfocused or short on time. I think you just have to find your rhythm which has to be different in rapid games.

Too much rapid chess really can mess up your game though and you should try to get a good mix of long games in if you can. I used to be terribly slow but I can play a decent game without blundering now... I always had a problem with focus and keeping track of everything so after a few moves I would have to look at the board again as if I hadn't seen it before. That costed a lot of time. 

Agreed... I think it's pretty pointless for someone below 1800ish (otb) to play blitz...

Y'all make me feel alot better, thank you for the feedback. I've got a few slow games going on, and those are easiest for me as I can take my time and think. I just didn't realize the disparity between speed chess and "slow chess" (for lack of a better term) was so great.

I certainly feel better about things now, though :) I'll limit myself to once in a while (if I need a quick fix) and focus more on my regular game.

Many thanks!

--Me

Answer: Yes, I am the worst chessplayer ever.

Unless they do not care about improving. I am under 1800, but do not care about getting better...I just like to play. I think 1 0 bullet is a lot of fun.

Put a 5 second bonus into all your "open seeks."

And you can learn to play at almost any speed.  Very Simple.

All you need do is STUDY regularly, and play at whatever speed you find comfortable.

End of Story.

Courses for horses imo. I know that playing blitz has helped my chess massively - once your brain is trained to make moves at that speed then slower games come much easier. I remember I was panicking under 10 minute time controls a few months ago. Now I play 1 min games and when I move back to 10 min it feels like I have all the time in the world to find good moves. Of course if all you do is play blitz then your chess will only improve slowly - I supplement with tactics trainer!!

EDIT: But the important thing is not to play at whatever speed is  fun for you - at the end of the day the only way to progress in anything is to stay interested and keep doing it, if blitz is making you not enjoy chess then don't do it - good luck! :)

I would be careful about taking this advise. Just because you have gotten USED to such speed does not mean your chess has improved.

http://www.chess.com/echess/stats/MENGKESHI

It has objectively improved as you can see from my blitz stats - I was sub 1000 in November - recently hit 1260 - it has gone down a bit over the last few weeks, mainly because I'm not playing so much blitz these days and spending more time solving tactics puzzles instead which has thrown me off a bit but I feel will be beneficial in the long run. I feel I've learned loads about the game from playing blitz - more than I could ever have hoped to if I had spent the same time on slow time conrols. But I agree that study is important too!