Blitz/Bullet suck!

And by the topic title I mean I suck at them! I'm good at longer intervaled games, but can't do a darn thing in faster ones. WHY?!?!?!

skill at bullet is much different than skill in other chess.

Im bad at blitz as well, i always throw away winning positions because i mmovin too quick.

i have the same problem as well haha, I think it has something to do with the speed at which you can remember things

One of the first skills to develop to play speed chess well is assessing where the undefended pieces are (yours and your opponents) and after the opponent moves which new squares they attack.

After enough practice you get good at this and it becomes nearly instant.  You hold these undefended pieces in short term/working memory (whatever you want to call it) and you use your conscious thought on anticipating short little tactics.  Both setting them up and defending against them.  For example I know I have an undefended pawn on b4 and an undefended knight on g3 and I see Bd6 will fork them.

By the way lets say you miss it and you get forked.  Do not think about how you can get compensation.  Do not calculate multiple lines.  Move your knight to an aggressive square (where he's affecting undefended pieces) or defend him.  Because you have all the undefended pieces held in memory at all times this should take less than a second.  If you worry about losing the pawn you'll spend too much time.

So then you set up little cheap tricks.  You notice knight on c3 to d5 hits an undefended pawn on f6... so you play Rc1 to indirectly eye an undefended piece on c4, now you're threatening a fork.

So a speed game at lower levels becomes whose undefended pieces/tactical vision gets confused first.  Whoever stops to think more often will lose on time.  Once you get to where you can set up these little tactics and defend against them nearly instantly now you'll hold this process in short term/working memory while your conscious thought makes the game follow strategic themes and move-patterns you know from long term memory.

But as always, if you can confuse your opponent enough to make them have to spend conscious thought on noticing tactics or calculating lines, then you'll start to win on time.  As such many speed games both players try to set a high tempo (without letting their opponent make them play faster than what's beyond their ability), and both players try to get the initiative with aggressive pieces and attacks.  This is because it's much more likely (even necessary) for the defender to halt this automatic tactic vision and actually calculate defense.  Usually attackers have multiple ideas and the defender, to be successful, has to be ready for them all.

So here's another tip.  As an attacker, don't "cash in" (make captures) on your aggressive position unless a winning tactic appears to your automatic mind (you notice it in a second or two).  Say they just spent 12 seconds making sure they're ok against one capture, don't even bother calculating if they defended it correctly or not, just make another aggressive move / bring another piece into the action unless you already see the killing blow. 

In short, the clock is everything.  You should never spend time trying to make a good move better.  Always play the good/OK/average move as soon as you see it.

No! Bullet and Blitz suck. I think thats the real reason.

I mean, with a 1500 standard rating I'm sure you look for undefended pieces and short tactics.  I'm not talking to a new player here.  But it's the process of speeding it up and making it automatic that makes you better at blitz/bullet.  You have to break the habit of trying to find a good move with calculation and build the habit of finding an OK or aggressive move with almost pure pattern recognition.

Well they're not real chess, that may be your problem

Yea you probs right home slice

My problem is very specific. Whithin about 10 seconds, i forget I am in a bullet game, and start thinking. I can spend up to 30 seconds on one move before I wake up with a start and remember I am in a bullet game.

I ordered chicken wing wi vegetable fry rice lady! I will never use this internet ordering service again!

Damn right sugar. But on the realz Wafflemaster that's great advice. I'll look to apply it in more blitz/bullet games

There is no skill in bullet.  You just move.

I hope you are joking

I'm not.  That's just they way I play at least.

Actually, your bullet/blitz rating is supposed to be slightly lower because there are far more people playing it.

Yeah, I suck completely at Blitz and Bullet, too.

Probably because I'm nearly 60 and getting senile.