Is blitz chess good for beginners?

I am basically a beginner and was wondering if playing blitz games makes you improve or if it is better to play slow games.

People basically play blitz to have fun...so I don't think such a question is really relevant.  Do you like to do it?  Then do it.  If you don't, then don't.

Why do people play slow games?

Okay, I give up...why?

In my opinion slow chess is the way to go, just because you're spending that much more time thinking about chess. You need a reasonable amount of time studying postitions before you begin to understand, faster blitz controls don't allow for this.

It's common knowledge that playing blitz chess is not good for improving your game, but it's fun and I love it!

No.

I have to go with this reply all the way!!!!  I am a beginner too, started playing exclusively 3 min. blitz games for months!!!  Realized that I was hanging pieces like crazy, and then decided to change to slow games to try and get rid of that bad habit.  I still find myself trying to make pre-moves in UNTIMED games, lol.  Play slow chess first, develop good habits, and then consider blitz. H.G.

I forget who said it, but some strong player once said "No one under 1800 should play blitz." I'd go along with those who say that if you like it, play it. But it won't help a beginner at all. To improve, one has to study positions to gain experience. Blitz is about reactions based on experience. Start slow, and speed up later if you wish.

Doesn't really help your chess, except in some very specific cases (overview of a new chess opening for a strong player, fighting against inhibitions, things like that...)

I play a lot of blitz chess and I recommend it to improve your chess game.
I use blitz games to examine and test new chess opening ideas and also
new tactical ideas. If I see an interesting tactical shot then I will take it
because I am curious as to what the outcome would be.

Some of my blitz games have been a lot better than my tournament games. I sometimes get some beautiful games where I do multiple
sacs to win the game. In my practice games I try to improve my game
rather than try to win the game. If you always are playing for the win
in your practice game then you may keep playing the same line that
always win for you. You need to experiment with different opening
as well as strategic and tactical ideas in your practice games.

If you do not like game 5 minutes then you can play a longer time
control such as game 15 minutes or game 30 minutes. Which is
reasonable.

The good thing about playing online is that your games are recorded
and you can go back and see if you made any errors in the game
and also have a Fritz chess engine analyze the game for you. The
Fritz chess program has the option of loading other chess engines.
I have other UCI chess engines loaded onto Fritz such as Houdini
1.5a, Robbolito, Stockfish, Critter and  Deep Junior 10 and etc.

I also regularly test my new chess opening ideas against Firefly
(2350) which is good emulation for a strong human player. It
does not miss mate in 5 or even mate in 7 and it does not make
the kind of mistake that Kramnik made in his match against a
chess engine where he ran into mate in one. And I also run chess
engine tournaments to test various new opening ideas. I am
actually surprised by the results that I get in those engine
tournaments. I do know that the World Champion Anand regularly
uses the chess engine Houdini to help him analyze his games.
Almost all GMs do this.

Best Regards
DarthMusashi

Okay, I don't like blitz, I am rotten at it - maybe just too old, too slow.  BUT all chess must be useful to some extent.  There may be a danger of picking up bad habits in blitz but chess is largely about pattern recognition and the more chess you play the more patterns you see and grow to recognise, surely?  I could be wrong, all the experts seem to say dont play Blitz, play longer games.

Understood JoseO but the more you play the more you see patterns.  Even if you lose 100 blitz games, although it may be disheartening, there are two sides of play that you are seeing and your mind will consequently process yours and your opponent's play for future recognition.  I am NOT saying Blitz is good for calculation, just recognition which gives clues to correct lines to calculate.

I would pose the question does Blitz ALLOW those patterns to sink into one's subconscious??  Anyone who plays Blitz knows that most of the time you are moving on pure instinct, I don't know how much "chunking" a beginner could get from this "run and gun" style of play?

This is what I don't know myself, hiredgun.  The subconscious is amazing and under pressure human beings adapt quickly to complicated situations in general.  Overall, obviously the experts are right to say that longer games and subsequent study of what types of mistakes are made is the way to go.  I am just saying that I believe there would be some value in Blitz, even for beginners.

I think you can't spend enough time thinking in Blitz to pick up patterns, Here Is Plenty. It's essentially just playing the first choice which comes to your mind for most of the game and thinking for a few minutes (depending on the time control) in a few positions. In a standard time control game most people spend at least a few minutes after every move. 

I often fly through GM level games but I don't think I've picked up a single pattern from doing that. Actually spending time thinking about it and seeing why some move works and some other doesn't does make me feel like I'm learning something.

Besides, most blitz games (esp. at beginner level) are too low a level to be of much use.

IMO Blitz should only be used for things that have already been mentioned - trying out openings, fighting inhibitions etc.

The point, feygooner, is that you spend time thinking to calculate and plan.  The pattern is the thing which comes up and bites you instantly if you have seen it before and triggers memories.  The issue is not straightforward, there is some value in for example googling "pattern recognition in chess" to appreciate the value of just recognising patterns.  The problem with proper calculation is that you anticipate what you think is the other side's next best move - if we really knew what the next best move was for either side we would never need to calculate further.  The deeper you get into a chain of analysis the more unlikely it is that your line is correct.  You said you fly through GM games - that is if anything worse than Blitz.  To correct the mistakes at our own level we need to study what we are doing wrong at our own level or take an awful lot of time to try and understand why GMs made the moves they did.  I would maybe recommend reading books on tactics rather than flying through games from GMs.  Ideally I found books like "Sacrifices in the sicilian" which show similar patterns from games and compare when a sac works and one doesnt.  Blitz would probably help a beginner a lot more than rushingthrough a GM game.

i find that playing blitz is not only great fun but it does help in that you instinctively learn to avoid making really bad mistakes like hanging your pieces because if you do that in blitz you are instantly punished!

I think that it depends at what level you want to play chess. If you want to improve fast and try to become a GM in the next few years then playing a small amount of blitz helps to manage your time under pressure and forces you to quickly calculate threats imposed by your opponent to see if you need to deal with the threat or if your opponent is bluffing, which can be very useful in longer games. I think you should study endgames a lot and do the tactics trainer alot and know you openings very well -- Play the same openings every game so you can get to a point when your opponents can't suprise you. Many people find studying endgames boring and get bored of playing the same openings again and again, so change their openings often. This can be fun trying out new lines in blitz but ultimately you won't impove as fast as playing the same openings. Overall I think that playing a small amount of blitz is good for improvement but more time should be spent on the tactics trainer and studying endgames..

Blitz would probably help a beginner a lot more than rushing through a GM game

This is debatable and depends on which GM game we're talking.If it's a classical game, I think you can pick up good patterns this way, probably better for your long term development than those you pick from a blitz between, say a 1500 and a 800 player. If we're talking about very simple patterns (tactics/mates), then some book or training software may prove more useful than blitz.