Let's remember that the question is being asked from a beginners point of view. After reading all the posts again, I think that as a beginner, you could look at blitz as "dessert" after you've had a proper "dinner" (slower games, study, ect..). Just a thought, don't hate me for it, lol, H.G.
Is blitz chess good for beginners?
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Gave up on blitz years ago, always losing on time.
Rook_n_Roll wrote:
I am basically a beginner and was wondering if playing blitz games makes you improve or if it is better to play slow games.
I think you can learn from blitz, both to get better at it specifically and to get better at chess over all, but you will most likely find that playing slower will help you to learn more efficiently and effectively. Playing blitz can help you learn to cope with playing timed games that are short (10-20 minutes), so that it feels like eternity.
It is also a skill to be able to play fast for longer timed games. If you can get a great lead in time and play a positional game that really forces your opponent to take a long time to calculate and have to make a lot of moves, you could win on time more easily than a sharper match where material is consumed more quickly.
Blitz reinforces bad habits such as not thinking things through.
Agreed Timothy, but that would depend on the person. Playing 100 blitz games in a day would at least hammer in why some set pattern keeps losing for example. Or whether you like the positions an opening system gives you. Try experimenting with opening changes in a full over the board match 1 hr 15 min each environment, been there done that, not recommended. And at beginner level most experimentation is required. The fact that more pieces are hung or simply blunders made at blitz helps also to eliminate it from the proper games - at beginner level a lot of people blunder pieces through oversight anyway in long games. Sharpness comes from playing and playing.
Blitz can be a tool, like anything else pertaining to potential chess training. Using a tool improperly can lead to inadequate results.
Or it can be fun. Which presumably is what it is for most of the people playing it. 
If you are a beginner blitz is not good for you.
I've been playing and teaching chess for 35+ years and for a beginner to play any kind of speed chess, be it blitz or bullet, does tremendous harm to the beginners game. Chess is not a race and when we get into the very, very bad habit of moving too fast, we make mistakes and have subsquent losses. Speed chess doesn't provide enough time to think 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 moves deep + to be able to determine which move is better than another and when beginners play speed chess their brains are programmed, or brainwashed into only considering 1-2 moves deep analysis of a given line, which is absolutely disastrous.
If you want to improve your game, don't play speed chess. Don't rely on, "instincts", which aren't needed to be relied upon. Rely on your brain and thinking. Only then will your chess game improve.
Aug 23, 2012
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#31
Estragon wrote:
Blitz is fun at all levels, but it should not be confused with real chess - it is a variant.
I'd never thought of Blitz as a variant, but upon reading that, I think that's as good a description as any.
BishopCannons wrote:
I've been playing and teaching chess for 35+ years and for a beginner to play any kind of speed chess, be it blitz or bullet, does tremendous harm to the beginners game.
I have my doubts about that.
Speed chess, for all the states reasons, is very harmful for the game of a beginner. No bout adoubt it.
Yes, apparently you don't have any...but kindly leave me out of this.
AndyClifton wrote:
Or it can be fun. Which presumably is what it is for most of the people playing it.
But we always see beginners complaining that they know chess for a while now, but they don't improve. And if you will look at their game, they mostly play blitz..
Yeah, I'll buy that. If all you're playing is speed chess, that's probably not going to work out too well for you.
I beg your pardon?
And I bestow it!
Huh?
Wait, which time control do you mean by "Blitz"? I was talking about max 10 mins. I really don't think people can plan or calculate much in such a short span of time. When I play blitz (not very often, sometimes with a friend), I mostly spend my time checking for tactics, and I'd imagine that that's what most people do too. There's no time to go deep and really check the tree of analysis. This leads to plenty of mistakes and no meaningful patterns being absorbed.
I only fly through GM (and by GM I meant top 10
) games for entertainment purposes, and to see what openings the world elite play. I don't do it to get better at chess, and I wouldn't recemmend it for anyone.