Why do people seem so much better at fast chess?

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like people of the same rating make better moves the less time they have.  It seems much easier for me to get a good rating in the slower games.  For instance, I'm only a 915 in bullet, 1274 in blitz, and 1444 and still climbing in rapid.  And still, when I play bullet, it always feels to me like my opponents make better moves than they do in the other 2, even though they have the least time.  But maybe it's just me.

Does it seem this way to everyone?  Maybe I'm just way way better at thinking than memorizing openings.  Or maybe people just don't care about slower chess nearly as much?  I don't really know.

Are you saying that 915 rated players in bullet make better/ smarter/ more accurate moves than 1274's in blitz or 1444's in rapid?

That seems unlikely. More than 60% of bullet games end in timeout.  Presumably that leaves many games in what would be an indecisive stage, resulting in your misperception that bullet players are "better".

Ehh, my opponents rarely run out of time.  Usually I either outposition them so they just give up, or I lose, or I run out of time but I was losing anyways.

They still "seem" to make better moves to me than 1444s in rapid.  Keep in mind it's all through my point of view.  It could be that I'm just making that much better of moves in rapid so that they don't seem as good.  But even like their average diff seems like it's lower in my bullet games.

I'm having the same rating profile as you. My bullet is around 1150 (which is greatly improved from a week ago), blitz is 1400ish, and rapid is 1500ish. The odd thing is that is 100% reversed of how I was my first time around. 30 years ago I was much higher at fast time controls. My brain has definitely slowed down and I require a LOT more time to see simple tactics. 

All that said, I will disagree with you 100% on quality of moves. When I go back and look at bullet games there are pieces (including the lady hanging ALL the time from both sides). There is NO quality in those moves. I'll go have a quick look at some of your bullet games but I think if you do the same and really look at it objectively you won't see high quality moves in bullet.

Well, even in the 900s people memorize an opening in bullet.  That opening being something good may make the game harder for me than someone making somewhat better of moves the entire rest of the game.  I suck at openings and pretty much can't memorize anything but I'm good at thinking things up on the spot.  Their openings in bullet I'm sure are really trash if I just had enough time to think of a way to stop them, but usually I either screw something up or just spend too much time early on so I end up losing.  Sure it's not really better than the rapid or blitz players, but it still seems harder to me.

Remember ratings are relative to the pool of players. Since most beginners want a longer time control (and since titled players stay away from long games online) it's easier to get a higher rating in rapid games than it is for blitz or bullet.

This is even more true at new levels. Lets say for players who have played less than 1 year. Speed chess gives you almost no time to find anything new, players use patterns and strategies in their long term memory which puts new players at a big disadvantage.

It's normal for a relatively new player to have a blitz rating under 800 but a rapid rating close to, or above, 1000.

Not that people are better in faster time controls. People make more mistakes when there is Zeitnot

I cannot follow the convoluted thought process of OP. I will state my belief. if bullet rating is higher than long clock player is fast thinker but more so fast player. if long clock has high rating and low bullet this person likely is analysing position slowly or more thoroughly. if daily 1500+ and bullet is -800 likely have assist.

@factorysettings: What?  Sorry I don't understand what you're saying.

Anyway, here's what it looks like when I play a ~900 bullet game:

yes it is very simple. same as me I cannot follow your thought. im sayin that when a player has a high rating at fast times, you know what I'm sayin, he is likely quick thinker and play fast, but may not be the same as switch around

@Reverse4life. Wow, I am quite surprised that a player with 1000 bullet rating can play such a good game in bullet. There is some minimal strategical mistake I would like to point out.

At this position, you took with Bxf6.

Better would be gxf6.

Why? That B on e7 is critical for pawn on d6. And although your "g" file is open, your king is complety safe, your strong centre blocked all his minor pieces, and he cant do anything to your king with Queen alone.And you can attack him with " f5, f4" and open "g" file. He will be in big trouble.

Improving such minimal strategical  mistakes make a difference in rating.

ok. That 900 bullet game is better than I expected. I believe that 9.Bxf6 was a weak move for white. I prefer 9.0-0. I also feel 20.f4 was weak. It allowed you to immediately take with the discovery on the N. I think you had the easy pawn gobble of 25. ... Bxh4.  He missed 28. Rxg7+ and especially in a bullet game that R and pawn are going to give you fits. I dunno. I guess it's better than I would expect sub 1000 to play. It's better than most of my 1100 ish bullet games. Take a look at any of those to see pieces hanging all over. I've won games where my Q was dangling for several moves... 

just most low level player play speed chess

When you are moving quickly in blitz you see much less in the position and overlook many moves, so you don't notice flaws in your opponents' moves as often as you do when spending more time on each move at longer time controls.

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Hi, the answer to the riddle you pose is pretty clear. In bullet, you have less time to determine the weaknesses of your opponents' moves.

Bullet isn't chess because you're more likely to win if you move as many pieces as you can only one or two squares. It takes less time doing that.

Blitz is chess because a good player can work out a game with 5 mins for all the moves. Can I give you a hint? My blitz rating of about 1800 was due to playing 10 mins blitz. When it changed to rapid, I started playing 5 mins blitz and lost a lot of games on time, mainly. My rating went down to about 1250 or something. I realised what the problem was. I used to play blitz for money in the 1990s. I hadn't played 5 mins for roughly 25 years, so I just started playing thousands of 5 min games and I'm starting to get my old sharpness back. I only play well when I'm on form but that was always the case. But I've been practising playing when tired. I'm 72 so it's possible to get it back but you really have to work at it, play thousands of games and tailor your openings to suit the rate of play. Also I analyse two blitz games each day to work out how to improve in specific lines.

They are better at pattern recognition. In fast chess, players don't have time to calculate every possible move and variation. Instead, they have to rely on pattern recognition to identify dangerous threats and promising opportunities.