Why I hate Blitz or Lightning (Quick) Chess

I hate Blitz chess because it is addictive and it completly turns me into a chess zombie.  I define chess zombie as someone who doesn't think but reacts.  I suck at it and it bugs me that after 5 years of playing chess some 1200 or 1300 (rated player) can beat at any type of chess!   My rating difference between a long game of chess and a short game is about 500 rating points.  It is a complete waste of time in my opinion.  If you are want to get better at chess stay away!

its fun

this doesn't make you better at chess strategy but it is a fun way to try to remember tactics and openings quickly

I say if it isn't making you better then it is worthless.   People don't play the game they play the clock.  People in totally lost positions win.  It is a worthless effort.  Is the Crack Cocaine of Chess.  May make you feel good, but is really bad for you.

My blitz and quick ratings sucked on live chess so I started playing them some more to get better and I did get better, but I lost the patience I had for long games. Constantly playing quick and blitz games made me just view each game as very inconsequential and now I play long games flippantly. I think maybe 3 moves ahead and then I don't bother to think it through anymore and I just think "I'll just take the risk" It's become very frustrating because I can't focus and think out moves very far anymore. For long games, I used to repeat the concepts behind each move in the openings I would play inside my head and reinforce those concepts in my mind, but now I just respond automatically to openings that I know like an inanimate machine.

Exactly..."an inanimate machine"

I agree. A two or three minute game is not about making smart moves, but just making moves that aren't suicide. It's espcially frustrating to someone like me with a slow computer, which adds a few seconds to each of my moves. It's basically who can click and drag the fastest.

i personally really enjoy working out long sets of moves and thinking up alternatives and the like - something that you can't do in blitz games (unless after the game i'm just playing with the set up). blitz for me is more just for fun for a few minutes and therefore i don't worry about my rating in them.

You don't have to be addicted to it, but if you want to play serious OTB games, you  absolutely should be able to play 3-5 minute games. Otherwise you can spend almost 5 hours playing decent game and gaining advantage and then ruin it all in the last 5 minutes ( I did that once, after that I improved my blitz).

i have the same haterd, you start playing, you have a few good games, and then you get hipnotised, and you stop thinking, you blunder and feel bad in the end!

but it's addictive... and quite fun if you don't overdoce it.

its fun... yet again. like drugs/everything. in moderation

My all around chess game has gotten better as a result of blitz. It has made me learn both blitz and long and has helped me develop the patience to play both.

 I agree with Inmortalgamer. Chess is a sport of strategy. Blitz(5 minute) chess is reactive chess. There is no time to think, to elaborate a sound plan. Bunders are the norm and that kind of play contributes to create the bad habit of playing too fast without analysing enough the given position, having more that enough time ahead. The result is bad quality chess.  I favor rapid chess (times 30min-60min), maybe 25 minutes but no less. Faster times (less than that) will not really help you to improve your play .  But the worst thing of all is that Blitz chess stoles you of the satisfaction of the elaboration of a good strategic plan from the begining to its crystallization. If you have time trouble,Blizt chess is not the better way to correct the problem.

it's truly fun and appropriate for people with little time or no patience for protracted over the board planning and maneuvering. I am able to play three to four games before going to work in the morning. It prevents my chess from getting rusty and I get a quick chessic high to boot.

Just played a nice one!  2-0

I'd say that G2 or less is just senseless piece mashing. G5 is long enough for blunders to not be the main cause of wins, and G10 is optimal for training.

I personally love long blitz (10 minutes or more) because, really, it is loads of time to think. 

People who are good at blitz tend to be good at standard chess as well. In my opinion, blitz helps me identify important candidate moves.

It's not all about making moves as fast as you can - if you move too fast, you'll get crushed. But if you're too slow, you'll lose on time. You just need to learn how to find good moves as quickly as possible.

perhaps...a few here and there.  but unfortuantly it is what people play the majority of the time.   Here is the crazy thing.  Majority of people who play here play blitz and their blitz ratings are higher than their long game ratings.  So unlike yourself blitz has made their long game suffer.

well, if you cannot play bullet games, it doesn't mean they are not chess games. A GM will play a good game, even if it's bullet.