Help with Blitz

At 15 10, I have enough time to think on each move. At 5 2, I lose on time. Any suggestions on how I can speed up my play? Thank you. 

You could try playing faster...

You are the one inside your head. Only you can know how to trim the fat in your thining process.

You could set up a small electrical charge--please ensure that it's no more than 15 milliamps--that shocks you if you don't make your move in 5 seconds.

If that ain't motivation, I don't know what is.

Good stuff. Seriously, how could I speed up my calculation, as one example. In 5 minute games, my opponents are taking about 2 seconds to my 10 seconds.

I don't know for sure but I would recommend a rubber glove for your mouse hand if you go with bigp's suggestion.

Oh well. So far I am just getting silly suggestions. Maybe I will see a few tips in the morning. Good night.

Ask a silly question...

There's really only one answer:  move faster.

I'm slow, too.  I think it's because I'm old.

Under time pressure, you can't expect to make risk free moves.

Attack and hope for the best.  If you see forcing moves, make 'em.

My first post was serious. How is anyone supposed to give help with the information you gave? You are the only person who knows your thoughts so you are the only person who can find faults in them.

As far as calculation is concerned they are probably doing thinking on your time. If you speed up they will likely slow down. Are you calculating too deep, too wide, or too slow? People can't read your mind.

why would want to speed up your play anyway....blitz will absolutely ruin your slow game.just stick with 15 10 and higher

Thanks for the reply.

I don't know what calculating too wide means. In calculation, I’ve read that there are three attributes - speed, depth, and accuracy.

“Having the ability to calculate deeply is a huge plus, but few can do it. In fact, though you can work on and improve your ability to calculate to some degree, possessing the ability to calculate deeply, quickly, and accurately (at a GM level) is a god given gift (don’t mix this up with learning tactical patterns-it’s relatively easy to improve your tactical IQ by the study of each mating pattern, each basic tactical pattern [forks, pins, etc.], and going over all sorts of tactical puzzles).  I tend to place very high-level calculation under the imbrella of ‘talent’, while positional skills are something everyone can learn and excel at."   – Jeremy Silman

Speed seems to be the weakest part of calculation for me.  

I find one of the important things is to be able to instantly play opening moves co you know the theory.

Not wasting large amounts of time worrying about mistakes also helps

By too wide I mean are you considering too many candidate moves. For example, if you are trying to calculate three options maybe you should cut the least promising looking move and only calculate two.

I see. Thank you, and thanks for the reply. 

In 5 5 Blitz, I'm just looking for one move that will work, and not lose material. In 15 10 Standard, I will look for a better move after I decide on a move, but I never take the time to consider 2 or 3 different candidate moves. Even at 15 10, I play too slow to consider multiple candidate moves. I only do that in Turn-based games.

In blitz, I never calculate. Well, almost never. Everything is pattern recognition, thousands of patterns.

Shankland has a video on improving blitz games.  He says to head into a stonewall position.  I think the idea is you want a position with a clear strategy.  I think the cole opening is good too as it "plays itself" up to a point.

I agree that you should be playing slower time control.  I like 10 minute games.  I try to slow myself down actually.  I don't want to get in a rhythm and make an "obvious" move like a recapture that gets me into trouble.  

Play slow to learn how to play fast.  Thats my advice.

Or better: play slow to learn how to play slow.

Thank you.

I have also heard something like this: The fastest way to improve at chess is to play slower. 

Playing slow gives a person time to exercise all of the types of thinking required to become a stronger player, i.e., positional analysis, tactics, calculation, developing a plan, etc.  Post #14 best describes what is exercised when playing blitz.

Both types of chess are fun. To be a better blitz player, it sounds like I need to play lots of slow games, and be patient, because it takes years to learn thousands of chess positions. It's not like I was able to play the guitar super fast after only two years of practice. That kind of speed didn't happen for me until sometime in college, and I started playing guitar at age 7!

I didn't start playing chess seriously until a few years ago.

The more time that I spend playing through games of strong players, instead of playing blitz, the better my OTB performance. Over time, as my OTB skill improves, my blitz gets better too.

Being over 50 myself, I'll tell you up front that you don't play faster as you get older. I'd give up on super-speedy chess and stick to the 15 min games.

Since turning 50, I've played roughly 14,000 one minute games.

Play more blitz and deal with it.