Pre-move is cheating

Any time limit with 5 min or less (unless it has lots of extra time) is what I call "half chess", and probably less in fact. 5 minute is really a test of how well you can use limited amounts of knowledge because the best way to play is probably to make a lot of tactical tricks. You don't have to know much about chess so it's like only playing half of the game. It works against me, a 1400 I remember did that with really good effect on me. They weren't even good tactics, they were crude, but that's like all I could think about since I was defending. One minute is like "who can be the best chess player without thinking?". And the thing is, even if you were winning the whole game, didn't screw it up, and got down to a position where you'll queen in a few moves, if you have like 6 seconds and your opponent has like 10, it's really more of a premove race than proving a win. And of course the one with the queen has to find better moves than just moving a king around!

It's already been suggested in this thread by Erik -- play games with an increment.

Is there really somebody forcing you to play these time controls?

What's beautiful about the premove implementation on this site is that you can play an unbounded number of moves. If you really have a queen against a lone king, you can win just using premove - just move the queen every so often in an unpredictable pattern so that you screw up your opponent's premoves every once in awhile. This is often easier than mating the opponent, which I don't think can be done using just premove.

@Loomis yes you're right. What's interesting about these various forms of "chess" is how the technical implementation of the site affects the strategy. For example, maybe premove always takes at least a little bit off the clock - one can make an argument for doing things this way. It would totally change my strategy. Or if they didn't get the lag calculations right - well then I probably just wouldn't play 1 0. But your general point is absolutely correct, it's like playing 5 min blitz years ago on a clock with no delay where the flag actually FALLS, compared with playing 5 min blitz with a delay of 1 second. Light years of difference there, and bullet is no different.

100% correct, sir.  Chess is chess.  Bullet is bullet.  :)

Couldn't there be something like a "pre move initiative"? The first person to start premoving would win on time if he never stopped, right (this is assuming both sides have like 10 seconds or less)? One person keeps playing a move, but it gets premoved, and then he has to make another move and if the other guy keeps pre moving it's clear he's not going to get any premoves and will be taking all the time.

Elubas, due to lag, both sides could be premoving.

A couple of people have asked, "what is premove?"  I'd like an answer too!

I think that even to play a 1-0 game, you still have to be good at chess. Some people make it sound like you don't need to know anything about chess tactics and strategy to play lighting games. You still utilize all your experience gathered in "normal" chess, you just need to learn couple of more additional "dirty" tricks, that's all. Bottom line, all kinds of time controls are fun, I like to play all of them.

One minute chess isnt chess.

 OK chess professor, if you say so it must be true.....

Every single modification to the ground rules of the game emphasizes different aspects. They all make the playing field non-level in different ways. Premove is no different. Sometimes it can come down to the specific implementation of premove. But a 6hr game (40/2, SD/1) is fundamentally different from game/30, which in turn is different from game/5 (blitz), which in turn is different from 1-minute chess. And then correspondence is another animal altogether.

Those who claim 1 min chess isn't chess, and Premove is cheating, are likely just those who don't play well in those environments, so they seek to justify their poor performance by calling 'foul'.

Suggestion:

    If you don't play well in the environment, move to a time control you feel comfortable in, and can win at, rather than play in impossible conditions.

problem solved.

Because instead of it being a battle of knowledge, it's who can play the fastest with super condensed knowledge (in fact not much understanding is even needed), at the same time having extremely little time to calculate anything more than 2 moves. So basically you're just hoping a certain tactic is correct every time, with complete disregard to the truth. Also when there's no increment there can be some pretty abysmal chess, sometimes with people moving their kings around with premoves just to not lose on time.

"who don't play well in those environments, so they seek to justify their poor performance by calling 'foul'."

Indeed I'm not a good bullet player. However, why do you have to look at in that way? You could also look at it as: these people don't care about pushing wood around and making guesses like a game of poker. They want to play as correct as they can and actually calculate their moves so that they're well thought out.

People can be good at chess and great at bullet chess, but not the other way around, so don't take my opinion the wrong way.

Elubas,

   I'm not any good at bullet chess either, but I like to try sometimes.  I usually keep it to 2 minutes or longer, so I can have a few seconds to think a couple times during the games though.

   I find it amusing that instead of realizing the rules for internet chess are quite different from OTB chess, and in blitz, there can be events or  tournaments where the 'move' isn't locked in until the button is pushed (clock is pressed),    it all depends on the environment where the games are occurring.  no sweat, adapt and overcome, or seek your adventures on a chessboard in a different time venue where those features aren't effected.

no problem.  crying foul instead of just moving to a different venue is the amusing part.  (to me).     and you certainly are free to look at it differently from the way I look at it.

Well bullet I have more or less moved away from, I don't just play, lose, and then complain for an hour for each one. Bullet is just TOO fast, even for fun for me. Blitz I play, but not much, just for some fun. I don't take it seriously anymore even though it still sucks too lose. But getting outplayed in a long game for many moves is much more discouraging.

Ha, didn't expect positive comments from a strong bullet player.   Now since you're so good at it you may actually be able to somehow put your knowledge into the 1 min game better, but for the average person it's EXTREMELY hard.

But I suspect the battle of ideas isn't your favorite part of the game. What's your philosophy of chess?

Somewhat true, somewhat false. You claim 1 0 it's not chess. Probably it's not, but the best 1 0 players are among world's top GMs. So I'm not sure that it's all about speed and not about knowledge. As about king premoves to make your opponent lose on time... it's part of the game. In the end it's often advisable to throw away pieces so that to prevent your opponent's premove and to confuse them.

Anyway, if you don't like it, don't play it. I can assure you that, for those who play 1 0, such games are a lot of fun.

Elubas, two GMs playing 1 minute are seeing as much and having as many ideas as you and I would in a match at G/30. So, are the GMs playing chess, or are we not?

I think that bullet chess at a high level is not all about the speed. However, there are even 1800 bullet players who seem to understand less chess than me but they're just good at using their bits of knowledge into making very quick, but still effective moves. Anyway, I play bullet at a rather low level, but the thing is I play long at a much higher level, which seems to point to me being able to exploit my extra knowledge better, no? And take that even further into cc.

And I'm sure there are GM's who are much inferior blitz players than standard players. GM's know a lot more no matter what, but their styles can still be different of course, and not everyone is going to agree that blitz and bullet are great just because many are really good at it.