Rapid Chess
People who have never played chess think that every game takes hours. However, a chess game can be much faster than that! Here's everything you need to know about rapid chess:
- What Is Rapid Chess?
- What Are Some Of The Biggest Rapid Chess Events?
- Is Playing Rapid Chess Good For Your Chess?
- How To Play Rapid Chess On Chess.com
- How To Check Your Rapid Rating On Chess.com
- Conclusion
What Is Rapid Chess?
The term rapid chess refers to one of the many time controls you can have in chess. According to FIDE, rapid games must have more than 10 minutes and less than 60 minutes for each player. On Chess.com, rapid games consist of any game with a time control of 10 minutes or more.
Rapid games can have increment or delay, with players gaining extra seconds for each move.
What Are Some Of The Biggest Rapid Chess Events?
Because rapid games are much shorter than classical games, players have much less time to calculate. While this makes the game more prone to errors, it also makes play more exciting since players can take more risks. However, because rapid games are much longer than blitz or bullet, they still allow for high-quality games.
Because of this, many major rapid chess tournaments happen throughout the year.
Two of the most important over-the-board rapid tournaments are the FIDE World Rapid Championship and the Rapid & Blitz events of the Grand Chess Tour. The FIDE World Rapid Championship determines the world rapid chess champion, while Grand Chess Tour events always feature some of the strongest players on the planet.
When it comes to online chess, the most important online tournament is Chess.com's Champions Chess Tour. The Tour happens yearly and features multiple rapid events, attracting the world's strongest players. Below, you can see GM Magnus Carlsen taking advantage of the rapid time control and sacrificing a knight against GM Alireza Firouzja during one of the events of the 2024 Champions Chess Tour:
Is Playing Rapid Chess Good For Your Chess?
Most coaches and chess trainers agree that longer time controls are better than blitz and bullet for chess improvement. Because of this, playing rapid games and then analyzing them can be a great way to improve.
While many people dislike playing classical games online, they still enjoy playing rapid chess. Because of this, playing rapid chess online is one of the most accessible ways of practicing with a time control that is long enough to help you improve.
How To Play Rapid Chess On Chess.com
Playing rapid chess on Chess.com is very simple. To do so, go to our Play page, click the time control dropdown menu, and select one of the rapid time control you'd like.
You can also click the More Time Controls option to see more rapid chess presets or to select a custom time control.
Then, you just need to hit Play and wait to get paired up!
How To Check Your Rapid Rating On Chess.com
You can easily check your rapid rating on Chess.com on your profile page. There, you'll see a summary of all your ratings for the most popular time controls.
You'll see a more detailed breakdown of your rapid rating if you click the Rapid tile. On that screen, you'll see your highest rapid rating ever, a rating progression chart, and even how you compare against your friends and against all Chess.com members.
Conclusion
You now know what rapid chess is, some of the biggest rapid tournaments in the world, how to play it online, and more. Head to our Play page and play a rapid game now!
