Blitzing To Glory

[Sashie VII]

So in your opinion/experience/knowledge, does playing a huge amount blitz games regularly (5, 10 minutes) contribute significantly to your improvement and growth as a chess player? If so, what area would this help the most in, and how?

 

[Narz]

I voted no. IMO, ten serious G/60 games will help one's game more than a hundred & twenty blitz games. I played thousands of blitz games on FICS with not a whole lot of improvement.

Unfortunately, while I love OTB tournament style long games, I don't have much patience for online long games so I used to exclusively play blitz online. Discovering the joys (and sorrows ) of correspondence has been a very cool experience for me.

Don't get me wrong. Blitz is a lot of fun but so is staying up late drinking with friends, but while both are enjoyable on occasion neither are quite "the path to glory" IMO, especially not in excess.

 

[Panzar75]

I started playing chess when I was about 9 and for almost 20 years I played almost exclusively 5 and 10 minute games every monday night. It did help me get better of course but after joining another chess club and starting to play longer, rated games I noticed a large improvement in both my longer games as well as blitz.

I think you need some faster games to practice making decisions when low on time as that is something that will happen in regular games from time to time as well. While I really like longer games when you have time to think about what you are doing I don't think I could only play longer games. Sometimes you just feel like playing some blitz. Especially when you are in one of those periods when nothing you do seems to work and at least you can win on time every now and then.

I guess blitz also helps you with practicing openings as you get more games and therefore openings per unit of time. (Unfortunately I'm cursed with a really bad memory so I never really remember what I did last game not to mention yesterday.)

 

[PaulusIII]

It definitely helps with improving your tactical acumen, which is needed anyway if you want to rise above a certain level. It also helps with getting the hang of openings because well, you play a lot of them.

It's not the way to deep strategy, but then again by the time you are there you will already have gained a lot in chess skill.

 

[JonathanStrange]

I voted yes, it can and does improve your game depending on where you're already - after awhile though, I doubt speed games do anything more than maintain your skill at speed games.

I've played thousands of blitz/lightning games on ICC and USCF Chess online - when I played chess - and I got to test out my openings, find out the most common responses (both book and nonbook) and got to used to all sorts of tactical shots.

BUT, my over-the-board ratings never improved much: I don't think fast games caused the halt. I had already stopped progressing in rating long before that. However, I do think that if I had just started chess, it would've helped in the same way all those casual games I played before I ever went online did.

 

[DaveShack]

I read an article a while ago (could be a long while ago) that blitz helps mainly with pattern recognition. Haven't played enough of it myself for it to matter.

 

[Sashie VII]

Interesting responses, thanks. I think blitzing in a specific opening again and again, playing both sides will help a lot in learning it. But I'm not sure of whether it helps your general playing level.

 

[Narz]

I think blitz trains your brain to take only superficial stock of the position. It's not uncommon for GM's to spend 30-40 minutes on a single move. Chess is all about finding the right move in the critical position, blitz doesn't teach you how to do this. IME, at least 50% of blitz games (at least around the 1600 level) are gonna be decided by someone missing a fairly basic tactic whereas in tournament games you're going to have to notice deeper tactics & can't expect to win games by finding a one-move skewer that your opponent set up for himself positionally by not considering the effects of moving his rook & queen on the same diagnol cause he was scrambling for time.

Blitz practice makes you good at blitz but not regular tournament chess. An intermediate player who studies long tactics, complete annotated games & plays tournament chess (at least G/60) for even just a couple of months will probably be better equipped for a big tournament than some who's been playing exclusively blitz for 30 years.

Blitz is like chocolate, sweet, stimulating & even containing some anti-oxidants & nutrition but as a steady diet it's not really going to get you anywhere.

 

[WhiteEagle22]

I can honestly say I have no clue.

 

[Narz]

I played a bunch of blitz tonight at UMass and I feel nearly zero benefit from it (besides it being fun) except one thing I learned not to do against the Caro Kahn.

 

[JonathanStrange]

One thing online lightning/blitz allows is the ability to review my moves; so I could see where my instincts were taking me when I had to move instantaneously.

I recall that I knew several very strong blitz players who actually were only so-so action chess (game/25 minutes) as well as average players in even longer games. Ironically, giving them more time didn't improve their game.

 

[Sashie VII]

I recall that I knew several very strong blitz players who actually were only so-so action chess (game/25 minutes) as well as average players in even longer games. Ironically, giving them more time didn't improve their game.

That's funny, I'd have thought that good instincts would be benefited from longer thinking time. Or perhaps they rely too much on instinct?

 

[JonathanStrange]

The most plausible explanation - in my opinion - was that their opponents were able to use the longer thinking time to avoid the tactical traps (knight forks, skewers, hanging pawns, etc.) and put the game onto a more strategic level where the blitz players may have been weaker or at least less experienced.

One kid, he was 15 and I 21, had impressed me as a really tough player in blitz games; always finding a sharp tactic instantly, every move played confidently and always threatening something. He'd win at least 2 of 3 blitz games, and probably 3 of 4 lightning (1 minute) games against. However, at game/25 minutes, it was just the opposite. Quite a few of the other fast players were like that too. Not all of them though, many of the best "slow" game players were damn good blitz gamers - at least at the clubs in SF, LA, and NY that I played.

But I make no claim that this is usually the case! Still, as has been written about in players' bios and articles, Blitz can be an art itself and Blitz specialists - especially if they make some $$ that way - can become quite deadly.

 

[Narz]

Blitz can be an art itself and Blitz specialists - especially if they make some $$ that way - can become quite deadly.

but only at Blitz.

 

[WhiteEagle22]

I'm no good at Blitz... I don't think that fast.

 

[Yeekim]

I think blitz trains your brain to take only superficial stock of the position. It's not uncommon for GM's to spend 30-40 minutes on a single move. Chess is all about finding the right move in the critical position, blitz doesn't teach you how to do this. IME, at least 50% of blitz games (at least around the 1600 level) are gonna be decided by someone missing a fairly basic tactic whereas in tournament games you're going to have to notice deeper tactics & can't expect to win games by finding a one-move skewer that your opponent set up for himself positionally by not considering the effects of moving his rook & queen on the same diagnol cause he was scrambling for time.

Blitz practice makes you good at blitz but not regular tournament chess. An intermediate player who studies long tactics, complete annotated games & plays tournament chess (at least G/60) for even just a couple of months will probably be better equipped for a big tournament than some who's been playing exclusively blitz for 30 years.

Blitz is like chocolate, sweet, stimulating & even containing some anti-oxidants & nutrition but as a steady diet it's not really going to get you anywhere.

I completely agree. I prefer game time of about 15-25 minutes per player.
Any longer, and it gets tedious. Any less and everything you said, applies.

 

[Flying Pig]

I can't play Blitz, but end up doing a lot of them. The clock is the only winner, really.

 

[WhiteEagle22]

I don't play Blitz games because the clock always times out on my turn.

 

[Narz]

That's the key, to get it to time out on the other guy's turn.

 

[Sashie VII]

I don't play Blitz games because the clock always times out on my turn.

That's the key, to get it to time out on the other guy's turn.

There might even be players somewhere who practice their hand techniques to move and press the clock faster just for this purpose.