- Joined
- 12 Aug 06
- Moves
- 5380
I just can't win blitz games. 1 minute or 5 minutes, it doesn't matter. I always drop a piece or count the defender-attacker number wrong or don't see a mate in 2, ruining the game easily. Take this game for example:
[Event "ICC 3 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2006.10.11"]
[Round "-"]
[White "dap"]
[Black "Anthias"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCResult "Black resigns"]
[WhiteElo "1148"]
[BlackElo "1158"]
[Opening "Petrov: classical attack, close variation"]
[ECO "C42"]
[NIC "RG.04"]
[Time "15:13:31"]
[TimeControl "180+0"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 Nf6 6. Bd3 Bg4 7. O-O Nbd7
8. Bf4 Be7 9. c3 O-O 10. Nbd2 b6 11. h3 Bh5 12. Qc2 c5 13. Be2 Rc8 14. Rfe1
cxd4 15. Nxd4 Bxe2 16. Rxe2 d5 17. Rae1 Re8 18. Nf5 Bc5 19. Rxe8+ Qxe8 20.
Rxe8+ Rxe8 21. Be3 Bxe3 22. Nxe3 h6 23. Kf1 Rc8 24. Qb3 Rc5 25. Qa3 a5 26.
Nb3 Rc8 27. Nd4 Ne4 28. Qe7 Rc7 29. Qd8+ Kh7 30. Qxc7 Ndf6 31. Qxb6 Kg6 32.
Ng4 Kg5 33. Nxf6 Nxf6 34. Qxa5 Kg6 35. Qb6 Kg5 36. a4 Kg6 37. a5 Kg5 38. a6
Kg6 39. a7 Kg5 40. a8=Q Kg6 41. Qxd5 Kh7 42. Qf5+ g6 43. Qfxf6 Kg8
{Black resigns}
1-0
or this one
[Event "ICC 5 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2006.10.11"]
[Round "-"]
[White "Anthias"]
[Black "panificator"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ICCResult "White checkmated"]
[WhiteElo "888"]
[BlackElo "1023"]
[Opening "Pirc: classical (two knights) system"]
[ECO "B08"]
[NIC "PU.10"]
[Time "14:49:18"]
[TimeControl "300+0"]
1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Be3 O-O 6. Bd3 Nbd7 7. O-O Re8 8.
h3 Nf8 9. d5 c6 10. Qe2 Bd7 11. Rad1 Qc8 12. Rfe1 Bxh3 13. gxh3 Qxh3 14. Nh2
N8d7 15. f4 cxd5 16. exd5 e5 17. fxe5 Nxe5 18. Qg2 Qh5 19. Be2 Qf5 20. Bd3
Nxd3 21. cxd3 Re7 22. Rf1 Qe5 23. Bf4 Qd4+ 24. Kh1 Rae8 25. Bxd6 Re6 26. Bf4
R6e7 27. Bd6 Rd7 28. Bf4 Nh5 29. Bg3 Nxg3+ 30. Qxg3 Be5 31. Qh3 Rde7 32. Ng4
Bf4 33. Qf3 Bd6 34. Nf6+ Kh8 35. Nxe8 Rxe8 36. Qxf7 Qh4+ 37. Kg2 Qg3+ 38.
Kh1 Qh2# {White checkmated} 0-1
I play a lot of these kinds of games, but never seem to improve. I thought that playing a lot of blitz games actually helps OTB tournament skills too. Am I wrong?
I saw that after developing my pieces and castling, I have no idea what to do. The time is too short to plan, so in some games I just move my King back and forth until my oppnonent ornaizes his army and defeats me.
Blitz games are fun, and can help you memorize openings, but long games will help your overall chess a whole lot more than blitz will. Mainly because they'll force you to sit and think about the position more than just react to (and make) simple tactical threats, as you often do in blitz.
But to the main point...it might help not to rush so much in your blitz games. That might sound silly, since you only have 3 or 5 minutes to make all your moves! But don't be afraid to use a minute or two on one or two key moves, if that's what you need to do to win a game. When a key position arises, it doesn't matter how fast you move if you're playing losing moves.
Originally posted by anthiasIt took a couple hundred blitz games for me to even hit 1400. I started off around 1200 (1500-1600 Slow/CC) and after I had become more adjusted to the time my rating slowly increased. How many have you played?
I just can't win blitz games. 1 minute or 5 minutes, it doesn't matter. I always drop a piece or count the defender-attacker number wrong or don't see a mate in 2, ruining the game easily. Take this game for example:
[Event "ICC 3 0"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2006.10.11"]
[Round "-"]
[White "dap"]
[Black "Anthias"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ICCRes ...[text shortened]... ornaizes his army and defeats me.
I usually play 1min games on playchess, I'm not sure if ICC has premove or not. Premove is where you select the piece and tell it to move before you have seen your opponents move, this can be really handy in fast games, so the second he has made his move your move follows straight after.
The opening I use for white in bullet games is King's Indian Attack. This starts off with Nf3 which usually scares your opponent from the very start, also you don't really need to worry about there opening moves (bonus for you because you can carry out your opening moves regardless of what they do, well most of the time).
Made a quick example of the sort of structure your looking for with white
http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/6450/kingsindianzh5.jpg
Move order would be something like
1. Nf3 -- 2. g3 -- 3. Bg2 -- 4. d3 -- 5. Nbd2 -- 6. O-O --
7. Re1 -- 8. e4 *
Originally posted by anthiasFor the most part, yes, you are wrong.
I play a lot of these kinds of games, but never seem to improve. I thought that playing a lot of blitz games actually helps OTB tournament skills too. Am I wrong?
Blitz can aid in the reinforcement of pattern recognition, but it is doubtful that you can learn those patterns through blitz (unless you analyze all your games).
I've played slightly more than 27,000 blitz games at ICC, FICS, playchess, USCL, etc. since 1998. My game improved slightly, but most of my OTB errors have been the result of playing as if it were blitz.
My game has improved significantly, however, through study of mating patterns, tactical motifs, positional principles, and endgames. I've practiced these in blitz some.
I also hired a master to train me, and have had close to 20 hours of lessons. He began to improve significantly (moving rapidly through A class into expert, and then after a few years, master) only when he stopped playing blitz.
For six months last year, I limited my blitz to no more than five games per day and concentrated on book study. When I returned to an excess of blitz, my blitz rating improved on all sites except FICS (where the infernal lag drives me nuts).
I have a counter-intuitive theory about blitz: it aids strategical skills more than tactics. Many of the blitz games i get into are so complicated that it's impossible to see to the end of the combinations in the given time. So, i find it better to strive for simple positions, keep my pawn chain solid, get into open files first, avoid hanging pieces, the stuff you'd do anyway in a slow game. Sometimes i will move too fast and leave a pawn or piece open for capture, en prise. Game is usually over at that point. I'd hardly call that tactics, just looking around the board. Once i played a blitz game 5 minutes against a guy rated about 1600. He had white, he first move his f1 knight out, i moved d pawn. he moved his knight back, then he did the same with his other knight. I thought, this guy must be stupid. I was building my center, developing pieces etc. at last, when he had to he moved his d and e pawn forward one square, avoiding contact. I then realized what he was doing, he was saving time. I was already way behind, choosing the "best" moves, when he just moved. In the end, under time pressure, up a couple of pawns i blundered a piece and he suddenly began playing "smart, correct" moves and won the game.
Originally posted by buddy2I've played countless games against people who do this in Blitz. I make it a personal goal to 'prove' the superiority of reasonable development...but it just doesn't always work. You can whip up some devastating attacks though, if those guys mess around too much.
I have a counter-intuitive theory about blitz: it aids strategical skills more than tactics. Many of the blitz games i get into are so complicated that it's impossible to see to the end of the combinations in the given time. So, i find it better to strive for simple positions, keep my pawn chain solid, get into open files first, avoid hanging pieces, the s ...[text shortened]... blundered a piece and he suddenly began playing "smart, correct" moves and won the game.
I wouldn't say blitz would because you can play 15min blitz games, whereas if you play alot of bullet it will harm your overall game. Those sorts of games are based on time so your prone to errors on those types of games, your whole mind set is to move fast rather than always look for the best move. Play too many bullet games and you get into the habit of moving fast.
Originally posted by z00tSpeed chess will seriously harm you chess only if you bang your head against a wall at the same time...
The answer is practice, practice and more practice. If you can beat GNUChess in 10 or 20 minute gaames then you are not doing too badly. Beware though as speed chess will seriously damage your real chess ability. This I speak from experience.
tell me how speed chess did harm your chess?