Since I don’t get the chance to play over the board as often as I would like, I fill the void with internet chess. But, it’s not the same. For starters, instead of the deliberate pace of a rated tournament game, I find I play lots of speed chess. Is this a good thing? Is speed chess good or bad for your game?
I have heard lots of differing opinions on this subject. Some of my friends just don’t like speed chess at all and won’t play it. Others love the fast action of blitz. Yet even among those who enjoy it, there is a school of thought that says speed chess can ruin your regular game. Proponents of this position feel that blitz encourages sloppy play and that it’s easy to slip into an unstable style of rushed play that can result in disaster at a tournament. I think there is some truth in these arguments.
However, I don’t think speed chess is bad for one’s game. Back in the days when I carried a candidate master ranking, my primary study tool was playing tons of blitz. I would give time odds to my opponents in order to force myself to work harder (3 minutes vs 5 against players with an OTB rating close to mine, and 1 vs 5 against players rated more than 200 points lower).
A couple years ago, I was talking with Larry Christiansen about what I could do to start getting back to my game. One of Larry’s suggestions was that I play a little blitz every day.
Here is my list of suggestions to help your speed chess games work to improve your tournament play.
Play the game, not the clock
It’s better to work on finding good moves under time pressure than it is to just move to avoid having your flag fall. Yes, you may lose a few more blitz games in the short run, but in the long run both your blitz and standard game will benefit.
Look for the big combination
There are usually plenty of sub-optimal moves played on both sides of the board during a blitz game. This represents a great opportunity to hone your tactical ability. Don’t waste it. Use every game as a training exercise.
Don’t play junk lines
A friend of mine loves to play questionable lines that he’s memorized when he plays blitz. He figures he can suck people into traps. Unfortunately, this practice won’t help your regular game. With a slower time control, your opponent is less likely to make a hasty and unwise choice. Also, it’s always seemed to me that he rarely gets any real advantage by playing the off lines since his opponents, not knowing the “book” response, are just as likely to play a move he hadn’t prepared.
Try out your new ideas
While you don’t want to play junk lines, blitz games are a great venue to try out ideas that you are working on for your regular game. After you have tested your idea a few times via blitz, you begin to get a feel for the nuances of the ensuing variations.
Don’t take it too seriously
Remember, nobody plays their peak game at blitz speed. Don’t spend countless hours trying to analyze your blitz games to death. Do think about any key positions and how you might have improved your approach. Do try and look for patterns in your play that might suggest an area in your game that needs some attention. Once you have extracted these quick lessons, move on and play another game.
What do you think? Is speed chess the bane of serious chess or is it a useful tool?
Here is a recent blitz game I played, presented without annotations. My opponent played inaccurately in the opening allowing me to create connected passed pawns. After some play to defuse any counterplay, I begin to drive the win home at move 35. Consistent with my second point above, I had calculated all the variations (rook doesn’t take pawn, check from d1 is blocked with Rf3, through to the concluding mate) before playing 35. b3.
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