The Chess Dog Journal

Speed Chess: Hors d Oeuvre or Junk Food

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.

Reviewing Foxwoods – Round 2

Here is my round two game from Foxwoods.  I was feeling upbeat heading into this game.  It was a classical system Caro Kann with 4…Bf5.  I often play this as Black, so I felt very comfortable in the opening.  Black makes an error on move 22 which cedes the advantage to white.

Though there were some subtleties in the position, I was able to negotiate the win quite smoothly.  The game is a fairly strategic one with some neat tactical undertones.

Reviewing Foxwoods – Round 1

I am getting around to analyzing my games from Foxwoods.  Here is my round 1 game.  It was not the crispest game.  I think both my opponent and I were just getting into it as we both made some rather obvious errors.  The edge went back and forth as we traded errors.  The result was a draw when I made a rather silly time wasting move and let the win slip away.

Nonetheless, it was a fun game and good way to start the event.

Horse Play

Last week’s game was a lot of fun.  My opponent took a chance going into an unusual opening line.  Unfortunately for him, the ploy backfired and he found himself down a pawn and with an exposed king coming out of the opening.  With the queens off the board rather early, I opted for transitioning into an endgame where the extra pawn would become the decisive factor.

We ended up in a knight and pawn ending which illustrated the importance of having scope for your knights.  Black found himself constantly retreating as white’s king and knight pushed deep into black’s side of the board.  On move 40, Black is in zugzwang and resigns on his next move after realizing that what remains of his position is about to collapse.

Here are my notes on the game.  I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Getting Back To Chess

Although the result was not so good, it felt good to start shaking out some of the cobwebs last Tuesday.  This was my first outing in two years.  So, I found it difficult to stay focused and ended up squandering a great position.  Still, I feel my instincts are coming back and I am itching to get back to the board this week.