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Blitz plus's and minus's....
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 Blitz plus's and minus's....Minus side:Blitz can develop sloppy play and bad thinking habits in longer time controls and make you self programmed to move too hastily in more complex positions.Yes,TA agree's with this,but not in "all"circumstances and "all"players! But many of the following type of chats you can encounter online about the "plus"side of blitz: Playing only slow regular game time controls will not show you enough "board snapshots" of the type you need to familiarize yourself with. I think blitz is a good way to encounter lots of the possibilities that are inherent in the kinds of positions you tend to reach. If you don't`remember much from a blitz game,I guess it would be because you don't yet have a set of positions that are typical for you. I know that somewhere I`have read something by Prof. Diane Horgan about the value of blitz in developing such pattern recognition. Another reason that you may choose to play speed chess can include that your opponent is typically a painfully slow player. Also, if you are short on time but want to play a quick intense game, then speed chess may be for you. Three benefits that are tough to argue against: - Technique Practice : Practicing good technique under time pressure is a skill that has a high ROI in slower OTB games that may often get into a time-crunch. - Opening Practice : If you're shopping/trying out new lines, blitzing 10-20 games makes more sense than playing one slow serious game which won't let you explore an opening all that much.And blitz can be up to 20-30 minutes in time. -Tactics Practice: Working on puzzles where you KNOW that there's a winning move is one thing ... blitz tends to give you a good assessment of how far your tactical training has really taken you. Just a matter of being efficient with your time. Let's say you're studying a new tabiya where there are multiple possibilites apart from the main line. You could a) Play slow+serious games (not more than 1/day if you're working full-time! ) and decide which one/types of positions you enjoy playing more. In order to explore all the recommended moves from a position, you may need to play a lot of such games. or b)Play 10-15 shorter games in this line so you have had a chance to "try" out at least a few variations and decide whether this line is for you or not. Of course, I call this "shopping chess" and once you've tasted something that you like, it's back to playing slow+serious games in that line so that you can actually start making progress. Another advantage of doing this is that while GM-written books endorse a few responses, you get to see how the average player responds in certain positions, what the natural looking moves (that occur more often in blitz) tend to be and you gain some valuable statistical information a lot quicker through blitz. For example : Saw an interesting article on a "Mad dog" attacking system vs. the Pirc. Looked through those variations , tried them out in about 50 games of blitz and realized that the average club player doesn't play as accurately against it, even though the Masters who wrote the article called it a little unsound for White. So that immediately became part of my repertoire and it has served my OTB games fairly well against the players I normally face (1500-2000 USCF). blitz cultivates hasty decisions. It also rewards unsound attacks. Blitz also helps you learn to make decisions faster. Someone did a study showing that there really is such a thing as taking too long to make a decision in chess. Besides getting into time trouble, you might make worse moves after 10 minutes of thinking than after 2. Blitz forces you to be more decisive and make decisions quickly. Of course, too much blitz will lead to superficial thinking, but I think a little bit of blitz is an essential part of any chess improvement program. The main benefits of blitz are in addition to that which has already been mentioned are: 1. It teaches you to recognize key points in the game. You need to know WHEN to think in a blitz game. 2. quick pattern recognition and practicing attacking. A large part of attacking is instinct(which can be developed). There are a lot of positions which there is no way anyone could calculate all the possibilities. 3. It teaches you to recognize the key points in the position quickly. 4. the importance of quick accurate hands (not only in chess boxing, but regular chess as well) The bottom line? My Senior Master opinion is that you should actually NOT play much(or any) blitz in the early stages of your chess learning curve!But more in the mid/later ranges of your chess studies in an approx rating range of 1399 or higher.This is where you should be studying more openings,tactics and strategies....and blitz can be an experimental tool in these areas.But like anything else,too much of something can be harmful!Just use common sense and limit your play.If you become a class "A" or "expert",playing blitz can be beneficial in several ways as listed above.With me,its different.I have a rating of 2400+ OTB,2500 Corresp and 2500-2600 in Blitz.So I have pretty much mastered all the areas....and "Blitz"will not "HURT" me in any way.I have learned to overcome any of those psychological problems that can be spawned from the negative sides of blitz.Its up to the individual.Personally I love blitz to try out a new opening or experimental subvariated line against alot of opponents in a short amount of time(over an evening)with several different rating levels to see how my opponents react or if its a solid or weak way to proceed.This way,its also NOT on your GK record for the spys!!!!You can then use it atleast one time against that super strong player for maybe winning results in your long corresp game! I also heard a counter argument about...why not play against a computer program instead of a human blitz player,can't you learn tactics,strategies,new openings,subvariations and more as equally well?Yes and no!I'll cover this in another post!But playing humans are different!They generally react differently and are subject to more psychological ploys,do not see ex-ray attacks as easily and other salient points in the game.So experimenting with a real live player(as in blitz)has advantages ABOVE playing a computer program.Not so much as you progress,however,with a much stronger rating,where a program can be even more beneficial. As always in this club,your comments are very welcome!You can say that you hate blitz and it stinks!You won't upset TA!Or you can say you love blitz,it won't matter to me!Opinions vary because in truth it CAN hurt a players long games but in some cases it can help!Don't forget that there are players on GK that also avoid playing the long corresp games and ONLY play blitz!Whats my opinion about that?Choose you flavor,its up to you!But in reality,only playing blitz is definitely not going to improve your regular games!But then some players do not "want"to improve!!!!And there is the "flip"side of the coin on some players only playing blitz that don't need to improve!How?Well,believe it or not I know of a few 2400-2600 rated players that have kind of "retired"from the long regular games and now only want to play blitz at various time control levels.So,playing 100% blitz is not going to "hurt"their long game because they have already been there and done that and have already gained their senior master or GM level of play! Again,comments are always welcome! TA |
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Sometimes blitz and bullet time controls have value beyond what most understand: en.wikipedia.org So blitz has little value you may be thinking or have thought? You are incorrect if you feel that way. |
