blitz and bullet notes derived from ...... this ........ Chess is stereotypically known as a game for ponderous thinkers. Games are known to take hours, with correspondence games taking as much as months or years to play. Certainly, people dont think of fast action when chess comes to mind. But theres another form of the game that has begun to seep into the public image of chess: speed chess. In countless television shows and movies, audiences have seen park hustlers play chess at lightning pace, finishing games in a matter of minutes. The truth is that speed chess is a popular version of the game among all levels of players, from beginners to grandmasters. Speed chess allows players to quickly play casual games that usually feature a higher number of mistakes than a standing classical game - something that can make the games much more action packed and entertaining to watch. Blitz Chess The most traditional form of speed chess is blitz chess. In blitz, players normally have anywhere between three and five minutes to make all of their moves. In addition, some players enjoy playing blitz with an increment or time delay, though this is not as common as in standard time control events (where this practice has become the norm). In the traditional blitz format, games were played with five minutes per side. However, in online chess, the three-minute time control has become more popular. This may be partially explained by the fact that in online chess, your time will stop moving as soon as youve made your move, while over the board, you may lose a fraction of a second after every move as you physically press the clock. While in longer games this hardly makes a difference, its noticeable in the world of blitz, where a three-minute game online feels similar to a five-minute game in live play (and a five-minute game online begins to take on a feel more similar to a rapid game than a blitz game). Since blitz is a popular activity at all levels of chess, grandmasters have been known to play the game with each other, both informally (you can always find GMs playing blitz games at online chess servers) and in events such as the World Blitz Championship. The first unofficial world blitz championship was won by Bobby Fischer, who scored 19/22 against a field that included Tal, Petrosian and Smyslov - all former World Chess Champions - and other notables who had taken part in the USSR vs. The World match. More recently, official championship tournaments have been help for blitz play, with Magnus Carlsen (2009) and Levon Aronian (2010) winning the most recent titles. Bullet Chess If blitz just isnt fast enough for you, bullet chess may be more your speed. This form of chess - which typically gives players just 1-2 minutes per game - has been played for decades, but really gained in popularity when online chess took off in the 1990s. Today, millions of people play these games (which often barely resemble real chess) for fun, and Hikaru Nakamura has even released a book on the topic.
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 11:44:22 +0000
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