3 December 2021
Chess is a very popular game that has been played around the world for over 1,000 years. In those years, a few variations were made to how the game was played, allowing the players to challenge themselves further. One of these variations known today as Blitz is a fast-paced game of chess that challenges the player’s intuition while under a deadline.
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What is Blitz Chess?
Blitz chess is a subset of what is known as “Fast Chess”. Fast chess is a chess game played quickly, with each player having a very short total time to play all of their moves during the game. Blitz is one of the three variations of fast chess and is the most popular of all three. The other variations are called Rapid and Bullet.
What is the Difference Between Blitz and Classical Chess?
With classical chess and Blitz both being popular, you may wonder if there are differences between the two games. While both games are played quite often, they are actually the same game. Both classical chess and blitz are played using the same board, pieces, and rules. The difference between the two is only made apparent when you take a look at the timers.
Classical chess is played where both participants have a minimum of 120 minutes each to play all of their moves over the duration of the game with the intention of winning. This leads to games of chess where both players put a lot of thought into each of their moves and into the moves of their opponent while anticipating what they may play and countering those moves before they happen.
This can cause classical chess games to last hours, with the longest recorded game lasting for 20 hours and ending in a draw.
Blitz chess, however, only gives each player a maximum of 5 minutes to play all of their moves over the duration of the game in an attempt to win. Because there is very little time allotted to each player, the game moves quickly, as each player is acting more on impulse and intuition, rather than carefully calculating the best possible move. The result from this game can be quite fun to watch as it can lead to crazy or unique openings, unexpected moves, and errors, leading to an unpredictable game.
How Hard is Blitz Chess?
It’s difficult to measure just how hard Blitz is, but it is harder than classical chess, and even Rapid chess, which is another form of Fast Chess where each player has a minimum of 10 minutes. Generally, in order to be good at Blitz, you will need to be good at classical chess, as Blitz isn’t challenging your ability to play the game and judge your opponent’s moves.
Instead, Blitz challenges your intuition and pattern recognition, making it more difficult to play as the shortened time limit forces you to act on instinct and intuition and can lead to you making a mistake because you acted impulsively.
Does Blitz Make You Better at Chess?
Quite a few people have quite a few opinions on Blitz, despite the fact that it is played almost as often as classical chess. Some people believe playing Blitz will make you worse at playing classical chess, some believe you should never touch it, and some believe it can be a valuable tool to have in your repertoire of skills when it comes to playing any type of chess.
Truthfully, whether or not playing Blitz can make you better at playing classical chess is entirely dependent on you and how often you play both games. Before playing Blitz, you should be very familiar with classical chess, the rules, and even the different openings and move sets that can be played, as playing Blitz can improve your intuition, and pattern recognition, and help train you to get out of tight binds when you’re stuck during a chess game.
However, only playing Blitz, or playing it as the majority of your chess games, may be detrimental to your ability to play classical chess. This is because Blitz focuses on your ability to find a better move than your opponent faster than they can and can lead to many games that end in draws or were won purely out of luck.
When playing classical chess, this can lead to you not taking your time and properly looking at your opponent’s pieces, past moves, and what their future moves may be, causing you to have a lack of critical thinking and patience, two skills which are very important in playing classical chess.
Should a Beginner Play Blitz?
Everyone starts somewhere when it comes to playing chess, and how each person progresses and learns is up to them. The key part of being a beginner and getting better at chess is to continue playing chess and learning where you went wrong in a game or where your opponent went wrong.
Because Blitz is much faster than classical chess, this may lead one to think it is a great way for a beginner to get better at playing because they can play more games faster.
However, this is not a good strategy for beginners. It is precise because Blitz chess is faster than it isn’t a good form of chess for beginners to play, as Blitz relies on the players already knowing how to play chess, as well as being able to recognize different sets of openings and moves.
As a beginner, it is better to take your time on a game of classical chess so you can best learn all you can before putting all your knowledge and skills under a very short time limit. Blitz chess can be harder than classical which we examined further in the following article. Blitz chess can be harder than classical which we examined further in the following article.
Blitz is a fast-paced game that can feel like a very different game when you place it next to classical chess. Blitz is a great game to practice your pattern recognition and learn to trust your intuition when making moves during a classical chess game but can be very difficult if you’re just starting to play chess. Make sure to take your time and learn from every game you play.
