why is 5/5 so difficult?

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Sunshine2345

I've been playing some 5 min + 3 seconds chess lately and I'm wondering why it's more difficult than other formats? I've improved at 10 min chess and I figured they would be about the same time. With 5/5 chess my rating is stuck at less than 500 and 10 minute chess I can get it over 800.

jg777chess
Hi!

Speed chess is always more difficult for players who are newer to chess because you must rely more on your known patterns and intuition of the game than calculation and evaluation determinations of positions. Because of this, you’ll generally blunder more or fall into opening or tactical traps more frequently. I recommend avoiding speed chess until you’ve gained more experience with chess, first because you’ll learn better chess habits using longer time controls and secondly because you’ll improve more quickly and likely be in more games in that process if you develop a good thought process. In fact initially I suggest Daily chess and basically avoid time controls while learning basics of chess fundamentals to help accelerate this process overall, or minimally a 15|10 or longer time control of a Live game format is desired to be played. Otherwise yes, speed chess will give you mixed results most likely and even more likely, could stunt your improvement, especially if you aren’t analyzing your mistakes and developing superficial gameplay (cheap opening tricks, surface level calculation and thought process of positions, ect). I recommend you try longer time controls for now and after awhile maybe revisit speed chess and see if you notice a difference. Have fun!

-Jordan
Chuck639

I play 5/5 for the middle game planning aspect since you can score decent accuracy.

Truth be told, 5/5 blitz and 10 mins rapid are both blitz time controls. Therefore I play more with 5/5 to experiment and preserve my rapid game for 15/10 where I expect quality play.

eric0022
Sunshine2345 wrote:

I've been playing some 5 min + 3 seconds chess lately and I'm wondering why it's more difficult than other formats? I've improved at 10 min chess and I figured they would be about the same time. With 5/5 chess my rating is stuck at less than 500 and 10 minute chess I can get it over 800.

 

It largely depends on the playing pool. And I believe that your rating points of 500 and 800 can be brought up in due time. In the long run, there should not be much difference between the two (other than the fact that flagging is less likely to happen in an increment game).