How blitz and bullet rotted my brain (don't let it rot yours)

Bullet games are so addictive, but the quality is so much poorer. I had a go again yesterday and I only tended to lose to those who played proper lines, those who played aggressive openings with the queen I was able to pick off, which I never used to be able to do, I'm probably better at bullet after all the daily games I've played. I doubt it works on the opposite way though. Bullet encourages a mentality of "hope he falls for this trick" which slower chess doesn't really need.

Obviously, blitz ratings are generally lower than rapid because players have less time per move which means there is higher chance to blunder in blitz. Yet, unlike bullet, you cant play only for time in blitz. So, you need a relatively good chess with less blunders in time pressure. And precisely for this reason, it is the ideal format for beginners to improve.

And it is difficult to improve in any format of chess without improving in chess overall. The only exception is perhaps bullet or even 3 min blitz. In those formats, you can get away with playing for time. But, to survive in any format longer than 3 min per side, you need to play relatively good and blunderless chess.

Bullet is more of a test of reaction skills and accurate observations/instincts. Pieces can be thrown away anyhow just to distract the opponent and make him/her lose on time.

Wild attacks, brutal tactics, mating attacks and so on. Hmmm...ItWillDefinitelyHappen.

For me I start to throw random moves when one player's time is low, but it also depends on the situation and my mood. I never use premoves at all (although the system occasionally lets one or two such premoves slip), so it is difficult for me to dish out many moves within one second.

At the moment I am training to not use premoves yet (I usually make do with 0.3 seconds or 0.4 seconds per move), but I can see that premoves are really good during points which you can be sure that a move definitely works without backfiring at all.

You came up with a very good point that the time gained by premoving in incremental games can translate to gaining sufficient precious time to make more quality moves.

I also noticed this. Move the king to the square two spaces diagonally apart from a Black knight. It actually helps regardless of whether premoves are being used or not. Bishops are easier; just move the king to a square of a different colour square from the square which the bishops resides on.

Good point. There are lots more to observe, but you would have probably mastered these small tips after long practice on bullet.

I realise that bullet play has improved my rapid play to some degree.

I just started on chess.com short while ago. I feel the best chess experience is in person face to face, with no short time limit. Blitz chess pressures you to push past your analysis reflex and forces a nice you're never satisfied with unless it pays off later due to the other player making worse mistakes than yourself. I don't like blitz. I don't play blitz often but when I do, I've decided that analysis must be set aside. Only intuition should be played. The only analysis that skills be made is that if making sure your move isn't going to end in a pin or undefended loss of a piece. Period. Blitz will never be a depiction of your true skill in my opinion. It simply will never be because of those reasons.

I doubt playing blitz is hurting your slow games. I think not playing as many slow games because your are playing so much blitz is hurting your slow games. Switching back and forth between the types of thought processes may take practice.

Long games are about applying and figuring out new material, really pushing your limits. Blitz is more about testing how much you already know and applying portions of it fast. Both are interesting. You don't really know how to mate with a king, bishop and knight until you do it during bullet.

My opinion is actually pretty close to Ashvapathi’s. While I won’t say sub-1300s should avoid any game over 10 minutes, I personally believe blitz really strengthens intuitive play at the sub-1600 OTB level and can be good for a beginner. During my earlier years of playing chess I was limited to playing 5+0 blitz on Chess.com almost exclusively for practical reasons, and that made the foundations of my chess knowledge. While I also did my Tactics Trainer and Lessons, I think that blitz really helped improve my feel for my opening ideas and positional play. When I came to my first OTB tournament, I didn’t find myself playing incorrect attacks, or expressing any trait attributed to blitz addicts in particular. If anything, I managed to pull off some nasty swindles, which I probably wouldn’t have known how to do without getting swindled dozens of times in winning positions online. I walked away with a 1589 OTB rating, which isn’t the best rating in history, but is certainly better that what I would have gotten without all that blitz.

What I really don’t agree with is your “bad habit” argument. There simply isn’t any room for laziness in blitz because it’s so fast-paced – it’s a race to outcalculate your opponent that takes immense mental effort. As for superficial thinking, beginners often don’t have the chess knowledge to make use of the time in longer time controls. When I played my first few games online I was scared of being flagged in short time controls, but every game I was blitzing and spending less than one-third of the time I had to play the game because I didn’t know what there was to think about. I think it’s probably fine for beginners to start at a low time control (never bullet though – that I won’t argue with) like 5+0 or 10+0, but then as they improve something like 15+10 or more would become more helpful for further improvement. Blitz is fine as long as they don’t engage in flagging battles for the sake of it.

Already too late, I couldn't read OP because bullet made me stupid.

Checkmate.

This thread went to sleep fully 3 months ago.  Can't you read?

Should I create a new one? Or maybe 100?

Thank you chuddog for sharing your experience and reminding me to not waste my time on playing blitz, except as a tool for practicing openings once in a while. 

Good post

I agree with the OP. Alas, I have too few opportunities to play OTB, and in my 60s, I no longer have ambitions of becoming a master. I play for fun. I’m still trying to learn, of course. In fact, learning about chess is the end itself and no longer a means to an end.

Plus, I’ve been an online blitz junkie the entirety of the twenty-first century.

last week i played my first OTB tournament, i got crushed 0/6 by 1300s and its because i was playing faster, missing my opponent's resources and simple tactics, i then did a post mortem and realized where the issue is, i have therefore retired from playing blitz chess until further notice