How do I get better at blitz?

I know it may sound as a stupid question. "Just play a lot of blitz". But it just doesn't work. Blitz and bullet games don't help me improve my game of course, but it's really frustrating to steadily get better at standard, constantly beating players in the 1600-1800 range, while in blitz I frequently get my ass kicked by 1000 rated players. I frequently hang my pieces or miss basic tactics and I can't form any sort of plan. I just trade pieces down and hope I'll win on time. It's not that I can't think fast, but time pressure is killing me and I have a hard time even mating with K and Q vs K! Most people have a higher blitz rating than standard. In my case I'm in the 1700 range at standard game while in blitz I'm in the 1200 range and even that rating I think is inflated. I'm going to participate in a tournament for a first time soon enough and what if I have to play a blitz game as a tiebreak and I'm gonna screw it all up because I play horribly under time pressure?? Any advice?

what you wrote is exactly not being able to think fast xD

so... what's the lowest time control you can play? 15 0? try, like, 10 0 and when you feel fine take off a minute. repeat.

Well that's what I'm actually doing. I play a lot of long games and analyze them and I'm improving at long time controls every day but at blitz there's no change.

Train Tactics (to execute tactical solutions faster) and stick to 2 openings you know by heart (so you can play the first 15 moves in 15 seconds, which gives you time in the endgame). That is probably an easy way to improve at blitz chess.

Three words.

Blackmar.

Diemer.

Gambit.

might be good to add that, as it has been pointed out, improving at long time controls is a "more worthy" priority.

if you reeeally are interested at getting better results at blitz though, you just have to get used to time pressure.
you might want to try adding up some increment so that the pressure isn't as much and you don't draw K+Q vs K :P

that said, i think that some players are just destined to be slow. maybe you are one of them :P

I am not slow... But in fast games all I think about is time and that if I don't move something fast I'll end up losing. I think you misinterpreted what I said. Thank you for your comment but I don't think I'm "slow". In standard games I can move fast and accurately, because I don't have any pressure on me. I think it's more of a psychological factor involved.

Totally agreed! Increased my Blitz from 1390 - 1600 in 2 months with this

krestez, what do you mean constantly beating players in the 1700-1800 range?

your best win is against a 1707.

also, it is not correct that people's blitz rating is higher. blitz rating is much more difficult to get up.

so yeah - try what i suggested on gradually cutting out time until you find your "borderline mind-blanking" threshhold, then work on it. maybe it'll even improve just by trying that out.

Ok, I didn't really express myself in a clear way. I usually play 60|0 here and I usually get paired with players under 1700. I didn't play too many games with so high rated players yet. I just said 1600-1800 as an aproximate value of my strength and I think it's pretty accurate. I can do fine even against 1800+ here on chess.com at long time controls but there's few people who are willing to play so long games.

Actually I found a game from some time ago against a guy rated 1800+ that I won in my database.

Anyway ratings don't really reflect that much the strength of a player,IMHO It's a bit relative. I sometimes play way below my rating and sometimes way above.

Study endgames. Exchange down to endgames. Win the endgames. Cheers :)

I used to have a tough time staying above 1150 for long in 10 minute blitz.  Now I can usually hang out around 1230-1260.  I'm trying to break 1300.  I play almost every day, several games.   Gradually improving.  Of course like one of the first respondant's said, studying games and tactics and anything you do to learn from each game is valuable. Usually whether learning from playing or studying, it takes time to really absorb the lessons to work at the intuitive level.  In fact, it's counter intuitive, but taking breaks seems to help.  Oh, sure, when you come back to a fast-paced game like blitz you might have to lose a few to hit your stride if you've stepped away but then you may get on a roll better than you could before the break.

Um, with all due respect ... what would you know about it?

(just kidding   - wow!  Impressive skills there! )

Well :) Actually, blitz should be a side product of a strong level in classical time controls, in my opinion. Also, some think that endgames do not need calculations of complicated variations. The short version: they are wrong. A book that I can recommend on calculating variations is this one. It is probably easier to follow if you are rated >ELO 2000. Yet, if you are ready to train chess seriously (no, blitz does not count), then check it out. Cheers.

http://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Creative-Thinking-Champions-Progress/dp/3283005192/

Thanks! (a lot!)  I never considered trying to get serious about chess, because I tend to think I don't have the temperment for it.  My mind is too variable and I am impulsive and swayed to much by emotional factors.  So I can do really well on a good day/state of mind, and then undermine everything on another day.  That kind of pattern works better at things I can develop in cycles.  Where I can apply myself when I'm in good form/creative, and disengage when it's counterproductive.

Plus it's a LOT of work and I keep trying to convince myself I have other meaningful achievable goals in life ... that remains to be seen.  Nevertheless, I have the utmost respect and appreciation for people of your caliber at chess.  

Having said that, I'll probably get the book.  I do want to improve, but just here and there, with no specific goal other than to continually be improving.

Study endgame/middle games. Opening doesn't really matter when you are just starting out.

Although, it could be helpful to have a clear concept in the opening. I'd suggest to play the same opening over and over. Does it go wrong? Where did it go wrong?

Best way to play blitz is playing for own ideas and concepts - not 100% reacting on what your opponent does.

Just play A B C chess, don't do anything too fancy in the first 10/15 moves.

I feel that shorter time controls in OTB tournaments (G/45, G/60 for example) have caused players to neglect endgame study.  I understand the appeal of one day tournaments, but I want to improve all facets of my game. I look for events with longer time controls.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

I think that those who master endgames better are delighted that so many players neglect to study endgames. Cheers :)