First let me start off by saying that the best time control for beginners if they want to improve is 30/0 and if thats too long play 15/10. However most of the time we don't have enough time to play long games and beginners like me need to play a lot of games in order to get better at chess. The perfect solution? Play the next best time control. That would be a 5/0 blitz game.

Now I have read a lot of posts on these forums from higher rated players that take a dim view of beginners playing speed chess. They say it developes bad habits for one thing and whatever else. Nonsense.

Beginners will benefit greatly by playing all the 5/0 games that they can, provided when your playing a 5 min game you use your head, and let me make a quick note here, avoid playing bullet. Bullet games will really screw up your game.

The first thing to remember when you play 5/0 is that you never want to play to flag your opponent. I just started playing in January and if I wanted to get my rating up to 700 (that would be a rating climb of 300 points for me) I know I could do it easily if I played to win on time. Now I'm sure everyone would think that a rating climb of 300 points would mean that your improving at a remarkable rate but that would not be the case at a beginner level. By learning to win by flagging your opponent your not only not improving but now your really developing bad habits.

When you play a 5 min game you should always play to mate your opponent, that's number one, and number two you must always practice to keep all your pieces protected. This is difficult for me to do. But I try to do the next best thing and that is to not leave any of my pieces hanging. Never move a piece unless you know for a fact that every piece is protected. To me this is just common sense. Sure you will lose a lot of games by flagging but your also building a solid foundation of game fundamentals.

There is one more thing I want to add that is of vital importance. In order to get better you have to analyze your losses. If you don't do this you can forget about ever getting better. How can you get better unless you can learn from your mistakes.

Lastly do not use an engine for game analysis. Chess engines are of no use to beginners. You must analyze your own games.

Well at any rate this is my training method and I know it's a good one even though my rapid chess rating is only around 800 and my blitz rating is a humble 400 but at least I know that improvment is just around the corner.

Beginners have great difficulties to visualize the interaction of the pieces and to see simple one move attacks. How are they going to play a decent chess game with only 5 seconds per move?

Playing blitz will certainly help one develop their tactical vision (over time, and after a lot of losses, and assuming one also makes the effort to review those losses to find their mistakes).

However, blitz is a slow path when it comes to learning how to form positional strategies. Often, there isn't enough time to think such things through to a deep enough degree.

My advice? Consider blitz just part of your training regimen. Mostly, it's good for honing ideas that you already have.

Slow chess, though, is better for learning to calculate deeply and form strategies.

Mix the two together for a nice balance. Correspondence Chess, for example, combined with a few blitz games a day, is a nice way to go.

Lastly? Take some time away from playing to study and review. When you're studying, and reviewing—this is when you're improving. Playing is mostly just practicing what you've already learned.

Use the slow chess to practice forming strategies and calculating ahead. Use the study time to learn new ideas. Then use the blitz to practice and hone what you've already learned. Rinse and repeat.

"..., you have to make a decision: have tons of fun playing blitz (without learning much), or be serious and play with longer time controls so you can actually think.
One isn't better than another. Having fun playing bullet is great stuff, while 3-0 and 5-0 are also ways to get your pulse pounding and blood pressure leaping off the charts. But will you become a good player? Most likely not.
Of course, you can do both (long and fast games), ..." - IM Jeremy Silman (June 9, 2016)
https://www.chess.com/article/view/longer-time-controls-are-more-instructive

Yeah, the truth is, there are no shortcuts to improvement in chess. If you don't have enough time, blitz simply doesn't help. You have to play longer games.

http://seanysean757.wixsite.com/chess/single-post/2015/08/19/-about-Blitz-Games

Tip For Beginners: Play A Lot Of 5/0 Blitz

Considering the Subject Line and the OP, I would agree with the commenters above who say to limit and restrict the amount of Blitz play (and I confess to playing way too much 10/0 blitz on this site when I should be studying instead).

I would say this, however.  If someone is a newbie beginner, or maybe just past the newbie stage, then playing Blitz for fun as a way to increase their desire to study and get better at chess would be a good thing.

But how many people move on from playing Blitz Chess to playing a combination of Serious Classical Chess and Blitz Chess?   I think perhaps there is a danger of folks becoming Blitz Chess Addicts, and never moving past that stage. 

When you learned to read, did you start by learning to speed read? No

When you were little, did you first run?  Or learn to crawl, and then walk?

Blitz/Bullet is fine once youre at a level where improving is not your main goal, but at your level, it will harm your game.  It does instill bad habits, and youre playing a time contros where you do not have time to do any actual learning/studying/improving.  

You might need a reading lesson IMBacon because you certainly didn't understand what I wrote.

Better to play slower time controls, but if the beginner really has to play blitz, then at least play with an increment. 5|5 gives you more time to think, especially if you go into endgame. That's what I play when I only have 10-15 minutes of free time.

I'm a more advanced beginner (1250 blitz / 1500 daily chess), and I've found that blitz play has really damaged my game.  The problem for me is that I develop bad habits and a lack of patience when I play that quickly.  It's a much better use of my time to study, watch videos, do tactics puzzles, and play one game at 30/0 than to play 5-10 games at 5/0 every day.

I have found that most people are not very good at thinking for themselves so they choose the easiest route available to them. They join the herd. I have gone over these forums and I have read the same mantra's over and over again "blitz will hurt your game" "if your a beginner you shouldn't play blitz" "blitz will develop bad habits" and so on and so forth. When most people hear something over and over again it becomes ingrained in their mind and they are unable to form their own opinions. People are like that. So I guess I shouldn't be surprised by these responses. It would have been nice though if people actually read what I posted before responding to it but what are you gonna do? Most people also have difficulty in reading comprehension. Most of these posts were written by people that did not fully understand what I wrote. This is why I make my own decisions and have my own opinions on everything under God's green earth. I am absolutely correct in my advice and lord knows I love expressing my views.

Jennifer or Greg didn't become good at chess because they focused on Blitz. They have lots of slow chess experience.

Okay, if it makes you happy: Playing Blitz is the fastest way to master this game. Go ahead with your approach. I am sure you'll be a master soon, while we are waiting in the hotel lobby for the 10 am Patzer's Convention.