5 Things for Playing Better Blitz Chess

Playing Better Blitz Chess: Quite often we have met club players who perform well in tournaments with classical time control and give a strong appearance of being underrated players. However, when the time trouble comes they tend to collapse quite easily.

The same is seen at rapid and blitz events; some players can’t even finish the game and they end up losing by flagging or making horrible blunders. We all have seen that and it is sad, indeed.

Playing good blitz and rapid is important; every strong player is competitive in these modalities and it is a fun way to develop skills.

Although experts do not recommend blitz as a way to improve your classical chess strength, your blitz skills are usually a sign of your chess strength.

Historically, the strongest world champions were also killer machines in blitz. Capablanca, Tal, Fischer, and Kortchnoj are just some of the names who were strong blitzes.

Obviously, there isn’t just one way to fix these problems with time pressure. But, there are a few methods you can try if you feel identified with what’s described above.  The keyword and main thing to do is PRACTICE, but that’s not all there is.

We have a few recommendations for you that have worked with a few students:

1. Playing Better Blitz Chess: Improve your tactics sensor and quick calculation

Try to spend a couple of hours a day solving tactics, as many as possible. Do it with a time limit and do not seek too difficult problems.

Instead, focus on hundreds of problems with medium difficulty. The goal is to think more tactically, to calculate quickly mini operations (3-4 moves tops), and commit fewer mistakes.

Cheapos and tricks are important in blitz, improve your awareness.

2. Make practical decisions

Instead of seeking for the best move settle for a quick decision of fewer committal moves. While in a classic game you can calculate and have a deep evaluation of the position, in blitz you need to make this decision in seconds. Be practical, and avoid being captivated by the beauty of the game.

Play!

3. Playing Better Blitz Chess: Practice

Play training games; do it with all the intention of keeping control of what you are doing. Do not just “play fast”, try to play the best you can as fast as you can.

Make strong moves in a relatively short time.

4. Develop your intuitive play

Perhaps this is the most difficult one and you can only achieve it by study and practice. In blitz, it is extremely important to trust your intuition. Follow paths by feeling rather than certainty. The more you see the more you store in your memory and the easier it gets to imitate.

5. Playing Better Blitz Chess: Openings

Certain openings are simply not good for blitz unless you know them very well. That’s the case of too-sharp openings where one side’s play is easier. The initiative is a strong factor in blitz; the more you are forced to think the more difficult it will get as the game advances. We recommend playing openings by “schemes” rather than those that demand concrete variations.

For example, the Hedgehog system, English opening, Queen’s gambit accepted, Scandinavian, Caro Kann, and French are, in our opinion, superior to sharp Najdorfs. Needless to say that this is subjective, it all depends on your opening knowledge.

We hope the guideline above will serve you well to increase your blitz abilities. Don’t hesitate to give it a try as it has worked well with our own students.

Thank you for reading and as usual, feel free to share your thoughts with us.

Want to know more about Blitz Chess? Look at the Quotes About It. We also recommend reviewing 5 Things to Do for Breaking 2000 ELO as well as 15 Tips to Boost Your Rating Up to 2200.