Which format should i choose to improve my chess skills (Blitz chess or Standard time control chess)?

Question

I always play both blitz and standard time control chess games. But in blitz I make a lot of mistakes and I'm not able to find a lot of good and tactical moves whereas in standard time chess format I can play better.

I think blitz is only for Applying our chess skills and only standard time control chess will help more to improve our chess skills.(I'm not against blitz :D)

• Will blitz help more than standard time control to improve my chess skills?
• If yes how? If No when and for what purpose should i play blitz ?

Thanks in Advance.

Answer 1

Will blitz help more than standard time control to improve my chess skills?

No. Standard time control chess always helps more to improve your game than blitz chess because in standard chess you spend more time analyzing the game.

Chess is a game of intelligence but even more so of knowledge. The more (structures, endgames, openings, etc.) you know, the better you are.

To make a rather primitive classification, the average grandmaster knows about 1,500 - 2,000 typical positions, including the opening, possible middlegame plans, and some outlines of endgame. Super GMs, like Kramnik or Anand, have a wider and deeper knowledge. As for Kasparov, his knowledge is truly head-spinning, I guess, his number of positions might exceed 10,000. Garry's memory is phenomenal! I think it even impedes him during the game. - Valeri Tsaturian

Knowledge is hardly acquired in 3-5 minutes (blitz) and even if it is, it is quickly forgotten. To gain chess knowledge, you need to spend more time studying the game.

The more time you spend studying a position, the more you understand it, the better you remember it, and the more insights you gain into it. It also helps you correct your faulty decisions in the post-game analysis, because, if you're wrong, it can show you to what extent you're wrong in your judgment of certain positions.

For example, I played a game recently in standard time control and in one position, my opponent was really surprised that I didn't capture his bishop with my knight. During the game, I thought that the trade of bishop for knight wouldn't help me in that position, but in the post-game analysis, my opponent proved me wrong and demonstrated how it was good for me. I went home and analyzed with a computer and found that my opponent was right. If this had been just a blitz game, I could have just excused myself saying "well, I didn't have enough time to consider the consequences of that" and thereby prevented myself from recognizing this flaw in my own knowledge.

If No when and for what purpose should i play blitz?

You can play blitz to

1) Enjoy yourself.

2) Check your opening preparation.

3) Develop a rough understanding of certain types of positions with the intention of analyzing them in depth later. This third point is crucial, because it is the best way to use a blitz game. You may not learn much during and immediately after the game, but if you analyze your blitz games, you will still learn a lot.

Answer 2

standard time controls will help more than blitz, however, the inability for blitz to improve play has been exaggerated. Blitz can help you practice your openings. Blitz can help you spot simple tactics. Blitz can help you avoid hanging pieces. Blitz can help players familiarize with how pieces move. Blitz can help you cope under time pressure situations. Of course, standard time controls have their advantages that outweigh the benefits of blitz, but for beginners, it is not too bad play blitz. I almost exclusively played bullet and blitz chess and became 1800 uscf ( I also studied from youtube). I got stagnated however, and it was standard time controls that got me out of 1800 and improve.

Answer 3

Will blitz help more than standard time control to improve my chess skills?

No.

If No when and for what purpose should i play blitz?

1) To learn openings. After every blitz game you play (especially if it is online and automatically recorded) look up the opening and see if you made a mistake, and what you should have done instead. Ideally you will have some way to store and remember this information as well.

2) To have fun because it will keep you motivated to improve at chess.

Answer 4

Blitz will never help you to progress in chess nearly as much as standard. This is the general consensus of the chess training world.

This is because in blitz, like you explained, you make a lot of mistakes and cannot perform to the level which you do in standard. Of course this is because there is so little time to think. With such little time, it becomes harder to formulate plans, and absorb patterns. Chess, is really all about the absorption of thousands of patterns overtime, be it tactical, positional or endgame believe it or not. In blitz, with such a small amount of time to think, you do not benefit from your games nearly as much as standard.

Although, this is unless you can compartmentalize your skills. If you can not let your blitz mind set affect your slow game mind set, then blitz can help you to practice your skills but not to improve to the extent of standard.

This is a good article I found online about this subject: http://www.onlinechesslessons.net/2011/05/28/confession%E2%80%99s-of-a-blitzaholic-%E2%80%93-will%E2%80%99s-opinion-on-chess/#.U7dfb_mSx8E

Answer 5

Neither.

The best way to advance is to play at a fixed time per move where you must wait the time before moving and when time is up you must move.

In ancient times of the 50s (1950s) they played tournaments at ten seconds per move. Playing in those every week got my first OTB rating starting several hundred points higher than those who did not play and then tried OTB.

Ten seconds is a stretch for most people at first. Most adapt quite well when they learn to make decisions not dawdle. But if you must then even 20 seconds would work.

It makes you learn to wait before moving not do whatever comes to mind instantly. It also trains you to move quickly so time trouble wont bother you. More likely you will think on their time and move relatively quickly so never get near time trouble although they will.