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tactical_abyss 29-Oct-10, 14:03 |
 Some advice for blitz play....My blitz rating hovers around 2480 on other sites,although I was as high as 2600 a decade ago.I thought i'd share some insight into the game which may improve your game or atleast give you a much better edge in the game,regardless of your rating level. First of all,you must ask yourself..."how serious am I with this blitz"?Do you want to just play for fun,win some,lose some,never really study your post game,or do you really want to clamp down,take months to prepare,improve and kick some serious "a" most of the time?This question alone seperates the blitz pro's from the take it or leave it novices or intermediate players.If you are in it just for pleasure and recreation,then STOP!Read no further,the tips below are NOT for you! While I am not here to "train"you...that would take up probably 50 pages of forum space and about 40 diagrams,I will try to give you some tips from the masters.Anyone else can add their own thoughts if they want,since I could not possibly cover everything. 1.Lets cover equipment first.Do you use a wireless mouse?No good! Depending upon the blitz time settings,many times a wireless or laser mouse will get affected by external light sources,freeze slightly even when moving the mouse,not to mention a potential sudden drop in battery power in the middle of your game,which will affect the pointers movement.Stick with a good long corded mouse and place a weight on the cord towards the back corner of your desk,so that as you move like lightning,you do not inadvertently pull or move too much of the cord towards you which can have disasterous effects.Also alot of those newer mouse designs that are better ergonomically due to the ultra lightness,smaller and lower "palm curves" are actually LOUSY for professional blitz play! I use two types of mouse designs...one which was custom built and weighted for me and cost me 400 dollars!Ok,forget that,your not as serious as me!BUT my other corded mouse is an old Memorex with a higher palm curve and independent left/right click buttons.Believe it or not,the lighter,newer mouse designs are just that...too light!They will tend to create more erratic mouse movement,slightly less overall control and either undershoots or overshoots,especially in 3 or 4 minute blitz.The older slighty heavier mouse designs offer a bit more control,while being a bit closer to your fingers and palm for less fatigue(in short blitz games)...and you can rest your palm a bit more while waiting for your opponents move!The independent click(on the older designs) tends to have a bit more control in the down position,as well as "piece hovering" control. Also forget mouse "pads".This is a big mistake for fast blitz play!The mouse can slip off the edge of the pad and cost you some valuable seconds till you adjust again!I play on a laminated desk wood surface,that has been "pledged"alittle with no wax buildup. *So are you bored already with this mouse talk?Then read no futher,you are not destined to be a blitz pro!Games have been won and lost simply on hardware,not always how good the player actually is!Keep that in mind! 2.Stretch those fingers before each game,get the circulation moving.I know alot of players that lost games due to finger fatigue. 3.Keep the blitz board as relatively SMALL as possible!(but not too small!) The smaller the board,the faster the pointer can move across less distance!So,while your opponent may have a full screen board setup with added + magnification...you will have a board less than half his size.Your response time can easily add up to a few more seconds on the clock with less distance to travel to those squares. 4.Be well rested before a big blitz series and no caffinated coffee or soda!This can cause some erratic or shaky hand movements.Calm is better not being all "revved up". **Now for some playing tips:**(not in any particular order,however). 1.Best blitz play is almost all about tactics,NOT strategy! Strategy involves long term concepts,while tactics are immediate.Strategy is sort of like more theoretical while tactics are more immedialy practical and solid.So basically you will win more on tactics while using very little strategy.You must apply your best tactics on every move,or you will not last long. 2.SMALLER tactical combinations are what you must seek,like 1 or 2 move combinations...not some long 4 or 5 tactical combination that will cost you too much time in a 2 to 4 minute game(some 5 min.games as well).So,just because you have an initiative advantage does not mean that you will have a winning tactical combination.This is where having the initiative gets confused with tactical advantage. 3.I suggest software training with handicaping to begin with.Give yourself a Knight up and play 5 minutes against shredder,for example.Did you win?Why not?Examine your weakness's,where you went wrong and reset the program.Try to play a five minute game like a 3 minute game!You must develop tactical "bravery"and intuition!Again examine each game playing against a program and try to lessen the amount of game time after a good number of self tactical training studies. 4.Another lesson is that memorizing opening variations in 1 to 5 minute blitz(for the most part) is unnecessary and can actually hurt your blitz play!Actually playing out of book as soon as possible with a good grasp of tactics has much more VALUE,than memorizing some 30 long Ruy Lopez opening!Trust me!If I can win by making opening weak moves for white like 1.a4 and 2,h4 or 1.Na3 and 2.Nh3...confusing some "book players"right out of the shoot,then those few seconds gained while he is "thinking"about my strange moves,can cut an advantage! The truth is,is that most games are decided by blunders,not superfine opening knowledge.So keeping your opening "repertoire" to one or two variations for both colors is mostly all you need. 5.Keeping pawns first and the major pieces behind them is basically one of the best ways to play blitz.Keeping your pieces in the center of the board and control of the center is of course,key.Centralize a pawn,knight and bishop and after that drive them further into your opponents position. 6.Keep in mind that any Knight can take a Bishop but NOT the other way around.For that reason,Knights are better in blitz play than Bishops.Knights are much more unpredictable both tactically and psychologically against your opponent and a ticking 3 to 5 minute game. In corresp long games,an open game is best with Bishops,however this rule does not necessarily apply in blitz play!! 7.Typical opponent mistakes by statistical probability is not calculatiing the "check"upon themselves.Knights do a better job than bishops in fast blitz. 8.Coordinating your pieces to work together to control more squares is vital.Hedgehog setups I find work great. 9.Stall tactics are too numerous to mention here...I could spend 5 hours explaining this. But for example,making that so called "stupid"move can lead to an advantage,especially with your clock time running down!Look for an active pawn to move towards the queen,moving an a or h file pawn or other piece from one end of the board to the other can cause your opponent to possibly spend a few more seconds thinking about the "reasons"for this awkward movement.A quick King move 2 or 3 times in mid game,even though it does not promote development can cause more chipping away at your opponents think time and clock time! 10.Don't forget to hover your piece ahead of time over the expected piece resting place of your obvious opponent exchange square EVERY TIME!This half second advantage will definitely add up to a better clock edge and more think time for you in the critical endgame! 11.Study your wins and losses and develop the pattern recognition necessary for best blitz play.Obtaining the experience though thousands of games is better than trying to study precise openings and tactical puzzles.Obtain your style! 12.If 3 minutes is too fast for you,start with 10 minute blitz and gradually move to quicker game play. 13.remember...the 1-2-3 move tactics are the soul of great blitz play!You have to master them to improve! So you think this covers even one-tenth of my blitz knowledge?Not even!But i'm getting tired of typing!Some of you guys can add in to my thoughts here. Pehpas i will add some more things as time goes on. Enjoy your blitz play and be mindful of my Queen sacs in the opening! |
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tactical_abyss 29-Oct-10, 16:27 |
I almost forgot about one techinque I use that can add some serious blitz seconds to your side. Its called pawn tossing!Its a technique that involves some serious practice to completely master.It involves a greased lightning fast combination of pick up and slide pushing the pawn for every pawn that has only one possible forward space to move or has another piece vertically above it....like if your pawn is on the second rank and your opponents piece is on the 4th rank directly above.This is done without double clicking.Its sort of feels like throwing the piece at your opponent without much thought behind it,or any attempted "control".You know your doing it correctly if you can barely see the piece move from its initial starting position to the next vertical square(s).This works in other ways too.For example,if you instantly determine that a pawns forward movement is ok to move the two squares in the opening or just one square whether attacking a piece or not and the choice is ok in both circumstances...then pushing the pawn and spontaneously unclicking it(releasing it)at the same time on either legal square by this lightning technique almost in a mindless manner will give you split second advantages against your opponent!This also works for limited major piece movement on the edge of the board.For example,push-shoving the Rook to square h8 from h6 or h7. With the right mouse,this piece slide action can be made in much LESS than a second from grasping the piece to push sliding it to its final resting place.Alot of players "think"they have this mastered but I have observed players at my club playing online against others and they are incorrect in their assumptions.Near the endgame,if you are losing on material and time,it is one of several methods to whittle down your opponents time advantage,especially if you have a bunch of pawns to move one after the other with rapid successive techniques!I have successfully escaped a few mates in 3 or 4 using instantaneous pawn thrusts in close time where my opponent was about to mate me but only had 5 seconds left on the clock with 3 or 4 moves to go till he would have mated me. |
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chessdr1118 04-Aug-16, 20:51 |
blitz advice |
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deeper_insight 06-Aug-16, 08:55 |
I'm not on GK much right now,won't be for a while with my world travel presently.As you said,one needs both tactics and strategy in blitz.From my experiences,the lesser the time factor,tactics statistically outweigh the longer term strategies,especially in games of 2 to 5 minutes. I disagree,however,that..." the time factor is not as much of an issue as people think especially in 5 minute blitz."Unquote. Actually the time factor is a BIG issue,if,and I say "if",the 5 minute game is set at ZERO INCREMENTAL TIME.Many players use increment,thus the time factor is not quite as important and not as stressful with time added during fast play.But 99% of my 3 to 5 minute games are zero increment,as you can observe in my Q sac games and others in my games posted in my club.I have won many games on the time factor alone,which is my "planned ally".It tends to rush players psychologically more,tends to create a host of issues for those that are not as adept at blitz with a seasoned pro that has memorized hundreds of fast mate and draw positions.Many players,due to the restricted time factor of zero increment are NOT going to recognize "fast enough"the escape path to defeat me,even being "up" tons of material to their advantage.Again,my Q sacs prove this,time and time again.So,its not just rating,but the zero incremental time factor that wins games.In regular long corresp games,the same player that I gave pieces away as a handicap in the opening would normally crush me! Again,rating to a moderate degree is a misconception,as I have explained elsewhere.In many cases,the average blitz rating playing strength is almost always less than a players long corresp rating.How much?Well,that is not set in stone,but I have charted an approx relative value difference average of about 200-300 rating points below corresp ratings in 5 minute games and approx 100-150 rating points less in 10 minute blitz.This is with zero incremental settings.With increment,the average changes in favor of my opponents.But then,that is one reason why I do not play increment!Again,chessdr1118,you mentioned that your blitz rating is above 1800,which is higher than your corresp rating.Congrats on that!However,your case is not the average rating case with "my"opponents,who play me in 5 minutes with zero increment.Perhaps many of your games are incremental with + 5 or 10 seconds added,which makes a huge difference with rating comparative factors in the "long run". As to playing on this site for blitz,I would suggest to anyone to play on this site! No,its not the best site for blitz,of course....but then,this is not primarily a blitz site.The blitz interface and response speed actually is BETTER than some full time blitz sites and it should be used as an experimental blitz game site to test your pet strategies and game tactics unrated.That is what I do,to keep off the records of the major rated blitz sites and then use surprise tactics against those who will find it much more difficult to track my other game tactics and style through game record checks. Interesting enough,some 2400+players have lost to me in a 5 minute game based upon the time factor alone......and that is with my Queen handicap on move # 3.Proof of this is in my club blitz posts.So, the conclusion is that "some" 2400+ players are excellent long corresp players,but play relatively terrible in 3 to 5 minute blitz with zero increment....and as much as 1000 rating points or more below their long corresp rating!This is due to many factors of course,including little self training discipline and tactical integration conversions from long corresp to blitz vs the time factors.Tactics and strategy are not exactly the same with limiting clock speeds. Of course,too much blitz can hurt ones long corresp games as I explained elsewhere,but that is a different subject,I will not get into in these forums. Best, TA |
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chessdr1118 21-Sep-16, 17:57 |
some advice for blitz play... The point is in a 5 minute game, no increment, playing 'fast' is in itself somewhat of a vague term as certain positions require more time invested than others. Sure time is an important factor but it shouldn't be of higher priority (other than a time scramble) than finding good moves and trying to evaluate correctly. There should clearly be a healthy medium between playing fast and investing time into finding correct moves otherwise you're not only more likely to lose more games despite playing very fast but you'll also learn less over time. The art to blitz is being able to combine the time factor with the evaluation factor both of which are equally important and also fluctuant. I am generally talking about 3/2 and 5 minute here but when it comes to 3 minute then yes I would agree that the priority should be the time, in fact playing 'unsound' moves in such a time control can even be of an advantage in many cases, however playing in this purely intuitive manner in the former time controls (3/2 and 5/0) against decent players is extremely risky and I know this not just from my own experiences but also many others too. Watch the way Magnus Carlsen and even Hikaru Nakamura play in the Blitz Championships where both these time controls have been used. They generally play fast, yes, but there are certain moments in the game where they ponder which sometimes even goes on for up to 15 seconds +. The only time they play crazy fast is when they're in time trouble. I agree that in blitz when you're sure enough about a move you should not hesitate and play it immediately as not to waste time and of course when you're in your final minute you will need to play extremely fast (I also believe that occasional bullet is good practice for time scramble positions which is practically what bullet is) but there are certain moments in the game where you will need to think and invest a bit of time to find correct moves which is not wasted time but in fact time well spent as you're improving your position and heightening your chances of winning as a consequence. Aforementioned both the time factor and the evaluation factor are equally important but are also fluctuant depending on circumstances and one should not be prioritised as a 'general approach' to playing 3/2 or 5/0. |
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chessdr1118 21-Sep-16, 19:11 |
some advice for blitz play... |
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deeper_insight 22-Sep-16, 08:23 |
All is relative in blitz... Thanks for the input chessdr1118! Again,everything is relative and we may or may not have some differences of opinion on the time factor issue.I was simply going on your generalized statement that... "the time factor is not as much of an issue as people think especially in 5 minute blitz."Again,at my level,I have honed my blitz abilities to confuse,stall,delay,complicate the tactics and increase or decrease those depending upon the rating factor of my opponent.Trust me chessdr1118,if you played me in 5 min blitz,you would know "why" my 5 min with zero increment DOES INDEED make a HUGE difference in MY win factor as opposed to 5 min with varying incremental time.I would be losing many more games with piece sacrificing and more....if my opponent had just a few more seconds to defeat me!Time factor,in 3,4 and 5 min blitz with zero increment has won over many of my opponents,even 2400+rated ones on GK.If that same opponent at 2400 rated had an additional 20 seconds with built up incremental time,I would have been crushed.But see,I "plan"it that way,playing fast paced blitz for nearly 50 years.My style allows only no increment for the majority of my success.I have a form of photographic memory where I can recall almost instantly a "snapshot analysis"of said position.Thus what you mentioned above about some GM's taking 15 seconds or possibly more does not apply to me....BUT DOES AND WILL APPLY TO MY OPPONENTS.As hard as that is to believe...it is true. So,basically,all i am saying is that time factor in 5 minutes or less does indeed make a big difference,because most of my opponents are NOT blitz pros like I am.Most players on GK,for example, are long corresp players and when they have the "pressure"of 5 minutes with no increment and even 10 minutes on occasion,with no increment)I have had tons of opponents,even 2200-2300 opponents pushed into a corner trying to defeat me with 4 seconds left on their clock and they have 3 queens and I have,say,a Rook and a few pawns left....and they end up timing out!If the game was incremental and just a few moves were made by my opponent that gave my opponent another 30 seconds or so,I would have lost...definitely so. Another factor to consider is that whether it be on GK or a pure blitz site(names i will not mention),most players long corresp rating supercedes their "true blitz rating strength"usually by a few hundred rating points.So,if my opponent appears in a 5 min blitz game on GK and he has a corresp rating of 2000,statistically,he will most likely be playing me at a pure 1700-1800 rating level,rather than 2000.No,this is not always the case,but from experience and research,this IS the case more times than not. As to how GM's play like Magnus Carlsen and even Hikaru Nakamura play,I would not even compare what they do as to the same scenario of play on GK or one of the better blitz sites on the internet. In summary,some of "my"skills in blitz reign in superior because time is the "enemy"to my opponents MORE than time being the enemy to me,even with 2300-2400 opponents.I suppose what I am saying is that I have been able to sharpen my tactical abilities quicker and "gauge"my tactical projected complications and stalling abilities to hide from losing in a game than my 2300 opponent can,regardless of their rating.I have proved this time and time again in my piece sacrifice games I post in my club. On one site,I must admit,that my 5 min blitz rating(with no increment)hovers around 2500 and that corresponds to my past 2500 rating on GK with another past account.But that is on the rare side compared to many of my opponents when you compare long corresp equality ratings. So,time factor,makes a huge difference in 3 to 5 min blitz with zero increment compared to incremental time.That is all I am basically stating. In summary,after playing blitz for 50+years,lets use an example here: My corresp rating on GK is 2370+.So lets say,my opponent on a GK blitz game appears also at 2370+.Will this player have a fairly equal chance to defeat me in a 5 min zero increment game? No he will not. Chances are,that this player does not have the 50 +years experience in blitz and that 2370 rating of his is more probably and purely a gauge of his long corresp rating abilities,not his blitz abilities.Statistically,my 2370 opponent is probably going to be at 2100,not 2300+.I then adjust my tactics accordingly! With Magnus Carlsen and even Hikaru Nakamura,that is something I dare not compare,for their ratings are already "out on the table",not my true blitz rating.They are matched,I am NOT matched like 2370 vs 2370....since I actually play at a 2500 level.See? Again just my 2 cents on time factor importance vs rating vs Queen sacrifice on move #3 like you can observe in my club posts.All is perfectly balanced in MY favor,usually never my opponents. TA |