Take Your Blitz Chess To The Next Level

Blitz Chess is a fast-paced version of the game that demands a unique set of skills. 

In this article, we’ll look at specific ways you can become a better blitz player. From managing time to specific openings you can play, we’ll look at ways to get the jump on your opponent.

What are Blitz Chess Time Controls?

Blitz is a form of speed chess that encompasses a variety of time controls. Typically, each player has 3 or 5 minutes with or without an increment of a few seconds, added after every move. This varies depending on the platform and tournament.

Here are the most common blitz time controls. The first number is the time for each player (in minutes), and the second is the increment (in seconds).

• 5 | 0 
• 3 | 0
• 3 | 2

Excluding bullet chess, blitz time controls are the fastest. Most chess organizations, including FIDE, have separate ratings for classical, blitz, and rapid chess. 

Pro and Amateur Blitz Chess

Today, chess at the highest level involves incredibly deep preparation and calculation. Compared to games with classical time controls, blitz offers a return to the more romantic style of chess in which dazzling combinations, unexpected sacrifices, and remarkable blunders are very common. 

While exceptional chess players are strong in any time control, some excel more than others in blitz. That said, Magnus Carlsen, arguably the best classical player of all time, has also won the World Blitz Chess Championship eight times. Other top players, such as Ian Nepomniachtchi, Levon Aronian, and Hikaru Nakamura, are known for their dominance in blitz.

For the amateur player, blitz is a test of how quickly and effectively you can apply your chess skills, from scanning for threats to calculating tactics. These low-time controls lead to hectic and exciting games. As such, blitz chess offers some of the most popular time controls for online chess. Speed chess over the board is also a favorite of chess clubs and tournaments, so whatever your preference, you'll have no shortage of opponents.

Concrete Tips to Win at Blitz Chess

Winning at blitz is not just about playing chess quickly. While time management is key, there are specific techniques and skills that can significantly increase your win rate. Here are a few that can help you step up your blitz chess abilities.

Time Management 

Good blitz players use the clock as a weapon. By playing quickly at the right moments, you can put your opponent under pressure and often force them to make mistakes. 

Simply put, you should play fast when you have a clear plan that does not require much preparation. For example, in a familiar opening, in which your pieces develop to safe squares, you can make fast moves. In more complicated positions, often found in the middlegame, you should take more time to calculate.

Buffer Zone

To avoid getting into time trouble, decide on a buffer zone between you and your opponent’s time. Always aim to stay a certain number of seconds above them on the clock. Of course, this is just a goal, and sometimes you have to spend more time calculating. Or, if your opponent is playing unreasonably fast, it is logical to slow down and examine more closely the mistakes they may be making.

Nevertheless, aiming to stay ahead on the clock will keep you focused and aware of your time.

Using the Increment

If you have an increment, it's essential to use it effectively. Having this fallback means you will be less likely to lose on time, if you can keep making moves quickly in a time crunch. Making quick moves when you can will allow you to build up a safe amount of time. To do this, simply be aware that you have the increment, take your time on more complicated positions, and move fast when you can.

How to Deal With Time Trouble

Stay calm and simplify the position. If you are running low on time in a complicated position, try to trade your pieces. Simplifying a complicated middlegame will mean you can spend less time calculating. When the position is already simple or winning, the trick is to play accurately and fast. Often, under time pressure, we panic and make bad moves. Instead, stay focused and play fast, but don't rush more than you need to. When playing online, use premoves correctly to convert a simple win or repeat moves and claim a draw.

Also, always calculate on your opponent’s time. When your opponent is thinking, stay alert, examine their likely moves, and evaluate your best options. 

Learn Positional Principles

Calculation is the most time-consuming part of a chess game. To play fast and “intuitively”, you need to understand what a good position looks like on a chessboard. While this takes time, there are some quick positional principles you can learn that will often give you some kind of advantage on a chessboard.

This includes:

• The basics of pawn structure: connected vs isolated pawns, backwards pawns, doubled pawns, etc.
• Strong vs weak bishops
• How to control an open file
• Building pressure on the castled king

Understanding these principles enables you to make moves without having to calculate an extensive line. Instead, you can make a move that will likely give you a positional advantage or create an opportunity.

Unexpected Moves and Openings

As well as limiting your thinking time, you want to increase your opponent’s. The best way to do this is to make moves that they are not familiar with, which forces them to spend time calculating and may force an error.

To give yourself a time advantage, consider learning less common openings. While advanced players will have a weapon against just about every opening, intermediates tend not to.

For White, you could explore openings like the English, Réti, and Bird’s. While uncommon, these openings are theoretically legitimate and contain some surprising variations. For Black, the Owen, Grünfeld, Albin Countergambit, and Alekhine are all reasonably rare but sound defences. There are endless openings available, and many less common and seemingly counterintuitive ones can give you a quick advantage and get your opponent thinking.

Conversely, if your opponent tries to catch you out with an unexpected opening, you can try to transpose it into something more familiar. For unexpected moves, don’t be intimidated. Look for a quick and effective way to challenge or refute them. 

Developing to Protected Squares

As we’ve seen, the opening is a stage when you want to play relatively quickly. One way to do this is to develop pieces to squares protected by your pawns. While your opponent can still create threats on protected pieces, you are much less likely to blunder them outright. 

While riskier openings can also be effective in blitz, creating a stable position for the middlegame is likely to be the best long-term strategy. 

Scanning Skills

Blunders are often the reason blitz games are won or lost. As such, one of the key skills for a blitz player is scanning for threats. 

In fast time controls, scanning for threats often simply involves taking a moment to pause rather than making an immediate move. At this time, you can quickly look over any changes on the board and ask yourself what your opponent is attempting. Remember that key things to consider when scanning the board are king safety, vulnerable pieces and pawns, and possible sacrifices. 

Create Threats 

Part of winning at chess in general is making life difficult for your opponent. This is especially true in blitz, where so many games are won on time. 

Anyone can move an opponent's piece, but creating real threats is a different matter. This doesn’t mean attacking pieces that can easily move to another – sometimes better – square. Instead, it means building pressure on vulnerable pieces and pawns, looking for tricky tactics your opponent will have to calculate their way out of, and putting pressure on their king. Always keep an eye out for common tactics, such as forks, skewers, pins, distractions, double checks, and deflections.

Bonus: How to Train for Blitz Chess

Many of these skills take time to develop. Focused training is the best way to quickly improve at blitz chess. 

For over-the-board speed chess, make sure to train with the digital chess clock. Knowing how to use it and related tournament rules is the first step. Next, get accustomed to using it quickly. Play timed games against yourself or other opponents. Practice quick calculation, board awareness, and dealing with time trouble. Even physically moving the pieces in blitz chess is a challenging and important part of the game. With experience, you can develop impressive speed to help you win games.

Online blitz chess also requires special training. Learning when and how to premove, practicing with puzzle rush, and testing yourself with different time controls are all excellent ways to improve at blitz.

Overall, fast time controls make chess a more intense and focused game. Playing blitz games is a lot of fun and helps you hone an important set of chess skills. Try experimenting with a new time control today and see how it changes the game!