Fast chess

Fast chess, also known as blitz chess, lightning chess, sudden death, speed chess, bullet chess and rapid chess, is a type of chess game in which each side is given less time to make their moves than under the normal tournament time controls of 60 to 180 minutes per player.

Overview

The different names distinguish the maximum duration of a game. Commonly used time controls are:

• Rapid or Quick: 10 to 60 minutes per player, sometimes with a small time increment per move (e.g. 10 seconds).
• Blitz: 3 to 5 minutes per side. Usually sudden death (no increment), but may also be played with a small increment. More recently due to the influx of digital clocks, 3 minutes with a 2-second add is also preferred.
• Bullet:1 to 3 minutes per side. The time add for this setting is 2 minutes with a 1-second add or 1 minute with a 2-second add, respectively. The term below, "Lightning", can also be applied to this variant.
• Lightning is a term used for either Blitz or Bullet chess, and is a general term for extremely fast chess. It can also refer to games with a fixed time (e.g. ten seconds) for each move. This also can be used for 1-minute games.
• Armageddon: a single game guaranteed to produce a result, because Black has draw odds (that is, for Black, a draw is equal to a victory). To compensate, White has more time on the clock. Common times are 6 minutes for White and 5 for Black, or 5 minutes for White and 4 for Black. This can also be played with a small increment. This is also known as "time odds" and it is used in various tie breaks for quick tournaments.

Before the advent of digital clocks, 5 minutes per side was the standard for Blitz or Speed chess. Before the introduction of chess clocks in the mid 1950s chess club "rapid transit" tournaments had a referee who every ten seconds called out.

In 1988 Walter Browne formed the World Blitz Chess Association and its magazine Blitz Chess, which folded in 2003.

In some chess tournaments and matches, the final standings of the contestants may be resolved by a series of games with ever shortening control times as tie breaks. In this case, two games may be played with each time control, as playing with black or white pieces is not equally liked among players. The short time controls in fast chess reduce the amount of time available to consider each move, and may result in a frantic game, especially as time runs out. A player whose time runs out automatically loses, unless the opposing player has insufficient material to checkmate, in which case the game is a draw. "Losing on time" is possible at even the longer, traditional time controls, but is more common in blitz and rapid versions.

The play will be governed by the FIDE Laws of Chess, except when they are overridden by the specific tournament. A common rule used in fast chess tournaments is that if a player makes an illegal move, the player's opponent may point it out and claim a win. For example, if a player leaves his or her king in check, the other player may claim the win. This rule can be left out for a friendly game or left in for what some consider to be a more exciting and fun game. However, in case of a dispute during a tournament, either player may stop the clock and call the arbiter to make a final and binding judgment.

The terms blitz or blitzkrieg in chess sometimes means a quick attack on the f7 or f2 square early in the game, putting the king in check. This term is not limited to Fast chess.

Chess boxing uses a fast version for the chess component of this sport.

Bullet chess is even faster and more hectic than blitz chess. Sometimes, bullet chess is so fast that tactics and skill are secondary to quick moves, although on chess servers where both blitz chess and bullet chess are played, their ratings for a given player generally tend to be similar, thus indicating that chess skill, overall, relates highly to the outcome. Proper calculation of variations and positional playing are almost completely negligible and under USCF rules bullet games are not rateable. Games affect a player's USCF quick rating if the time limit is five minutes or more per side. As in all forms of chess with time controls, one can either win on the board or win on time. A game is considered to affect the quick rating up to a 30-minutes-per-side time control. At this point, the regular chess rating begins. In other words, a 30-minute game affects both the blitz and normal ratings.

Championships

Unofficial (1970)

The first unofficial "Speed Chess Championship of the World" (or World Blitz Championship) was held in Herceg Novi on April 8, 1970. This was shortly after the first USSR versus the rest of the world match (in Belgrade), in which ten of these players also competed. Eleven Grandmasters and one International Master played a double round-robin tournament. Bobby Fischer won first place, with a score of 19 points out of a possible 22. Fischer scored seventeen wins, four draws, and one loss (to Korchnoi). Mikhail Tal was a distant second, 4½ points behind. Fischer won both games against each of Tal, Tigran Petrosian, and Vassily Smyslov; all of whom are past World Champions.

Participants and scores

• Fischer 19
• Tal 14½
• Korchnoi 14
• Petrosian 13½
• Bronstein 13
• Hort 12
• Matulović 10½
• Smyslov 9½
• Reshevsky 8½
• Uhlmann 8
• Ivkov 7½
• Ostojić 2

World Blitz chess champions

#	Name	Year	Country
1	Mikhail Tal	1988	USSR
2	Alexander Grischuk	2006	Russia
3	Vassily Ivanchuk	2007	Ukraine
4	Leinier Domínguez	2008	Cuba
5	Magnus Carlsen	2009	Norway
6	Levon Aronian	2010	Armenia

World Rapid chess champions

#	Name	Year	Country
1	Garry Kasparov	2001	Russia
2	Viswanathan Anand	2003	India
3	Levon Aronian	2009	Armenia
4	Gata Kamsky	2010	United States

References

• Brady, Frank (1973), Bobby Fischer: Profile of a Prodigy (2nd ed.), Dover, ISBN 0-486-25925-0 
• Plisetsky, Dimitry; Voronkov, Sergey (2005), Russians versus Fischer, Everyman Chess, ISBN 1-85744-380-2 

Further reading

• Harper, Bruce; Nakamura, Hikaru (2009). Bullet Chess: One Minute to Mate. Russell Enterprises. ISBN 978-1-888690-67-5. 

External links

• Example of Fast Chess by Grandmasters Hikaru Nakamura and Maxim Dlugy
• USCF rules
• FIDE rapid play and blitz rules