Why I'm Better at Blitz
Submitted by
erik on Mon, 04/21/2008 at 10:03pm.
I'll be honest - my ability to focus on a chess game goes down hill after a few minutes. It's sad. I've won a few OTB regular tournaments in the lower classes, but I'm not a great tournament player. And I'm not a good turn-based player either because I play so many games and once and rarely take more than a few seconds on each move. So I end up making a lot of stupid moves. But at blitz I can sometimes be a monster.
Now I think I know why - I stay aware of the game the entire time. I play turn-based chess with the same pace as blitz, but I don't maintain the positional awareness from all of my mental processes before. I am essentially starting over with each move, not holding onto the plans and calculations from before. But with blitz, it is all there. Example games:
Here is a recent turn-based game. Look how some of my moves are purposeless and repetitive, and then I ultimately make the worst possible blunder:
And here is a recent blitz game:
One day maybe I'll learn to focus my play with a bit more patience and become a better player! :)