Blitz for Slow Players

I’ve been playing on Lichess now for quite a few years. Initially I took the advice that playing slowly will enable you to develop your game more. Playing slow fits my natural inclination so it wasn’t hard to pick that style. I also found I could not play a fast (Blitz) game.

I could see that Blitz was very popular though, and I got some advice once about it, that you play more games so you get more practice.

By a couple years ago I did start playing Blitz because I was improving and could now just barely stay in a game. I still lost many on time though. As I played more Blitz I saw many different time combinations being used, and I noted when I did well on one. I experimented with all the combinations for the most time per side in a Blitz game.

I’ve pretty much determined the best time combination for me. It’s 3+7, there minute initial time plus a seven second increment. I think the way this helps me is that the 3 minutes give a fair amount of time to open and get into the middle game or even close to the end game most all of the time. At that point there are fewer pieces on the board and complexity is decreased. It’s easier to move quickly, and you can still play a thinking game without timing out.

Now, I can play Blitz pretty comfortably without losing won games on time and get more game in for practice. Any slow players out there like me I’d recommend giving this time combination at try. It might work for you too.

If you are a slow player then why not dedicate your time to playing rapid and classical? 3+7 time control can hardly count as blitz. The amount of time you spend on a 3+7 game would be pretty similar to a 5+5 rapid game. I’m not trying to be a jerk, I just don’t see the appeal of playing 3+7 blitz.

i hate blitz online because my computer is so slow. But tbh rapid made my blitz game better and when i got better on blitz my rapid game improved

@Thinkus
No problem with your response. I do have a reason. I'm 1200 in Blitz, I'm 1500 in Rapid. Does that explain it?

I'd rather keep my higher Rapid rating and play the fast games in Blitz.

#4 Fair enough :)

@LDog11 i can’t play anything over a 3 minute blitz game without resigning from boredom.

Well griff, the super blitz arena tournaments (3+0) should be yours to win.

@LDog11 said in #1:
> I’ve been playing on Lichess now for quite a few years. Initially I took the advice that playing slowly will enable you to develop your game more.

Slow games do not develop your game per say. You just make less blunders because you have time to calculate the ramifications.

@LDog11 said in #1:
> I got some advice once about it, that you play more games so you get more practice.

Your statement is only half truth, but you are missing the other half. which I explain below.

@LDog11 said in #1:
> By a couple years ago I did start playing Blitz because I was improving
While you can improve by playing, you see significantly more results when you study something you dont know and practice it.
The reason people recommend blitz games is to get more practice -----------> Of what you just learned during the study session. Which is the half that you are omitting.

It is not my intention to criticize your rating, nor make fun of it, or anything of that sort. Im just going to say that the rating you have should be way higher if you have been playing for several years. I mean, if you just want to play, its fine, but if you are playing to get better, clearly the formula has not yielded results.

Your strength will not really change by swapping time controls You always have to be training something you dont know, or something that you are bad at. If improving is your goal,

@Schiffskoch said in #9:
> If everything under 8 minutes is a blitz game (that's how I see it here in the lichess table), why not easily decide for 7+0 or 5+2 as a slow blitz game? This I would prefer as a slow player.