Yeah, I just realized how important it is to take your time, myself.
I used to play on Yahoo, where all the games are fast timed games, and I did horrible there, to the point I decided I was a complete idiot. I could beat almost nobody.
Then, I started playing here, and found that with time I've been playing maybe 400-500 rating points better where I have the luxury to plan my moves.
I don't know how people play speed chess, there has to be some science to it I'm unaware of. Maybe I'm just more suited to correspondence chess .
I try to follow Jeremy Silman's approach when getting ready to make a move:
1. First ask: what are the imbalances? Material, lead in development, space, control of a key file or square, pawn structure, superior minor piece, intiative (tempo)
> Then, decide which side of the board do you want to play on.
>Next, Dream of a fantasy position you'd like to achieve (ex. Knight would be very powerful on this square with a bishop controlling this diagonal)
> Ask yourself, how can I reach this position?
>Lastly, determine candidate moves that satify what you've gone over up to this point and only then do you actually begin to calculate the consequences of said moves.
If you want to read up further on Silman's technique, check out 'How to Reasess your Chess".
Originally posted by 93confirmedI've been doing pretty much this exactly, and further make myself write down my thoughts on each of these points, for each move. Then, after the game is over, I've been using ChessMaster 10 to analyze my game, and I can compare its analysis to mine to see what kind of stuff I'm missing.
I try to follow Jeremy Silman's approach when getting ready to make a move:
1. First ask: what are the imbalances? Material, lead in development, space, control of a key file or square, pawn structure, superior minor piece, intiative (tempo)
> Then, decide which side of the board do you want to play on.
>Next, Dream of a fantasy position you'd ...[text shortened]... you want to read up further on Silman's technique, check out 'How to Reasess your Chess".
Makes me slow down, and also gives me what I need to remember what I was thinking.
With speed games, from what I gather, the key is pattern recognition and a intuitive grasp on the various concepts of chess play.
I can play fairly quickly myself, but it makes me a little more vulnerable to subtle blunders. I have Silman's book, and I ought to read it, but it's the sort of book which requires a lot of work to read properly. I am starting to learn how to take advantage of some imbalances I didn't used to take advantage of (and perhaps make it more difficult for my opponent to do the same).
Seem to be playing at around the 1500 level of play, however, but my GameKnot rating seems to be on an upswing from around 1400. Haven't yet obtained even a provisional rating on here, but I would hope it would be close to the same.