When the average person thinks of chess, they tend to picture classicalgames that take numerous hoursas players take the time to fully calculate each and every line. Bullet chess goes completely against that stereotype because, as the name suggests, it is an extremely fast variant of chess where each player has under 3 minutes on their clock. Unsurprisingly, this can lead to frantic and intense games, particularly when playing over the board where keeping the pieces on the table is part of the challenge.
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Bullet chess has greatly risen in popularity since the days of online chess, as playing game after game of the quick variant isdeceivingly addictive. Bullet chess is largely played by instincts and intuition, but there are some handy tips to keep in mind that can turn tight losses into resounding wins.
8Never Resign
The first rule of Bullet is to never resign. Blunders are incredibly common in Bullet due to the lack of thinking time that players have, meaning games can be won and lost in a matter of seconds.
Players should keep this rule in mind even when they’re in an unwinnable position, as their opponent could still blunder their way into a stalemate or simply run out of time. This is particularly the case when playing against beginners, where resigning shouldn’t even be considered in Blitz or Rapid chess.
7Don’t Worry Too Much About The Opening
Games can be won or lost or at least be greatly dictated by the opening, which is why many players will spend hours on end learning as many lines as possible.
In Bullet, however, it’s not too hyperbolic to say that the player’s choice of opening doesn’t really matter, provided it’s not intentionally terrible like the infamous “bongcloud.” Anyknown, reliable openingthat players have memorized should be perfectly fine, as the key to Bullet - particularly at the beginner level - is to focus on avoiding mistakes and capitalizing on those that the opponent makes.
6Don’t Fret Over Pawns
In classical chess, a single pawn can be the difference between winning and losing a game, hence why players can spend over 30 minutes trying to calculate a line that saves one from capture. Consequently, players can find themselves in the bad habit of calculating how to save pawns in Bullet.
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Although pawns can still be the difference between winning and losing in Bullet, it’s far more likely that minor and major pieces will be the deciding factor. Players shouldn’t fret over a pawn being captured, as the clock is far more important.
5Check Your Opponent’s King To Drain Their Clock
Duringthe endgame, a cruel but fair tactic is to sporadically throw in checks. If players space the checks out in a smart way, they can throw their opponent off each time, as they’ll be so focused on their next moves that being suddenly forced to move the king will hurt their concentration and likely cost them a few vital seconds.
At the end of the day, a time victory is worth the same as a picturesque checkmate, so players shouldn’t feel bad about using the underhanded tactic to their advantage.
4Don’t Calculate Entire Lines
A habit that players must shake when starting off in Bullet is calculating entire lines. Although players may be able to calculate an excellent move that could win a piece, it’s not going to matter much if it eats up too much of the clock, as they’ll be left with no choice but to rush the rest of their moves before their time inevitably runs out.
Calculation is an essential part of chess, and Bullet is no different, though players must ensure that their calculations never take them longer than a few seconds, otherwise they’ll soon find themselves in serious time trouble.
3Try Not To Play Hope Chess
Following on from the previous point, although it’s important not to spend too much time calculating entire lines, players should also try toavoid playing “hope chess” whenever possible. The term “hope chess” is used to describe when someone plays a move that is only effective if their opponent makes a blunder. Hoping that an opponent makes a blunder is a bad way to play chess, as not only will it backfire if the opponent plays well, but it’s also a bad habit to get into and can harm a player’s development.
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Hope chess is particularly common in Bullet, as players have less time to calculate alternative moves, and the opponent is more likely to fall for it due to their lack of thinking time. However, hope chess should still be avoided, as it will backfire more often than not.
2Change Settings To Auto-Queen When Playing Online
A small but potentially game-winning tip is to switch to auto-queen. As the name suggests, auto-queen is a setting that most chess websites have, where pawns will automatically promote to a queen when reaching the end of the board, saving players time as they would usually have to select it from a pop-up screen.
There are some cases where promoting to a queen isn’t the best move, though these situations are extremely rare, and hard to calculate at the pace of Bullet.
1Don’t Expect Bullet To Improve Your Overall Chess Ability
One of the biggest downsides of Bullet is that it isn’t likely toimprove a player’s overall chess ability significantly. Many new players think that Bullet is a quick and efficient way of improving at chess, as they’re able to play so many games in such a short time, though sadly, this isn’t the case.
The reason why is that, when playing at such a fast pace, players are just using their pre-existing knowledge, without taking the time to calculate the pros and cons of each move and properly recognize patterns. So while it may seem logical that the best way to improve at Bullet is to play more of it, it’s actually better to take a break from it for a while to learn patterns and improve at calculating, before returning with better pre-existing knowledge that can be applied in seconds.
