Taken From Chess Café.com

The Q and A Way

Bruce Pandolfini

Question I was just reading through your Q and A column. I have never heard anyone say that there was a gainful way to play speed chess. My children love speed chess (By speed chess I am referring to anything G/10 and under). But as a father/coach I am in the practice of putting a halt to any speed chess two-three weeks before a tournament--not to mention the negative comments I make about speed chess only creating bad habits. It would be helpful if you could tell me how to get some real milk out of the speed chess cow. Don Brooks (USA)

Answer We have to be careful about following maxims, principles and general assertions and stipulations blindly. Such oversimplifications usually fail to factor into account limitations, exceptions, subtle differences and, for that matter, anything like a specific condition.

Take for example the principle "knights before bishops." Obviously, if players followed such a guideline exclusively the chessboard would be populated mainly by openings that resembled the Four Knight's Game, regardless of how they began. That would be a version of chess Hades, and none of us need experience it to know we don't want to be there. Furthermore, that particular advice (knights before bishops) is clearly unreliable, sometimes downright wrong.

Some of the same kinds of objections can be made against the injunction not to play speed chess. Truly, too much speed chess just prior to serious competition can be deleterious, especially for young people, when the carry-over effect incites them to conduct what should be two hours of play in a meager ten minutes. It's likely your apprehension has been stoked by analogously disheartening experience.

So I join you in recognizing the potential ill consequences of too much, untimely, or imprudently conducted speed chess. I wonder, though, if not allowing them to play for 2-3 weeks before a tournament might be an overreaction. Of course, most coaches want their students to be prepared to win. But many of the most successful ones emphasize playing chess for fun, reasoning that children perform better (don't we all?) when the enterprise is joyful. As a coach/parent you naturally have a critically directed eye, and you certainly know your children best. But I'd be careful about denying them moments that, if properly reined, could increase their zest for play.

Can speed chess have prospective value? We all know the possible drawbacks, which include promoting superficiality and emphasizing the clock over the actual play of the game. But just as obvious are some of its positive features. It can offer more opportunities to play tactically and aggressively. It can force us to play more relevantly, because we can't afford to lose our focus with the time ticking away. It's not that fast games encourage us to abandon analysis. It's that fast games constrain us to analyze more efficiently. So we lose something (thoroughness), and we gain something (intensity). In fact, some productive kinds of ratiocination are not based on how much time you put in but on the application of focused concentration. Unless a certain threshold is reached you might never find the answer. Speed chess can give us training at being so attentive.

Furthermore, even the best trained young players will find themselves unexpectedly running out of time here and there. If they haven't had sufficient experience at moving quickly in practice sessions, where they can acquire helpful routines with careful monitoring, how can they be expected to navigate the treacherous waters of time pressure when they need to in meaningful games? I can't tell you how many strong players I've seen undone by weaker ones because they were unable to cope with a shortage of time in grossly winning positions.

Speed chess can also help us test-drive several ideas in a single session. Those ideas can then be examined later. If a player has had trouble with a particular variation during a bunch of rapid games, the answers can be sought in times of contemplative reflection. Moreover, if you work with a partner such as a coach/father, you can tap speed chess to generate information. Say, for instance, that opening theory takes you only so far on a definite line. You can then play 50-100 fast games (or some suitable number) from the last known or evaluated position and thereby produce at least some moves worthy of further investigation. Those notions can then be analyzed dispassionately in your mental laboratory to assess their true worth. And such scrutiny doesn't have to be confined to the opening. One can employ the same technique for exploring the nuances of any curious position.

So you're right to be concerned. Uncontrolled, unsupervised speed chess can have disastrous results on one's serious play. But I wouldn't dismiss quick chess altogether. Chess, thank goodness, isn't the army, even when preparing for battle conditions. All we are saying is let's give fun a chance.