While I’m on the subject of the benefits of slowing down I should perhaps mention this hilarious chess game between grandmasters Maxim Dlugy and Hikaru Nakamura.
While I’m on the subject of the benefits of slowing down I should perhaps mention this hilarious chess game between grandmasters Maxim Dlugy and Hikaru Nakamura.
Looks like a pretty bog standard speed-chess match. You’ll see lots of people playing that between matches at any chess tourney. (Although I’ve heard that serious chess teachers won’t allow their students to play, so they won’t develop bad habits. Speed chess tactics are somewhat different than regular chess, as the goal is to capitalize on inevitable mistakes, and open up your board, rather than making the ideal moves.)
You set the clocks to allow anywhere from 5 minutes down to 1 minute per side. If you use up your time, you forfeit. Hitting the button stops your time, and starts the opponents timer going down.
(The same clocks are used for normal games, but usually with something like 45 minutes for the first 40 moves, or some such time limit.)
Why is it hilarious?
That looks like bullet chess, i.e., 1 minute per side total on the clocks, so they have to move like that.
Speed/blitz chess (in one from or another) has a long history. Bobby Fischer was probably the best; at least, he had an awesome record against grandmasters.
Back in the day, when I edited our college chess club newsletter, we published an article on one-minute chess strategy. The main point: move your pieces close to the clock. Usually your opponent would run out the clock before he could take advantage of your lousy position. I don’t think it would work against these guys.
What I want to know is who won. I was into the game and then it stopped. It looked like Nakamura was ahead but Dlugy did have a strong rook.
I echo earlier comments – at first sight it looks like a run-of-the-mill speed chess game – the type one sees often – if anything they are rather dainty and dextrous in physical piece handling – I’ve seen where the pieces fly all over the place – now that’s hilarious.
I’ll have to follow the game more closely to comment on its actual quality or to see if there’s something funky at play here – like some clever persistently illegal moves.
-K
Speed games are now used to break ties in normal (slow chess) tournaments. There was a big controversy over this in the latest US women’s championship, where the complaint of the losing side (Irina Krush) was that her opponent pushed the clock before completing her moves.
Back in the days when I played tournament chess, I also indulged in speed and had a lot of fun. I don’t think the trend toward legitimating speed as “real” chess (also exemplified by international matches and tournaments composed entirely of speed games) is a good thing, however. Rarely is a speed game, objectively viewed after the fact, a worthy product of skill and creativity.