I recently received a couple of games from chessfriend shugart, who plays at the online site FICS. The time control for each game is 1 minute, with a 2 second increment per move.
That kind of speed melts my brain, so the whole field of lightning - or bullet - chess always amazes me. Especially when it involves the Jerome Gambit.
Years ago I reviewed Bullet Chess One Minute to Mate by Hikaru Nakamura and Bruce Harper. A quote from that book is worth sharing
It is important to realize that bullet chess is not really about "truth," to the extent that some chess players use the term to refer to the objectively best moves, but rather whatever works. Bullet chess won't often help you in your search for "chess truth," although it will certainly help you learn how to play chess more quickly! But bullet chess will teach you a lot about chess psychology, as there is always a reason that any particular move is played it may not be a good reason, and it may not have much to do with the actual position, but there is always a reason. In this book, we explore the reasons why players do what they do when they are short of time, especially when it comes to making mistakes.
Clearly, the largely unknown and often unappreciated Jerome Gambit is going to cause the defender many "huh?" moments - deadly, in and of itself, when time is of the essence.
The final position brings a smile to the face.
shugart - kisa
1 2 lightning, FICS, 2017
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
4...Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.d4 Bxd4 7.Qxd4
Qf6
Okay, commenting on moves in this game would be something like watching someone juggling chainsaws, and saying "That one over there doesn't look so sharp". But, I do have to point out that White's Queen is unprotected and at risk of being lost after ...Nf3+.
8.O-O Ne7 9.f4 N5c6 10.Qc4+ Qe6 11.Qe2 Rf8 12.Nc3 Kg8
Black has castled-by-hand. White has to give him something to worry about.
13.Be3 a6
A good sign. I remember that whenever my Chess Challenger 7 computer felt its position was fine, or it could not come up with a move that improved its position, it would begin to move its Rook pawns. That often allowed me to slowly improve my own position without disruption.
14.Rae1 d6 15.f5 Qe5 16.Bf4 Qc5+ 17.Be3 Qe5
Will there be a draw?
18.Kh1
White does not repeat the position. We can guess who is ahead on time.
18...Bd7 19.Bf4 Qa5 20.Bg5 Nd4
21.Qc4+
Tactics prevail.
21...Kh8 22.Qxd4 Nc6 23.Qc4 Rae8 24.f6 g6 25.f7 Re5 26.Bf6 checkmate
Very nice!
We continue with some more of Philidor1792's high speed, high octane games with the Evans-Jerome Gambit.
It is again appropriate to quote from Bullet Chess One Minute to Mate by Hikaru Nakamura and Bruce Harper on the issue and impact of time
When these famous games are analyzed, the psychological tension and effects of time trouble are often downplayed. In fact, a blunder in time trouble is sometimes looked on as a lucky win by the opponent, rather than the logical result of the previous play. But even in normal tournament chess neither player has unlimited time, and in bullet chess [3 0 blitz, too - Rick] time is a key element of almost every position.
Philidor 1792 - guest1321
blitz 3 0, game 3, www.bereg.ru, 2013
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4
Once again, the Evans Gambit.
4...Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.Bxf7+
And the Evans-Jerome Gambit.
6...Kxf7 7.Nxe5+ Nxe5 8.Qh5+ Ke6 9.Qf5+ Kd6
10.Ba3+ c5 11.d4
A new approach. Last post we looked at the sacrifice 11.Bxc5+.
11...Qf6
This is probably Black's strongest response.
Later games: 11...Nc6 12.Qxc5+ Kc7 13.Qd6+ Kb6 14.Nd2 Qe7 (14...a6 15.Bc5+ Kb5 16.a4# Philidor 1792 - guest1321, blitz 3 0, game 7, www.bereg.ru, 2013) 15.Rb1+ Ka6 16.Qd5 Qxa3 17.Qb5#, Philidor 1792 - guest1321, blitz 3 0, game 5, www.bereg.ru 2013.
12.dxe5+ Qxe5 13.Bxc5+ Kxc5 14.Qxe5+ Black resigned
Bullet Chess
One Minute to Mate
Hikaru Nakamura and Bruce Harper
Foreword by Yasser Seirawan
Russell Enterprises, Inc. (2009)
softcover, 247pages
figurine algebraic notation
When you have 60 seconds to either win your game or lose on time, you have to be fast. You have to think fast, you have to move fast, you have to recover fast.
Albert Einstein (who, as far as I know, never played bullet chess) argued that as objects go faster and faster, approaching the speed of light, things change. So, too, in bullet. For example, players
must accept that time (on the clock) is every bit as important (and sometimes more important) than the position on the board. As we shall see, it can be worthwhile to trade even a significant amount of material for an advantage of a few seconds on the clock.
Have no fear, though, the GM and the FM have covered all the squares in this, the first complete book on bullet chess.
Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1: What is Bullet Chess?
Chapter 2: Why Bullet Is Fun
Chapter 3: Time
Chapter 4: Pre-moving and Other Creatures
Chapter 5: Pre-moving Blunders
Chapter 6: Choosing Your Openings
Chapter 7: Winning in the Opening
Chapter 8: Bullet Openings
Chapter 9: The Initiative
Chapter 10: Strategic Focus
Chapter 11: Tactics
Chapter 12: Simplification
Chapter 13: Bullet Endings
Chapter 14: Common Mistakes
Chapter 15: Mental Errors
Chapter 16: Psych Outs
Chapter 17: Falling Apart
Chapter 18: Knowing When to Stop
Chapter 19: Lessons from Bullet
Chapter 20: Bullet Principles
Bullet chess came of age with the rise of internet playing sites. While it has always been possible to play super-quick games with an actual board and set of pieces, there is always the untidy chaos of hands and pieces flying all over the place... The computer interface connecting you to the Internet Chess Club or the Free Internet Chess Server or wherever takes care of all that.
Why play bullet? Because it's fun, the authors argue. And you can play a whole lot in a short amount of time. And it can be addictive (see Chapter 18).
Grandmaster Nakamura is a whiz at bullet, and his games (many included in Bullet Chess) are exceptional examples of this chess variant. Some places, like ICC, he owns bullet.
FIDE Master Bruce Harper's comfortable and thoughtful writing style (which was showcased so well in his remarkable three volume set covering the games of GM Duncan Suttles, Chess on the Edge) is apparent throughout Bullet Chess.
If you must play bullet, the chapters on using the software's/site's "pre-move" function is essential, as is everything that Nakamura and Harper have to say about bullet openings (they are often not your father's chess openings).
Russell Enterprises, Inc., has done a good job assembling the book, with a pleasant layout and effective use of space, diagrams and text. I found few typos/dypos. A whole lot of bullet fits into almost 250 pages.
I admit that my thinking is a bit too slow to enjoy (or even survive) bullet chess, but there is an aspect that I still find utterly fascinating, and which drove me to pick up Bullet Chess in the first place
It is important to realize that bullet chess is not really about "truth," to the extent that some chess players use the term to refer to the objectively best moves, but rather whatever works. Bullet chess won't often help you in your search for "chess truth," although it will certainly help you learn how to play chess more quickly! But bullet chess will teach you a lot about chess psychology, as there is always a reason that any particular move is played it may not be a good reason, and it may not have much to do with the actual position, but there is always a reason. In this book, we explore the reasons why players do what they do when they are short of time, especially when it comes to making mistakes.
Among many things, Bullet Chess is a fascinating study of errors in thinking, which has been a theme running through my clinical practice for over 3 decades, and which is a core concept in understanding outlaw openings such as the Jerome Gambit.
