After playing over the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and Jerome-ized lightning games (three minutes or less per side per game) played by ItsAllBullCheck, what I've got to say about the chess clock to those who would defend that crazy Bishop check is: watch it!Opening theory also changes in rapid chess. Unavoidably. Because the opening is like the start of a race, and runners have to train differently, depending on the distance they run. For a classical chess player, the opening is extremely important and has universal significance. It really matters whether one side has more space, the bishop pair, or an exposed king.
For a professional speed player, these things also matter, but much less so. The most important thing for him is an advantage on the clock. Second in importance is the possibility to surprise the opponent, lure him into a position with which you are familiar and he is not. This itself is usually transformed into an advantage on the clock, It is good to pose problems from the very start, so that he has to find the one and only good continueaiton; then, in order to find it, he has to use time, which in speed chess means more than the two (or even three!) bishops...
I remember an article in a chess magazine, I cannot recall which. But the author was one of the world top 10. Talking aobut a strong rapid tournament, and about what had happened on one of the top boards, he suddenly started to discuss the opening 1.d4 e5!? And several times referred to "the theory". And he started a serious discussion of the line - what Kasimzhanov thinks of the position, what Aronian thinks...
And just as suddenly, he stopped. Because he had said more than he intended – he had suddenly started revealing some of the theory of speed chess. Then the curtain was pulled across again.
