December 2020

Wonderful chess fans, bullet is a time control in chess that is really fast. Usually games only last from a minute to 3 minutes. We at the website understand that bullet chess is fun. In fact I used to play it often online on chess.com. But is bullet good for you? Does it improve your chess, if so how much. Dear viewers, you could be wondering, but we are going to answer that question in your curious mind. So let’s jump right in!

Is Bullet good for you?

Long story short, bullet is trash for your chess. The lower your elo the more it impacts your chess. Allow me to elaborate. When you are playing bullet, there isn’t a lot of time on the clock. You almost never have enough time to think deeply. In the opening, you premove, in the middlegame, you will play every move within one or 2 seconds, and towards the end, there is a time scramble. You do not get to think about any of your moves, you just play what “feels” right to you. No connections are made in the brain. You see, during a blitz or rapid game, you have time to think about your move and make connections your mind, for example, this could be your thinking in a rapid game: “If I play bishop to e6 I am threatening to take white’s strong knight, remove my bad bishop, and damage white’s pawn structure. If they move the knight avoiding damage to the pawn structure then I get a tempo to improve my rook’s position” Later in the game, you get a good position and you go on to win. Your brain makes a mental file about how you won the game (I played Be6 making a positional threatened slowly converted). So in future games, you would understand the strategy. Now let’s say you have the same position in a bullet game this is your thinking: “I ONLY HAVE 30 SECONDS LEFT AHHHHHHH! PLAY BISHOP e6 TRADE PIECES! MUST PLAY AS FAST AS POSSIBLE!” Your brain doesn’t have time to make connections or store files, so even if you win you don’t improve, because all your moves are based on your instinct of the position, so it doesn’t do any good for you. You don’t really take time to think critically and make connections. Bullet gives you the bad habit of playing impulsively. Bullet is NOT GOOD FOR YOU AND IS HARMFUL.

Then why do streamers often stream bullet?

Most streamers often care more about getting that ad revenue than about improving their viewers chess. For example what would you rather watch? Hikaru streaming Hyperbullet (30sec + 0 don’t try this at home) or Hikaru playing a classical game and explaining every intricacy of the position. Most of you would choose the first option. Therefore, streamers that care more about ad revenue are more likely to stream bullet. You may start to think, “These titled players are good, so let me copy what they are doing.” You shouldn’t think like that. They are high rated and as I said, the lower your rating the more it impacts your chess. Playing bullet doesn’t impact them as much as it will impact you (unless if you’re a titled player yourself). I am not saying that those streamers are bad, but just because titled player stream bullet, that doesn’t mean you should play bullet.

What time control then if I love bullet?

If you really love bullet then I recommend playing 3+2 games get used to some fast blitz where you have time to think about your moves and make connections. In blitz you often have a short time to think deeply in positions, so after you analyze your game you can combine your short time of deep thinking with your instincts, and where you can still distinguish them from one another. You can analyze and improve your instincts by adding that slight bit of deep thinking. If you really, REALLY, ABSOLUTELY LOVE bullet, and can’t survive without it then at the most you can play 2+1 NOTHING faster. Remember, blitz is VERY different from bullet.

Do I get better at ANYTHING by playing bullet.

You don’t improve your chess because you don’t have time think, but you get better at ANYTHING? You think you can improve your skills of getting a plateau. Oh yeah, you get very good at premoves as well. Bullet also has the added benefit of improving your time scramble skills, which you often never will have in serious games. Bullet has its benefits, but would you rather be better at time scrambles? or improve at chess?

If I play for fun?

If you just play for fun and for the love of chess. Fine, you can play bullet, I am just telling you, it’s not good for your chess. If you want to improve, you should stop playing bullet

Recap

Bullet is harmful to your chess growth, because it doesn’t help create connections in the brain, and it builds the bad habit of playing impulsively. Streamers may stream bullet, to get a bigger audience and get more ad revenue. I recommend playing 3+2 blitz if you love bullet, and if you play for fun, you can ignore this article.

Sincerely,

The team