Bullet chess

Bullet Chess is a game form of chess with less than three minutes thinking time per player and game, usually played one minute per player and game. It is an intensified form of blitz chess , which is particularly popular on chess servers . "Bullet" means "bullet" in English. An alternative name for bullet chess is lightning chess (“lightning” means “lightning”).

With the extremely short thinking time, the focus is on the ability to use the computer mouse , the quick capture of tactical motifs and the king's security. A careful calculation of variants or positional play, on the other hand, are mostly neglected, which is why bullet chess is often unpopular with conventional chess players. But there are also players who prefer this short cooling-off period when playing on chess servers, as it is more difficult for the opponent to consult chess programs or other aids and thereby gain advantages.

Due to the possibility of premove , an answer move anticipated by a mouse command , it is possible to play long games despite the short thinking time. A game is known on the Free Internet Chess Server between a human player and the computer program account Wronskian, which ended in a draw by repetition of positions after 206 moves .

One of the most famous German players was the four-time unofficial world champion in this discipline, GM Roland Schmaltz . Another bullet expert is Hikaru Nakamura , who also wrote a book about it.

literature

• Hikaru Nakamura , Bruce Harper, Yasser Seirawan : Bullet Chess. One minute to mate. Russell Enterprises, Milford 2009, ISBN 978-1-888690-67-5 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Bullet Chess  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

• Lightning Chess tournaments ( Memento from June 13, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (Dutch)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ For the definition of "bullet" see the manuals or online help of the most important chess servers, such as online help "bullet" (English) of the Internet Chess Club (ICC) or the manual schach.de ( memento of the original dated December 21, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Page 12; PDF; 1.5 MB) from Chessbase . 
2. ↑ Statistics on ICC and FICS ( Memento from November 27, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ Participant of the NY Masters - The KING of bullet chess
4. ↑ Interview with Roland Schmaltz, April 18, 2007