It's been a while since I've participated in these tournaments, and I was seriously out of practice. I couldn't make it to most of these tournaments since they're held on Fridays because I was often working like a slave at that time, but this time I left early and was able to stop by.
Just to see that it's still a pretty strong tournament where many participate and are hungry to reach the top. So let's take a look at some of the games I played, and they were interesting. I played very well in many of them, which makes me happy.
The opening is still something I need to improve, especially in many of these games. Against the top players, I had no chance to counter them after losing the initiative in the opening.
I couldn't beat the two players above, but I was able to draw against the best of the entire season. After that, no one could stop me, and I even had a few chances to
Playing chess is already complicated on its own, but when you add a blitz clock to it, it all becomes a kind of extreme mental sport.
Instead of having those long minutes to think calmly, evaluate positions, and calculate variations like a Tibetan monk, you have to make decisions in a matter of seconds. It's chess, yes, but with a pressure that feels closer to defusing a bomb than moving wooden pieces.
The hardest thing about blitz chess isn't just the reduced time, but it also destroys the illusion of control. In classical games, you can maintain composure, build a long-term plan, and accumulate small advantages. In blitz, there's no plan that lasts more than two moves.
You try to do something coherent, but the clock ticks down like a guillotine, and you end up pushing pieces out of sheer desperation. And the worst part is when you know the right move would be... but you have one second left and can only press the mouse to do anything.
Nervousness plays a huge role. Even strong players become beginners when time melts away. Your hands sweat, your heart races, and you start seeing tactical ghosts on every square.
Sometimes you sacrifice a piece thinking it's brilliant, and it turns out to be epic positional suicide. Or worse: you see a brilliant combination… and you play it so fast that you put the piece on the wrong square.
Furthermore, blitz punishes mistakes mercilessly. In a slow game, you can defend yourself and recover after a mistake. In blitz, a simple mistake means your opponent will immediately nail you with a tactic. Precision becomes a luxury, and intuition is your only real weapon. But even intuition can betray you, because the brain, under pressure, begins to invent threats that don't exist.