Blitz tips

[Alvendor]

Some thoughts on blitz games. Haven't played a ton yet but am enjoying them a lot!

* Blitz will improve your skill as a player. You will probably not learn any new advanced strategies but you will learn to think quicker. When you go back to regular games you will notice how you can play on the same level as before but with less time per move.

* The types of mistakes you do when you don't have time to think things through reveal a lot about yourself. For example I never do any mistakes exchanging runners that cost 3 wits for runners that cost 2 wits as I have that down cold. But I do a lot of other mistakes in other areas which mean that I haven't internalized those completely.

* Some strategies are very map/race specific which you only learn by playing that specific matchup. Blitz games are a much more time effective way to learn these kind of things.

* Gameplay tip: Seems like it is often more complex to attack than defend. The time limit will therefore force you to generally need a bigger advantage before attacking in blitz games than in regular ones as you won't be effective as you use to be.

[GreatGonzales]

In my blitz game vs awpertunity I felt like I was prone to attacking over defending. Maybe a function of the map, which was Glitch. Most of the strategies I have internalized, but what gets me is when there's a close to 50-50 decision and you just have to pull the trigger on one or the other. That's when it helps to have a detailed look at the game and count wits and whatnot. I usually attacked in those situations just because it's more fun.

[Alvendor]

Yeah I have the same problem. My matches tend to go back and forth a lot more than regular ones. First the initial attack fails, then the counterattack fails and so on...

Maybe Feedback and Scallywagas stack up better in blitz games against Adorables? Doesn't require much thinking to pump soldiers and bombshells. And Feedback have and easy defense by popping a scrambler and wipe out any uncoordinated attacks.

[Mag!cGuy]

I never spend more than 30 sec to play my turns exceptwhen it's a matter of loss pr win, so blitz or not is the same for me

[lawtai]

Yea, I usually spend no more than 30 seconds on my turn playing normally. It does make it frustrating though when you look back at your replay and see a much better move.

[TheGreatAnt]

(04-23-2013 11:28 PM)lawtai Wrote:  Yea, I usually spend no more than 30 seconds on my turn playing normally. It does make it frustrating though when you look back at your replay and see a much better move.

Or after you make a move and realized that you needed that wit to take out another unit.

[ArtNJ]

It *sounds* reasonable that blitz would help standard time play, but it is well known that playing blitz chess does not help much if at all with regular chess. It just does not lead to much if any improvement in practice. Many chess coaches believe it leads to and reinforces bad habits and restrict/prohibit it. No reason to believe Outwitters would be different. Blitz should be played for fun, not improvement.

By the way, was thinking about playing some Outwitters again, you guys are just talking about unrated matches that you have agreed to play quick or what?

[TheGreatAnt]

(04-24-2013 01:47 AM)ArtNJ Wrote:  It *sounds* reasonable that blitz would help standard time play, but it is well known that playing blitz chess does not help much if at all with regular chess. It just does not lead to much if any improvement in practice. Many chess coaches believe it leads to and reinforces bad habits and restrict/prohibit it. No reason to believe Outwitters would be different. Blitz should be played for fun, not improvement.

By the way, was thinking about playing some Outwitters again, you guys are just talking about unrated matches that you have agreed to play quick or what?

I can agree with you on your first point. But also, there is the possibility of playing higher level opponents, to see what moves they routinely do and how that effects the game.

Yeah. These are just friendlies that are played for fun and something a little different.

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But also with Chess and Outwitters, the more experienced players have routine plays that they know and execute well, as well as good knowledge of different strategies, so they are able to quicker analyze anyway.

[ArtNJ]

(04-24-2013 01:53 AM)TheGreatAnt Wrote:  But also with Chess and Outwitters, the more experienced players have routine plays that they know and execute well, as well as good knowledge of different strategies, so they are able to quicker analyze anyway.

That is completely true, but its actually a different issue. The fact that masters and grandmasters can understand more in 10 seconds than a non-master can in 5 minutes does not actually mean that playing quickly helps anyone get stronger. I dont think there is any rigorous data on it or anything, but just about all top grandmasters believe that speed chess is not particularly helpful and can be counter-productive.

It does sound like a fun idea. I often try to play this way when folks are online. However, the asynch issues usually get in the way.

[Alvendor]

(04-24-2013 01:47 AM)ArtNJ Wrote:  It *sounds* reasonable that blitz would help standard time play, but it is well known that playing blitz chess does not help much if at all with regular chess. It just does not lead to much if any improvement in practice. Many chess coaches believe it leads to and reinforces bad habits and restrict/prohibit it. No reason to believe Outwitters would be different. Blitz should be played for fun, not improvement.

Ok I might have exaggerated this:
"you can play on the same level as before but with less time per move".

Maybe the correct way to phrase things is:
"By playing blitz games you can cut down your thinking time in regular games and not loose as much skill as you would otherwise." Then it depends if you include that as a measure of skill or not....

Then we have the different matchups in outwitters. This makes it different from competitive chess. Nine maps with four races makes 9 * 4 * 4 = 144 different matchups you need to get comfortable with (if you want to be good with all that is!). If you only had a couple of hours to spend I think blitz games would be a better way to learn a new map, unless you are only interested in one specific matchup.

(04-24-2013 01:47 AM)ArtNJ Wrote:  By the way, was thinking about playing some Outwitters again, you guys are just talking about unrated matches that you have agreed to play quick or what?

Yep, I like to have two games going at the same time to minimize wait time!