Speedkilling Matches: Why Playing Fast Kills Your Rating In Easy Positions?

Why Playing Fast Kills Your Rating?

We all play fast in easy positions like an equal exchange position or pawn pushes. That kills our ratings because we don't think so much to that positions. But that's not good for us and that kills our ratings. Like this match:

I thought very fast and play the worst move: Qa4??. And my opponent did the same. He thought fastly and didn't see the oppurtunity of playing Bxd4 and played axb4?.

Don't Thought Fast In Easy Positions

Pawn Push Positions:

In that match, I only thought 1 second and played h4?. I just gave a big oppurtunity like -2.1 to my opponent. He did a ?! move but, the oppurtunity was on himself.

Equal Exchange Positions

We see that mistakes on Ruy Lopez opening and give a pawn. If you don't play the Old Steinitz Defense to Ruy Lopez you will give a pawn to your opponent. In some exchange positions we don't see the forks that gives material to opponent or another things like that when we are playing fast (if you aren't a grandmaster or a think like it :) ). I always give examples from my matches because the mistakes make me stronger and I don't do them again.

I just played Bc3??. Why I don't play Rf2 and try to exchange the rook with my rook? I don't know. I just thought for 8 seconds but I can't find the right move. It's a Blitz match but I usually think 10 seconds to a position.

Numeric Data

The Blunder Rate In Bullet Games

The players between 1500-1800 rating commit an average of 2.5 Major Blunders per match in Bullet games.

The 3 Seconds Rule

Research shows that a player between 1500-1900 rating must think 3 seconds to see a fork, brilliant or a skewer.

Blitz (3-5 min) - The "False Confidence" Zone

In Blitz, players generally lose about 70% of their time in the final 30% of the game. Those who play fast at the beginning of the match, thinking "I have plenty of time," actually lose because they rush the most critical strategic decisions.
Bullet: The accuracy rate is generally in the 60-70% range.
Rapid: The accuracy rate increases to the 85-95% range.
The Result: Playing 10% faster usually decreases your winning chances by 15% in complex positions.

The Lesson

Don't play fast in easy position. Think for 3-5 seconds in Blitz and 1-2 for Bullet.

Don't forget: Playing fast kills your rating. Think 1-2 or 3-5 seconds. This tactic will help you win all the games.