Life In 19x19

Suppose somebody has two kgs accounts, one for fast games (e.g. 5 min + 10 seconds byoyomi) one for slow games (e.g. 30 minutes + 5x30 seconds byoyomi).

What does it mean if slow accounts rank is much higher (>3 stones) than the fast accounts rank?
What does it mean if fast accounts rank is much higher (>3 stones) than the slow accounts rank?
Assume the ranks are based on enough many games to be more or less accurate.

What does it mean if slow accounts rank is much higher (>3 stones) than the fast accounts rank?

The player probably make too many misreads under time pressure

What does it mean if fast accounts rank is much higher (>3 stones) than the slow accounts rank?

The player doesn't make too much additional errors, his oppenents are. I don't think this reflects that he makes more mistakes on slow games, only that his play degrades less than other players.

But does it maybe show that the fast player relies more on intuition than reading, or vice versa?
Or does it show that either of the players relies more or knowledge/theory?

I mean can such a phenomenon be an indication of what or how to study?

I honestly don't know. I can only tell you that my blitz account is 2 stones weaker than my serious one, but I know the reasons :
* I play mostly blitz when I'm not in the mood to read, so there are much more mistakes
* I'm slow when reading.
* Being slightly underranked, I have a tendency to be overconfident and play silly things, even if I know they won't work (bad habit, I know).

I can't say for other players, of course, but I guess you'd know what to improve if you were in a similar situation (in my case: concentration).

I guess it also depends on your goals. I'd like to be a strong player one day, but I'll evaluate this with slow games, I don't care for being a strong blitzer, so I won't try to improve my blitz skills.

Thanks for the replies!

My blitz account is about 3-4 stones weaker than my normal account (weak 6 kyu to strong 3 kyu).

I also play blitz when I am not in the mood of reading but I suppose that's true for my opponents as well. Still they can beat me without serious reading.

If I play blitz, my opponent also plays blitz. So the difference between my accounts should not be so big. With the same guy, playing blitz he wins, playing slow I win. I find it somehow strange...

I don't know it may show some defects in our thinking processes and may be an indication of what keeps our strengths down (lack of intuition, slow reading because of re-reading sequences, lack of shape recognition, etc etc etc). Of course for those who are better at blitz, it should be opposite.

Well, or maybe it doesn't show anything, it just shows that I am a slow-thinker and/or a deep-concentrator

Just some thoughts...

The difference: slow games take a lot longer to lose.

More seriously, if you're weaker at blitz, that means others see what you have to read. Or you have a crappy internet connection.

I played a lot of fast games recently (with overall good success) and turning back to slow games I found myself playing way too impatiently, rushing to immediate action, thus playing out immediately some sequences I should save for later use, usually with bad results = ten losses in a row. I am still embarassed.

tapir wrote:I played a lot of fast games recently (with overall good success) and turning back to slow games I found myself playing way too impatiently, rushing to immediate action, thus playing out immediately some sequences I should save for later use, usually with bad results = ten losses in a row. I am still embarassed.

This describes how I play most of the time, regardless of time settings.

It could also mean that you are extremely good at using your time. A lot of people play slow games at blitz speed, so you can improve significantly just by playing more slowly; however, there's less room for improvement from careful time management in a blitz game.

You should set up a poll.

Personally, my slow and fast accounts are pretty much the same, at most 1 stone difference. It wasn't always like that, I was very weak at blitz in the beginning, but after I got used to it, my rank improved to match my slow rank.

jts wrote:It could also mean that you are extremely good at using your time. A lot of people play slow games at blitz speed, so you can improve significantly just by playing more slowly; however, there's less room for improvement from careful time management in a blitz game.

I'm fond of HKA's advice: most players in a blitz game play far too fast. I wonder if it's even worse of a problem than playing too fast in a slow game.

I've always been a rubbish blitzer at chess, and this tradition has carried well over to go. I'm just not that good when I don't have time to ponder my moves.

One little theory I have though, is that many players online do not have the patience to think as much as they should in longer games. So if these players do not play to their full potential under slow time controls, it follows that those who do will be stronger on slow time controls, but not on fast time controls (where the impatient ones always play to their full potential).

Occasionally I get the feeling that some of my opponents are significantly stronger than me, but gimping themselves by blitzing moves without need. In an actual blitz game, I would expect nothing less than to be crushed by those players.

I don't know if this is relevant at all, but curiously on the free chess server, where they record blitz and standard ratings separately, the average blitz rating is several hundred ELO points lower than the average standard rating.

hyperpape wrote:

jts wrote:It could also mean that you are extremely good at using your time. A lot of people play slow games at blitz speed, so you can improve significantly just by playing more slowly; however, there's less room for improvement from careful time management in a blitz game.

I'm fond of HKA's advice: most players in a blitz game play far too fast. I wonder if it's even worse of a problem than playing too fast in a slow game.

I think it's unlikely that the problem is that much worse, materially speaking. If you look at a lot of the games people post on this forum, they were playing a move every two or three seconds in slow games. Presumably they play blitz at the same speed, and that hurts their game, but it can't hurt their blitz as much as it hurts their slow games.

Am I the only person who plays blitz and slower games on the same account? I have noticed in my 25:00 min automatch games my opponents often play faster than I do. My last two wins, I ran out of main time while my opponents had 10:00 and 15:00 left on the clock respectively.

danielm wrote:I don't know if this is relevant at all, but curiously on the free chess server, where they record blitz and standard ratings separately, the average blitz rating is several hundred ELO points lower than the average standard rating.

But now it starts getting more confusing... How should one interpret this? People are losing more when they play blitz? But then who is winning ) How can the time setting affect the average rating?
Maybe it is because of the ratio of draws in chess ???