Many of those who believe that regular chess is played out, that computers analysis is destroying the creativity of the game, take heart in Chess 960 and other variants where the rules remain the same but the initial position of the pieces is altered. While Bobby Fischer championed this approach, there is another form of chess that addresses the problems of over analysis in the opening and computer cheating. This solution even allows for the same rules and starting position as regular chess. That’s because it is, albeit played at a greatly accelerated rate. The name of the game is Bullet Chess – where each player has one minute aside – and it has become very popular on the Internet.
Hikaru Nakamura and Bruce Harper’s BULLET CHESS: ONE MINUTE TO MATE is not the first book to touch on bullet chess, a distinction that belongs to German GM Roland Schmaltz’s THE COMPLETE CHESS SERVER GUIDE (2004), but it is the first complete treatment.
Everything the would-be bullet chess aficionado could want to know is here, from strategies of playing different phases of the game to the all-important topic of pre-moving (inputting your move when it is your opponent’s turn to move.). The authors believe that “pre-moving is perhaps the most important technical feature of online bullet chess and arguably only pre-moving makes it possible to play a decent (we use this term advisably) game of chess in one minute.” They then go into a detailed discussion of the various pros and cons of pre-moving taking into account the amount of risk entailed. Think of derivatives in finance and you will have a partial idea of the volatility that pre-moving can add to Bullet Chess.
The authors’ strong sense of civic responsibility is shown in Chapter 18, which includes a lengthy discussion on strategies for stopping. Only those who have gone through an all-night bullet session on the Internet Chess Club will know that it is not for nothing that the
powers of one minute chess have been likened to certain highly addictive pharmaceuticals.
If you’re looking for a book that will help you player better one minute chess, BULLET CHESS: ONE MINUTE TO MATE is highly recommended.
