Chess teachers have often broken down the components of chess positions into categories, such as development (or activity), material (extra pawns or pieces), space (control of the board) and pawn structure. One of the most important features of chess strength is knowing when to give up something in one category (say, material) for an advantage in another category (such as development or space).
What chess pedants often don’t emphasize sufficiently are the psychological and competitive aspects of chess. Great attacking players like Tal often so confused their opponents that they grew short of time and lost their way (and the game). This was risky, of course, because there could be no guarantee that the opponent would get into time trouble, much less make a mistake as a result.
It should be noted that, less commonly, some players induce the same confusion in their opponents by strategic means, although that is even more difficult to accomplish.
When these famous games are analyzed, the psychological tension and effects of time trouble are often downplayed. In fact, a blunder in time trouble is sometimes looked on as a lucky win by the opponent, rather than the logical result of the previous play. But even in normal tournament chess neither player has unlimited time, and in bullet chess time is a key element of almost every position.
In bullet, with only one minute for the game, there is no question as to whether there will be a time scramble – the entire game is a time scramble! Since a player who is behind on time must actually force checkmate on the board in order to win, a time advantage can be decisive, and can be measured in the same terms as a material or other advantage.
In short, bullet players must fundamentally change their thinking about the role of time in chess. They must accept that time (on the clock) is every bit as important (and sometimes more important) than the position on the board. As we shall see, it can be worthwhile to trade even a significant amount of material for an advantage of a few seconds on the clock.
Any win is a good win
Recognizing the critical importance of time in bullet chess has a very important corollary – winning on time is every bit as valid as winning on the board. It is not uncommon for someone to lose a one-minute game on time, then claim that they outplayed their opponent. With all due respect to the inalienable right to make excuses after losing, in bullet if you lose, you deserved to lose. Losing on time because you were trying to be careful is no different than falling into a mate in one because you were moving too fast.
From the other side of the board, this means that winning on time is just as honorable as winning by a brilliant combination – or maybe a swindle. In any case, playing on in a “lost” position in bullet in the hope that your opponent won’t have enough time to mate is perfectly acceptable and is intrinsic to the game. After all, would you be losing if you had taken more time to think?
How fast can you go?
Bullet novices are usually shocked at how quickly the time goes by, and at first they find that after 15 or 20 moves they have only a few seconds left. But it doesn’t take long to realize that the first few moves can be played very quickly, and after a few sessions players find their games are reaching 25, 30 and more moves.
North American readers will be familiar with the baseball concept of the “pitch count,” which is how many times a pitcher can throw the ball before his arm starts to get tired and he loses his speed, control or both. In bullet, a player’s “move count” is the number of moves he or she can make in an average game (here “average” refers to the complexity and difficulty of the game).
This statistic is important because you have to know your limitations and play within them. If you can only expect to play 30 moves, then you’d better play for mate. If you can expect to play 50 or more moves, endings become a feasible alternative.
The average normal chess game lasts around 40-45 moves. Bullet games tend to be about the same number of moves, on average, because two additional factors roughly cancel out: Bullet games can legitimately be played out to mate, which makes the games longer, but there are more mistakes in bullet games, which makes the games shorter.
If you can make 50 moves in a minute, you will finish most of your bullet games without losing on time. Keep in mind that of the remaining games, your opponent might run out of time before you do!
Time management
It follows that time management is a crucial skill in bullet, but there is more to it than just moving quickly (useful as that may be). The best bullet players are not necessarily the fastest, but rather those who know when to use their time.
At the start of a game, each player has a queen, two rooks, two bishops and so on, all of which can be given up in order to achieve the desired goal – a win. Similarly, each player has a minute of time, and that resource should also be used judiciously during the game in order to win. No points are awarded for being ahead in material when mate is delivered, just as there is no prize for being ahead on time when the game ends (especially if you lose).
The key to time management in bullet is therefore using your time in the right way. Sheer speed will win you games, but moving too fast will also cost you points.
In this chapter, we will look at some examples of good and bad time management. It goes without saying that the theme of time will arise repeatedly in this book, and good bullet players are always thinking of the clock as well as the position.
Speed kills
In the first game in this chapter, we see an example of Black trading material for time, or at least time futures. The investment pays off.
White (2196) – Black (2859) [A02]
1.f4 e5 2.Nf3?!
Not considered best, but theory doesn’t matter all that much in bullet chess!
2...e4 3.Ne5 d6 4.Nc4 d5 5.Ne3 d4 6.Nc4 b5 7.Ne5 f6 8.e3!
The only move, as otherwise White loses a piece with almost no compensation.
8...f×e5 9.Qh5+ g6!?
Objectively 9...Kd7 was better, but Black intentionally sacrifices his h8-rook in order to create problems for his opponent.
There are, in general, two ways of approaching bullet chess and players must figure out which approach better suits their style. It is possible to play in a defensive style, in which a player accepts material and tries to fend off the ensuing threats (the “Kortschnoi style”). The other style, which tends to be more suitable for tactical players, is to give up material where appropriate to create threats and make the opponent use his or her time to defend against those threats (the “Tal style”). The latter approach is easier for most players, as you don’t have to constantly be on the lookout for tactical shots. It’s more fun to be the one creating them!
10.Q×e5+ Kf7 11.Q×h8 Nf6
Here White has 47 seconds remaining, and Black has 51 seconds.
12.B×b5
White used three seconds to play this natural move, because his queen was potentially in danger and he had to make sure it couldn’t be trapped immediately. The “Tal style” is often effective because it causes the opponent to use time on even the most basic moves.
12...Be6 13.f5!?
White used another three seconds for this move, which is not at all bad if followed up correctly.
13...g×f5
14.0-0?
The cold-blooded 14.g4! is called for by the silicon beasts, but it is not so easy for a human to find such a move in a bullet game.
14...Qd5 15.Ba4?!
15.Be8+!? was White’s last chance to avoid a clear disadvantage, although the resulting position would be fun to play for Black.
15...Bg7 16.Bb3?! B×h8 17.B×d5 N×d5
White now has 30 seconds left, while Black has 38 seconds. White, having missed his chance for a knockout blow, stands worse and has less time as well. The rest of the game is a bit gory.
18.e×d4 B×d4+ 19.Kh1 Nc6 20.Nc3 Ndb4 21.a3 N×c2 22.Rb1 Bf6 23.b4 Rd8 24.Bb2 R×d2 25.Nb5 Ne5 26.N×c7 Bc4 27.Rfc1 Nd3 28.B×f6 N×c1 29.Bg5 Rd1 mate 0-1
In the next game, Black again sacrifices material in order to throw White off his game and create time trouble for him. Despite missing some opportunities, Black’s overall strategy works, demonstrating that in bullet, tactical precision isn’t always the key to victory.
White (2396) – Black (2930) [C11]
This position arose out of a French Defense and Black has a good position. He could continue positionally with 14...a5! or just develop with 14...Bd7, but in bullet more radical measures can work as well.
14...N×e5!?
14...N×e5!? is a thematic, although not obviously winning, sacrifice. But in bullet, it creates all sorts of problems for White, and problems usually take time to solve...
15.d×e5 Qf2+ 16.Kd2 Bd7
17.Kc3?!
White takes radical measures to try to solve the problem of having his king floating in the center of the board.
17...Rac8+?
A natural response, played quickly, but 17...Qf3+! and 18...Q×h1 won a rook.
18.Kb2 Bb5
White’s bold kingwalk has succeeded up to a point, although it is not easy for White to fully consolidate. Another cloud has appeared on the horizon, however, as Black has a substantial time advantage, with 46 seconds remaining, against White’s 36 seconds.
19.Qd2 Bg5?!
Black isn’t playing as incisively as he might, as 19...Ba4! creates new problems for White. Whether or not Black fully exploits the potential in his position, however, White has to take time to worry about such possibilities.
20.Nf4!
Now White is getting somewhere and has almost achieved a winning position, but only by using nine seconds for his last two moves. Even though White’s position is improving, it will be difficult for him to convert his advantage because of time.
20...B×f4 21.g×f4
Another trick White had to avoid: 21.B×f2? B×e5+.
21...Qb6 22.B×b5 Q×b5
Now the smoke has cleared, and White is up a piece for a pawn. White’s problems are not over, though.
First of all, White has only 23 seconds left, while Black has 37 seconds. Secondly, despite being up a piece, White has to untangle and can’t create any immediate threats, whereas Black can create one-move threats fairly easily. This compounds White’s time problem, and is yet another example of why the initiative is so essential in bullet.
23.a4 Qb6 24.Ra3 Rc4 25.Rb3 Rfc8!
In the circumstances, this is much stronger than simplifying with 25...Rf×f4.
26.Ka3?! Rc2 27.Qe3?! d4 28.Qh3?
With time pressure looming, White finally cracks. The rest is fairly straightforward.
28...R×c1 29.R×c1 R×c1 30.a5 Qc6 31.Qh5 Ra1+ 32.Kb2 Qc1 mate 0-1
You can’t take it with you
As we discussed, there’s not much point in losing when you still have lots of time left on the clock. You can only lose once, and anything is better than checkmate. The problem, of course, is that chess is a difficult game, and it isn’t always easy to detect danger until it’s too late. Hindsight is always 20-20!
Here is a typical example of this sort of false economy, in which the losing player places too much emphasis on time and doesn’t pay enough attention to what is happening on the board. This theme runs though many of the games we will see later on, in a variety of different settings.
White (2029) – Black (2259) [B06]
1.e4 g6 2.d3 Bg7 3.Nd2 d6 4.Ngf3 c5 5.Be2 Nc6 6.0-0
White has approached this game with a concrete idea. He intends to obtain an advantage by playing quickly. Armed with a fixed opening system, which can be played without much regard for Black’s moves, coupled with some pre-moves, White has blitzed out his first six moves in less than a second.
6...Rb8 7.a3 b5 8.Rb1 a5 9.b3 b4 10.a×b4 a×b4 11.Bb2
11...B×b2
White’s unusual pattern of development (for “unusual” read “not too good”), coupled with his continuing rapid pace, almost cost Black here. Black was on the verge of playing 11...Bg4?, and only saw that his g7-bishop was attacked at the last moment. The result: three seconds off Black’s time, giving White a five-second lead, in exchange for dark-squared weaknesses in White’s position. Not much of a deal for Black...
12.R×b2 Bg4
Black plays to gain greater control over the dark squares. All very positional, but watch what happens next.
13.Re1 B×f3
14.h3?
Clearly a pre-move. To this point, White had used only four seconds, which is pretty impressive. His position is not that good, but with 14.h3? he goes to the pre-move well once too often. Obviously it didn’t occur to him that Black might exchange on f3 without first being nudged with h2-h3.
This game could have been placed in the chapter on pre-move blunders, but really it is an example of poor time management. It’s important to play quickly, but not at all costs.
14...B×e2 15.Q×e2 e6 0-1
Disheartened by the failure of his temporal strategy, White resigned. Black still had 47 seconds to convert his advantage.
Misuse of time
We now turn to the important topic discussed in the introduction to this chapter – the proper use of time. In the next few games, the losing player fails to use his time wisely and ends up paying the price.
As pointed out earlier, knowing when to use your time and when to trust your instincts and move quickly is one of the greatest challenges of bullet. Moving intuitively often involves making “second best moves.” It is essential not so much to decide on the right move to make, but rather to assess the position with sufficient accuracy so that you don’t miss a critical moment, where only the best move will do. Developing a feel for the critical moment is one of the most important components of bullet mastery.
White (2943) – Black (2510) [D45]
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Be7 7.g4 d×c4 8.g5 Nd5 9.B×c4 B×g5
Black calls White’s bluff! At this point, Black has a two-second time advantage, but uses eight seconds on this move. 9...B×g5!? picks up a pawn, but does not lead to anything forcing beyond that. Using this much time just to win a pawn cannot be recommended. Such long thinks should be reserved for do-or-die positions.
It is impossible to assign time a concrete value in bullet. It’s bad enough that chess players think in terms of a queen being worth “nine points,” a rook “five points,” and so on. Let’s just say that time, like money, is important if you don’t have enough of it.
10.Rg1 Bf6 11.e4 N×c3 12.b×c3 e5 13.Ba3
13.Ba3 is an annoying move which creates vague possibilities of threats, without giving the opponent any obvious way of combating them.
13...Be7?! 14.B×e7 Q×e7 15.R×g7 Rf8
Black’s nervous 13...Be7?! has cost him his extra pawn, and White now stands better. In a bullet game, however, one would have to say the chances are roughly equal.
16.Ng5?!
This seemingly strong move creates threats against Black’s f7- and h7-pawns. White played this move instantly in order to retain a seven-second time edge (47 seconds remaining for White, 40 seconds for Black).
Unfortunately, 16.Ng5?! runs into a slight snag...
16...Qf6! 17.B×f7+ Ke7 18.R×h7 Q×g5 19.Qb3!?
Black has found the best defense and now has an objectively winning position. It is here that the concept of bluff really come into play, as White tries to keep the pressure on his opponent in order to run him out of time. Black took seven seconds before (correctly) deciding to go after White’s a1-rook, leaving him with 28 seconds.
19...Qg1+! 20.Ke2 Q×a1 21.Be6+ Kd8 22.Qa3
The critical position in the game. White has 35 seconds left, while Black has 27 seconds. Black thought for ten seconds at this point, and failed to find 22...c5!, which cuts White’s queen off from the attack. After 23.B×d7 B×d7 24.Q×c5 Qa2+ it is White, not Black, who gets mated, so 22...c5! leaves White in big trouble.
The move actually played by Black still leaves him with an advantage, and while Black’s long thinks (in bullet terms!) may not have been justified earlier, in this position Black was fully justified in spending time, although it would have been even better to have found the best move!
22...e×d4?! 23.B×d7?!
Now it’s White’s turn to think (for 12 seconds), as he is on the verge of defeat. 23.Qe7+ Kc7 24.Q×f8 was better, but after 24...d3+!, White is still in trouble. The most important thing to remember in such situations is to not panic and trust your instincts when the other ideas you look at don’t seem to work.
White now has 23 seconds remaining, Black 17 seconds.
23...d3+!
Another excellent move by Black, which keeps White under severe pressure.
24.Ke3 Qe1+ 25.Kd4 Q×f2+ 26.Kc4
Since playing 22...e×d4, Black has made all of his moves in one second or less, and only trails by three seconds on the clock. They’ve been good moves, too!
Unfortunately, here Black freezes and blows it, taking five seconds for a losing move. Having defended his f8-rook with 25...Q×f2+, he hurries to capture White’s d7-bishop, overlooking White’s mating attack. 26...b5+! wins, as after 27.Kb3 Qc2+! (leaving Black’s f8-rook undefended!) 28.Kb4 a5+, Black has a mating attack.
26...B×d7? 27.Qe7+
Black still has 13 seconds left, but time is no longer important.
27...Kc7
Black used half his remaining time on this move. He likely was in shock at the sudden change in fortune, but since 27...Kc8 loses immediately, Black should have played 27...Kc7 right away and at least forced White to find the win on his own time.
28.Q×d7+ Kb6 29.Q×b7+ Ka5
30.Rh5+!
This far from obvious, but crushing, move is the only way to win.
30...c5
Hoping for 31.R×c5+? Q×c5+, avoiding mate, but with only three seconds left, even that wouldn’t have helped.
31.Qb5 mate 1-0
White (2379) – Black (2905) [A02]
1.f4 e6 2.e4 g6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.d4 d5 5.Nc3 b6 6.e5 c5?
6...a6 was a better alternative, followed by 7...Nd7 and 8...c5.
7.Be3
A perfectly playable move, but 7.Nb5! was more incisive, as Black either allows 8.Nd6+ or retreats with 7 ...Bf8, allowing 8.c4!?.
7...a6?!
Rather than allow Nc3-b5-d6+, Black gives up a pawn. 7...c×d4 was better. Now Black gets into trouble.
8.d×c5 b×c5 9.B×c5 Ne7 10.Qd2 0-0 11.Be2 Nd7 12.Bd4 Nf5 13.0-0
After outplaying Black in the opening, White has reached a middlegame with an extra pawn, while preventing Black from obtaining any real counterplay. White has 49 seconds remaining, while Black has 48 seconds.
13...Rb8 14.b3 N×d4 15.N×d4 Qb6 16.Rad1
16...f6!
One of the most important goals in one-minute chess is to create play. This is especially true when one is either behind in material or positionally worse – both of which happen to be the case in this position.
17.e×f6 N×f6 18.Kh1 Bd7 19.Bf3 Rbc8 20.Nce2 Rfd8 21.c3 Be8 22.Qe3 Bf7 23.g3 Ne8 24.Bg2 Nd6
White has maintained his cool up to this point and has managed his time well, as he still has 39 seconds left. But now he allows unnecessary counterplay and also uses three seconds on his next move. The simple 25.Rd3 would have avoided complications.
25.Bh3?! Nb5!
Creating counterplay. 25...Ne4!? was also possible, as White has no easy way to deal with Black’s e4-knight, but 25...Nb5!? caught White off balance and he again uses three seconds for his response, leaving him five seconds behind on time.
26.B×e6 B×e6 27.Q×e6+ Q×e6 28.N×e6 Re8 29.N6d4
29.N×g7? would be worse, as after 29...R×e2 White’s g7-knight would be trapped. 29.f5! g×f5 30.N6f4 was best.
29...B×d4 30.N×d4 N×c3 31.Rde1?!
White weakens under the pressure. Despite allowing Black some tactical chances, White has kept his wits about him and would still have had a nice position with an extra pawn after 31.Rd2.
However, after 31.Rde1?!, White’s remaining advantage is very small, while he trails by three seconds on the clock (White has 29 seconds remaining, Black 32 seconds).
31...N×a2 32.f5 g×f5 33.N×f5 R×e1 34.R×e1 Rd8
34...Rc3!? was even stronger, but putting a rook behind a passed pawn is rarely bad.
35.Re7
White cannot resist going for the kill. After blowing a big advantage, it is hard to be content with a move like 35.Nd4 with a possible technical win, especially while trailing on the clock.
35...d4!
Once again, Black plays the obvious move. In order to be successful in simplified positions, one has to always be looking for the most direct counterplay while avoiding simple tactics. If no tactic comes to mind right away, moves like 35...d4 should be played instantly.
36.Rg7+
A critical juncture in the game. At this point both sides were about even on time, but here White used an astounding six seconds! Presumably he was calculating the line 36.Nh6+ Kf8 37.R×h7 Rd5, after which it is hard to stop Black’s d4-pawn. But really White’s problem is that he has outplayed Black for most of the game and has avoided all the traps Black has managed to set. It just isn’t fair that White still isn’t winning!
36...Kh8 37.Ra7
White used another eight seconds for 37.Ra7. According to some less-than-human friends, 37.Rg4 is equal (37...d3 38.Nh6 Rf8 39.Rd4). However, being short of time, it was hard for White to find this variation, especially since 37.Rg4 is counter-intuitive, as it only makes Black advance his d-pawn. Because of the time he took on his last two moves, White now has 12 seconds left, while Black has 22 seconds.
37...d3 38.R×a6 d2 39.Ne3 Nc3 40.Rc6 Re8!
A strong move, after which the result is not in doubt.
41.R×c3 R×e3 42.R×e3 d1Q+ 43.Kg2 Qd2+ 44.Kf3
White’s king must defend his rook.
44...Q×h2 0-1
White resigned, with only six seconds left, while Black had 17 seconds.
In the next game, Black makes an all-too-human mistake.
White (1987) – Black (2005) [A00]
1.g3 c5 2.Bg2 Nc6 3.d3 e5 4.Nc3 d6 5.e4 h5 6.h3 Nge7 7.Nge2 Ng6 8.Be3 Be7 9.Qd2 Nd4 10.f4 e×f4 11.N×f4 Ne5 12. 0-0-0 Be6
After an interesting opening, White has an edge, in part because his control of d5 cannot be easily contested, while Black’s d4-knight can be evicted by c2-c3; and in part because Black’s king will have trouble finding a safe haven. These are fairly esoteric considerations in a bullet game, mind you. As compensation, Black has a slight lead in time, having 49 seconds left, against White’s 45 seconds. White’s next move tries to make the most of his on-board advantages, but it turns out to have quite a different effect.
13.Ncd5! Rc8?!
Here Black started to make what is often a fatal mistake in bullet – he became interested in the position. 13...Rc8?! is no better or worse than a number of reasonable alternatives, objectively speaking, but Black took nine seconds to make it, which is a very poor use of time in a non-critical position.
14.c3! (D)
The strength of this move, which White played instantly, is not that it threatens to capture Black’s d4-knight, but rather that it doesn’t! The obvious question is what is the point of 14.c3!, since 15.c×d4 c×d4+ 16.Kb1 d×e3 doesn’t lead to much for White?
Realizing that his opponent is becoming absorbed in the game, White deliberately chooses a move which gives Black a wide range of responses. Many players would find the diagrammed position interesting, as it has the potential to resolve itself into almost any type of middle game. In tournament chess, either player might have a long think at this point in the game. But in bullet, that’s not possible, and taking more than even a few seconds on a move in this type of position can be fatal.
14...Ndc6?
Black took 13 (!) seconds for this move, which anticipates 15.Kb1. 14...Ndc6? isn’t a bad move, but in bullet spending that much time on a non-critical move is the equivalent of dropping a piece.
With a 16-second lead in time, White need only keep the game going on even terms to win.
15.Kb1 Qa5 16.Rhf1 Bd8 17.N×e6 f×e6 18.Nf4 Kd7
White now has a 20-second lead in time (38 seconds to 18 seconds) and naturally plays for the attack, while trying to avoid too many forcing lines. It is often easier to meet direct threats than it is to answer moves which threaten to make threats.
19.h4! Bf6 20.Bh3 Rhe8
21.N×e6?
Not only was 21.N×h5 stronger in absolute terms, but 21.N×e6? resolves much of the tension in the position. With Black having only 14 seconds left, White should keep the pot boiling so that Black is less sure of what to do.
21...R×e6
As it turns out, White’s last move might have surprised Black slightly, as he took two seconds to capture White’s knight. Given his time problems, he ought to have pre-moved 21...R×e6 so as not to waste any time recapturing on e6 should it be legal to do so.
22.B×e6+ K×e6 23.Bg5 b5?!
Since White still has some threats, 23...Ng4 was safer, but the real problem with 23...b5?! is that Black took another three seconds on it, leaving him with only eight seconds for the rest of the game.
With no real attack and potential problems with his own king, Black’s time problems are now terminal.
24.Qf2?!
White isn’t playing very precisely, but he’s playing quickly.
24...B×g5?
Black’s time-trouble finally results in a real blunder. After 24...Ne7!, Black would still be in the game, although with only five seconds left it wouldn’t make any difference.
25.Qf5+ Ke7 26.Q×c8 Bf6 27.d4 c×d4 28.c×d4 Nc4 29.Q×c6 1-0
Black lost on time. White had 23 seconds left.
The flip side of spending too much time in a non-critical position is failing to spend enough time when it matters. This sort of judgment call can also be very difficult to make, as a player may be convinced that there is a mate and spend a lot of time looking for it, only to find that it was a mirage.
If a player correctly assesses a position and the mate is there, but it can’t be found, that’s another issue. This book doesn’t address the question of basic chess strength, so instead we remind players of an admonition from another book – seek and ye shall find.
In the next game, Black pays dearly for the mistake of failing to seek.
White (3026) – Black (2426) [B11]
1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3 d×e4 4.N×e4 Nf6 5.Neg5 Bg4 6.h3 B×f3 7.N×f3 e6 8.Bc4 Nbd7 9.d4 Nb6 10.Bd3 Bd6 11.c3 Nbd5 12.Qe2 Nf4 13.B×f4 B×f4 14.g3 Bd6 15.0-0-0 0-0 16.Kb1 Qa5 17.g4 b5 18.g5 Nd5 19.Qe4 g6 20.h4 b4! 21.c4 Nc3+!
This initiates a very strong counter-attack on the queenside which is completely justified. Black cannot sit back and be overrun on the kingside, so the whole idea of ...b7-b5-b4 and 21...Nc3+! is correct.
22.b×c3 b×c3 23.Bc2?
At this point White has 48 seconds left, while Black has 46 seconds, so time is not yet a significant factor. White’s last move did not offer the strongest resistance, but now Black blunders and misses 23...Qa3!, which would have forced immediate mate.
23...Rab8+?
This hasty check, played after one second of thought, throws away the win. It’s easy to call 23...Rab8+? a mistake, but Black’s real error was failing to pause for even a few seconds in order to find the win.
It might have been that Black couldn’t believe the win could be so easy, or he might have simply failed to assess the position correctly. Regardless, it is important in bullet games to recognize the need to take time and think at the critical moment, especially when a sacrifice has transformed the position. This is not to say that players should necessarily go into a deep think which commits them to finding a forced win, but rather that it is important to be alert and take advantage of the opportunity to create the irresistible mating threats which make time considerations secondary.
24.Bb3 Qa3 25.Qc2
Although Black missed his chance to force mate, the game is still far from over and both sides have chances.
25...a5! 26.Rd3 a4 27.R×c3 a×b3 28.R×b3 Qa7
29.Kc1!?
A risky but not necessarily bad idea. With both players moving more or less instantly at this point, White plans to run his king to the center, where direct threats by Black will take time and some creativity.
At this point, Black has a four-second time advantage, with 43 seconds left against White’s 39 seconds. However, instead of looking for the knockout blow, Black continues to just move quickly, allowing White to get his king to the safety of the center.
Black’s focus on playing quickly, without regard to the opportunities on the board, ultimately proves his undoing. In this sense, his error falls into the category of “tunnel vision,” which often occurs in normal chess, when a player gets obsessed with a single idea. We shall explore this topic later. Here Black is thinking only of the clock, rather than what is happening on the board.
The “knockout blow” here, incidentally, is 29...R×b3! 30.a×b3 (30.Q×b3 Rb8 31.Qc2 Qa3+) Qa1+ 31.Qb1 Qc3+ and 32... Q×f3.
29...c5 30.Kd2 Bf4+ 31.Ke2 c×d4 32.Rd1
Black still has the advantage, but he has no direct threats and White’s knight has more squares available to it than does Black’s dark-squared bishop. White has come a long way in a relatively few moves, and whatever difficulties he faces now are nothing compared to the problems he had earlier.
32...Qa8?
Giving away his advantage. 32...e5 was much better. The mate Black hastily missed nine moves ago is starting to look more and more important.
33.R×d4 e5 34.Rd5 R×b3 35.a×b3 e4 36.Nd2
36.Ne5 was possible, but White intends to bring his knight to f6, in order to create threats against Black’s king.
36...Qc8 37.N×e4 Qg4+ 38.Ke1 Q×h4?
After 38...Qg1+ 39.Ke2 Qg4+, White would have played 40.Kd3.
39.Nf6+ Kg7 40.Qc3!
Setting up a mating net.
40...B×g5 41.Ne8+ Kh6 42.Qg7+ Kh5 43.Nf6 mate 1-0
Black maintained his time advantage right to the end, with White having 26 seconds when the game ended, against Black’s 33 seconds. In the most literal sense, this was a true one-minute game! But all Black’s time advantage meant in the end was that he had more time to look at the final position.
This game is a fine example of why time is not all that matters in bullet chess. Throughout the game Black made many obvious moves while using very little time, but he missed several chances to put the game away due to “playing on the clock.” Time is important, but it’s meant to be used.