From the German Blitz – lightning, a play with moves made in a rapid manner under a short time limit.
In the late 19th century such games are said to be played in London: each player had 30 seconds for one move, later it was reduced to 5 seconds. As the clock technology progressed, another time condition came to popularity: each player had 5 minutes for the whole game. Rules used for such games are almost the same as for a regular one, except for some minor alternations.
FIDE started to published a blitz rating list a couple years ago, before that some tries where made by Walter Browne in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Before 2006, two unofficial world championships were organized: the first won by Mikhail Tal in 1988 and the second by Robert Fischer in Herceg Novi in 1970, both tournaments included the best world players. More recently, in 2016, Sergey Karjakin was crowned World Blitz Champion in Doha.
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Quotes of the Day
Kasparov is great as a chess player, but all his attempts to prove himself as an organizer – let’s say, is beyond the champion’s level.
Boris Gelfand 2016
I was pushed out of USSR by the hands of Petrosian and Karpov. But now, after 10 years, Petrosian is not longer alive and Karpov is not longer World Champion, so it seems that everything is in place now.
Viktor Kortchnoi 1986 NIC
One of the most important things in chess is pattern recognition: the ability to recognise typical themes and images on the board, characteristics of a position and their consequences.
Magnus Carlsen 2010
When Korchnoi was living in the USSR I called him ‘hero of socialist labour’; when he moved to the West I renamed him ‘hero of capitalist labour’!
Boris Spassky
Some players lose ability to think independently and rely on computers completely.
Lajos Portisch 2012
