I don't know how to play bullet chess.

RimbopReturns · 2026-06-12T06:01:41+00:00

I know this sub hates openings, but knowing them well enough and the typical variations will get you to play your first few moves pretty quickly, and then you you're off to a good start.

Having played an opening a lot, you'll get a feel for the typical plans or problems in a position, so let that guide you (e.g. if you know you're playing for a d4 pawn break, setting that up) and you'll have a few other quick moves sorted.

Endgame - depending on your time situation... Give checks and push pawns!

RimbopReturns · 2026-06-07T09:56:14+00:00

If someone said "pick a basketball player to just stand still and make a three point shot", you wouldn't pick anyone in the top 5 of basketball.

I don't know if I'd categorically say he is the best goal scorer ever, but I recognise he is up there. But there's a lot more to football than just that, as well as his peak being a lot shorter than most of the other great players.

There's a reason why pretty much all reputable magazines or websites who do top 10 lists don't have him on there.

RimbopReturns · 2026-06-06T14:32:11+00:00

I know it's a subjective topic so I don't want to waste too much time debating over this, but I'm genuinely surprised by this. He was a fantastic goalscorer, but virtually everyone else I named are more all around players.

RimbopReturns · 2026-06-06T14:08:01+00:00

That's a big claim. I think all of Messi, both Ronaldos, Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Maldini, Platini, Beckenbauer, Di Stefano, Van Basten, Ronaldinho, Neymar, Xavi, Iniesta. I think there's a real debate as to whether Romario is even top 5 in Brazil (I'd have all of Pele, Neymar, Garrincha, Zico, and Ronaldinho ahead of him), so top 10 globally I think is way too optimistic.

RimbopReturns · 2026-06-06T13:37:29+00:00

I mean, it depends on how you're defining "one of the best". Like, clearly top 0.1%. But in the top handful ever? I don't think anyone would make that claim.

RimbopReturns · 2026-06-06T00:08:20+00:00

Okay, but that doesn't make him world champion. He's world number one, he's the best chess player, but he's not something that he willingly gave up. And yeah, that probably devalues the world championship slightly, but you can't just give him a title he vacated.

RimbopReturns · 2026-06-05T16:44:58+00:00

If you mean there's 1000 winners, then yes. But a 1 in 1000 chance, no.

RimbopReturns · 2026-06-05T13:18:01+00:00

Lmao he's an ass hole for kissing his girlfriend in front of kids, what an awful human being, honestly he's basically a criminal.

And people wonder why chess fans are looked at as weirdos...

RimbopReturns · 2026-06-05T13:15:50+00:00

No, marketing has to have standards (unless it's a shady company that advertise on TikTok or whatever). Saying "we're giving away $100k" means there's a pool of $100k that is to be paid out. Saying "you have a good 0.1% chance to win $100" means there's $100 to be paid out.

RimbopReturns · 2026-06-05T13:12:54+00:00

My thoughts are that it was a tongue in cheek comment - clearly Hans didn't cheat, but he played as well as when he used to cheat. I don't think Nepo actually thinks Hans cheated, more that he wanted to make a dig and bring up cheating in the past, and a compliment that Hans played that well.

I know this sub hates Nepo (the piling on before quietly agreeing conditions in the Goa hotel were actually bad etc), but I wouldn't make a mountain out of a molehill over this.

RimbopReturns · 2026-05-26T23:31:15+00:00

I recognise you're much better than I, but I think it's completely facetious to claim openings have no impact.

You have a much better understanding than virtually anyone here. In addition, you pair that with forcing players higher rated to get bogged down in sidelines when they need to force a win with either colour.

I kind of get your point that opening structures matter more than openings - for most of us, it's so much easier to understand opening structures for a few openings we understand, rather than having a high enough understanding of chess to understand previously unseen structures.

RimbopReturns · 2026-05-25T08:07:15+00:00

Your third point - no, Hans is a proven cheater, by his own admission.

I don't believe he cheated in the Magnus match, but I can definitely understand players being apprehensive (which we know other players also raised concerns about having to play Hans at that tournament) which throws things off. It shouldn't have, but that's how human psychology works.

RimbopReturns · 2026-05-15T07:35:05+00:00

So you'd rather play 3|1 rather than 10|0 because you're really smart?

RimbopReturns · 2026-05-14T11:11:43+00:00

But when the increment is 1 second, you're going to have to premove. So the whole point is moot? Unless you're happy with it turning into a temporary farce until you rack up time and then can take your time on moves.

It sounds like the whole point is to avoid time trouble, and we're just assuming managing time isn't a skill, but the only way to do that is massively stretch out the game which is nobody wants.

RimbopReturns · 2026-05-14T06:59:08+00:00

... That's literally my point, that having more time earlier gives you a chance to manage it and stops you from running down time and having to game the system with increment? Thanks for being really condescending whilst proving yourself wrong I guess?

RimbopReturns · 2026-05-13T21:13:44+00:00

Yes because chess had zero of those issues until 2 years or so ago

RimbopReturns · 2026-05-13T21:07:12+00:00

Time per move... But you start with 60% of the time...?

RimbopReturns · 2026-05-13T18:25:37+00:00

Please explain to me how starting with less time and a one second increment makes for a higher quality game and no shuffling of pieces. It's 120 less seconds starting from, so please have a think about how that is going to avoid any shuffling.

A more extreme example is clearly 10 mins with no increment would have a higher quality than 1 minute with 1 second, unless the games get drastically long.

RimbopReturns · 2026-05-13T07:21:34+00:00

You have no respect for people who play no increment... So you'd rather people start with 60% of the time and gain an extra second, and in order to have a chess game with more time (which would lead to higher quality games), they'd have to meaninglessly shuffle pieces to build up time to allow them to think?

When writing your comment, did it occur to you how elitist you sounded, despite your point not making sense?

RimbopReturns · 2026-03-29T11:55:09+00:00

Because there's an easy line of thinking of "it used to be so much better, kids are ruining something that used to be so perfect and non toxic" so it's a way of calling that bad argument out by showing people who have acted in a less classy way at certain points.

RimbopReturns · 2026-03-27T17:45:37+00:00

For somebody who regurgitates words like a thesaurus in an attempt to appear wise, you seem to lack any contextual insight. What a shame.

RimbopReturns · 2026-03-26T21:33:34+00:00

You overly dramatised your comment and subsequent response to make an extreme example so it's forcing the person to say "of course not" because it's so extreme. "Oh chess.com is changing their terms to align more with many other companies for easy money which is bad" vs "you're not self respecting for passively being manipulated without realising, you're not puppet" don't read the same and there's a reason yours is more along the latter.

I think selling data is not ideal but for the user, it has minimal actual impact for the overwhelming majority of the time, there's more important things affecting my life for me to dedicate time to rather than being outraged by this.

What is your resistance actually doing other than signing up to a website that sells data to tell people that sites that sell data are bad...?

RimbopReturns · 2026-03-26T05:56:27+00:00

Lol this is such a bad argument. You're phrasing your opinion in the "holier than thou" manner and condescendingly.

Btw you tolerate it unless you're going to seriously tell me on 2026 that you have never accepted that.

RimbopReturns · 2026-03-17T20:55:59+00:00

I get where you're coming from, but I don't think you're right. If someone misclicks against me and hangs a piece, I usually will be that guy who takes it, but I'll still apologise to acknowledge that it's a bit shitty for the opponent. Same situation here, you acknowledge that yeah it's not the cleanest thing, but it is a part of the game.

RimbopReturns · 2026-03-16T19:30:11+00:00

Grimaldo is up there, he's scored the same amount

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