Games Showcase: One Minute Chess

It’s a game you almost certainly know. Let me tell you about it.

By “one minute chess” I mean the standard game, but with about the fastest time control that’s playable: one minute on the clock. Total. For all of your moves.

It’s a variant I discovered at Uni, and it makes the game fast, furious and a little bit insane. I’ve only played it online, I don’t know if it’s feasible on a physical board.

Not Enough Time

Looking at my most recent twenty games: only six ended in checkmate; fourteen were ended by the clock.

You are probably thinking, “Aha! I know how to play this! I’ll just move as quickly as possible to run out Morgan’s clock."

Nope. Nuh-uh. It’s a reasonable first strategy to try, but if you just move randomly I’ll get check mate with forty seconds left on my clock.

If you refine that a little, making moves as quickly as possible but trying for moves that will cause me to have to think and waste time, I’ll get check mate with twenty seconds left on my clock.

Strategy

You are going to have to play chess.

You’ll need to rely a lot on instinct, making most moves as quickly as you physically can. Actually, even that is insufficient; you will have to “premove” whenever you can, betting that I am going to make the most likely move and locking in your response before I’ve made it in order to respond instantaneously. I’ll be doing the same, so sometimes you will get zero thinking time between moves.

You can when you choose take a handful of seconds over some particular move to consider it deeply; you’d better be sure it’s worth it, because those seconds could cost you the game.

You will learn to swallow unexpected losses instantly, moving on and forward against the relentless tick of the clock.

Insanity

I sometimes play an opening in which I immediately sacrifice my queen.

This would be quickly fatal with any other time control.

It has two effects that make it not quite fatal in one minute chess, at least at the level I play at.

First, it takes the game “off book”. My opponent likely has no experience of games on these lines, so they must immediately start thinking more about each move. I on the other hand have played it plenty of times, so I can make some quick moves in response.

Second, it increases my freedom to move. I have one fewer piece, so I have fewer constraints to consider; and I no longer need to be careful about preserving my most valuable piece. So I can move quickly.

It’s very satisfying to win this way.

From the opponent’s point of view, immense cool and self control is needed to win. Being ahead on pieces isn’t sufficient; you have to convert it into a win. You have to use the advantage without being slowed down by it—giving material back if needed to gain seconds.

An opponent who succeeds against this ploy will, I think, also find it very satisfying.

Fun

What can I say? One minute chess is tremendous fun and quite addictive. At the same time it feels like a mental and emotional workout.

I play on the chess.com Android app; it’s free to create an account and there are lots of players so you can find a partner very quickly. Because the site keeps ratings and matches players by rating you’re guaranteed to find a stimulating match to play against.

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