Bullet Chess: Yay or Nay?

These past few days have been so difficult for me that I barely had time for myself. This morning, I completed my final exams, which really took a toll on me. I had spent the last few days attending midnight classes, reading, and revising. I almost kicked myself when I saw @justola's message reminding me of the Chess Laliga tournament. I felt even worse when I realized I had missed the tournament by two hours. I didn't even bother to check because I knew it would have already ended. The most surprising part of this whole thing is that despite having a very busy schedule, I had still managed to make time for chess. It was funny because I had two exams a day, and yet I still squeezed in time to play chess. I needed something to calm me down and take my mind off things, and I'm glad chess came through for me—not just any chess, but bullet chess.

What is your take on bullet chess? I started playing bullet chess a while back. I don’t know who or what got me attracted to bullet chess (1+0), but I found it more fun. However, bullet chess is like a double edged sword. On one end, if you keep playing it, you get better at making quick chess decisions. On the other hand, if you keep playing it, there are tendencies that you will make many blunders owing to the fact that bullet chess requires you to think very fast. If you want to get better at making fast decisions by playing bullet chess, you must have to find balance. Unfortunately, I realized this a bit too late. When I started playing bullet chess, I solely focused on that variation. Because of this, I got worse at playing Rapid and even Blitz games.

To make it easier to understand, I'll explain in simpler times. I started playing bullet chess (1 min), where each of the players have 1 minute each. Here, you have to make your moves very quickly to avoid running down on time. I got so addicted to this variation that the other ones, Rapid and Blitz, became boring to me. I've heard people say, “Don’t play bullet chess because it will ruin your rating and chess skills.” The truth is that I agree with those who argue that bullet chess can ruin your chess skills, but does this mean that we should avoid playing bullet chess completely?

No! I'll put it this way. Rather than avoiding bullet chess completely, it would be better to utilize a balanced approach. Playing bullet games and at the same time, playing other variations. To make things more balanced, you might want to play more rapid or blitz chess. For example, if you plan to play 50 chess games a day, play 30 blitz or rapid then play 20 bullet games. With time, you'll realize how to make quick chess decisions and at the same time, minimize blunders.

What do you think about Bullet Chess? Do you make use of the balanced approach?