Keano wrote on 12/15/09 at 13:39:55:
Not at all. I'm slow and didn't even use a mouse but the touchpad of my laptop. It is the high desire to create complications against a weaker opponent which makes loose a lot of players. 

This works in correspondence games too. But in contrary to 5-min-games you need more aggressive positions. The common idea is to punish the disbalancing efforts in endgames.

If it's only playing for results it depends on the strength of the oponents. Everything proposed so far is good for playing against weaker and equal opponents. Playing against stronger opponents with white 'boring' positional side-systems are a very good choice, because it needs time to create complications.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Bxc6! dxc6 5.d4! gives me wins against players with 200+ since my youth. Testing it yesterday on playchess after some years the score was 2:0 against a 250+ and a 350+ with this opening.

Smyslov_Fan wrote on 12/05/09 at 21:16:41:


That is indeed the case, since the the Boleslavsky put the quietus on 6.Be2 several decades ago.  Nowadays of course, 6.Bg5 is considered the sternest test of the Classical Sicilian, in slow chess anyway.  At speed, I would fear the Dread Velimirovic.

I think that the Kalashnikov and the Sveshnikov are probably the two best Sicilians for play at speed.  As Paddy observes, having to worry about your king is the last thing you want to do in speed chess, unless you're some sort of defensive wizard.  And you have to do that with the non-e5 Sicilians.

Sveshnikov and Kings'Indian works fine for me, because you  have a time advantage if you know the theory and complicated positions.

Kyle, 

The Boleslavsky (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cd 4.Nd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Nc6 6.Be2 e5) is relatively rare.  It's been played less than 400 times in the last five years of master practice.

But, you may be right that it's more due to White's deviations than to Black.  The statistics for the Boleslavsky are brutally in favor of Black.  If I played the white side I would certainly look for early alternatives.

So perhaps the ...e5 Sicilians would be a great blitz weapon for master-class opponents?

I've been playing Scheveningen Sicilians by transposition in blitz lately and have scored remarkably well.   

It seems that even more than standard time controls, reaching known positions through tricky move orders is especially rewarding, both on the clock and the board!

Paddy, I think it  was Speelman (tho it might have been Flear) who said that in the endgame, the rules are right more than 95% of the time, and so if time is short, just follow the rules.

That advice would probably help explain Ulf Andersson's success as a blitz player even late into his sunset years.  He knows the rules better than almost any player younger than him!

The Elephant Gambit I found to be a very effective Blitz opening, getting my peak ICC blitz to almost 2400 (when my FIDE is 2030, not a bad achievement). Especially 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 e4?!, very dubious but white almost never plays correctly. If he does, you're a pawn down, but usually up on the clock anyway. If he goes wrong, you get massive compensation and you're up on the clock. Sounds so simple...