Tactics, Tactics, Tactics

During a blitz marathon, a player misses things. After many games, some strong moves will have been played as well. I offer the positions below as evidence either than there is much to learn from blitz, or as evidence that too much blitz is deleterious to the improvement of chess skills. I cannot decide which.

Things Missed

In these positions, I missed the correct move.

White to move

I won this game, but not as quickly as I should have. A position from earlier in the game appears in the "strong moves" diagrams below.

Black to move

After missing some easy knockouts, I won this game on time in a dead drawn position. The next diagram is from the same game, as is an early position in the "strong moves" positions below.

Black to move

White to move

I won this game, despite making a move here that transferred the advantage to my opponent.

Black to move

Often I reach a nice position, but then offer a howler that turns the tables. Such was the case here.

Strong Moves

In these positions, I played the correct move.

White to move

I observed a weakness in counting pieces during Chess Tempo training a year ago. That weakness is not always evident in actual play.

Black to move

After finding the correct move here, I missed many subsequent opportunities.

Black to move

Black is worse after the best move. A few moves later, my opponent blundered and I reached a clearly won game only to lose on time.

White to move

After the best move, which I played, Black maintains the edge unless he blunders, as he did.

White to move

The tactic here stems from a well-known error in the King's Indian Defense. My opponent made this error in the first round of the 2009 Washington Open, but I failed to manage more than a draw. My highest rated victory in correspondence chess on Chess.com was a result of an engine user making this error before seeking help. It is shocking how often I get such a position in blitz.