How to Win Fast Chess Games

By Josh
This time I'm going to talk about games with 1-5 minute timers. I hope you'll find this helpful!

Keep an eye on the clock at all times
This is a simple rule that can be the difference between winning and losing. Try to keep your timer higher then your opponents. If you don't then you can have yourself trying to make up for that time with bad moves.

navoj98 vs mathkid1

13. a3, Nc6 14. Nd5,  Nxd5 15. Bxd5, Qxb2 16. Bxc6, bxc6

  17. Rb1?, Qd4? (Both of us completely missed 17... Qxb3) 18. Qd2, c4 19 c3?, Qxd3 

 20. Qxd3, cxd3 (I was very content having won another pawn until to my horror I realized, I only had 4.3 seconds left! I was very panicked which led to bad things.) 21.Rbd1, Rad8 22. c4, f6?? (There it is. I had given my opponent 23.Ne6! putting a fork between my two rooks AND losing a rook would mean I'd lost the pawn on d3, so white would be better off!)

 23. Rf2? (White wanted to win on time!) 23... Bf7 24. Nxf7, 1-0 (Out of time.)

So, time can play a huge factor. A good thing to do is to:

Use opening traps
A personal favorite of mine is this:
1. e4, e5 2. Nf3, Nc6 3. Bc4, Nf6 4. Ng5, h6? 5. Nxf7

Creating a fork between the queen and the rook. This brings me to my final point:

Never Resign
This is a simple rule because of time. Their time can run out and you can still win.

I hope you find this helpful!