Fast chess, also known as speed chess, is a type of chess in which each player is given less time to consider their moves than classical chess time controls allow. Fast chess is subdivided, by decreasing time controls, into rapid chess, blitz chess, and bullet chess. Armageddon chess is a particular variation of fast chess in which different rules apply for each of the two players.
Spectators watch as a street chess player "Russian Paul" (left) plays bullet chess with Jonathan Corbblah in Union Square, Manhattan.
Magnus Carlsen (left) playing GM Dennis Wagner (right) at the 2015 FIDE World Chess Rapid and Blitz Championship in Berlin, at which Carlsen retained the title World Rapid Chess Champion
Blitz World Champion Alexander Grischuk (right) in Berlin, 2015, with runners-up Vladimir Kramnik (center) and Maxime Vachier-Lagrave (left)
Chess is a board game for two players. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to distinguish it from related games such as xiangqi and shogi.
Part of a Staunton chess setLeft to right: white king, black rook, black queen, white pawn, black knight, white bishop
Setup at the start of a chess game
A digital chess clock
Public chess tables in the Jardin du Luxembourg, Paris
