It was a shocking finding when research psychologists reported it more than 20 years ago. But today nobody seems surprised:
Amateurs play much worse as the time limit gets shortened. But masters can play nearly as well when they have only 15 minutes for an entire game as when have much more.
This was underlined at the SportAccord World Mind Games in Beijing, when Anish Giri turned in one of the most brilliant games of 2012 in the rapid- time-limit section. The players had 20 minutes for each game, with a 10-second increment added for each move they played.
After Alexander Morozevich avoided the main opening line, 13 . . . exd5, Giri started throwing pieces at him. First a knight, 14 Nxf7!, then a rook, 18 Kxg2!.
Morozevich defended well for a while, but missed 20 . . . Qc2!. He would have been worse but not immediately lost after 21 . . . Rc7!.
Giri finished off with a blistering attack, 23 Bf6+! so that 23 . . . gxf6 24 Qxf6+ and 25 Qxh8+.
Of course, this might have been all opening preparation by the 18-year-old Dutch GM. But some strong computers don’t even consider 16 e5! among the best moves.
America’s Hikaru Nakamura won silver medals in the rapid, blitz and blindfold sections in Beijing.