When I first started getting back into chess a few years ago, I absolutely _could not play_ blitz or bullet -- after the opening, I'd squander all my time in a

When I first started getting back into chess a few years ago, I absolutely _could not play_ blitz or bullet -- after the opening, I'd squander all my time in a few moves. After a few months of practicing, though, I really started to enjoy it -- it really _feels_ like time dilation / thinking faster when you complete an entire chess game, to mate, in the range of 2 to 6 minutes. I'm also certain that this practice has helped me a lot with focus when doing technical work. [I'm still a lousy player, but that's beside the point, haha!] p.s. re : American chess : Nakamura is, in my opinion, one of the greats -- and he [like Carlsen] has that quality about him that gets kids excited to play chess. [On a different note, it's great to have Hou as a role model for girls who want to play - I feel like she's up there with Polgar in the 'inspirational' category]