Great news. In the FIDE Congress held in Krakow, Poland, last October they approved the launch of “Rapid” and “Blitz” rating lists in 2012.
 
Let us summarize:
 
1. Tournaments commencing on or after January 1st 2012 may be registered. You don’t need to have an existing FIDE rating. You can enter rapid and/or blitz tournaments and play games against rated opponents.
 
2. For the year 2012 all FIDE rating fees are waived.
 
3. Rapid games are those in which each player must have at least 15 minutes, but less than 60 minutes thinking time. In case there is an increment we use 60 moves as a marker. For example, if the time control is 10 minutes + 5 seconds per move is that considered rapid? Yes. Five seconds per move multiplied by 60 moves is the equivalent of 300 seconds, or 5 minutes. The original 10 minutes + credit of 5 minutes = 15 minutes, so it is rapid.
 
4. What is the difference in the rules of chess between “normal” and “rapid” chess? No difference. A lot of players do not know this. In case of an illegal move the game is not forfeited -- the offending party is allowed to take back the illegal move and make another move (subject, of course, to touch-move rules) although this should be in his own time. In other words if your opponent makes an illegal move and then punches the clock (signifying that he has completed the move), you may punch the clock without making a move and request that he correct the error.
 
5. In the past there have been official FIDE competitions for world rapid chess champion. You might be interested to know the titleholders:
 
a. Garry Kasparov 2001
 
b. Viswanathan Anand 2003
 
c. Levon Aronian 2009
 
d. Gata Kamsky
 
6. Anybody attaining a rapid rating of 2300+ can be awarded the title of “Expert.”
 
7. Blitz games are those in which each player has at least 5 minutes, but less than 15 minutes. Increments are also counted using 60 moves as a marker. Therefore, a time control of 3 minutes plus 2 second increment per move is the equivalent of a 5-minute blitz game. This is because the 2-second increment multiplied by 60 moves is 120 seconds, or 2 minutes. This 2 minutes when added to the original 3 minutes totals 5.
 
8. There is a difference between “normal” and “blitz” chess. In case of an illegal move the offending party is forfeited. An illegal move is completed once the opponent’s clock has been started. The opponent is entitled to claim a win before he has made his own move. However, if the opponent cannot checkmate the player’s king by any possible series of legal moves, then the claimant is entitled to claim a draw before he has made his own move. Once the opponent has made his own move, an illegal move cannot be corrected unless mutually agreed without intervention of an arbiter.
 
9. There have also been official FIDE competitions for the title of World Blitz Chess Champions in the past. Here are the winners:
 
a. Mikhail Tal 1988
 
b. Alexander Grischuk 2006
 
c. Vassily Ivanchuk 2007
 
d. Leinier Dominguez 2008
 
e. Magnus Carlsen 2009
 
f. Levon Aronian 2010
 
Please do not confuse the terms “blitz” and “rapid” chess with the time controls in the internet chess servers. In the Internet Chess Club (ICC), they have different definitions:
 
a) They use the so-called “etime” to determine the classification of your game. “etime” is the initial time plus 2/3 the increment. E.g. a 2-minute game with 12-second increment has an “etime” of 10, while a 5-minute 0-increment game has an etime of 5. The idea is this is the time (in minutes) available if the game goes 40 moves (as opposed to the FIDE formula, which assumes a game going 60 moves).
 
b) An etime of less than 3 is called a “bullet” game. Some other competing servers call this a “lightning” game. I prefer the term bullet because I am an admin with ICC. So there.
 
c) An etime of more than 3 but less than 15 is classified as a “blitz” game. Anything higher than 15 is considered a standard game.
 
Back in 1988 it was none other than the then FIDE President, Florencio Campomanes, who first proposed the introduction of “active chess” ratings, titles and World Championship events. That provoked a fierce letter signed by leading grandmasters (headed by Kasparov and Karpov), who refused to participate in any such events if FIDE introduced separate ratings or titles. By the way, Kasparov later on changed his mind. Look again at no. 5 above, on who was the 2001 World Rapid Chess Champion.
 
In the Philippines it was Pilipinas Shell’s Rey Gamboa who is the godfather of Active Chess -- he introduced annual Junior and Kiddie championships sponsored by Shell, and up to now these tournaments are still very much in existence. To gauge their impact on Philippine chess we need only point out that Mark Paragua, Richard Bitoon, Wesley So and many many more of our top players made their bones in the Shell competitions.
 
GM Vladislav Tkachiev has this to say:
 
“Today is 2011 and it seems to be the time for reappraisal of values. In the situation where classical chess tournaments breathe their last one after another, every month there breaks out cheating scandals, and Candidates Matches beat the records in the number of “grandmaster” draws it is necessary to think about long-felt changes. And it’s we, the chess community, who must do that.
 
“I believe we should return to the idea of full-scale World Championships for rapid chess and blitz with mandatory qualifying continental tournaments and separate ratings. It’s necessary to think again of attractive TV format. The image of a chess-player as an autistic person inclined only to reflection and soul-searching should become a thing of the past. Since, first of all, it doesn’t square with reality and we all know this.
 
Organizing a rapid/blitz tournament is much easier, cheaper and less time-consuming as a regular tournament. I believe that with the reintroduction of the FIDE Rapid and Blitz chess ratings this will lead to an explosion of chess interest again.
 
I will end this column by showcasing what I believe to be the greatest rapid game ever played. This is the 9th game of the Candidates’ Match between Ivanchuk and Jussupow. Jussupow had come from behind to tie the maIvanchuk, Vassily (2735) -- Jussupow, Artur (2625) [E67]
 
Candidates qf3 g/60 Brussels (9), 1991
 
1.c4 e5 2.g3 d6 3.Bg2 g6 4.d4 Nd7 5.Nc3 Bg7 6.Nf3 Ngf6 7.0-0 0-0 8.Qc2 Re8 9.Rd1 c6 10.b3 Qe7 11.Ba3 e4 12.Ng5 e3 13.f4 Nf8 14.b4 Bf5 15.Qb3 h6 16.Nf3 Ng4 17.b5 g5 18.bxc6 bxc6 19.Ne5!? gxf4 20.Nxc6 Qg5 21.Bxd6 Ng6 ..{oops; cut-and-paste, partial fail}.