blitz chess

noun

Chess played at a quick time control, with each side getting about five minutes to make their moves. Blitz chess is played at a variety of time controls, primarily 3+0 (three minutes per side), 3+2 (three minutes per side plus two extra seconds per move), 5+0, and 5+3.

Similar
lightning chessspeed chess
OriginGerman Blitzschach →
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Meanings

nounblitz chess (uncountable)
  1. uncountableboard gamesChess played at a quick time control, with each side getting about five minutes to make their moves. Blitz chess is played at a variety of time controls, primarily 3+0 (three minutes per side), 3+2 (three minutes per side plus two extra seconds per move), 5+0, and 5+3.

    Muzychuk, 27, is the reigning women’s world champion in both rapid and blitz chess.

    2017 December 28, Des Bieler, “Chess champion refuses to defend titles in Saudi Arabia to protest treatment of women”, in The Washington Post
    2 more examples

    What I had played was chess. Specially, I knocked out some 2,000 games of speed (or "blitz") chess in the two months leading up to the tournament. In fact, I played so much that I'm currently in the top half-percent of more than 1.3 million of blitz players at an online chess competition site.

    2013 June 24, Mark Samuelian, “Speed Chess Changed My Brain”, in The Atlantic

    If there’s still no winner, the players move on two games of blitz chess. There, each player is limited to only five minutes, with three seconds added after each move. If there is no winner, they play a further two games of blitz chess.

    2018 November 27, Kabir Chibber, “What will happen on the final day of the World Chess Championship”, in Quartz

    Synonyms: lightning chess, speed chess

Synonyms & antonyms

nounChess played at a quick time control, with each side getting about five minutes to make their moves. Blitz chess is played at a variety of time controls, primarily 3+0 (three minutes per side), 3+2 (three minutes per side plus two extra seconds per move), 5+0, and 5+3.

Similar
lightning chessspeed chess
Also see
lightning chessspeed chess

Origin

  1. GermanBlitzschach
  2. Englishblitz chess

Partial calque of German Blitzschach.

More words from German

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Dutch snelschaak
  • snelschaakform of chess
Finnish pikashakki
  • pikashakkiform of chess
German Blitzschach, Schnellschach
  • Blitzschachform of chess
  • Schnellschachform of chess
Polish szachy błyskawiczne
  • szachy błyskawiczneform of chess
Romanian șah fulger
  • șah fulgerform of chess
Spanish ajedrez rápido
  • ajedrez rápidoform of chess
Swedish blixtschack
  • blixtschackform of chess
Cite this entry
APA

blitz chess. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blitz%20chess

MLA

“blitz chess.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blitz%20chess. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “blitz chess,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/blitz%20chess.

Source: blitz chess on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.