Things You'll Need:
- Chess board
- Chess pieces
- Chess clock (digital or otherwise) or stopwatch
- Table
- 2 Chairs or benches
- Opponent
- Money (optional)
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Step 1
Find an opponent. In many big cities there are speed chess hangouts like Washington Square Park in Manhattan or the corner of Market and Powell in San Francisco.
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Step 2
Sit down at a table, be it in a park or a kitchen.
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Step 3
Set up the chess board. You’ll also need a stopwatch or a chess clock. Most Speed or Blitz Chess players use a chess clock, digital or otherwise. A chess clock (see photo) is actually a timing device consisting of two clock-faces side by side, each face with a timer-button over it. Each player gets a designated clock-face and timer-button.
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Step 4
Start the game. A chosen player goes first. A chess clock timed game can be played two ways: the touch move way and the clock move way. Most clock moves are timed at five minutes. With the touch move rule, if you touch one of your chess pieces during a move time, you have to move that piece and the move is final. With the clock move way, even if you touch a piece, your final move is only determined when your move time has elapsed. In other words, you can touch a chess piece as many times as you want before time is up. Most street chess players play the clock move way.
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Step 5
Be aware that another timed way is when all the game’s moves are given a total time limit. In the “Game/30” variant of the game, each player’s game moves must be completed within 30 minutes. If neither player has won within two minutes of the allotted game time (say, 30 minutes), one or more players can declare a draw.
