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Classical Chess Is Slow by Design

Two sparse chess endgame positions displayed at a restrained size side by side

I wrote this in response to what I see as the slow weakening of classical chess—previously known simply as chess.

Time controls are getting shorter, and more players are moving toward faster formats. My concern is not that rapid and blitz exist. They are entertaining and demand real skill. The concern is what happens when classical chess starts apologizing for being slow.

Slow is not a defect

Chess has always been a game in which players make decisions by thinking. That is one of its greatest advantages over other games. It is slow by design. That is not a bug; it is a feature.

When we keep reducing the time available, we do not merely shorten the broadcast. We change the nature of the decisions. At some point the game becomes less about finding and comparing ideas and more about operating with seconds on the clock.

Why winning has become so difficult

Modern defensive technique is extremely high. Strong players understand resources that previous generations found less consistently. A player under pressure can sometimes return material, simplify, or enter an objectively inferior ending with enough drawing mechanisms to survive.

This creates frustration for the side trying to win. At the top, even having White against a slightly weaker opponent can feel like a difficult practical assignment. Players choose unusual openings partly because familiar paths are so deeply analyzed and so hard to turn into genuine winning chances.

Stalemate deserves an honest debate

I also think we should be willing to question stalemate. The current rule produces beautiful studies and gives the defender hope in apparently lost positions. Those are real benefits. But it also allows a side that has lost nearly everything to escape because the king has no legal move.

I am not presenting the removal of stalemate as consensus. It is a proposal: if stalemate counted as a win for the side that created it, attacking resources would increase and some technically frustrating draws would become decisive games.

These examples are deliberately extreme so that the general audience can see the point. The main issue is subtler. Strong defenders do not wait until the last move to seek stalemate; they steer toward positions where giving up material creates a reliable drawing mechanism.

Protect what makes classical chess different

Chess needs more decisive games and less frustration, but the answer cannot simply be to make every serious game faster. Classical chess should preserve the time required for thought while remaining open to carefully tested rule changes that improve the balance between attack and defense.

We should not save chess by turning it into a video game played with seconds.

Adapted from my original post on X, published August 31, 2026. The rule change discussed here is a personal proposal, not a statement of consensus.

Vasif Durarbayli

Vasif Durarbayli is a highly accomplished Azerbaijani chess Grandmaster. He was born on February 24, 1992, in Sumgait, Azerbaijan, and began playing chess at the age of six. Durarbayli quickly showed a talent for the game, winning several national and international chess competitions as a young player. He holds the record for being the youngest player ever to represent the Azerbaijani Olympic chess team, achieving this feat at just 14 years old. To this day, his record has yet to be broken or renewed. He also won the World Youth Chess Championship U14 and the European Youth Chess Championship U18. He was awarded the title of International Master in 2007 at the age of 15 and became a Grandmaster in 2010, at the age of 18. Throughout his career, Durarbayli has competed in and won numerous prestigious chess tournaments, including the Azerbaijani Chess Championship twice (in 2021 and 2023). He was also ranked among the top 16 players in the World Cup in 2021. Durarbayli has represented Azerbaijan in several Chess Olympiads. Currently, he resides in St. Louis, MO.