Bullet chess basic rules??

Searched through the forums and find tons of threads about bullet chess, but not on basics. I've played three bullet games now and don’t get it. I thought it was like normal chess but when time runs out it's about material and position. My last game I took their queen and had them in check, but I lost because time ran out. So I guess it’s like a hot-potato game where whoever runs out first loses? Is it only about time? 

The clock is a big part of bullet.

Yes, running out of time means you lose.  This is true in bullet chess, and every kind of timed chess.

However, if your opponent runs out of time, and all you have is a king, then it's a draw.  The same is true for you, so if you have no time to checkmate, but you can capture their last few pieces, you can save yourself from a loss.

It is a bit like hot potato... except of course checkmate will also end the game.  Players who have played lots of slow chess and studied the game see enough pattern instantly to checkmate you if all you do is move randomly.

However it's not the same as standard chess.  Being able to find moves quickly (or make it difficult for your opponent to do the same) is often more important than the objective evaluation.  So play tends towards two extremes.  Very aggressive and sacrificial, forcing your opponent to spend time finding a defense, and fortress-like, hoping to force your opponent to spend time finding punishment for the passive play.

The rules are the same as longer time controls. The objective is to checkmate your opponent. If you run out of time you lose, subject to your opponent having "sufficient mating material"

"Sufficient mating material" means a single pawn will suffice: it's why one of the tactics when you're well ahead is to capture everything, even if it costs you a bit, to make sure that you still draw even if you run out of time

Thanks. So grabbing valuable material (like a queen AND a rook in my last bullet game) is meaningless unless it helps me check mate my opponent? What I don't get is... in a 30-second game, you're barely getting out of the opening. So if I'm playing against someone of average skill (or at least, not good enough to plan complex strategies quickly), I can just keep sliding a rook back and forth aimlessly because it takes less time than advancing my pieces? 

Heh, yeah, some new players take so long to move you can do anything and still win.  I'll play stuff like e4, Qf3, and Qxf7 basically to say to them, hey, you shouldn't be playing this time control.

By the way with things like pre-move you can play your first 10 moves using only a few seconds.

Perhaps someday you can become a GM (Grand Mouseketeer)!

Rules of bullet chess, is the same as rules of any other chess.

Try to beat your opponent, before your flag drops.

Track this guy. 

He plays bullet chess a lot on Chess.com. And he's very good.

http://www.chess.com/members/view/Hikaru

He'll show you how it's done!

Thanks again. I admit, in a 1-minute game, I'm surprised that all you have to do is not run out of time. After reading the feedback I tried again and instantly won two matches by just sliding my pieces around aimlessly. But on another note, right after, I played someone who knew what they were doing and got my @ss kicked three times in a row by the same person.  Interesting learning experience. I will check out that link. I appreciate it. Cheers

If you just move your pieces around, the other player should be able to construct an attack quickly enough that will checkmate you within the 60 seconds he has. 

One of the interesting situations that arises in bullet is that you can get to a position that has a lot of material left but is drawn in an ordinary time control, but you both slide pieces around until one of you gambles that the other isn't paying attention and breaks it open with what would normally be a foolish sacrifice of pieces. 

I played on chessbase and lost a bullet game by time with a king+queen+pawns against a bare king. What is this? It's unfair, isn't it?

When the opponent can surprise you with a losing knight sac to open up a superclosed position you put your king where it will be checked by the eventual knight move - obviously this is when you're both premoving randomly because well, superclosed position + time pressure. Just a stupid advice/trick.

Anyone has an idea about my comment of losing by time against a bare king? I think it's not fair even for bullet chess, because your opponent cannot checkmate you any more with the lonely king

Should not have happened.  The game should have been given as drawn, as as happened to me a few times.  I am useless at Bullet chess despite being at a respectable level in slow chess, so one of my ploys when I am way ahead is to take the opponents remaining material so that I do not lose with an extra Q, R and B, simply because he has a random pawn left somewhere.  It is often easier than checkmating the opponent.

Bullet is a fun game, but it is not chess.  In real chess, with an arbiter, you can claim the draw if your opponent is aimlessly moving his pieces in a lost or drawn position.  In bullet, at the lower levels of chess ability, the skill of making 40 poor moves without getting mated seems to be more important than the ability to make good moves. At least that is the case in my games. I am getting completely fed up of losing on time in a crushingly won position, because my opponent has consumed about 0.6 of a second less than me.  

To play reasonable chess at this speed you would have to have an amazingly fast grasp of the board. I suspect that only super-GMs can manage it.

In bullet Chess, as I understand one has to make minimum 40 moves in a restricted time. I want to know whether apart from this criteria does one's King must not face a mating situation during the stipulated time ? That means if King is subjected to mating situation then the person loses the game. Is it so ? Please elaborate about this aspect of bullet Chess.

Chepukaitis used to recommend moving pieces that were close to the clock, go figure.