What are the rapid and blitz forms of chess? I have no clue-I am a recreational player who wants to join FIDE tournaments.
Rapid and Blitz are both form of fast chess

Rapid, as the name suggests, is a faster version of chess

Time controls for each player in a game of rapid chess are, according to FIDE, more than 10 minutes, but less than 60 minutes. Rapid chess can be played with or without time increments for each move.

Many tournaments with a large player count opt for this faster format to try and finish off an entire tournament in a day or two.

Blitz is even faster than rapid, with times less then 10 minutes on the clock.

Time controls for each player in a game of blitz chess are, according to FIDE, 10 minutes or less per player. This can be played with or without an increment or delay per move—a more recent development due to the influx of digital clocks.


Both these formats have their own rating category in FIDE in 15+10 and 3+2 time control respectively.
Source:Wikipedia