Hello everyone,
I've been playing on lichess for a couple of years now, but I never took the time to participate in the forum. So first of all I want to congratulate everyone involved in making this wonderful site and improving it all the time.
My question is about time management (mostly in classical time control).
Do you have tips on how to manage time ? And especially how to remind about the time because when I play I just forget about it.
If you want to reply without reading the rest of the post, I would appreciate that. What follows is just more details about my problem.
I've started playing chess seriously as an adult and therefore I never acquired the reflexes that players who started young have. Therefore I'm playing really slowly. It sometimes takes me a lot of time just to notice a piece hanging.
Also I'm very forgetful of the time. I tend to be captivated by the position and lose myself in it and completely forget everything around me, including time.
Usually with a classical time control of 1 hour 30 + 30 seconds increments and 30 minutes added on move 40, I play pretty much on the increments by move 30. Once I even lost on time around that point.
To me this is my biggest problem as a chess player because it usually appears in the post mortem that I understood the position better than opponents if they are under 1600 FIDE and sometimes more) and that I calculated a lot more and more accurately. I'm also better in the endgame.
So I usually get better positions in the middle game. But then I spend a lot a time caring about pointless positional details or calculating tactics that are doomed to fail. But when I'm in time trouble I'm just really bad and fall for the simplest tactics. I would say that the large majority of the games I lose are decided by blunders made in time trouble.
I started playing blitz on this site some time ago to try to improve my game in time trouble, and I think it works to some extent because I blunder much less than I use to.
But I think what I should really work on is the time management to begin with and play faster before being in time trouble.
So if you have ideas on how to work on that I would really appreciate that.
Thank you
@Palamede Hi,
I think playing blitz is a good idea. It makes you get used to thinking faster and in this way, in classical games, you will also move faster without making a lot of mistakes and you will not get in time trouble :)
You shouldn't calculate tactics that u already know, deep down, that they will fail. When I started playing chess, even if my plan wouldn't work, I would still carry it out. That not only wasted lots of time, that also made me blunder a lot. So don't waste time doing tactics that don't work. I'm not saying that don't use tactics. Just don't do meaningless ones.
In a better position, I would try to move to simpler positions as soon as possible while still maintaining a comfortable position. In some cases, especially when strapped on time, it is not practical to try to calculate the absolute best move.
@Palamede Unlike what
@Francesco_Super said, I don't think blitz is the answer. Blitz doesn't really do anything to improve your chess. It's just fun :). If you want to improve your time management, here are a few tips.
Don't ignore your clock! It's important. Look at it often.
If something is doomed to fail, don't bother calculating it. If you have a move in mind and your looking at your opponent's candidate moves after that, if only one of them is able to refute your move, don't bother looking at the other possible moves. Always assume your opponent will play perfectly.
And be confident! Don't second guess your moves. If they're right, they're right! And if you think they're right and they end up being wrong, well, that's how you learn.
Have fun!
Hi Palamede, it might help you manage your time better if you have more structure for your thinking process.
First, you should contemplate your opponent's last move. The first move you should consider is the most natural/intuitive move. You rarely need to calculate very far. Just far enough until there is clarity in the position. Then you can evaluate the resulting position. Quality matters much more than Quantity when it comes to calculation. After that, it's a good time to check your clock time. Repeat this with your other candidate moves. Give yourself enough options to not paint yourself into a corner, but don't waste your time considering ideas that are clearly not working or beneficial. People will often try to force ideas to work instead of searching for a better alternative. At this point you should have an idea of what move you like the best. Very quickly go back over that move to check for miscalculations and stuff, then make the move.
"But then I spend a lot a time caring about pointless positional details or calculating tactics that are doomed to fail."
When I was prepping for the SAT (which is very similarly a time crunch) the Princeton Review suggested NOT reading the passage start to finish. Instead, go straight to the questions, and the questions will guide you toward the important info. Very similar thing in chess. A lot of details will be irrelevant, so don't waste time focusing on them. Instead, go straight into the calculation and you will quickly discover which details are relevant.
Some more miscellaneous advice:
Don't spend any time in positions when you have a forced response, like a recapture or moving out of check. I've seen people spend tons of time in positions when they have 1 legal move. It's ridiculous.
Try to learn your openings well, including the ideas behind those openings. That will set you up well to move quickly in the opening, and set you on the right path in the middlegame.
Think on your opponent's time. Think about general things, like your plan, or how to improve your pieces.
Hope I helped! Good luck on your improvement.
"I play pretty much on the increments by move 30. Once I even lost on time around that point."
I do not perceive that as a problem. It is far worse if you end up in a lost position with plenty of remaining time by move 30. Playing on increment is OK, there are bullet players here who play a whole game in 60 seconds. If you are short on time you can always play a few non-committing moves to harvest some increment for a longer thought. You say you are good in endgames. Then it should be OK to play on increment. After all you have been thinking thoroughly about your position.
Playing blitz may give you confidence in playing on increment.
Hello, I feel like I have the solution to your problem, however I have terrible articulation so here goes...
Obviously some ways to improve your time management skills is to play blitz, avoid calculating moves that your 'intuition' says are bad, etc (what everyone one else has said).
However there is one big thing I think you should do (if you don't already).
Don't try to calculate the tactics of each separate move. Instead, try to view the board as a whole, and analyse how each move affects the current board*. That way, you don't need to calculate each of the tactics every move, you just look at what this new move has changed on the current board (where the defense has been added/lost, which ranks and diagonals have been blocked/opened, where attack has been added/lost, what the moves intentions are and what it threatens, etc).
You won't have to think a lot after this. Only how the new move impacts the position that is already there.
*I say current board because after every move the current board has changed to include that move.
Something that helped me is setting clear time targets. For example, if you get extra time on move 40 and the first 10 moves are theory, you should have at least 2/3 of your time at move 20 and 1/3 at move 30. Be constantly checking your clock and seeing if you're within your targets.
Knowing how much time you can spend gives you an idea of when you can sit and think about a position, and when you need to think for only a couple minutes and make the move your intuition says is right.
But never forget to blunder check - it's a common trap to get too focused on moving fast and ending up making an obvious mistake. Develop a routine where you scan the board for 30 seconds or so looking for undefended pieces and tactical opportunities for your opponent, and do that every time once you've decided on a move (but before you make the move).
"I tend to be captivated by the position and lose myself in it and completely forget everything around me, including time."
I wish I had this problem with my students.
Botvinnik suggested playing at a faster time control and not worry about the quality of chess. This exercise is just to control your time management.
www.chess.com/forum/view/general/botvinniks-rule-on-time-managementI would suggest that you limit your time by limiting your choices. Only select three candidate moves and limit your depth to three moves. Leave the intricacies of the position for the post mortem. Also to play over games with your opening. The objective is to spot the good moves first and stop wasting time on frivolous variations.
