Reinaldo Vera: - Objective complexity of the game. - Self imposed time trouble. Time Trouble - Problems with the calculation of variations. “… and in the last minute, or sometimes even seconds, just one mistake or a little Obviously, if you have to discover all delay, fades away the job of 5 hours …” the moves in the opening or you are V. Panov. surprised over and over again in your favorite systems, you are going to spend The problem and causes of time trouble a lot of time in the first moves. By other is a wide matter and has been treated in hand, if you are out of practice (it several books with different standards frequently happens after a long time of deepness. For instance those of without playing or training) your brain Krogius, Nunn and Dvoretsky, among works much slower than normal and others. you are going to spend much time The objective of our article is just trying trying to find moves and ideas even to help those players (or trainers) who rather simples and besides, you shall get suffer the illness of zeitnot and its confused and fall in zeitnot. Other adverse consequences in his or her times, the game may be complicated results, confidence, and direct affection since the very first moves or there is an of nervous system. of rhythm, e.g.: since a At first, let us define what we can position of attack derivates another with consider as time trouble. GM Krogius, material advantage but with the in his excellent book Psychology in opponent having the , in these , he points that when a player has situations is common to spend more less than one minute per move to be time. made, he is in zeitnot. This opinion is Besides, if when analyzing a position, also shared by British GM John Nunn in we go from move to move without the his Secrets of Practical Chess. correct order, we are going also to Even when both Krogius and Nunn spend a lot of time. Nevertheless, most were talking about different time frequently the subjective causes are the controls that are applied today, I think main ones to fall in zeitnot. These are that their formula of 1 minute per move, plenty and different. In the opinion of even with the increment of the current GM Nunn the more frequent are the 30 seconds, may be considered as following ones: adequate nowadays. Of course there is a strong dependence of the type of - Lack of decision. position. In a complicated one most of - Too much worrying about little the players should need more time to details. find the right move. However, with 1 - To provide oneself of a excuse. minute and a half per move, we would - To be afraid to play and loose a good be able to make a reasonable move in position. most of the positions. Krogius believes that the objective Lack of decision is the most important causes of time trouble are the following: of the subjective causes and is typical in many players. Krogius points that this - Lack of theoretical preparation in the is very related with the character of the Opening. player and his or her behavior in life. - Lack of practical preparation. One frequent way to spend time is to

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give more importance than necessary to It is important to write down the name irrelevant details. Sometimes we are of the opponent and his or her ELO to too perfectionist thinking too much know if there is relationship between evaluating small differences between or the strength of the rival and our own among two or three moves of time spend. This point helps to know approximately equal value, instead of ourselves. choosing son one of them and The control after the 15th move gives us preserving time for the critical moments the handling we made in the opening, of the game, mainly when involved in and the one between the 15th and the tactical situations when every move has 25th let us observe the time consumed great importance for the final result of in the transition from the opening to the the game. middle game and the time we needed to To fall consciously or not in time develop the typical plans of the trouble is also a way to defend our own opening. ego trying to justify our mistakes. It is The control after the 35th reveal us if not infrequent to hear some players with there are serious time trouble or not and this problem saying that they had a how many time we were left for the last good position but loosed when in 5 moves. zeitnot. I think it is important to know how many times we overpass the 7 minutes Are you a usual time consumer? in one move, because if it happens several times in the same game, If you are, you must search the reasons certainly we are going to be in time and also define the phases of the game trouble and it is a clear indication that in which the time runs and you are not we are not able to know when we are in aware of it. To do that, it is mandatory a critical moment in the game (in which to write the time used after each of course, it is necessary to think movement in your score sheet. This is adequately) or if it is a position in which not going to distract you during the we can choose the move after a brief game more than the obliged action of analysis with both logic and calculation. writing down the moves. The general valuation of the last column To know if you are an unhealthy thinker is to reflect among 1 to 5, how the and which is the moment in the game player considers he distributed the time you spend more time, I do recommend in general, including after the 40th you to fill the following control after move. If there was not time trouble each game and after each Tournament. evaluation should be 1, and if most of If you have time trouble in 4 of 9 games the game he was short of time, or more, obviously you qualify as a evaluation should be 5. thinker. Helped with this, after each tournament you can analyze the general utilization Games Opponent ratings. of the time and the specific phases of the game in which you spend more Time used after 15th move. time. This would let us to be more Time used after 25th move. attentive to the distribution of time and also to train specifically in order to Time used after 35th move. improve this important factor in the Moves that took more than 7 minutes. chess battle. General valuation of the time used 1-5.

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As I understand, a ideal distribution of second control that let us to find the time must approach to the following definitive solution. conceptions: But if we have only the 30 additional seconds per move to find the way to - The first 15 moves have to be made in victory, we are obliged to improve the 15 minutes (with digital clocks we position, so we have to recur to some should have 75 minutes when making resource as repeat moves or to make the 15th). very fast moves without changing the - From 16th to 25th we should spent 30 main features of the position. In this minutes (so that after the 25th we way we can get some additional time to should have 45 minutes left. take the most important decisions. - From 26th to 35th we spent 35 Those appreciations are valid if we are minutes (after the 35th clock should the ones that have the advantage and show 10 minutes. considering only our own time of - 10 minutes left for the last 5 moves reflection, but of course there are before the 40th. several other different situations in other factors as the remaining time of Generally speaking the actual the opponent, and if our position is mastership administrating the time of worse or in an even position. By this reflection arrives when one is able to wide range of possibilities it is very make fluidly the logic or building difficult to give general moves and only to spend more time in recommendations. the critical moments of the game. Problematic situations to decide how Differences in time administration many time to spend. depending of different time controls. - Positions clearly inferiors when A lot of games are defined around the practically any move can improve them. 40th move. More often than not when In these cases it is not advisable to the player who has the advantage spend time reevaluating alternatives overpass the he is able to with a vain hope of suddenly solve all find the way to victory in the second the problems. Instead we have simply to control (30 minutes more to finish the choose the best alternative keeping as game) with the aid of the 30 additional much time as possible waiting for any seconds. chance to alter the position. By other hand, if around the 40th move - When we have to decide between we are only the 30 additional seconds making a easy and logic move that does left it is very probable that the game not require too much time and keeps the become complicated. advantage or calculating other very By this it is necessary to differentiate attractive move that can be decisive but between having to arrive to the 40th in takes much thinking time in order to order to receive 30 more minutes, and to verify its effectiveness. Here the most have only 30 additional seconds for all adequate decision is a mixed one based the remaining moves. in intuition. In the first case, the objective is to - Tiredness usually makes to spend a lot arrive at the second control, and in a of thinking time, so take note of your position with advantage most important physical state because being tired makes is not to increase it, but to keep it surely one to spend the time. You could until receiving the 30 minutes of the activate yourself eating some fruits,

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chocolate, drinking a coffee or another 11. Organize properly the candidate fluid, or simply taking a little walk to moves and analyze them with order. oxygenate yourself. 12. If you are not able to completely calculate a attractive , trust Practical advices to avoid the time in your intuition and make the move. trouble 13. Do not mourn neither think in previous opportunities left in the game. 1. Get accustomed to not rethink your 14. Do not be afraid to make mistakes, decisions; neither justify the delay of they are part of the chess game. playing with new arguments. Simply play! Exercises to improve the managing of 2. Try to save time if possible. For time instance make the first moves with a rhythm of 30 seconds per move. Recently I trained a Young player who 3.Do arrive at the playing hall before suffered serious time troubles. In almost the time of start in order not to give any each of his games he was only with the time and to concentrate adequately. 30 additional seconds left after the 25th 4. Do not think too much to decide move. We make the following plan of which opening you are going to play. training to fight the problem. Decide it before the game. 5. Decide before the game if you are 1. Play games of only 25 moves against going to play for a win or for a , so an unexpected opening previously that this lack of decision does not bother prepared by the Trainer. Time control you during the game. for the 25 moves: 45 minutes with 30 6. Do not think too much the forced or additional seconds per move. The game only moves such as recapturing, etc. finishes in the 25th move trying to play 7. Maintains your concentration and as good as possible. focus. A lot of times time trouble is In these games the following time linked to the lack of concentration. controls are advised: 8. Use the time of the opponent, mainly - The 15 first moves in 15 minutes. for planning and general considerations. (Actually 22.5 minutes with the 9. Never spend more than 10 minutes increment. for only one move. This is the opinion - 30 minutes for moves between 15th of GM Kaidanov which I fully share. If and 25th. you suffer with usual time troubles this - Never spend more than 10 minutes for is a rule to follow, although there are one move. opposite opinions such as the ones of 2) Solve 5 positions of different features Johnn Nunn and Bent Larsen, who in 25 minutes. The management of the considers that the time for a move can time is up to the player. extend up to 20 minutes. Meanwhile 3) Play positions with a big advantage Aaagard points that it is possible to against the computer with only 15 think a move even more than 20 minutes plus 30 seconds per move. minutes in some critical moments of the 4) Practice basic endings against the game. computer or the trainer with only 3 10. If the opponent thinks very much for minutes and 30 seconds per move. the next move, you can prepare a 5) Play blitz games in INTERNET or specific answer for his move and then live games trying to maintain high make it quickly. technical standards. Time

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recommended: 4 minutes plus 2 seconds per move.

Finally I want to share with the reader the wise words of GM Kaidanov (published in www.examiner.com) about how to fight the time trouble:

“If you have problems with clock start to concentrate in the problem as it should be the only you have in your chess. For the next tournament, completely forget the results. It does not matter if you win or loose. Your main goal is to avoid the time troubles so that if you are not in zeitnot in any game you have had reached you goal. This is the way to fight and overcome the time trouble.”

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