FIDE Surveys – Reinaldo Vera

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Reinaldo Vera:
Time Trouble

“… and in the last minute, or sometimes
even seconds, just one mistake or a little
delay, fades away the job of 5 hours …”
V. Panov.

The problem and causes of time trouble
is a wide matter and has been treated in
several books with different standards
of deepness. For instance those of
Krogius, Nunn and Dvoretsky, among
others.
The objective of our article is just trying
to help those players (or trainers) who
suffer the illness of zeitnot and its
adverse consequences in his or her
results, confidence, and direct affection
of nervous system.
At first, let us define what we can
consider as time trouble. GM Krogius,
in his excellent book Psychology in
Chess, he points that when a player has
less than one minute per move to be
made, he is in zeitnot. This opinion is
also shared by British GM John Nunn in
his Secrets of Practical Chess.
Even when both Krogius and Nunn
were talking about different time
controls that are applied today, I think
that their formula of 1 minute per move,
even with the increment of the current
30 seconds, may be considered as
adequate nowadays. Of course there is a
strong dependence of the type of
position. In a complicated one most of
the players should need more time to
find the right move. However, with 1
minute and a half per move, we would
be able to make a reasonable move in
most of the positions.
Krogius believes that the objective
causes of time trouble are the following:

- Lack of theoretical preparation in the
Opening.
- Lack of practical preparation.

- Objective complexity of the game.
- Self imposed time trouble.
- Problems with the calculation of
variations.

Obviously, if you have to discover all
the moves in the opening or you are
surprised over and over again in your
favorite systems, you are going to spend
a lot of time in the first moves. By other
hand, if you are out of practice (it
frequently happens after a long time
without playing or training) your brain
works much slower than normal and
you are going to spend much time
trying to find moves and ideas even
rather simples and besides, you shall get
confused and fall in zeitnot. Other
times, the game may be complicated
since the very first moves or there is an
exchange of rhythm, e.g.: since a
position of attack derivates another with
material advantage but with the
opponent having the initiative, in these
situations is common to spend more
time.
Besides, if when analyzing a position,
we go from move to move without the
correct order, we are going also to
spend a lot of time. Nevertheless, most
frequently the subjective causes are the
main ones to fall in zeitnot. These are
plenty and different. In the opinion of
GM Nunn the more frequent are the
following ones:

- Lack of decision.
- Too much worrying about little
details.
- To provide oneself of a excuse.
- To be afraid to play and loose a good
position.

Lack of decision is the most important
of the subjective causes and is typical in
many players. Krogius points that this
is very related with the character of the
player and his or her behavior in life.
One frequent way to spend time is to

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give more importance than necessary to
irrelevant details. Sometimes we are
too perfectionist thinking too much
evaluating small differences between or
among two or three moves of
approximately equal value, instead of
choosing son one of them and
preserving time for the critical moments
of the game, mainly when involved in
tactical situations when every move has
great importance for the final result of
the game.
To fall consciously or not in time
trouble is also a way to defend our own
ego trying to justify our mistakes. It is
not infrequent to hear some players with
this problem saying that they had a
good position but loosed when in
zeitnot.

Are you a usual time consumer?

If you are, you must search the reasons
and also define the phases of the game
in which the time runs and you are not
aware of it. To do that, it is mandatory
to write the time used after each
movement in your score sheet. This is
not going to distract you during the
game more than the obliged action of
writing down the moves.
To know if you are an unhealthy thinker
and which is the moment in the game
you spend more time, I do recommend
you to fill the following control after
each game and after each Tournament.
If you have time trouble in 4 of 9 games
or more, obviously you qualify as a
thinker.

Games Opponent ratings.

Time used after 15

th

move.

Time used after 25

th

move.

Time used after 35

th

move.

Moves that took more than 7 minutes.

General valuation of the time used 1-5.

It is important to write down the name
of the opponent and his or her ELO to
know if there is relationship between
the strength of the rival and our own
time spend. This point helps to know
ourselves.
The control after the 15th move gives us
the handling we made in the opening,
and the one between the 15th and the
25th let us observe the time consumed
in the transition from the opening to the
middle game and the time we needed to
develop the typical plans of the
opening.
The control after the 35th reveal us if
there are serious time trouble or not and
how many time we were left for the last
5 moves.
I think it is important to know how
many times we overpass the 7 minutes
in one move, because if it happens
several times in the same game,
certainly we are going to be in time
trouble and it is a clear indication that
we are not able to know when we are in
a critical moment in the game (in which
of course, it is necessary to think
adequately) or if it is a position in which
we can choose the move after a brief
analysis with both logic and calculation.
The general valuation of the last column
is to reflect among 1 to 5, how the
player considers he distributed the time
in general, including after the 40th
move. If there was not time trouble
evaluation should be 1, and if most of
the game he was short of time,
evaluation should be 5.
Helped with this, after each tournament
you can analyze the general utilization
of the time and the specific phases of
the game in which you spend more
time. This would let us to be more
attentive to the distribution of time and
also to train specifically in order to
improve this important factor in the
chess battle.

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As I understand, a ideal distribution of
time must approach to the following
conceptions:

- The first 15 moves have to be made in
15 minutes (with digital clocks we
should have 75 minutes when making
the 15th).
- From 16th to 25th we should spent 30
minutes (so that after the 25th we
should have 45 minutes left.
- From 26th to 35th we spent 35
minutes (after the 35th clock should
show 10 minutes.
- 10 minutes left for the last 5 moves
before the 40th.

Generally speaking the actual
mastership administrating the time of
reflection arrives when one is able to
make fluidly the logic or building
moves and only to spend more time in
the critical moments of the game.

Differences in time administration
depending of different time controls.

A lot of games are defined around the
40th move. More often than not when
the player who has the advantage
overpass the time control he is able to
find the way to victory in the second
control (30 minutes more to finish the
game) with the aid of the 30 additional
seconds.
By other hand, if around the 40th move
we are only the 30 additional seconds
left it is very probable that the game
become complicated.
By this it is necessary to differentiate
between having to arrive to the 40th in
order to receive 30 more minutes, and to
have only 30 additional seconds for all
the remaining moves.
In the first case, the objective is to
arrive at the second control, and in a
position with advantage most important
is not to increase it, but to keep it surely
until receiving the 30 minutes of the

second control that let us to find the
definitive solution.
But if we have only the 30 additional
seconds per move to find the way to
victory, we are obliged to improve the
position, so we have to recur to some
resource as repeat moves or to make
very fast moves without changing the
main features of the position. In this
way we can get some additional time to
take the most important decisions.
Those appreciations are valid if we are
the ones that have the advantage and
considering only our own time of
reflection, but of course there are
several other different situations in
other factors as the remaining time of
the opponent, and if our position is
worse or in an even position. By this
wide range of possibilities it is very
difficult to give general
recommendations.

Problematic situations to decide how
many time to spend.

- Positions clearly inferiors when
practically any move can improve them.
In these cases it is not advisable to
spend time reevaluating alternatives
with a vain hope of suddenly solve all
the problems. Instead we have simply to
choose the best alternative keeping as
much time as possible waiting for any
chance to alter the position.
- When we have to decide between
making a easy and logic move that does
not require too much time and keeps the
advantage or calculating other very
attractive move that can be decisive but
takes much thinking time in order to
verify its effectiveness. Here the most
adequate decision is a mixed one based
in intuition.
- Tiredness usually makes to spend a lot
of thinking time, so take note of your
physical state because being tired makes
one to spend the time. You could
activate yourself eating some fruits,

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chocolate, drinking a coffee or another
fluid, or simply taking a little walk to
oxygenate yourself.

Practical advices to avoid the time
trouble

1. Get accustomed to not rethink your
decisions; neither justify the delay of
playing with new arguments. Simply
play!
2. Try to save time if possible. For
instance make the first moves with a
rhythm of 30 seconds per move.
3.Do arrive at the playing hall before
the time of start in order not to give any
time and to concentrate adequately.
4. Do not think too much to decide
which opening you are going to play.
Decide it before the game.
5. Decide before the game if you are
going to play for a win or for a draw, so
that this lack of decision does not bother
you during the game.
6. Do not think too much the forced or
only moves such as recapturing, etc.
7. Maintains your concentration and
focus. A lot of times time trouble is
linked to the lack of concentration.
8. Use the time of the opponent, mainly
for planning and general considerations.
9. Never spend more than 10 minutes
for only one move. This is the opinion
of GM Kaidanov which I fully share. If
you suffer with usual time troubles this
is a rule to follow, although there are
opposite opinions such as the ones of
Johnn Nunn and Bent Larsen, who
considers that the time for a move can
extend up to 20 minutes. Meanwhile
Aaagard points that it is possible to
think a move even more than 20
minutes in some critical moments of the
game.
10. If the opponent thinks very much for
the next move, you can prepare a
specific answer for his move and then
make it quickly.

11. Organize properly the candidate
moves and analyze them with order.
12. If you are not able to completely
calculate a attractive combination, trust
in your intuition and make the move.
13. Do not mourn neither think in
previous opportunities left in the game.
14. Do not be afraid to make mistakes,
they are part of the chess game.

Exercises to improve the managing of
time

Recently I trained a Young player who
suffered serious time troubles. In almost
each of his games he was only with the
30 additional seconds left after the 25th
move. We make the following plan of
training to fight the problem.

1. Play games of only 25 moves against
an unexpected opening previously
prepared by the Trainer. Time control
for the 25 moves: 45 minutes with 30
additional seconds per move. The game
finishes in the 25th move trying to play
as good as possible.
In these games the following time
controls are advised:
- The 15 first moves in 15 minutes.
(Actually 22.5 minutes with the
increment.
- 30 minutes for moves between 15th
and 25th.
- Never spend more than 10 minutes for
one move.
2) Solve 5 positions of different features
in 25 minutes. The management of the
time is up to the player.
3) Play positions with a big advantage
against the computer with only 15
minutes plus 30 seconds per move.
4) Practice basic endings against the
computer or the trainer with only 3
minutes and 30 seconds per move.
5) Play blitz games in INTERNET or
live games trying to maintain high
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.”