Do you think playing standard 30 minute game is beneficial for me

For those who haven't read any of my previous questions little about myself. I am 34 years old full time employed father and husband. I am probably rated around 1200 - 1300 in real life. Never played a rated game so I have no official rating. I don't have a lot of time in my week for chess. Three, four hours at best.

I read articles on basic chess play, opening principles, couple of openings, not in depth because I would not understant it anyway. I play online games because I have noticed that if I take at least a minute and a half for each move I play three times better then when I play moves under a minute.

Online or CC if you prefer gives me time to find the best move my limited skill will allow me.

Recently I started playing 30 minutes live games here. If we take into account that this is under a minute per move, since my games always go 30+ moves, my question is will playing these games be counter productive for me? This is the last game I played live. I played all my moves in about nine minutes which is pretty fast for my level and made couple of mistakes which didn't cost me the game fortunately.

 I went through the game after it was finished and I am still angry at myself. True I waited for my kid to go to sleep. I worked all day and I am tired and I could hardly wait to play some chess. I was very excited I won first game tonight but it was playing white against opponent which played very bad. I was so hyper before this game I just wanted another win.

But now looking at how bad I played I am wondering is 30min game to much for me at this point. I don't care about winning so much as I care about improving my game. I would rather lose all my matches in the next six month but improve my skill level 30%-40% then win all games but drop in skill level.

I read this thread

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/advice-for-a-casual-player-with-limited-spare-time

In which a guy who is pretty much in a same position as myself was adviced to play some OTB games. Since I can not play OTB unfortunately 30min live is the best thing for me next to playing a computer which I don't like.

Please could you give me your opinion. Do you think I should continue playing 30min games when my kid is asleep or should I stick to CC for now?

Thanks is advance

If you can't play OTB, then 30 min online games is the only game in town. Don't expect to improve rapidly, 30 minutes is a very short time for really good games to help you improve.

I think slower than 30 min would be ideal -- like 45 45 or even slower if possible. The important thing is that you use all your time (assuming you're playing with an increment) and that you have enough time to play Real Chess. I personally find that 45 45 is about the minimum for me to play Real Chess, and I prefer 90 30, which results in higher quality chess for me and seems more beneficial because I have more of an opportunity to push the limits of my analytical abilities when the position demands it.

I play alot of 30 minute games.  I think its a decent time control.  Atleast for online chess it is.  It's hard to find games slower than that on this site.  Try playing 30 minute games with an increment.  Even in 30 minute games I sometimes find myself taking 5-10 minutes on one move.  If I can play well and get myself a good position to win and take as much time as i need, then when time starts getting low, atleast I havea  good position to work with when I need to play fast.  

Keep playing and reading. Take losses lightly and learn from them.

I 30 minutes is ok but 45 minutes each player would be better for you.

Try and find someone who will help you find your mistakes and then you can learn a lot from knowing your mistakes.  Keep up with the basics also..

I would like to thank all of you for your advice. I would especially like to thank sapientdust. Hope chess is exactly what I was playing in the game I posted. I am a quick tempered by nature so I literally need to calm myself down before every game and force myself to play first five to ten moves slowly even if next move is plainly obvious. When I achieve this "zen" state of mind it is a lot easier to keep my quick nature in check, take my time before each move and play real chess. If I do this I don't play 80% of moves I would otherwise play because I find a refutation or better continuation. Then I play real chess instead of hope chess and I trully play to the best of my abilities.

I will have to work on this. I can not practice this in cc because I don't have a clock ticking. I can examine the position leave it then return tommorow do some more analisys and leave again. I can spend up to several hours before each move.

This is not possible in live chess and it is a lot easier for my nature to take over and I end up rushing. At least I know one more aspect of my game I need to work on.

Thank you all for your help.

I really don't know how to respond. I personaly know many people that fought in wars in former Yugoslavia. People that lost loved one, whose homes were burned to the ground and who had to start up completely over in Serbia.

My generation was drafted when Nato bombed Serbia. I was spared because I was college student but guys I grew up with, went to school with went to Kosovo and died or experienced horrors you would not wish on anybody.

Don't be fooled. No war is black and white like hollywood movies. Ordinary people no matter what side are on get destroyed. I have no illusions that any side in these wars was completely right and other was completely wrong.

Please keep politics out of this site. You have every right not to like me for what ever reason you choose. I only ask that on this site we discuss chess topics.

Thanks in advance

A very wise response.

Ps if you want to practice, I am available for whatever time control you choose (e.g. 45/45, 90/0). Just send me a message when you have time.

I just started playing turn-based games, and I'm liking them. You have a few days to make your move, which is good for people with a busy schedule. Also, you can try out lines on the analysis board to help you visualize what might happen (I suppose this is not as good as forcing yourself to visualize without the board, which is what we do in live chess, but I also think that by practicing in the turn-based games, I'm getting new ideas that I can later use in my online games). I've played almost exclusively 10-minute games until now, but I'm thinking I might switch to 30 minutes, because too many games are decided on time, and I don't think the 10-min games are too good for my development (although they are fun!). 

I truly think chess.com should change the default option from 30|0 to 30|15 or some increment.

Most people just pick a default as the game style (and not picking a default means you could wait a long time for someone to take your game). And most people would benefit from having an increment.

Edit: Just noticed how old this thread is, but my comment still stands as something that chess.com should do.

Holy crap, somebody actually noticed a thread was old! THIS DAY SHALL BE MARKED ON MY CALENDAR OF AGES!