About how long (in moves) should a chess game last if you and your opponent are equally matched?

My games against equally matched opponents last approximately 25 moves. 

Depends on the game. I've had games go over 90 moves, and I had a game last night where I checkmated my (slightly higher rated) opponent in 9 moves. And in case you think that was blitz or something, it was actually a slow game on FICS where both of us had FICS ratings in the high 1700's.

 

--Fromper

 

My average says about 29 moves, but that's only cause there's been a few games that ended way early.  I usually expect a 50 game move me.

Fromper wrote:

Depends on the game. I've had games go over 90 moves, and I had a game last night where I checkmated my (slightly higher rated) opponent in 9 moves. And in case you think that was blitz or something, it was actually a slow game on FICS where both of us had FICS ratings in the high 1700's.

 

--Fromper

 

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I'd love to see the moves.

ketchuplover wrote: Fromper wrote:

Depends on the game. I've had games go over 90 moves, and I had a game last night where I checkmated my (slightly higher rated) opponent in 9 moves. And in case you think that was blitz or something, it was actually a slow game on FICS where both of us had FICS ratings in the high 1700's.

 

--Fromper

 

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I'd love to see the moves.

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 This is the fun thing about attacking gambits. I don't specifically play for traps or play openings where I could get into big trouble if my opponent knows how to play against it, but I do play some gambits that are not quite sound by GM standards. And occasionally, an opponent who doesn't know how to play against that gambit will blunder. This is a pretty extreme example, but my opponent just overlooked a mate in 2, so I won very early. The time control was 45 minutes with a 45 second increment, and my opponent was taking 4-5 minutes per move (I was moving a little faster, especially on the first few opening moves that were "book" for me), so he really should have noticed the threat.

 

 

 

 

my move average seems to hover around 25 also

 

fromper, that was pretty sweet

Against opponents which I know are about equal, I usually have about 50 moves in the game. And they're usually draws, too.