Hi everybody!  I just have a quick question for you.  Recently, I have started playing scholastic OTB tournaments.  I find myself in winning positions, but many times cannot convert or even blunder due to time pressure.  So my question is this, what is the best way to avoid time pressure?  How can I work to improve this area of my game?

Criss,J - Latham,A [E14]
2009 Kansas State Championship Wichita, KS (4), 14.03.2009

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.e3 Bb7 5.a3 c5 6.Nc3 cxd4 7.exd4 d6 8.Bg5 Be7 9.d5 e5 10.Bxf6 Bxf6 11.b4 0-0 12.Ne4 h6 13.Be2 Bc8 14.b5 Bf5 15.Nfd2 Be7 16.a4 Bxe4 17.Nxe4 Nd7 18.Qc2 Nc5 19.Nxc5 bxc5 20.0-0 f5 21.f4 e4 22.a5 Bf6 23.Ra2 Bd4+ 24.Kh1 g6 25.g3 Kf7 26.Rb1 g5 27.Bh5+ Kg7 28.Qg2 g4 29.b6 axb6 30.axb6 Rxa2 31.Qxa2 Qa8 32.Qa7+ Kh8 33.Kg2 Rb8 34.h4 gxh3+ 35.Kxh3 e3 36.Kg2 Qb7 37.Rb5 Qc8 38.Qc7 Qd8 39.Kf1 Kg8 40.Qxd8+ Rxd8 41.b7 Rb8 42.Bg6 Kg7 43.Bxf5 Kf6 44.Bc8 Ke7 45.Rb6 1-0

Yeah, Time Pressure SUCKS

Learn your openings and play a lot of blitz.

Kansas tournament time controls are retarded.  30 minutes for an extremely important game?  Get real.  The only comparable tournament is NYA, and they make up for that by having 9 ROUNDS.

 Move more quickly?

You may need to set limits on how much time you spend for the first 20 moves, first 30, etc..

If you have a mating attack or are at some other critical juncture I suppose you can spend more time but the problem is that here is usually another crisis soon enough.

I have always been habitually in time trouble. It's not easy to treat.

I used to suffer loads from time problems...particularly when I panicked and couldn't concentrate when I realised I was low on time.

Best way I found was to memorise as many openings as I could so I could jump straight into the middle game after about 15 seconds (and it scares the opponent).

Killabeez, when you will improve your time management skill and will get rid of time troubles - please post here about the way how you did that.

Keep playing the same moves 2 times!! watch out for draws.

lol if you find out, I for one would like to know!  If you have split time controls then at a certain point you can start looking for moves that will tide you over until you make the required number of moves.  If you're playing with sudden death time controls, then really good luck, that's hard.  Not only do you have to use your time then to get an advantage that you can pocket but you have to find a win in the few minutes you have left! 

It's sudden death time controls.  And without delay, it's devastating.

G/30, another brilliant time control brought to you by the genius crew at USCF.

When will USCF get it? Most folks don't want G/30, but the reason they show up is that it's the only game in town.