I'm Playing Slower Time Controls. Here's Why - And How It Went
Hello, hello, everybody!
While blitz chess is all the rage these days online, sometimes I find it too quick, and I often lose on time. Therefore, I have made a big decision.
Today's blog post will be a little different to my normal ones. While I usually write informative blogs (my most recent ones, anyway) today is based on my own chess journey.
I have decided to switch to slower time controls from the blitz time controls that everyone loves, and in this blog post, I will explain why. Also, I will explain how it went, and my own thoughts on it. Slowing down isn't harmful; it's simply stopping to think. I hope that my decision will turn out to be a success!
1. Why I'm Switching and Prior Thoughts
2. Game 1
4. Game 2
6. Side Note
7. Game 3
9. Final Thoughts and Conclusion
Why I'm Switching and Prior Thoughts
Okay, firstly, let's get to the point. Why would I switch to slower time controls? Isn't blitz chess all the rage in the chess world right now? And I hear that little voice in my mind that is complaining, but the answer is quite straightforward.
I'm not a casual chess player.
I play real Over-The-Board Competitions. I have a FIDE Rating. I am trying to improve. I have been stuck at 1600 blitz for quite a while, and usually play it. However, there is something wrong with just playing quick chess like blitz; the other day, I saw another blog post (unfortunately I can no longer find it) that said to start out with slower time controls.
That was when I realised. If I played slower time controls, I can spot tactics better, and use this when I come back to blitz chess. This improves my vision, while always playing swiftly can result in missed tactics. This can even result in bad habits such as moving before thinking!
I have decided to try out 30 + 0, as any faster might be too fast and any slower are time controls that nobody has the patience to play on chess.com. This is also because I have some experience with 30 + 0, having played it for quite a period in my beginner days.
Here I have shared my most recent game with this time control before starting this blog post. I did not play very well as I was not used to it at all, having not played this time control in 1 year or something like that. In fact, I was only playing such a snail-like time control because I was watching a tennis tournament!
I got in trouble straight into the opening and never came back, ultimately abandoning the game due to a Wi-Fi error, although it was hopeless anyways.
As you can see, I didn't play very well, but as I said earlier, I have been stuck at blitz for a while and would just like a fresh aspect of chess. I hope that I can play better than I played in that game, and that I can improve my chess vision! Something I also need to improve on is not hanging pieces, which usually decide games down at my level.
Let's see how it goes!
Game 1: Ring Around The Rosy Pawn
Everything has to start somewhere, right? I decided to try out 30 + 0, as I simply can't sit still for much longer than that. During my first game, I quickly realised that my opponents would be much more used to these slower time controls, having played them longer. My blitz self took over at once, before I realised that I would have to adapt to play this time control well.
After that, I began slowing down, making each move with caution and as if I was playing in an over-the-board tournament. Before making every move, I checked it, knowing that I had more than enough time to do so.
Here is the game. I am very proud of how I played.
Since I had quite a lot to say during the game, I decided to include this section to explain how I felt, and my ideas, after the first game. After this game, I actually I feel pretty confident, as slower time controls had been advantageous towards me in over-the-board tournaments, and this was now showing online too. I know that when I think for a sufficient amount of time, I can find very good moves!
However, there are always downsides, and I will now reveal things that happened that I think were not so good.
In the game, I found at many times that straight after playing a move, I saw a consequence of it, as if I always moved too early. This is probably because, when you actually see the piece on the square where it moved to, you see a threat, while drawing arrows doesn't help visualise it nearly as well.
Also, I could have thought for longer each move, as I still had more than half my time left when I won the game, even if I played well. I guess I'll try and improve on that in the next game!
In Game 2, I was White again and decided to go with one of my favourite openings, the Queen's Pawn Opening. Again, I played slowly, trying to put my goals into play. This time, I barely made any mistakes.
The game was a very positional one with many pawns still on the board as we entered the middlegame, until it began clearing up on the kingside. I maneuvered well, my opponent made a few mistakes, and I came out on top. When the position opened up victory was clear. When I forked their king and rook with a knight, my opponent finally resigned. Good game.
After game 2, I actually felt pretty nice! Positional games are just that type of game where you need enough time to calculate to make sure you don't mess up. After looking at the game in Game Review, I thought I played quite well.
However, I still finished with more than half my starting time on my clock, at 18:23. Maybe I don't need to use all of it, but I just felt that it would be better if I did. Maybe I would have the same result, but it would just feel nice knowing that I used all my time worthily.
So I'll try and improve on that. I didn't immediately see a consequence of a move after making it this time, but that might owe to the fact that this was a positional game with pawns everywhere, so there weren't really times when only one move wins.
There is always room for improvement! Hopefully I can get even better!
You didn't expect this, did you? Well before I show you the third game, I need to tell you something extremely important about it. Here we go:
Yes, this is totally true. So if you are a high-rated player who wants to stay that way, I recommend that you click out of this blog right here and now before your eyes melt away at the sight of this stupendous game and you have to play chess blind for the rest of your life, shocked at how bad this game is.
On the contrary, I still have decided to include this game, simply because we are humans are we make mistakes. That is how we grow. So however awful this game is, I have still decided to include it as Game 3, to show that even when you are thinking a lot, you can still be make many mistakes. (Once I played a daily game and played like a 900-rated player, according to game review!)
Failure is not the opposite of success; it is a stepping stone towards it.
Sundar Pichai
Tell me in the comments whether I should have made this decision, or if I should have cared more for the eyes of the viewers who scrolled to the next part.
Now you have been warned. If you scroll on and have your eyes burnt off because of how horrible the following game is, bear in mind that I did warn you. In fact, why don't you escape to safety now, so that you don't risk such a thing? Here you go: Safety
You were warned, and yet you still arrived at this section! Too late to turn back now - behold one of the worst games I have ever played! In the game, I thought I was playing okay, but it turns out I did not according to Game Review.
I cannot fully take the blame myself, as the position was very complicated and hard to anticipate, but I did not find very good moves and played poorly, with a horrendous 60% accuracy! Oh well, here goes.
Yep, that was horrible. I missed a lot, made a lot of mistakes, and still came out on top! The peculiar thing is how, after a series of mistakes, we seem to end up in unknown positions yet not navigated. It is in these positions where gorgeous moves rise and appear, leading to more interesting games.
After all, we all know Savielly Tartekower's famous quote, showcasing that sometimes, the player who makes a mistake that is not realised will go on to win, as that mistake had to be exploited or is very resourceful.
This certainly has not been a highlight of a game, but I have a lot to learn from Game 3!
The winner of the game is the player who makes the next-to-last mistake.
Savielly Tartekower
We've finally reached the conclusion, and I have definitely learned a lot about this slower time control! Of course, I think that in most slower games, players think more and obviously play better moves, since they have longer to calculate. Sometimes, however, they may be calculating the wrong moves, as you saw in my shameful third game.
If you ask which one my favourite game was, it will almost be certainly be the first of the three games that I played, where I reached the endgame. For some reason, I love playing endgames, as you rely on pure strategy instead of tactics. This might be because the games of intermediate-level players like me are decided in the middlegame, usually through a tactic such as a fork, a skewer, or even a sacrifice, meaning that it is quite uncommon to reach the endgame for us unless we trade too many pieces.
Tactics is what you do when there is something to do; strategy is what you do when there is nothing to do.
Savielly Tartakower (Again!)
So, all humans make mistakes. That's what makes us humans! But slower time controls can definitely change how you think - more tactical opportunities will appear after you look at the board for just a while longer. This can even train your brain to find these tactics in faster time controls!
I hope you've found this blog as interesting as it was for me to write it. It was a very risky topic that will either be applauded or hated, but it is fun. Please tell me if this is a good topic or not! If this blog post becomes popular enough for me to rank it as one of my best blogs, I may turn it into a series and see if playing slower time controls helps me improve over time.
But that all depends on you guys. Please share your own thoughts on slower time controls in the comments below. I would love to hear your opinions! Now it's time to say goodbye for now. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you in the next post!
