Time

Hello there, 

How much time should you spend on each move? This is a question all chess players suffer with. Some players seem to take forever to play one move and others just seem to play a move instantly. I have noticed the majority of my students have the problem of moving to quickly, and I get it, you're excited, you see a good move and you want to play it as soon as possible, however this can cause some problems. What if even though you see a way to fork the queen and king with your knight there is a checkmate in 2? Even though you win the queen you could have given checkmate and ended the game instantly. One great player was always saying "When you see a good move sit on your hands, maybe there's a better one."

So to combat this I have a new exercise this week for all my students.

Next time you play a game have a stopwatch with you, when it is your turn start the watch, don't play a move until at least 20 seconds have passed. You can take more then this amount, however you have to wait at least the 20 seconds. Even if you have the move in your head from second number 1 you have to wait. The point is to develop a good habit of taking your time and not rushing.

In addition, here is great puzzle I found I wanted to share with everyone this week. Note that there is more than one solution however it would only let me pick one as the answer.