Grandmaster Teaches Grasshopper - TIME TROUBLE!
Eugene Perelshteyn has taught me a valuable lesson in Chess. TIME! It's so important. You can be up a lot of material, but lose because your clock hit 0.00. Don't let this happen to you!
How can you get over this problem? Stop getting comfortable! When you're up material it's common to look for ways to trade down material and go into a winning endgame. What if you just played like you weren't up any material at all? I'll tell you what, you'd win more games!
If your opponent is down a piece, attack another piece. Just like you would if material was even. But don't go for exchanges that would give you weaknesses, like doubling your pawns or giving your opponent a space advantage.
Material advantage doesn't always mean your winning! Some games will have an evaluation that favors the side with less material, believe it or not. By playing like you're not up material you also make more "natural" moves. This will lead you to a positional AND material advantage. That's ultimately what wins games. Oh and having time left on the clock of course!
As you can see Magnus Carlson was down a pawn but Hikaru Nakamura resigned. Material isn't everything in Chess. Time and position can win more games than material advantage. If you're up a whole queen and your opponent has an unavoidable mate in 1, you're done!
If you're up material, but down on time, just make moves that don't lose! It sounds obvious right? It's a bit more complicated than it sounds though. Just focus on playing the first move you see that doesn't lose. As long as you can make these moves quicker than your opponent, you should win the game.
My first over the board game with a clock was against Jeff, the best Chess player out of the table games dealers at MGM Grand Detroit, including myself. I was able to go into a middle game up 2 pieces! I got over confident though, instead of playing as if material was even, I made risky moves. This resulted in me giving the pieces back, and losing the game! How frustrating!
What about when you're up time, but down in material? Just play quicker right? WRONG! Your opponent is most likely pre-moving at this point. Think of where his or her pre-moves are and plan to make your opponent walk into a blunder. My opponent did this in the video below really well, and I couldn't believe the result. Check it out.
Grandmaster Teaches Grasshopper E2 - Time Trouble. Official YouTube Playlist
In conclusion, play moves that don't lose, QUICKLY! When you have the time advantage, use it and make your opponent think more on their next move to keep the time advantage throughout the game. Time is a variable often overlooked by amateurs, but when used correctly you can win more games. If only we had a blue police box to solve this problem.....
