For older players - using the clock, memorizing openings

This is for older players, especially those 60 years old and over.

I'm not a beginner, but I learned how to play chess a loooong time ago.  The Beatles were still officially together when I played my first game. 

I last played competitively in high school. I was 5th board for my school. We never used a clock and we never actually "knew" any openings by their official name. We just played. 

Since I returned to chess ("the other beautiful game") a few years ago, I have had trouble getting used to the idea of a clock. I've never played "blitz" and have no intention of doing so. I also had trouble, at first, getting used to the new notation.

And while I study openings, I have not memorized any of them and I could not describe to you a Ruy Lopez, or a Caro Kann, or any other opening.  I suppose it's partly because of my age, but perhaps my information-intensive job also has something to do with it. 

Do other older players have these problems?  Maybe I should not even call them problems, because I enjoy the game as much as anyone else!

I think it's common for new players, of any age, to dislike the clock at first.

I had one 13 year old who was so uncomfortable with a clock that to help him get used to pressing it after each move we set the time to 3 hours for each side haha

Am I satisfied with how I play? Oh yes.

A lot of people here are very concerned with getting better as quickly as possible and improving their rating.  Chess for me is a way to enjoy my spare time. To reduce stress. To distract myself from the severe difficulties of life. I don't have the time or mental energy to get stressed about my rating.

I'm lucky enough to have a job and lucky enough to be able to work from home, and when I finish my very information-intensive job each day, I would rather take a nap than spend hours trying desperately to raise my chess rating. 

Of course it's nice to get better at the game, but it's not something that I think a lot about. I actually spend more time just playing out the games of players I admire than actually playing chess myself. 

A couple years ago I was keeping a small notebook of openings I like and was trying to learn, but real life has a way of interrupting things.

I'm curious to know how other older players approach the game, especially how they deal with memorizing openings, playing with a clock, etc.

The key to time management, at any age, is to use your opponent's clock time as well as your own.  If your opponent makes a move you've foreseen and analyzed, you'll have a ready response.  This cuts down on time usage immensely.

I'm not interested in knowing lots of openings. It does seem a bit if an obsession with some players and perhaps they will reap the benefits of their study. Good luck to them. I'd rather just play and learn as I go. 

As for time controls; I see many good older players struggle if asked to play blitz or rapid. Those time controls kind of level the playing field for players of lesser ability. 

I memorize openings. It leads to positions I am familiar and comfortable with. 

I know too many openings... keeps the game interesting

I'm an old duffer of 57 years.  I started chess in '72 and I have only really started playing seriously in the last 18 months here. I have also also found that playing with a clock was stressful.

My best experiences have been with "Daily Chess" where you have a day, or three days, or even more time to make each move.  Time pressure is really off, you can have a good think and there's a button you can press to try out some sequences of moves before committing to one.   Best of all you are specifically permitted to use the opening books when playing Daily Games.  I have learned a lot more playing like this than when I mess around playing ten minute blitz.

If you're worried it is too slow consider also that you are allowed to have more than one game on the go at any time.  I seriously recommend giving it a go.

The clock is your friend....When used correctly is can be your best friend...   So speaking of old... Im 70.The beatles were just  a band and nothing special when I started to learn the game.  Memorization of opening and defense was the basics of learning the game.  Identify, Develop, and attack.  Oh My.   It really comes down the way you were trained.   And ya clock management can be a pain in the beginning...But with some practice it will become second hand.  I would really recommend, you stay away from blitz.  If you do not know the first 10-15 practical moves, with variations, you will get ate up by the clock.  But....15 minute games will help you get comfortable with the clock.  try starting there and Good luck.

OK my experience... I'm 64 with an information intensive job [I am a researcher in applied mathematics and turbulent flows]. I have time to replay 1 game maybe 4 x/week these days.  I try to summarize key ideas in the game on sticky notes stuck in the book the game was from. This means opening ideas, patterns, clever ways to get something with tempo. I keep an opening notebook and update it highly irregularly. I find updating it myself and giving a summary of ideas in it helps me remember stuff way better than reading an opening book yet 1 more time. Right now life is busy so little time for chess. But I find blitz chess and puzzle rush quite helpful in keeping my processing speed good and being decisive. [My first tournament back after so many years I lost on time in a key game in a complicated but winning position due to being indecisive all the way  through.] So yes I like starting the middle game with a clear plan [so opening ideas are good] and I like blitz chess. I am also a weekend whitewater kayaker. When it gets steep processing information quickly and making quick decisions is a "good" thing to do. I find that blitz and puzzlerush also helps this.  But it did take some rather bad losses in blitz before I saw my speed start to come back.  -Bill

I'm younger, 43 years old. A technique I use to memorize openings and classic GM games is to encode the moves (committed to memory) in multiple ways. I play through openings OTB which encodes them as a motor skill, while saying the coordinates out loud and the reason(s) for the move. Story telling helps memory and helps store the moves in process memory rather than factual memory. Most people have much stronger process memory. I break down long lines into chunks based on key points in the game. I then play through the moves from memory, as recall also strengths memory, leaving increasingly longer intervals each time (hours then days). I can memorize a 30 move game using this technique. The technique itself is well known, basically encode the memory in multiple ways (coordinates, story, etc) using multiple senses (hearing, motor, visual) and strengthen it as a long term memory using repeated recall with increasing time intervals. Correct mistakes immediately by playing through correctly from memory a couple of times, as mistakes are recall errors. Good luck.

You preferred to watch chess videos? It surprised me as I would always prefer to read a book.

When I started playing chess at 9, I always complain my uncles think too long. I am happy to discover chess can be played with a chess clock. With the chess clock, I win more games as I rarely meet time trouble except 5/5 and faster.

You should not worry about openings at all. If you deal with chess, opening names and a few moves will automatically stick in your mind, with time it is inevitable. You certainly should not learn these names, it's a waste of time. Also, studying openings is also a waste of time unless you are a master (or close). You should concentrate on chess principles and tactics, with a pinch of endgame thrown in when you feel like it.

The Names of openings add value to the thrill of the chess game. These trivial names makes standard chess in a pedestal above checkers, go and other board games. Despite the introduction of ECO codes, players still use the names like Ruy Lopez, Sicilian, King's Indian Defense, etc  

There are so many good ideas here--thanks to everyone. I agree that the names of openings add to the thrill of the game. @SwimmerBill: I also make extensive use of sticky notes.I Memorizing openings is quite difficult at this stage of life. I spent more than 20 years abstracting and indexing business and economic information. Now I do legal support work--analyzing and classifying legal documents. Chess analysis is hard these days, but I understand that it is necessary. Still, most annotation is completely useless to me, because it goes far deeper into a position than I can see.

Older players are advised to study Annotated Masters games with a physical chess board. I would recommend the Mammoth Book of the World's Greatest Chess Games. It also looks good on the shelf.

Hm. About older players . . . I'm 82 1/2 so i think I'm in your group . . .

Oops i forgot what i had to say. . .

I used to play blindfold games when i was 62 years younger . . .

Oh yeah i think I'm losing my memory but i never play with a clock even though i have five of them that i use to teach beginners before they go to a tournament . . .

How unfair to the pirate! Everyone is a leg up on him!