more time means better moves, but how far does it go?

im a slow and steady thinker, and im new to chess. if i have one minute to make a move, i can blunder a mate in 1. but if i have up to 20 minutes to make each move, i can play way above my level. it takes me a long time to see the whole board and really understand the position.

are there any standards for how time turns into better moves? im sure its normal for beginners to struggle with time on faster time controls, and have a big difference in ratings. for example, if i were trying to play 10 minute games against the intermediate bots, i would probly lose every time. but if i take as long as i need to feel confident in my move, i usually win on the first try.

the game review might say i played like a 800, 1100, or even 1300, but it doesnt know i only did it by spending like two hours on the game. and the bots usually underperform by 200 elo or more, according to the review. i know id never beat a real 1400 in a real game.

i know im a bit of an outlier in terms of my patience and focus, but i just like to take my time. and thats why i spend most of my time playing bots, but id rather play with real people. im interested in trying slow time controls in live games but i dont want to go in with a bad mismatch in rating if we are gonna invest that much time in it, and chess.com doesnt seem to have slow time controls anyway?

maybe practice should make me faster, but so far i feel like the more i learn the slower i get. i just take longer and longer to think thru more strategic possibilities and better plans, instead of moving faster. i play both better and slower. and im ok with that, unless it means im stuck playing bots forever.

basically im wondering if anyone has advice or thoughts about the whole thing. is this a common problem, or am i missing something obvious? and doesnt it feel nice to think a really long time until u feel confident in ur plan?

Chess.com does let you choose your own custom time controls, but I’m not sure about doing that against bots. Playing slow isn’t a bad thing, playing too slow can be a disadvantage though. Maybe try blitz or bullet games to get you playing your moves faster. But I do think you should still take time to think about your move just not too long.

There’s a link to a website someone here sent me. On the site is advice from various pro players. Anyways, one of the things I read said something about the with proliferation of online chess, where we often play 10-15 minute games or even lower than that, don’t allow for a deep analysis of the game your playing like conventional 90 minute chess(I think that’s how long it is). These longer games according to what I read, encourage better thinking habits. Games where you actually have time to deeply think about every possible outcome each time you make a move. When I win I’m often down on the clock by a few minutes, but it’s worth it if it means you make more accurate moves I suppose.

I’ll send you the link cause what I’ve written doesn’t do it justice

Btw chess.com has a 60min option and other options if you click on “more controls”

Yeah, it can go up to as long as you want but I don’t think many players will choose that time control so you won’t really get an opponent

Keep playing slow against the bots, practice the correct thinking, you will build good habits and get better afterwards. Analyse your games the same way.

thx doux, i do feel like playing slow against the bots and analysing is making me a better player. not a faster player, but for me i dont really care about achieving any certain rating in a fast time control.

i actually might enjoy analysing games more than playing them. it is so fun to compare what i thought was a good idea to what the engine thought, and to see the things i missed. theres no point in analysing my rapid games that are 50% blunder, but in slow games with no blunders the analysis is really useful.

also thx sword and lilly, i didnt know about the custom time controls. even if not a lot of people use them, maybe once i find some chess buddies at my level i can schedule a longer game with them sometimes.

ive played about 40 games of rapid so far. ive noticed many of my opponents move quickly and lose with most of their time still on their clock. for them the advice seems clear and ready to use on their very next game: use ur time to check whether ur blundering mate. develop ur pieces and castle, so that ur less likely to blunder mate. 

and if ur way ahead on time, dont resign even if ur behind on material. use ur time. i get many opponents who resign just cuz they blundered a major piece or two, meanwhile im running out of time and theyve used like 1 minute.

but when i lose, its usually on time. or cuz i start moving basically randomly to try to avoid flagging, knowing full well that my moves are bad. thats ok, im new and bad so its not a surprise when im new and bad.

theres a lot of advice on this site is for people who want to improve at fast chess. thats not my goal. im looking for advice and thoughts related to slow chess for slow people. its useful to know about things like the custom time controls, and im sure theres a lot of other stuff im missing.

Hi. You can play daily matches, which allow 1,2,3,5,7 or 14 days between moves. Plenty of tournament matches too, if you fancy it.

Finding 30 min games shouldn't be too hard. Longer than that might be a tad tricky online. Many in-person events have long time controls.

Playing slow will help you play faster, oddly enough.

Even in long time controls you'll eventually encounter time trouble. Don't completely ignore fast play.

Sooner or later extra thinking time won't help. What that limit is varies based on skill level and the position, so the only way to find out is through your own experience.