What I do is look for checks, captures, and attacks and think about what my opponent will play. Try to scan these as quick as you can. You will get better at these things as you build up your experience over time. Try not to spend too much time on 1 move. Hopefully this will help with time management.
I play with friends and its really fun because I don't have to worry about losing my rating while getting more experienced at chess.
I hope this helped!
The only reason to play rated games is if you want to have a chess rating. Otherwise it is not essential to play rated games. That is the bottom line.
@1
"Rapid 10" ++ No good
"a few time controls with 15/10" ++ Good
"I changed again to 30 minutes" ++ Bad
"I was still coming up short on time" ++ 15|10 is about the same as 30|0.
"I've lost a lot by timeout (23.5% of my losses)" ++ In won / drawn / or lost positions?
If you time out in a won or drawn position, then you played too slowly.
Identify the one move that cost you most time and see why you needed that much time for it.
In a lost position you can just as well time out.
You used all your time, you gave it your best effort, you lost.
It is better to lose on time in a lost position then to lose with time left on your clock.
"play more games to a conclusion without a time out loss"
++ With 15|10 thanks to the increment you always have time to win a won position or draw a drawn position. The increment takes the stress of the clock away and refocuses on chess.
"It's really disappointing having games time out" ++ Play with increment.
"Is a 30 minute game a long enough time format to gain chess knowledge/experience and make good rating progress?" ++ Yes, but 15|10 is even better.
"Do you recommend using the range control limits (both high and low)"
++ Yes. For improvement your opponents should be as strong as possible,
but only if you can stomach the losses.
"Should I ask a friend (similar rating) to play unrated side games" ++ No. Unrated is not serious.
"to experiment with openings"
++ Do not experiment with openings. Stick to the same openings to accumulate experience.
"your rating goes to where it should be anyway?" ++ Yes.
@1
"Rapid 10" ++ No good
"a few time controls with 15/10" ++ Good
"I changed again to 30 minutes" ++ Bad
"I was still coming up short on time" ++ 15|10 is about the same as 30|0.
"I've lost a lot by timeout (23.5% of my losses)" ++ In won / drawn / or lost positions?
If you time out in a won or drawn position, then you played too slowly.
Identify the one move that cost you most time and see why you needed that much time for it.
In a lost position you can just as well time out.
You used all your time, you gave it your best effort, you lost.
It is better to lose on time in a lost position then to lose with time left on your clock.
"play more games to a conclusion without a time out loss"
++ With 15|10 thanks to the increment you always have time to win a won position or draw a drawn position. The increment takes the stress of the clock away and refocuses on chess.
"It's really disappointing having games time out" ++ Play with increment.
"Is a 30 minute game a long enough time format to gain chess knowledge/experience and make good rating progress?" ++ Yes, but 15|10 is even better.
"Do you recommend using the range control limits (both high and low)"
++ Yes. For improvement your opponents should be as strong as possible,
but only if you can stomach the losses.
"Should I ask a friend (similar rating) to play unrated side games" ++ No. Unrated is not serious.
"to experiment with openings"
++ Do not experiment with openings. Stick to the same openings to accumulate experience.
"your rating goes to where it should be anyway?" ++ Yes.
I appreciate your taking the time for the detailed response. I switched to 15/10 & will review my decision making in my time out losses. I altered the opponent rating range control limit to -25 (the closest setting) to my rating on the under, and left infinity on the high side. I noticed the opponents are tougher after that change. Daily games I'm okay if a friend wants to play unrated, but I always play rated live. I've always wondered about huge books on openings and how to try and manage that. Your advice makes since, "run what you brung," (racing term in regards to your racing preparation) so to speak & ref. rating...it is what it is. Thanks for your insights! I found them helpful with a good dose of common sense.
What I do is look for checks, captures, and attacks and think about what my opponent will play. Try to scan these as quick as you can. You will get better at these things as you build up your experience over time. Try not to spend too much time on 1 move. Hopefully this will help with time management.
I play with friends and its really fun because I don't have to worry about losing my rating while getting more experienced at chess.
I hope this helped!
I already did the checks, captures, attacks scan and check my own side for hanging pieces. Since I've started playing my playing speed has improved, but I still fight the clock in hard games. I have started to play unrated daily games with friends for both improvement and fun. It's funny, even with the virtually unlimited time control...I'll go back and look at a game and see a better move after I alreay committed. I like to run the play animation back, to remind myself why I made that move or look at what the prior threat was, it's helping my thinking. Thanks for your response.
The only reason to play rated games is if you want to have a chess rating. Otherwise it is not essential to play rated games. That is the bottom line.
Good point, I play the game for both competition and fun.
A practice i've just started doing is when i'm playing after a long day or when in a bad mood then i play unrated. It can for sure save your rating. Likewise warming up with an unrated game can help.
It's not as easy to find 30 min unrated but it really can't be beaten for rated rapid. I've never had trouble with 10 minute timing but my elo rose when i started playing 30 min and thinking longer for each move. 15|10 isn't as short as it seems, especially if the game is straightforward. I've won some 15|10 games with around 17 minutes on the clock.
Chess puzzles are a good warm up too. I like to play sometimes at night while drinking a Scotch, also a good time for unrated play.
rated to farm your friends
I started playing Daily games to work on improving (plenty of time to think and plan, access to the opening book, and use of the Explorer chessboard function). I've completed 9 Daily games, 4 rated with no losses and 5 unrated with 2 losses. Chess.com started me off in Daily at a 1200 rating and I haven't played enough games for it to finish adjusting my rating yet, currently at 1256.
My puzzles rating 1134 after 729 puzzles.
My Rapid (10 & 15/10) rating 909 after 1006 games.
I have 2 rated Daily games in progress right now, if I Win the first game I get +11 rating points, Draw -174, Lose -359 & in the 2nd game if I Win +16, Draw -172, Lose -360.
Lol...it's brutal! I'm pretty sure I'm the one being, "farmed." 
....Rating goes where it belongs, but it seems weird looking at that big of a swing....and no, I'm not taking on more Daily games until this shakes out (potential -719 point rating swing in progress on 2 games). It kind of feels like gambling. 
I found the Daily games go so slowly, that I end up trying different things in my 15/10 rated games anyway.
rated to farm your friends
I have 2 rated Daily games in progress right now, if I Win the first game I get +11 rating points, Draw -174, Lose -359 & in the 2nd game if I Win +16, Draw -172, Lose -360.
How do you know this?
My puzzles rating 1134 after 729 puzzles.
That is actually surprisingly low. A player with 900+ rapid rating should be 1500 in puzzles or more.
Looking at your puzzles history, you seem to do the opposite in puzzles that you do in games: instead of thinking long, you often bang out a move in 10 seconds and it is often wrong.
This is the latest of those examples:
https://www.chess.com/puzzles/problem/137585/practice
It is mate in 1. There is no trap, there is no move that looks promising and requires serious calculation to prove that it is wrong. Failing this puzzle is a bit weird.
To get something out of puzzles, you should try to solve them. Just guessing and making a random move after 10 seconds does nothing.
rated to farm your friends
I have 2 rated Daily games in progress right now, if I Win the first game I get +11 rating points, Draw -174, Lose -359 & in the 2nd game if I Win +16, Draw -172, Lose -360.
How do you know this?
Hi sniperoyal,
I go to my Daily games and click on the in progress game I want to look at. When the game comes up on the screen, look at the right side of the screen where there is the table that shows the notation for the game's moves. At the top of that table there are several headings, (Moves, Chat, Info, Notes, Openings). Click on "Info" and when it opens you will see a listing for "Variant: Standard (Rated)," in blue letters just below that it says "Rating Adjustment" click on that and it tells you.
My puzzles rating 1134 after 729 puzzles.
That is actually surprisingly low. A player with 900+ rapid rating should be 1500 in puzzles or more.
Looking at your puzzles history, you seem to do the opposite in puzzles that you do in games: instead of thinking long, you often bang out a move in 10 seconds and it is often wrong.
This is the latest of those examples:
https://www.chess.com/puzzles/problem/137585/practice
It is mate in 1. There is no trap, there is no move that looks promising and requires serious calculation to prove that it is wrong. Failing this puzzle is a bit weird.
To get something out of puzzles, you should try to solve them. Just guessing and making a random move after 10 seconds does nothing.
Hi magipi,
Good input. I haven't treated puzzles that seriously. I started playing them more recently, and although it's available to play puzzles in specific categories I just play the main category where all categories are jumbled together. When they come up on screen, I'm not always sure what I'm supposed to be looking for.
I also play puzzles when on tilt frustrated and angry with myself over poor game play. It's better than binge losing with continued play while on tilt.
I also sometimes enjoy puzzles with a glass of scotch, not helpful in the solve rate.
I had no idea what my rating in puzzles should be at, I thought I was doing pretty good because it was above my Rapid rating. My highest rating in puzzles 1413, was when I was trying to push it up. I am aware that I was blowing some puzzles by not taking them seriously, if I couldn't quickly figure it out I would just pick a likely looking move, frequently wrong. I kind of treated them as candy, always another puzzle available. I get it I need to take them more seriously to improve and maybe I should play them in their categories. Thanks for your input.
rated to farm your friends
I have 2 rated Daily games in progress right now, if I Win the first game I get +11 rating points, Draw -174, Lose -359 & in the 2nd game if I Win +16, Draw -172, Lose -360.
How do you know this?
Hi sniperoyal,
I go to my Daily games and click on the in progress game I want to look at. When the game comes up on the screen, look at the right side of the screen where there is the table that shows the notation for the game's moves. At the top of that table there are several headings, (Moves, Chat, Info, Notes, Openings). Click on "Info" and when it opens you will see a listing for "Variant: Standard (Rated)," in blue letters just below that it says "Rating Adjustment" click on that and it tells you.
Thanks a lot
I've been on Chess.com less than 2 months & never had a rating before now. My playing history, I learned how to play chess at age 7 or 8 and I've played very sporadically over the years against friends, a chess engine (from the late 80's) & online. I've made a few chess friends here through games and am trying to improve.
I've played 864 games (387 Wins/60 Draws/417 Losses) since joining, almost all are Rapid 10. Recently a few time controls with 15/10 and I changed again to 30 minutes, as I was still coming up short on time. I've lost a lot by timeout (23.5% of my losses), and am trying to improve by being able to think longer and play more games to a conclusion without a time out loss. It's really disappointing having games time out, on either side, when they are interesting and still in doubt.
Opinions:
Is a 30 minute game a long enough time format to gain chess knowledge/experience and make good rating progress?
How seriously do players protect/manage their ratings? If it's needed any suggestions about rating management? Do you recommend using the range control limits (both high and low), for the rating ranges of auto-assigned opponents? It looks like the opponent ratings are auto assigned to an infinity symbol both high and low.
Should I ask a friend (similar rating) to play unrated side games, to experiment with openings, etc.? Or does it really not matter because with play, your rating goes to where it should be anyway?
Those are my questions.
Thanks for your thoughts.