Help with Time Management in Blitz

I play 10 minute Blitz. If I take 10 seconds per move, I will enter 60 moves in 10 minutes. That equals six moves per minute. 60 moves is plenty to decide most games.

My problem - almost all of my games go out of book in under 5 moves, so I hardly play moves from memory. Some quick calculation and chess thinking is required.

Dan Heisman says to NOT spend time in the opening thinking about alternate candidate moves, if all three are equally good. This prevents time trouble.

So, how should I approach the opening in 10 0 Blitz? What should I be thinking about, or not thinking about? How many seconds per move?

The 6 moves / minute is an average. For a fast game like 10-0, you would use less of it in "memory/experience" based positions (like the opening) use more of the clock for critical/analytical positions.

For the opening, you would normally be expected to bring an opening system (not some foolish attempt at memorization of a line you will hope to play) to the table and use it to get a "playable" middle position.  Anything you are comfortable with ... or even something you are not (if you are just practicing / learning it! :))

If you are quoting Heisman, you should have read his famous Two Move Triggers Novice Nook that addresses these questions.

Also, Heisman mentions the Botvinnik guideline which says "use 20% of the time control for the 1st 15 moves".

For 10-0 that's 15 moves in 2 minutes which sounds about right with the budget you just described.

Finally, if you are needing "help" manage your time at blitz, that's a red flag to "NOT" play at this time control and work on your slow game until your ability to play from "memory/patterns" is faster and more reliable. :)

I play a lot of 3 0 blitz, and when I first started playing I worried more about time than anything else. I made fast moves, but found myself in awful positions. Sure, I maybe had 2:35 on my clock and my opponent had 1:12, but I would be in such bad shape that he would be able to force mate in well under that 1:12.

I found that by taking my time, I would ususally be in much better shape. Basicially I decided that if I lose on time, so be it. I would rather lose on time than blunder away the game ... and surprisingly, time rarely comes into play that much.

In 10 0, if you make good moves each time it's your turn, I think you will find that you will almost never lose on time. If you get into a position that is complicated at all, just take as much time as you need (within reason) to play a good move.

Honestly, if you don't have enough time in your blitz games, there are only two solutions :

- play faster (just force yourself)

- play longer games : you don't have enough chess knowledge to play good blitz just yet

Thanks for the replies. I'm not experiencing time trouble with 10-0, meaning that I don't lose on time. It's just that my opponents are almost always playing faster than me, and I was wondering if I was playing too slow for 10-0.

Maybe most of my opponents are playing at a 5-0 speed, and not using all of their time.

Unless I am thinking too deeply in the opening, I usually feel comfortable with 10-0. That was not the case some months ago, when I only played 15-10.  Solving tactical problems in the 950-1200 has definitely sped up my play to handle a Blitz time control better.

The main reason why I am even bothering to practice Blitz online is because the guys at my local chess club really like playing 5-0. I can't play at that speed yet, but hopefully with more playing experience and more practice with puzzles, I will.

15-10 is still my favorite speed for internet chess.

I dont remember where I read this, but it found it useful: Q+K vs K ending

Just move the queen, until the opponent has only 2 squares, then get your king closer and just checkmate.

Ofc this trick will only help you in like 0.8% of your games

#1
"So, how should I approach the opening in 10 0 Blitz? What should I be thinking about, or not thinking about? How many seconds per move?"
++ Most chess games are essentially decided by move 30.
So 10|0 blitz should start at 20 seconds / move.