Time Managment for 10 min rapid

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Avatar of bigpandasmashu

So, I am only at 900 elo right now for rapid (I barely played chess when I was younger, I am in my early 40s and started playing - played 2800 games in the last 3 months, went from 400 to 900 elo. I thought I'd improved a lot faster than this) . But I think if it wasn't for time management issue for 10 min games (I prefer to not play longer games due to time constraints and takes longer to get games), I think my ELO may be a 100 or 200 points higher. Most of the games I get very low on the clock (like only 2 or 3 min left and it's still late mid game) and I blunder and loss. Can someone who's decent help me to fix this issue?

Avatar of justbefair

I have the same problem, possibly worse than you do, and I think that if you like to take your time, there is little you can do.

Once in a while I try to play 5 0 blitz and that forces me to play at a much faster pace. When I go back to 10 0 rapid, I do play at a better pace for a while.

I see you have played 1 minute bullet and 2 1. Did it help?

Avatar of bigpandasmashu
justbefair wrote:

I have the same problem, possibly worse than you do, and I think that if you like to take your time, there is little you can do.

Once in a while I try to play 5 0 blitz and that forces me to play at a much faster pace. When I go back to 10 0 rapid, I do play at a better pace for a while.

I see you have played 1 minute bullet and 2 1. Did it help?

I blunder a lot in 2 1, but I think 3 2 is a good format to improve speed imo. That def. helped a little.

Avatar of TetrisFrolfChess

10|15

Avatar of Leto
Check your games and make Excel table: minutes spent for opening, middle game, endgame, time left.
Outcome: why did you lose or won.
Avatar of Leto
It’s easy to do such stats but maybe you spot your issue that you spent 70% for opening which is unacceptable.
Avatar of Leto
There are no strict limits. But in 10 minutes game you should spend 1-2 (max) for opening. Middle game: 5-6 minutes.
Avatar of JatinStrikes

Just play in the openings quickly 😉

Avatar of Just_an_average_player136
Leto wrote:
There are no strict limits. But in 10 minutes game you should spend 1-2 (max) for opening. Middle game: 5-6 minutes.

If I have around 6 minutes a lot of times in the endgame am I playing too fast?

Avatar of Honchkrowabcd

You should be considering a bunch of stuff to decide how to use your time, like the position, how much longer the game will last, how much time your opponent has, stuff like that. For example if the position is pretty straightforward, if you need to save time you can usually just play a move quickly that you know is good and doesn't blunder anything without worrying too much, but if for example your king is under attack and you need to find the right moves to save him it could be worth it to spend lots of time making sure you don't instantly lose the game. Also try not to have a lot less time than your opponent (unless you are confident you can win/finish the game with the time you have left). Like for example I try not to go under 4 minutes in middle games

Avatar of Honchkrowabcd
Just_an_average_player136 wrote:
Leto wrote:
There are no strict limits. But in 10 minutes game you should spend 1-2 (max) for opening. Middle game: 5-6 minutes.

If I have around 6 minutes a lot of times in the endgame am I playing too fast?

It depends but yeah usually you could be using that time to play the middlegame better