What's your favorite time control and why?

Mine is right around 10 minutes, not too fast to have a little time to think, and not so slow it bores me.

I guess 3 | 0

It's not particularly fun, but it's not particularly boring either

In face to face friendly games I like something longer, like 15 | 5

5/0 Since I move quick and never lose on time it works for me. But 3 mins is too fast

2|1 bullet and 3|2 blitz

+1 

10 min is also chess.com's most popular time control. Anything faster than 10 minutes is usually unrated for me though: I could probably play some 5 minute okay-ish, but I always worry about reaching an endgame that requires delicate accuracy and not having enough time to win it. I guess I could use increment too, but that could go on for who knows how long if the player play off increment: without delay/increment, at least I can plan that the game won't exceed x-length (in 10 minute, it won't exceed 20 minutes for the entire game).

Well you could try playing with increment, maybe 8|8 or something similar so as you will not risk running out of time in endgames...

Personally I play mainly 3 | 0 here for the adrenaline rush, with a short mix of other controls. Over-the-board, I play untimed games, rapid games and blitz games.

For some reason 3 | 0 over the board feels more "rushed" than 3 | 0 online.

Because it is lol. OTB requires time wasted for literally moving the pieces across the board, pressing the clock and scrambling for an extra Queen when you promote

20 minutes. Enough time to make accurate moves but not super drawn out

Yeah, playing OTB is like playing with a decrement (a negative increment )

Most people (me included) probably need about +2 just to break even OTB.

blitz is nice

i like 120 | 60  so I can play while watching a movie

Blitz is better for higher level at lower levels rapid is much nicer

Only true until you reach a point where you can feel comfortable-ish with blitz, then bullet seems like what higher level players play

And then comfortable in bullet? Then OTB classical time control will feel like the one reserved for higher level players...

It is a vicious cycle where the grass is always greener...

Gonna have to try that but would have to move TV or computer because they are in different rooms. I love movies, has always been a hobby of mine.

In OTB games you can pause the clock to find an extra piece for promotion if there is not one in arms reach

Not in the OTB blitz games I've seen lol

Do most players even know how to pause their clock? I know some have an obvious pause button, but there are many OTB players that barely even know how their chess clocks work.

The club I used to play OTB would not allow a paused clock except in practice games if both players agreed. In a tourny I thought you would have to call the director over before stopping a clock for any reason. The chess sets we played with had extra queens though.

Actually I always prepare a Queen and a knight while it's my opponent's turn.