I’ve been casually enjoying chess off and on for the past year, and while I can tell that I’m improving, I think I need to get faster at calculating. I play mostly Daily games (1300-something currently) and am a puzzle fiend, but I find myself getting into time-trouble constantly when I play games with actual time controls.

I want to get comfortable with blitz, but I feel like I’m not learning as much because I’m just scrambling to get (often terrible) moves out in time. I tried puzzle battle for the first time recently too, and even though my regular puzzle rating is 2500, I’m frequently losing on time once the puzzles get to 1000+ (my avg time per puzzle is usually 0:06-0:08 at the end).

I suspect the answer is just going to be to play more with time controls, but I’m curious if anyone here has found any practice tips that have helped them personally.

  • @Lifecoach5000@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3•6 months ago

    Well you’re doing better than me. I’ve been casually playing for 6 years and 1350 in daily is my peak lol.

    For me personally, I find Rapid 10 min games are a good in between for being able to manage your time and also perform the necessary calculations. What’s your Rapid rating out of curiosity?

    Also you’re using chess.com I assume?

    But yeah not that I am qualified to answer your question but I like to do a set of puzzles as a warm up before I start running through games. It seems to help me get into that tactical mindset and I can spot things quicker.

    • The Picard ManeuverOP
      2•6 months ago

      I do really like the rapid time control, it’s just that it’s a longer commitment and harder to find the time/focus for me. In a year of being into chess, I’ve only played 20 rapid games, with my rating sitting at 1170.

      Yeah, I’m on chess.com (I know I know, it’s not the FOSS option).