How much time are you spending studying to improve your chess game? 3 hours? Four? You might find that chess improvements training has become a full-time job’, and you are now spending 8 hour a day. Visit chess blunders before reading this.
What ever your answer, let’s ask you this question: How much time do YOU spend actually playing chess? And how well are you applying what you learned from chess lessons? How many slow games are you able to play in a given time period in order to improve your chess playing?
Unfortunately, many amateurs don’t know the answer. “I’ll play when I have the chance.”
They would also say “Why play slow games, when there are internet sites that allow me to play blitz chess?”
“Today’s players, especially those on the internet, believe that 30 minutes is an extremely long game.” National Chess Master Dan Heisman. Let’s just say that 30 minutes is an acceptable time for a chess match. But it’s not fast enough for you, Dan said.
The masters of today are Anand Kramnik Kramnik Wesley So they were not better at playing blitz year-round. Their chess tournaments have time controls that can allow them to play for up to seven hours per game.
While I do not recommend that you play that much, it is a good idea to try. A chess game that lasts 7 hours is exhausting and really challenging. But, I’m trying not to make it difficult, but to stress that slow games are essential to apply what you’ve learned in your chess practice.
There are two aspects to improving your chess skill: practice and theory. The theory component includes watching chess videos, taking courses, opening manuals reading, and solving ChessBase-based tactics. Practice, as the name suggests, is where you apply all that you have learned, or at least most, through chess.
Like you, I too was lured to the thrill of speed-chess online. What’s more, after many years of playing and training I still play like a pawn in tournaments that have slower time controls (G/90 to slower). Hanging pieces, double attacking, leaving a piece en prise are all my habits. It’s like nothing I’ve ever learned.