kansaspatzer.blogspot.com

For those players making the transition from casual play with their friends and on the Internet to the world of rated tournament play, time management has to be one of the hardest transitions.

When I first started playing in tournaments, I rarely used more than 30 minutes off of my clock in a 90/120 minute game. The thing is, neither did my opponents most of the time. I found myself with a lot of time between rounds, and found myself getting bored waiting hours for the next round. Also, I knew that I could have done better - but I didn't know how to slow down. I'm impatient.

If you look at any tournament with multiple sections, you can tell which section is higher rated by which side still has boards going 3/4 of the way in. At the Kansas Open last year, there was one point where of the 25 or so boards in the Reserve section, only mine was still going, but virtually all of the boards in the Open section were still in play.

The opposite extreme can be a problem, of course. Time trouble can ruin an otherwise masterfully played game, and even the stress of knowing you are under 30 minutes or whatever can start to affect your concentrat