Chesscampeona On the Move; Time Management

The first topic is time management! Throughout my chess career, I have had trouble managing my time. When I was younger, I loved to play fast! In long games, I would take only a few seconds to think on each move and in the end I would make a lot of mistakes on the chessboard.

I remember once I played in a national tournament with long time controls and I finished my game in under 25 minutes, to my parents horror! I lost, but the good thing was that I finished early, right? That was how I saw things when I was nine years old.

After I lost several times due to playing fast, my coach developed several techniques to pace myself. These techniques worked but then I took it to the extreme and started to play really slow, getting myself into time control problems! Finding the right balance when you are young is not easy but it is achievable.

Learning how to manage your time is just as important as learning how to checkmate. Here are a few techniques my team and I used to help me manage my time:

1. Tap your foot lightly for 10 seconds. If you love to play blitz and can't seem to slow down, tap your foot for ten seconds while you take a look at the whole chess board. This will give you enough time to try to see a better move without wasting time!

2. Divide your time into three parts. When you divide your time into three parts you are giving equal amount of time to the opening, middlegame, and endgame. Dividing the time by three will help you spend your time wisely! This is just a parameter to go by. Now when playing fast chess in Chesskid.com you have 15 minutes. Let's do the math!

If you have 15 minutes and you divide it by three that gives you five minutes for each section of the game. Take five minutes in each section on the opening, middle and endgame in order to aquire the discipline that you need. With time you will not even time yourself because you will get used to it. So coaches, do not tell your students to take their time, instead provide them with the mechanisms by which a child should go by. It is so much easier for us that way.

3. Remember, the clock is your friend! If you are nervous before a game, take ten seconds to breathe and concentrate.

I hope these tips will help you manage your time! Share them with a friend or at your local chess club. 

Here is a game I played when I was nine years old. My opponent, Julieta Reyes, and I played a few months prior in a national tournament where we finished the game in 25 minutes. After developing new techniques to manage my time, I played her for the gold medal in the North American Youth Chess Championship 2007.