Time management

Using the clock as a resource: budgeting, critical moments and avoiding time trouble.

Time trouble is a skill problem, not bad luck. It comes from perfectionism in easy positions, indecision between equal options, or not recognising critical moments. The app shows how much time the student spent per move and how many mistakes happened short of time.

Habits to teach

• Play the known opening quickly; save time for the middlegame.
• Set checkpoints: e.g. in a 90-minute game, aim to have about half the time left at move 20.
• Spend real time at critical moments (captures that change the structure, the transition to the endgame, sacrifices) and little on obvious moves.
• When two moves are close, choose one — the difference is usually smaller than the cost of the time.
• Under ten minutes: switch to a simpler, safer style; do not start long calculations.

Train it directly: play training games with reduced time, or with a rule such as “no single move longer than five minutes”. Review the time chart of each tournament game together with the evaluation chart.