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Time trouble


In chess played with a time control, time trouble, time pressure, or its German translation Zeitnot, is the situation where a player has little time to complete the required moves. When forced to play quickly, the probability of making blunders is increased, so handling the clock is an important aspect of chess playing. The last move of the time control (often move 40) is especially prone to blunders if players only have a few seconds to play it, and many games have been lost due to poor time management in time pressure.

Players often spend large amounts of time after the opening as they consider their plans and calculate various tactical variations. In many cases, spending this time to find the correct path is worth the risk of time trouble later on if the position is simplified to a point where it can be played quickly. However, spending large amounts of time in simple positions on non-forcing matters is often excessive.

In time trouble, players are usually focused on maintaining the integrity of their position. Lars Bo Hansen's principles are to ensure that pieces remain protected, avoid unnecessary pawn moves, and avoid analyzing unnecessary tactics. Webb advises players to keep track of the number of moves played, and work out a provisional response to each of the opponent's moves on the opponent's time. This trick is called "permanent brain" or "pondering". When the opponent is in time trouble, Webb advocated the barrage technique which involves planning two or more moves ahead, and then playing them in rapid succession. The idea is to give the opponent little time to prepare for the second move, increasing the probability of that move being a mistake. Playing a barrage of moves does increase the chance of a blunder from the barrager as well, and the technique is inadvisable in a winning position where a player should focus on winning on the board.

FIDE has some additional rules regarding players in time trouble.

The first rule regards the recording of moves. A player with less than five minutes remaining, in a game where there is not a 30-second or greater time increment per move, is not required to keep score as usual. However, if the player makes the time control, he must update the scoresheet before making a move as soon as the flag falls, marking expiry of the first, and now passed, time control. If only one player is in time trouble and not recording moves, the opponent's scoresheet may be used to update the score. In the case of mutual time pressure, where both players have stopped recording the moves, the tournament director or an assistant should be on hand to record the moves as they are played, and their notes can be used to update the scoresheets upon passage of the time control. If the game score is not recorded by anybody during the time pressure period, the players shall endeavor to reconstruct the moves of the game, under the control of the tournament director, if this is not possible the game continues with the next move being regarded as the first move of the next time control.


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