Actually learned some basic things about increments effect on game style. I have no experience with time controls.. Time is so flexible when concentrated on some thrilling ideas to test on the board, that thinking of the clock seems like a nagging annoyance. But I was glad to hear that increments takes out the flagging game.
10+5 is my favourite online time control by far. 90+30 is preferred for OTB games.
i have long been a fan of 'traditional' blitz, but then, i hail from the days before fischer clocks. 5 mins was fast enough to get some games in and short enough to do other things in the day, but i think i only ever played 2 blitz tourneys otb. my favourite time control there was surprisingly game in 25.
i did play a variety of otb time controls though. 40/90, 20/20, 20/10 repeating was a common control for weekender tournaments when i was playing tournaments as a teenager, and avetik's picture in the blog entry of that particular model of clock (the white clock) brought back memories! the little bone or tan coloured clocks were common too, but they were smaller, and the buttons were more suited to faster games than the larger clocks, so sometimes it was even a practical decision of which clock was available to which time control would be preferred.
now, with online chess everywhere, the habit developed so long ago remains, but the dexterity does not, both physically and mentally. i see the moves that little bit slower at 50 compared to when i was 17, and although i still enjoy the fast games of 5+0 and love the rapid games of 15+0, my best performances and by far my deepest thoughts come when playing longer time controls, so anything longer than 60+15 is, if i'm near the keys and have time, always tempting.
in summary, i'd have to say that favourite time control depends now depends on my mood and available time, with different ranges across the board being acceptable on different logins, even on the same day, with the exception that i will not accept a bullet game (unless i misclick, because not playing then is disrespectful, but it's not the most enjoyable for me and definitely not my best chess).
i did play a variety of otb time controls though. 40/90, 20/20, 20/10 repeating was a common control for weekender tournaments when i was playing tournaments as a teenager, and avetik's picture in the blog entry of that particular model of clock (the white clock) brought back memories! the little bone or tan coloured clocks were common too, but they were smaller, and the buttons were more suited to faster games than the larger clocks, so sometimes it was even a practical decision of which clock was available to which time control would be preferred.
now, with online chess everywhere, the habit developed so long ago remains, but the dexterity does not, both physically and mentally. i see the moves that little bit slower at 50 compared to when i was 17, and although i still enjoy the fast games of 5+0 and love the rapid games of 15+0, my best performances and by far my deepest thoughts come when playing longer time controls, so anything longer than 60+15 is, if i'm near the keys and have time, always tempting.
in summary, i'd have to say that favourite time control depends now depends on my mood and available time, with different ranges across the board being acceptable on different logins, even on the same day, with the exception that i will not accept a bullet game (unless i misclick, because not playing then is disrespectful, but it's not the most enjoyable for me and definitely not my best chess).
15+10 is my favorite time control on lichess because I want to think of every aspect of my moves before I play them. Wich help me to get better at strategical chess instead of just tactical chess. And I think this is why I'm gaining hundreds of points recently in classical chess. I have never enjoyed playing blitz game because we are forced to ignore some aspects of the game.
avetik is awseome his blogs are awesome and chessmode has a awesome story, i like 3+2 though i mostly play 30 min because i want to get better
I like 5+3 a lot, but also 12+3 is good and in my region (Lake Garda, Italy) a lot of tourneys have this increment.
Thank you. This article makes a lot of sense to me. Also, I've been trying to figure out what the increments are for and how they work. I am still not sure I totally get it but will def try the 5+3 format now. I find I can keep focus better for a shorter game but too many times 5+0 was just a little too short for me to play my best at the end.
I far prefer playing with increment and I won't play any extremely fast time controls. I prefer not to play 10+0 but occasionally do when I enter "rapid arena". And in the game I recently played in that arena I won with about 32 seconds left on my clock.
As we got into the end-game my primary thought was that it was about even but my opponent had far more time on his clock so a draw was never going to happen unless I got enough off the board. As it continued my opponent erred and I was king and knight and 2 pawns vs king and knight, and if I flag that's a loss - it's unfair that it should be but mate is possible if I really go out and help my opponent.
I also watch chess and usually pick rapid but there is no way to filter the lichess TV on only watching games with increment and many times I see 10+0 games turn simply into flagging races and that isn't what I want to watch.
It's good someone here encourages increment, and I guess that's because your a purist chess player and want to see games end with the right conclusion. The purpose of the clock is really to keep the game flowing, with flagging the "penalty" for not moving in the time allocated, but it isn't meant to be a bona-fide way to try to win except that in the old days there were no clocks with increment so it became a factor.
When I started playing online chess and increment was available I was surprised how many opponents were opposed to using it.
As we got into the end-game my primary thought was that it was about even but my opponent had far more time on his clock so a draw was never going to happen unless I got enough off the board. As it continued my opponent erred and I was king and knight and 2 pawns vs king and knight, and if I flag that's a loss - it's unfair that it should be but mate is possible if I really go out and help my opponent.
I also watch chess and usually pick rapid but there is no way to filter the lichess TV on only watching games with increment and many times I see 10+0 games turn simply into flagging races and that isn't what I want to watch.
It's good someone here encourages increment, and I guess that's because your a purist chess player and want to see games end with the right conclusion. The purpose of the clock is really to keep the game flowing, with flagging the "penalty" for not moving in the time allocated, but it isn't meant to be a bona-fide way to try to win except that in the old days there were no clocks with increment so it became a factor.
When I started playing online chess and increment was available I was surprised how many opponents were opposed to using it.
I bothered again to watch a lichess TV game only for it to end like that. Sorry that isn't a "chess" ending. And this is rapid.