longer time-controls for improving ones' chess skills.

I currently play 15-10 rapid and I'm considering switching over to 30-30 classical. I enjoy rapid chess but feel that longer time controls may improve my game... ( My goal is to reach 2000 Lichess rating in 3 to 4 years...) Can I reach my goal by continuing with rapid time controls or do I have to take on the longer time controls? I would love to hear from the community: esp. those who have made the journey from 1300 to 2000 lichess rating. Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Short Answer:

15 10 is definitely enough time to practice enough chess to surpass 2000.

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Long Answer:

If you're continuously running very low on time, in winning positions, then that's definitely a great indicator that you can make good use of a longer time control.

If your clock is rarely under 3 minutes, then studying the fundamentals to supply yourself with more insight and more questions to debate in your games, would be the way to go.

No matter what, if you can't make use of the extra time, then it's of no use to you.

@Onyx_Chess Thanks for the feedback. I don't run into time trouble per se., but there are many times that I've passed over a tactic because at first glance the pay off was not certain and I did not want to invest a 2 to 3 minute think to calculate it out... in other words my play becomes rather cautious or passive for lack of time to calculate complex tactics. Still, I enjoy rapid play and maybe over time I'll learn to trust my instincts and go for the kill when it is there for the taking. Thanks again. Rapid and Tactics... Forever!

You progress more from one 30+30 game than from two 2 15+10 games. Chess is a complicated game. Progress comes from analysing your lost games. However, it is pointless to analyse a fast game for longer than it was played. You must learn from your mistakes. Howver the mistakes must be due to lack of understanding, not lack of time.

Hi! Why such pessimism 3-4 years. You are able in the near future to achieve the coveted rating of 2000. Your tactics rating is solid 2150. I mostly play in the lichess tournaments. So I give the opponents are mostly lower ranking. I turned to casual games. But as soon as I set the filter to my rating and higher, I played 60 games in 2 days and came out to 2000. But, it should be said that the rating of 2000 I took back in 2016, but it was the peak of the rating. And then I had 1800-1900. Play with rivals with equal rating. 1850 took place the filter on the 1800 and above. You'd be surprised how fast you get to your destination. Good luck!

Let us look at an example


You had the strong tactical shot 10...e5! getting rid of your backward pawn and seizing the center. You spent only 14 seconds on the shallow 10...Bf5, which develops Bc8 into play, but does not cure the backward pawn or the center. In a 15+10 game you should spend at least 25 seconds in this critical phase of the game.

In the endgame you got an opportunity to play 34...Ne3! right away winning his pawn g2 before squandering your vital pawns with 34...a5 making a hole and 35...a4. You got the idea of ...Ne3, but when it was too late. Again with more thought you might have found the idea of 34...Ne3 earlier.

The same goes for 38...g4? (3 seconds) and 39...Kxg4?? (2 seconds). 38...Ne1! picks up the pawn ...Nxf3. 39...Ke4! keeps the king central, so that it can help defend against the a-pawn. In a 15+10 game you should spend more than 10 seconds per move.

How many seconds do you spend on tactics puzzles?

At the end of this game you had 8 useless minutes on your clock. So you played this 15+10 rapid game as if it were 7+10. If you had spent this 8 minutes earlier, you might have found 10...e5 or 34...Ne3 or 38...Ne1 or 39...Ke4. Maybe you would not have found these, but at least you would have given it your best effort.

@tpr Thanks for the analysis. Better time management; More long thinks... perhaps, 30 to 45 second long think every 3 to 5 moves. I've gotta give it some serious consideration. Thanks again. Happy Chessing.

@voronn09 I believe 3 to 4 years is nearly realistic... I started playing on-line chess 3 and a half years ago and have gone from 1250 rating to 1600 in that time... and I imagine that 1600 to 2000 will be a bit more difficult. Tactics rating isn't an indicator of overall chess playing abilities. Recently I played a 1600 player with a 2600 tactics rating- Go figure! Thanks for the encouragement. Happy Chessing.