The Winning Academy 43: Mistakes we make in time trouble

by Jan Markos
5/7/2025 – Despite trying our best, time trouble is sometimes unavoidable. We all have experienced the stress that comes with being under time pressure. Our hearts race, our palms sweat, and our minds become confused. However, it is useful to understand how being in time trouble affects the decisions we make. Of course, we don’t play our A-game. But what kinds of mistakes do we make? I am sure that understanding the nature of these mistakes is the first step in minimizing them.
Your personal chess trainer. Your toughest opponent. Your strongest ally.
FRITZ 20 is more than just a chess engine – it is a training revolution for ambitious players and professionals. Whether you are taking your first steps into the world of serious chess training, or already playing at tournament level, FRITZ 20 will help you train more efficiently, intelligently and individually than ever before. 

In this article, we will take a look at four types of typical time-trouble mistakes.

Firstly, under time pressure, we are less careful with our pawn play.

Karpov-Korchnoi, World Championship Match 1978, Black to move:

In the 16th game of their his match against Karpov in Baguio 1978, Korchnoi was defending a slightly inferior endgame, in which all four rooks were still on the board. In similar positions where passive defence is needed, you need to be very patient. However, patience is something that a player in a severe time trouble does not have.

Korchnoi played 34…a6?!. This move, although objectively not a big mistake, is wrong from a practical point of view. The a-pawn is a bit weaker on a6 than it was on a7 and the b6-rook is now tied down to its defence. In contrast, the e7-rook was defending the pawn while controlling the e-file.

Why did Korchnoi play this unnecessary move? Well, he was impatient, he wanted to do "something" to change the course of the game. Also, players in time-trouble tend to play pawn moves. Why? Pawn moves are relatively easy to calculate, as they are not changing the position much. Also, pushing a pawn forward subconsciously feels like "improving" the position.

Many good positions have been destroyed by bad pawn moves in time trouble. Therefore, be very careful with changing your pawn structure while being short on time!

Here's the complete game:

***

Another problem of being under time pressure is that you simply don't have enough time to calculate the lines till the end.

Caruana-Nakamura, Sinquefield Cup 2014, White to move:

Caruana is a pawn up. Moreover, he has not one, but two passed pawns that Nakamura is desperately trying to block. In fact, there is more than one path for White to win. Smoothest is 40.Rxg6+! Rxg6 41.e6, and Black is helpless due to the passive position of his rook. Relatively best is 41…Kh7 42.e7 Rg8, but after 43.Kf6 White is clearly winning.

However, Caruana was very short on time on his 40th move. Therefore, he could not calculate all the consequences of the sacrifice, and did not dare to rely purely on his intuition. He played the "safe" 40.Bf2? and eventually did not win the game.

In time trouble, the brains of many players activate a "survival mode." They are simply trying to get to the 40th move first, and only afterwards start all direct actions. This is quite often a reasonable strategy, but sometimes it means missing golden opportunities.

Here's the complete game:

***

When players don't have enough time for precise calculations, they often go for the "obvious" moves. Even the greatest players in chess history.

Kasparov-Korchnoi, Brussels 1986, White to move:

White fights for a draw. He is two pawns down and only the opposite-coloured bishops might save him. However, the presence of these bishops also means that both kings are in danger. Where should White put his king?

After 40.Kf3! the king has enough space to avoid falling into a mating net, and therefore White is close to OK. However, Kasparov did not have enough time to calculate any details, and he intuitively chose to move the king to a "safer" square, closer to the edge of the board. He chose 40.Kh3??.

Now after 40…Be5! Korchnoi would have a mating attack. In fact, my devilish engine claims that Black mates in 11 moves. But again, Korchnoi had no time to calculate the details. He relied on his intuition and chose the more natural and "safer" 40…Bxg5??.

The game ended in a draw several moves later.

Here's the complete game:

***

In time pressure, players also tend to make decisions that are most natural for their chess personalities. Positional players tend to play more positional, wild attackers might go berserk.

Shirov-Nakamura, Zurich chess challenge rapid 2016, White to move:

White is visually much worse. His has a "bad" bishop against a well-positioned knight, well Black is pushing along the f-file and has a passed h-pawn.

Yet White can equalize. After 36.Rh1 d4 37.Qd2 Qh6 38.Qe1 he has enough counterplay against the h-pawn. Also 36.a5, intending to open the a-file for his rook, is possible.

But Shirov is a dynamic player, a true successor to Mikhail Tal. His games are full of flashy sacrifices and it is not surprising that he tried to solve his problems in that style.

However, 36.Rxc5?? was a bit too much. White gets no compensation. All Nakamura had to do was to accept the gift. After 36…bxc5 37.a5 h3+ 38.Kg3 (38.Kxh3 Qh6+ 39.Kg3 Rxg4+) h2 White had to resign.

Here's the complete game:

***

There is no universal recipe on how to survive time trouble. Still, I hope this article has helped you a bit. Here is a summary of a few hints:

Not changing the pawn structure unnecessarily is often a good idea.

Don't enter tactical lines if you are not able to calculate them till the very end. At the same time, be aware that even during the time-trouble phase you might get some golden opportunities to decide the game.

Playing by pure intuition might lead to many mistakes. Try to calculate even with a few seconds on your clock.

Know your chess style and be aware that both its pros and its cons will intensify during time trouble.

In this video course, kings will play a role of strong and active pieces. We will explore how Kings can be helpful in defence and prophylaxis, or even in attack!

Links

Jan Markos is a Slovakian chess author, trainer, and grandmaster. His book Under the Surface was the English Chess Federation´s 2018 Book of the Year. His last book, The Secret Ingredient, co-authored with David Navara, focuses on the practical aspects of play, e.g. time-management over the board, how to prepare against a specific opponent, or how to use chess engines during the training process. Markos was the U16 European Champion twenty years ago. At present he helps his pupils from several countries to achieve similar successes. Apart from focusing on the royal game, he is also the author of several non-chess books, focused on critical thinking, moral dilemmas, and phenomenology.