Where your clock goes
Time trouble is a distribution problem, not a speed problem.
4 minute read
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The opening is not where to spend it
Most players in time trouble did not think slowly; they thought at the wrong moments. Minutes spent on move eight of a known opening are minutes not available on move thirty, where the position is genuinely unclear.
The cheapest improvement available to most club players is not calculating faster. It is noticing that a position is still theory and moving.
Spend the clock where the position is actually undecided.
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The one moment worth a long think
There is usually one point per game where the character of the position is about to change — a pawn break, a trade into an endgame, a decision about the king. That moment is worth several minutes and repays them.
Recognising it is a skill, and it is trainable: reviewing your own games and marking where the position turned teaches you what the turn looks like before it happens.
Put it to work
The honest test of a lesson is whether the thing it warns about stops appearing in your games. That is what the trainers measure.