How long do you think before moving?

I'm just curious -- in turn-based chess, how much time do you typically spend thinking/analyzing before making a move?  I don't know why, but sometimes when a game is really interesting, I'll spend 20 minutes deciding what to do.  Other times when a game seems dull, I'll often move after just 30 seconds -- usually a recipe for losing!

In complex positions, I spend ~20 minutes on my FIRST viewing of a position. I try never to move on the first day. I record the variations I analysed, make light comments on what I like (usually just a single note, such as !, !?, ?? Look at this) and then go back the next day and delve deeper. Some positions require hours of such work.

I spend anywhere from 1-30minutes. I have looked for almost an hour before though. Here's something interesting. I took about a month off from tactics on another site to focus on correspondence games. When I started spending a inordinate amount of time analyzing positions, then went back to the tactics on the other site, I went up 100 points within 50 puzzles in about one hour. So, the more time I spend on my CC games, the better I get a tactics. As such, I take my CC games very seriously and put considerable effort into each move. 

to be honest, with school and all, i don't have much time to think about moves in turn-based. some people think im stupid, because i spend about 15 seconds moving after i click on the "my move button". 

i mean, if you want a higher rating DONT do what i do. But i think 15 minutes is enough even in complex postitions

I generally try to keep it around 10 minutes or so at a time. I usually don't see something the first time, so might as well take a break and come back to try again. First few moves I usually play within a minute, though.

Much the same as you JOE, sometimes longer.

Perhaps 3-4 hours per move, not in one sit.

Usually around 10 seconds less than I need to :(

When I sit down at he position in CC, I tend to take and make a position on a piece of paper and will spend anywhere from 5 to 30 mins analyzing potential moves, especially in an either complex or unfamiliar opeening. Later, I will take the same position and play the moves in my head that are from the position or on an actual board and look at them throughout the day. I played an 1800+ rated player and swept both games with him in a tournament by doing this, one of the games being an offbeat Owen Defense where i missed 9. Bc2, opting for 9. Be2 instead. By the time we reached the ending, I had a K+7p vs. a K+N+5p ending where I had a later 6th rank pawn duo and declined a Nxc3 sac line as I knew it would  lead to a draw. I conditional moved most of the ending and converted to a win later. Had I looked further into the opening, I would have spotted 9. Bc2 eventually.

The thing that helps me with moves is that i play the same standard openings against pre-determined opponent replies. Here is the list of openings I will attempt to set up as White:

e4 e5: spanish exchange 5. 0-0 line

e4 c5: KIA (getting players out of book Sicilians by move 3)

d4 d5: QGD: Orthodox or Semi-slav formation

c4: English opening: Symmetrical variation or 2. g3 lines

any other replies, play into standard book lines

As Black, the openings i typically play are very few

if e4, I play the Taimanov Sicilian

if d4, I will play the A45 Queens pawn game or the Slav/Semi slav openings, trying to avoid the KI defense lines as much as possible.

Nf3 goes to QP game

c4 play the Anglo-indian defense.

I typically play these lines for 2 important reasons: 1. I do not have a lot of time to study all the different lines involved in some complex lines and 2. I have neither my own computer (I am writing this from a display in a Staples) or any engine or analysis software.

Because i play these openings all the time, i can make the best positional moves for the game since I get to see alot of "standard" replies and know where I want my pieces to go, saving alot of time there. If the position is familiar, I may spend 30s to 5/10 mins looking the board over. In tactically complex positions, I might spend 20-30 minutes going through lines.

If the line is unfamiliar, reletively even or unclear, I spend more time on the position than i would in familiar lines.

Also, since I do well in the endings, I will usually base my moves on simplifying after gaining an advantage and steering the game into even or favorable endings. I have at times looked over an endgame position for an hour or longer depending on how many lines are open to me.

Otherwise, I spend perhaps 30s to 1 min per game per move.

Prior to my auto accident, i used to be at 1679 CC but with time outs, am now about 1450 CC. I also agree that playing CC helps with tactics more than playing games blitz fashion.

Still, I usually just come for the free wings.

How long is a piece of string ?  In the most complicated of positions against 1800+ players, I sometimes take 2-3 hours over a move but that's usually only once or twice in the game.

On simpler moves & when I've already worked out where I'm going, then a minute or two will suffice. I still spend quite a bit of time double-checking (no pun intended) my moves to make sure nothing's vulnerable to attack.

The phrase I use to describe the way I used to play was "sweating blood " over each move.  I'm retired and my time is my own, but a year ago I was literally spending 6 or 8 hours a day to keep up with a lousy 5 or 6 games.  I was driving myself nuts: I'd even wake up in the middle of the night with an idea and run to my boards to try it out.  I'm now playing my first game in almost a year and I'm no longer obsessing over finding the "perfect" move.  I figure out my candidate moves, make an "informed" decision and move on.   Maybe 10 or 20 minutes, although that may be split between a couple sessions.  Chess is fun again!

I am with you there. Sunday is my big study day (12, 14, or even 16 hours is common playing chess, studying, analyzing, tactics, coach lessons...). More than half of this time is on CC games. That's why I keep telling myself to stop taking challenges or playing tournaments (so I can study other things). I just can't though. CC games was the key to me improving the way I did over the past 3 months.

Mike

Great postings guys

+1 to NP, baddogno and Stephen.

I too have seen overall improvement in the TT and chess mentor programs as well as in my OTB play. Found  a chess club in town today so going there for a couple hours to have some fun as well.

Nice! Good luck. I wish I had more people to play OTB with :(

I think most people spend less time than they should if they want to make the best moves, amd more time than they should if they're going to play the inferior moves they end up playing, anyway.  But this doesn't really answer your question.

Some of my moves are basically instantaneous, particularly in positions where I have already analyzed something out for a few moves, and the future sequence is already embedded in my head.  I sometimes pause and analyze subsequent moves in the known series again, anyway, looking for an intermezzo or a better line, but when I do this I usually end up playing what I decided upon hours or days earlier, anyway.

Other times I can spend several minutes analyzing possibilities, go on to other games, come back and analyze again for several minutes, move on to other games again, and the cycle repeats as my time winds down.  I might return to a position several times before I make a move, spending an hour or two on it in all.  

When I rinse and repeat in this way, it is in what I deem to be critical positions.  For me, critical positions are positions in which there are multiple plausible continuations and I have to try to choose the best one, or positions in which finding any plan at all is difficult.

I try to keep all of my games moving along at a steady pace.  My opponents want to play the games, too, and I feel the pressure of needing to move.  But there are times when I get bogged down, and it seems most or all of my games are arriving at such critical positions at the same time.  When this happens, and my time starts getting short in a few, I find that I end up just playing seemingly plausible moves in all of my games instead of what I deemed to be the best moves.  I'm not guessing: I have worked on the positions--I just give up the work and play because time is short.  Then the time pressure is relieved, and everything starts flowing normally again.

That's me.  For what it's worth.  What works for you may be quite different.

And yet you don't seem to play turn-based (at least, not here)...

Yeah, same here.  It all depends...

I should take as long as needed to analyse the position, check out the responses to each of my candidate moves and verify everything for safety. I very seldom do this and make moves on the average in under ten minutes. This is the major reason my turn-based rating doesn't get much higher.

Either that or your opponents have an average rating of 1321.

Most moves do not take much time.  Opening moves are quick.  Combinational moves are quick, once a sequence has been decided upon and works.  Many of my moves are made within a few mintues as a result of previous analysis.  It's the critical moves that take more time, but they also result in quicker moves later.  

My critical moves might take place two or three times in a game, on up to a dozen or more times.  If I kept 100 games going, I wouldn't be able to devote proper time to them.