I really, really hate fast time controls.

I'm an old dude. Been playing off & on since I was a youngster. Been away from the game for a few years but always loved it so coming back to it now that my life has settled down to allow for more focus & concentration.

Pretty decent at correspondence. It's what I love most & I really enjoy the opportunity it allows me to play the best I possibly can. Though I still do stupid stuff on occasion, of course. So-so at classic time controls. Utterly reek at anything approaching a fast control though. 

I understand it's supposed to be a good way to work on practicing your openings & that sort of thing, but I just seem to fall apart when I try it. End up making stupid moves, hanging pieces & other assorted garbage that just ends up getting me mad at myself. Then things go downhill from there. I don't mind losing. That's part of the game & part of learning. Hate doing stupid stuff & basically helping my opponent beat me though. Having something happen that is new to me is cool, doing something I know not to do isn't.

Maybe I'm too hard on myself. Don't know, but any advice? Anyone else experience that sort of thing? Have read that it can be a useful tool, but should I give it up since I'm not enjoying it & just beating myself up over it? Keep at it & just suck up the losses until I get past whatever my problem is? Maybe just try slower, but still fast time controls until one works for me? Not saying I expect to be kicking butt, would just rather get beat by my opponent than by myself if you see what I'm saying. Hope this doesn't sound like a pity party or whining over losing. I enjoy watching fast chess sometimes. Would like to be able to use it as a tool for improvement if I could. It's just don't seem to be working for me for now. Thanks for reading & I appreciate any useful input from anyone with more speed chess experience. 

Tldr; I suck at speed chess. Crumble when the clocks ticking, do stupid stuff & get mad at myself. Any advice to helping it become a fun, learning tool for me or should I just give it up & stick to what I handle better?

I only play 3 day moves, 5 day moves and 7 day moves. I could not possibly care less what others say about blitz and bullet and all that. I'm also an old guy. I'm here to have fun. If I "improve," fine. If not, so what.

I don't even try anything faster than 10 minutes & that seems to be too fast for me tbh. Want to enjoy it but just not having any fun at all with it. Not doing anything for me but stressing me out.

Focus on staying relaxed during games. Tension can lead to more mistakes. Embrace the thrill of quick, dynamic play. The more you enjoy the process, the more relaxed you'll become.

I can relate in way, in that I am horrid at bullet, blitz and rapid.

Classical caters more to my strengths in that I can visualize, calculate and think all the way to the end game.

Should add that I haven't played hardly any games on Chess.com, but have played tons of games elsewhere & over the years. Fast time controls have always been an issue for me, tending to cause more frustration than fun. My recent games here were just my latest attempts to give it another try.

Wanna play bullet?

Play 15|10 rapid.
Thanks to the increment you always have time to win a won position or draw a drawn position.

It's the same for me. No fun playing like that. However, it can be useful not only for working on openings and trying out plans and schemes. I've been playing quite a few blitz games lately, for the reasons I just mentioned, and I've found a little, beneficial side effect : I've sped up making decisions when I'm short on time. It's something that comes in handy in rapid games (15'10") and classical, my favorite time controls, in which I often suffer in the final stages because I tend to waste time deciding which move to do.

I also tried to play blitz with commitment, but to no avail : that type of game, all instinct and automatisms, is not for me.

If you only play those games for training, as I do, they shouldn't cause you frustration and stress.

Fast is not for old

Yea, I'm thinking I'd be better off leaving the speedy stuff for the hyper youngsters. lol

I played tournament chess in the 80's and early 90's and I think all were at classic time conrols and maybe a couple at 90 minutes a game. I have never been interested in playing rapid chess other than a friendly skittles game. I don't even watch Title Tuesday or any other rapid tournaments. Just not interested.

I'm 61 on Monday and I don't play much shorter time controls than rapid. I tried 5|0 and I don't like the feeling when you're under time pressure.

Pressure isn't worth a dime.

Sounds like the easiest solution is to just not play faster games. It's not a prerequisite to any form of improvement.

I agree. Thought at first that it might be helpful, but not if it's just going to stress me out. I play to enjoy the game, not get stressed & frustrated. May still play a fast game or 2 here & there, but no longer have any plans for a deep dive into fast chess. Think I'll go the daily route instead. That's more my cup of tea anyway.

You bring up some good points as well as others in this thread. I find the faster games very challenging for similar reasons but I also enjoy the challenge of having to think fast as in some way it must be good for my aging brain. Yes I make mistakes, and the time pressure can create stress and tension thus I play with increments and enjoy 10+5 and 15+10. It lends to getting more games in that I can then review for improvement. Another plus is that when playing OTB time often becomes and issue and it prepares for those instances. Above all if I enjoy the faster time controls I’ll continue to play them and try not to stress about the losses or ratings.

I am damn sure that some are able to manipulate the clocks in Chess.Com

Cheating by manipulation of clock is rampant