Overcoming Time Blindness in Chess (ADHD, Autism, Monotropism) - Data Included

Hello everyone,

ADHD, autism, and monotropism can cause severe time blindness (an executive functioning impairment) during chess games, and this is something I continue to struggle with. This is incredibly frustrating because, even when I build a strong position, I often struggle to convert my advantage due to time trouble, or I'll blunder due to time pressure. 

It feels like I'm forced to play bullet chess while my opponent gets to play rapid at the end of every game. 

I refuse to believe there isn't a way to improve this. Has anyone here experienced similar challenges and found solutions? Or perhaps you've helped someone else overcome time management issues? Even if your situation is slightly different, I'd love to hear your strategies.

I'm open to trying anything – different openings, mental cues, time management techniques, etc. I'm mostly a rapid chess player, and that's my preferred format.

As you can see from the chart, I'm behind on the clock for a whopping 73% of my moves! This data is from Aimchess, but it feels even more stark because my opening prep helps me stay on time early on.

The chart also reveals my underlying potential: When I have even clock time throughout the game, I significantly outperform my opponents with a win rate of over 70%. This reinforces that I have the chess skills to succeed, but time management is holding me back.

I'd love to play chess without a constant disadvantage. Thank you in advance for any advice you can offer. 

**Edit: I appreciate the suggestions for time management, and by all means, share them, but my issue is with time blindness, which is related to an executive functioning disorder with the aforementioned conditions. I refuse to accept that I'm stuck like this. I'm hoping somebody comes on here with some unknown method that allows for some improvement in that area.

Here's a description of it:

Hyperfocus: Your brain gets engrossed in a calculation, potentially due to ADHD, autism, or simply your passion for chess.

Monotropic Thinking: Everything narrows to that single, intense train of thought, blocking awareness of everything else, including the clock.

Time Blindness: Time essentially ceases to exist in your conscious awareness for that period. The game becomes an almost timeless puzzle, not a time-limited event.

Maybe it's hard to believe, but I really do get in such tunnel vision that time and clocks cease to exist. It's not like I am thinking that I can "afford" to spend more time on the clock, when I should be moving... it's more like I am in thought process that has walls around it. I'd love to just snap myself out of it, but I don't even know I'm in it. Time goes faster as well. I might feel like I spent 1 minute on a move, but it actually took 3 or 4.

Actually, it is the hyper focus I believe that is killing me in this situation. For me, with time blindness, hyper focus is terrible.

With things like ADHD and autism more games is better usually not less you will have to religh more on pattern recognition the blindness is tough but you sort of just have to deal with it unfortunately.I recommend playing against computers(some) like high-level stockfish so your positional chess is good by habit and play lots of games(tactic) usually a mix of bullet engine playing tactical training and grinding(real players) helps alot

You should try the strategies alot of top gms are doing a good chunk of them have ADHD or autism.(not all of them of course)

I continue to struggle with ADHD as an adult and I've done a lot of reading but I've never heard of this time blindness before. It really makes a lot of sense to me and is a perfect illustration of what I've been going through lately, chess-wise.

Maybe listening to music or chewing gum could help if you haven't tried that yet? But if you asked im assuming you prob have already tried strategies like that if your asking on chess.com forums(if you don't thats ok)

Actually, I haven't. Music would be too distracting but chewing gum could help.

May I recommend ftl music it fits chess almost perfectly 1. The music is from a rage game 2.its calming (the music counters the rage)because of that helps with hyper focus but only so much music relighs on structer and timing(which is what ADHD is bad at) it's not for every one though it can get distracting

Try Energy,XXX Hz music. Find out what frequency suits you.

I suffer from getting into time trouble quite often myself....

I recently read something that resonated with me and used it to help my thinking mechanics.

The first step is determining which decision category the move falls under:

1. Automatic 2. Simple 3.Critical 4.Strategy

1. openings that you know, pattern recognition, etc...

2. positions where there are multiple good moves

3. positions where there is only one or two moves that don't lose

4. positions where a long-term plan should be made

Categories 1 and 2 should only take a short amount of time, whereas 3 and 4 will take longer.

My time-troubles come from spending too much time on category 2 moves. Identifying this has helped me work on it. Hopefully this helps you identify where you are spending too much time as well.

I do play more 15+10 now, but my ultimate goal is to find a fix. I logic knows it can't be, but my heart won't accept it.

I've updated the original post with a better description of the issue and more relevant information.

I recommend switching to blitz(fourth time I redid this due to missclicks) it's easier on he brain plus the average attention span is three min anyway. I wouldn t call it brain fog it's more of a freeze where you either under think or overthink and miss a detail and screw up and give up writing is really good for that to(helps thought process) band also helps(or learning music like piano) whatever works for you also you can't "fix" yourself(unless you take meds but that's a bad idea) try to get better at it and manage when it's happening instead of just trying to fix it yourself group projects are also good but unfurtenently that can go south

For a person with ADHD I have an incredibly good sense of time normal people usually take an extra hour to do something(and usually I'm right about that) so I don't realy know what to say about that(I did used to grind videogames and not notice though how long it was) though so maybe I still have it

I've tried music and I think it has helped me focus more, but not "exit the tunnel". I tried breakcore, but haven't heard the ftl stuff. I'll check it out.

I used to enjoy blitz, but not really anymore. I just enjoy the rapid game better. Well I think everyone can and will experience tunnel vision doing certain activities, but time blindness in a monotrpic sense is almost like not knowing time exist.. but you may have experienced it. For me, it is every single time.

I have ADHD not diagnosed but I am 100 percent sure and I have learning disability discaculia and disgrapia can it also chess improvement??