Popular Time Control is G30/D5. What is the Best Time Management Strategy for Kids to Learn?

In my area the most common time control for scholastic tournaments is G30/D5 (Game in 30 minutes with a 5 second delay). 

What do you recommend kids to play and know in terms of factoring the clock into their chess play?

Sometimes I see kids play and finish games when they both had 20 minutes or more left on the clock.  It seems like the clock is freaking them out and they're treating it almost like a 5 minute blitz game.  

And I've also seen it where one or both sides get down to 5 minutes on their clock, and one or both players freak out, and they just start making moves like every 2 seconds (it seems) with arms and hands just flashing about, and then they are blundering everything away, and when the game is over, they still have like 3 minutes left on their clock.

What's the best way to teach players how to manage their clock time in a tournament with a G30/D5 time control?  Any rules of thumbs that you use?

What do you think of the following:

o  Spend no more than 10 minutes of clock time for your first 10 moves.  By move 10, you should still have 20 minutes or more on your clock.

o  Once you get down to 5 minutes on your clock, you can stop writing down your moves.

o  When it's your opponents turn to move, think on his clock time!  What you should think about is _____________.  

o  If you see a good move, sometimes you sit on your hands and try to find a better one.  If you feel a little time stressed, and you know it's a good move, and even though there might be a better one, go ahead and play your good move!

o  If it gets down to 5 minutes on your clock, you still have time!  You don't have to race and get possibly rattled.

o  If it gets down to 1 minute, you can still probably get in 30 moves or so.

Do you have tips to pass on to kids (and adults) for G30/d5 time management?

A lot of kids who play scholastic aren't interested in improving.  I've seen games finish when both kids have 25+ minutes left in a G/30.  They are impatient and just move instantly.  One of my students rated about 700 improved more than 100 points after I told him to simply wait 5 seconds before making any move.  It cut down on his blunders a lot and let him pick up free pieces.

To answer your question, I don't think time control matters.  What matters is if they take the time they have to study the board or whether they just blitz out a move.  

One thing I do advocate for is increment instead of delay, which allows people to write down their moves the whole game instead of stopping with 5 minutes left.  As a time trouble addict, I have a lot of really interesting endgames that I've lost due to my inability to write with low time.

My advice for G/30 is to play fairly quickly out of the opening if it's an opening that you know and also don't always look for the best move.  If you have two choices between a good move and a really complicated move that is at best only slightly better than the good move but requires a lot of calculation, take move #1 and preserve your time for later in the game.

What's the relationship between analysis and speed of thought/play?  Totally agree with improving one's analysis.  Yet how does a player incorporate analytical improvement with the pragmatic aspects of a ticking game clock?  Is there a fast way to do an analytical assessment of a position?

With regards to time expenditure, do you recommend players to write down in parentheses the time remaining on the clock after a move?

Thanks for counsel.  Question:  Does the 50 move rule apply in these G30/d5 games where players are in time pressure and not writing down moves?

Say it's King, rook, and knight versus King, rook, and knight with no pawns on the board.  One player offers a draw.  The other declines, playing to flag the other player.  

Is the 50 move rule null and void because they are not keeping score?   

I've seen people actually count on their hands or under their breath (1, 2, 3, etc) or a TD can keep track if one is watching, but I believe the onus is on the player claiming the draw to prove that 50+ moves have occurred.  I don't know the exact USCF rule but I think that unless the player counts, or a TD or spectators can verify with some level of certainty, then the game continues.  I know for sure that the rules isn't voided, but it can be very hard to prove that 50+ moves have actually occurred.

With 5 second delay, you should never flag in an equal position.  I've played 50+ moves in a R+P endgame with 1 second remaining + 5 second delay

Thanks for the above.  

I can imagine someone getting flagged in an equal position and being bitter about it.

I've seen it before, but typically it's people who don't have experience playing speed chess.  I think playing blitz is a good way to avoid flagging or blundering in low time

There's one skill which is often neglected, and that is to KEEP THINKING ON THE OTHER PLAYER'S TIME.

Many young players look away until the opponent moves, but if you can anticipate and analyze the most likely responses, you can spend less time when your own clock is ticking (except when the reply surprises you, of course).  Their time can be your time, too.

I noticed the same thing!!  What would you suggest for them to think about?

I would suggest positional analysis and predicting candidate moves by the opponent. 

I saw the last 10-15 minutes or so of the Youtube Broadcast of the Leuven Grand Chess Tour, Day 1 with Yasser, Maurice, and Lovely Lady (I just can't remember her name.)

Anyways, they were interviewing Wesley at the end of the day, and he thinks that there are going to be faster time controls, or that there's a trend towards it, and so, without coming directly out and saying it out loud, he's kinda sorta preparing for that, and implicitly, maybe that's why he had a good result in Day 1 of the Rapid format of 25 minutes, Delay 10 seconds.

An interesting hypothesis by Wesley.  Which kinda speaks to memorizing your openings and whipping them out quickly, so you'll have more time for the rest of the game.

Nay, it is fine to put them into longer time control tournaments. 30 mom is good enough for u500 but longer time is needed for stronger players

On Chess24 they transcribed Wesley's interview after Day 1 of the Leuven Rapid/Blitz tournament and he did say what I thought I heard from comment #12.

When there was talk of Wesley becoming a rapid and blitz specialist he noted how much more important fast chess is becoming:

I have a feeling rapid and blitz will become more popular in the upcoming times, so players are going to have to get used to it now. It’s not all about classical chess anymore!

Oh yes it is, Classical chess gets you money while speed chess doesn't give you a cent.

At the Super GM level speed chess (Rapid and Blitz) does pay.  Witness the Leuven Grand Chess Tour prize money.  Also, the FIDE World Championship and this year's US Women's Chess Championship were decided by Rapid/Blitz tie-breakers. 

What this will do is arguably produce a trickle-down effect where it will be widely adopted by National Chess Federations and the masses.  I say arguably because perhaps it's been a bottom's up approach instead,  and the popularity of Speed Chess climbed its way into the Upper Echelons of Chess.

While "Blunder Chess" (my humorous term for Speed Chess) is certainly exciting, fun, and filled with drama which definitely increases its appeal for spectators as the clock is ticking down, I have made the argument in other threads that Rapid/Speed Chess should NOT be used in World Championship matches as a tie-breaker.  If after 24 games, the match is still tied, then the World Champ retains his crown.

Anyways, lot of kids like Rapid/Blitz Chess, a lot of tournaments have these time controls, plus it's being used in top GM tournaments, even Wesley So is anticipating this trend (whether right or wrong, good or bad) and so, it just seems that the pragmatic or practical thing to do is to combine both accurate and fast decision-making at the chess board for good time management because of the faster time controls.

100% agree!

The problem with huge increment controls like +45 seconds is the pros can blitz our 15 moves of theory and gain more time on the clock.  Ditto for repetitions in the endgame.  I don't see G/30 as ever being a commonly played time control at high level chess. 

thanks that actually helps me a lot. i always get into time pressure in 90d5 and the bottom stuff about 5 min and 1 min help

Sometime I think 15+ minutes on a move in otb

A 5 minute max is much too low.  If you're in the bathroom when your opponent moves you could flag or be forced to blitz a move when you get back to the board.

I am 1761 otb u know