Mastering Time in Chess

…By harnessing this overlooked element. Once it clicks, you start leaving everyone in the dust. You’re suddenly 2, 3, even 4 moves ahead in executing your plan. Your pieces reach prime squares while theirs idle. And the tactics bubble up quickly!

The element is time. And you’ll see it in action in Mastering Time in Chess by Grandmaster Jesse Kraai.

Kraai is a 5-time New Mexico State Champion and the 2024 US Senior Vice-Champion. He’s also a co-founder of ChessDojo — a bustling community of improvers.

Coaching sessions, game reviews, and tourneys showed him a pattern.

Once players hit 1250 Elo, they stop hanging material. But they give up an awful lot of time!

They let you play the move you want with a threat.

While White is developing, Black had to move
already-developed pieces out of harm’s way

Now they must defend with a move that doesn’t help their own plan.

Then you play another good move with a threat. Just like that, you gain a numbers advantage. Your king has also castled to safety…

Black’s queen worsens their problems as
‘rook to e1’ comes with tempo

So when the game explodes, only you can come out on top!

With a huge number’s advantage and
the white king in the center, Black’s win
is only a few moves away

Kraai saw this scene replay over and over. So he concluded that: