Clock

How the time used on a move relates to blunders, from the clock readings of 4593 moves in 156 games.

Of 260 blunders, 53 (20%) were played in under 2 seconds. Moves that fast make up 34% of all moves. Quick moves are therefore not where most blunders come from. 31 blunders (12%) came with less than 30 seconds left, and moves played in that state make up 9% of all moves. The slowest group is the opposite: moves that took 5 seconds or more are 32% of the moves and 52% of the blunders.

Slow moves are also the hard ones: a player thinks longest where the position is complicated, and complicated positions produce more errors. So these figures do not show that thinking longer causes blunders. They do show that the blunders are not mainly a result of hurrying.

By time used on the move

By time left on the clock

Losses on time

19 games were lost on the clock. 6 of them were not yet lost on the board (final evaluation above −3.0), so only those were decided by time.