MohammedAmin.comSerious writing for
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Playing chess regularly is vital for improvement. Playing online makes this practical for everyone.
Posted 7 December 2025
I have been playing competitive chess on and off for nearly six decades, having started in the fourth form at school and now being 75. See my chess autobiography up to 1990.
I stopped playing competitive chess in the mid-1990’s after South Manchester Chess Club closed down, but resumed in 2022 after joining the Oxford & Cambridge Club (“O&CC”). I play for its team in the Hamilton Russell Chess Tournament.
A few years ago, an O&CC player asked me for guidance on how to improve. After some procrastination, I am now writing a series of short pieces of advice.
Having a clear objective helps. I am trying to improve for the over-the-board games in the Hamilton Russell Chess Tournament.
These are played with a time control of 60 minutes sudden death. (The clock is set to 1 hour, and if your time runs out, you lose unless it is impossible for your opponent to win with any set of legal chess moves.)
Disclaimer
I am a paying customer of almost all of the chess websites and book providers that I mention. However, I have no other connection with them, and receive nothing for mentioning them.
This page covers only playing online chess. I will tackle other topics separately.
There are many websites where you can play online chess. They are normally free, with some offering additional services for a subscription.
They vary in terms of number of players, the user interface etc. I recommend choosing one site that you like, and sticking to it.
I use Chess.com and pay for Diamond membership, which is the most expensive level. My handle is MohammedAmin. (Very unoriginal!) I like Chess.com because:
When I was getting back into playing competitive chess after several decades of absence, I played lots of 5-minute chess for several years. (A time control of five minutes sudden death.)
The advantage of this time control is that you can play lots of games in a short period of time. The main goal is to develop your chess habits and instincts, since there is very little time for careful thinking. It “loosens up your brain.”
After a few years, you should change to 10-minute chess. Once you have got used to playing 5-minute chess, having 10 minutes for all your moves feels like having a lifetime!
It enables you to think a bit more deeply.
About six months ago, I stopped playing both 5-minute and 10-minute chess. Now I only play with a time control of 15 minutes + 10 seconds. This adds 10 seconds on to your time with each move you make.
Accordingly, no matter how long the game, you should never run out of time as long as you don’t average more than 10 seconds for each move.
Since you start with 15 minutes, if the game lasts, say, 75 moves, you will have an average of 22 seconds per move and your total thinking time will be 27½ minutes.
The key difference with this time control is that it gives you enough time to play proper endgames, since with 10 seconds being added each time you move, you can play out the endgame for as long as necessary.
For me, this provides a very realistic simulation of playing over the board chess, since having 27½ minutes to play a hypothetical 75 move game is very similar to playing 60 minutes sudden death.
The key point is having enough time to think in the middle game and to play proper endgames.
For me this is the key difference from playing chess when I was young, or indeed playing chess online 25 years ago.
Having a strong chess engine go through your game and identify the key moments when you should have done something better is very valuable training.
You may not want to analyse every 5-minutes or 10-minutes game. However I strongly recommend analysing every game you play at 15 minutes + 10 seconds.
I recommend regularly doing the online puzzles that a site like Chess.com provides. These are realistic game positions, often taken from games played on the platform.
They develop your willingness to look at more unusual moves (I have always been too conservative and too reluctant to sacrifice material) and teach you to look at the board as a whole.
I believe that regularly doing online puzzles is improving my chess, alongside playing online.
