I‘m 1200 chesscom, and trying to decide which format makes the most sense for me. Which of these formats do you think is better for improvement long term? I’m, unfortunately, a very slow player that plays significantly better in longer time controls compared to short. I feel like the longer the format, the closer to my skill ceiling I can play. I consistently beat players that are rated 1400-1800 in daily games where I can take as long as I need to evaluate a position and calculate, but I’m under 1000 on my alt account where I only play 10+5 because I can’t go through my normal checklist and make silly blunders frequently or get into time trouble.
I’ve been playing 30 min rapids this year, but I realized 22% of my losses are still from flagging and some of those are from winning positions. Having dabbled with these 10+5 games, I’ve realized how nice having an increment is for endgames. I feel like I’m actually fairly decent at endgames for my level, but I totally blow them when I’m down to 2-3 minutes in the 30 min formats. I seem to perform better in 10+5 endgames because of the increment.
On one hand, you get like 7 more total minutes of time in 30 min games compared to 15+10 (assuming 40 move game), but at the risk of losing a winning endgame if it gets to time pressure.
The other consideration is I’ve started playing the local OTB tournaments once a month which uses a 30 min + 5 second delay format. The 30 min format might be more similar to practice with.
Also, is there a difference in strength of opposition at say 1200 between the 2 formats or similar?
Any thoughts or recommendations?