The Bilbao wrap-up on chessbase.com has an observation in Shirov-Kramnik round 6 Nimzo-Indian. Kramnik played a TN on move 14 and likely moved quickly given the “obvious” moves. The commentator/author then throws this out:
At first blush the implication is that Shirov and Kramnik whipped along in theory and didn’t take much time. But it was notable enough to be mentioned.
Is five minutes slow or fast? I would especially appreciate thoughts from masters and high experts who have had the opportunity to watch GMs and IMs in person and can correlate the thinking time with the board position based on personal experience.
Well, an average of 5 minutes per move would exceed the time control in every tournament or match I’ve ever heard of, including the world championship.
Exluding opening preperation, which is probably around 12 to 15 moves deep, and forced moves, ya, at some point, you’d expect a GM to think for a few minutes per move. Like any chess game, only a player decides on a continuation, they generally try to make that continuation happen. If the opponent doesn’t (or can’t) stray from the combination, then the next few moves would go by pretty quick. Then another point will come were the gm will spend considerable time deciding on his next move.
Even GM’s can’t calculate all variations, so in a particularly muddy situation, both GMs might end up spending several minutes on each move.
Masters and GM’s are not thinking about individual moves. Much of the thought is involved in the development of a plan. Once a plan is established, the moves may come quickly. When patterns are not evident, when “rules” are in conflict, or novel positions occur thinking time may radically increase as new benchmarks for evaluation are established.
Long thinks tend to take place for the following reasons:
Player is engaged in attempting to remember studied variations.
The transition from the opening to middle game or middle game to ending have become murky requiring the development of the proper plan. Schematic thinking is an important tool.
A tactical motif situation is sensed. As tactics are calculated and evaluated, the player might find himself having to explore branches more deeply. In this situation, the more productive motifs appear the more confidence a master will have that the line selected will lead to advantageous positions. See the games of Tal, Shirov, and Shabalov for examples of this approach.
Trying to see if one is in form to play. Some days it just takes longer to find things. It can get ugly when you feel sluggish.
Surprise by a new idea. Most of the time when a master is surprised it is because an idea is bad. But a really new conceptual approach to a position must often be given heavy thought.
Psyching oneself for the final push to stay focused and win the won position. The mind may want to relax, but masters and GM’s expect maximum resistance and try not to relax too soon. How many won positions have been thrown away by a hasty move.
Uncertainty from a lack of confidence, rustiness, or poor preparation.
GM’s do not think necessarily deeper than other players, but their move and plan selection is superior to masters, et al. They are quicker to prune branches that lead nowhere based on their study and experience. Lower rated players are often surprised at how little masters and GM’s really look at during a game. While the lower rated is looking at and calculating everything, the masters has already chosen the most fruitful areas to explore.