Discipline in Correspondence Chess,Part 2

Mental Preparedness

One of the challenges in playing correspondence chess (especially the internet variety) is being in the "game mode" when you face the boards. A usual internet cc player can expect to make moves in several concurrent games at least once a day. Unlike on-the-board games where momentum builds up as the match progresses and which is usually over in a couple of hours, cc games lasts for weeks at a time. And you don't usually have the benefit of a sustained momentum. What you usually have are several games in varying stages, and in those games that are usually in the thick of the middlegame and both sides are about equally footed, there is such an effort to get yourself acquainted again with the game. When a move is made, it would usually be based on the assessment of the current position. What is usually lacking in this case is an understanding of how the current position was arrived. This is very crucial especially in the middlegame, where material advantage in pieces or position can and should be achieved.

It is indeed a discipline to spend enough time with each game, reviewing the moves previously made, understanding the plan one had when the previous moves were made, recalling the traps and weaknesses that were noted in the previous stages of the game. Then add to that the assumptions made on what the opponent was planning, as well as recalling the noted weaknesses in the opponent's position.

Fortunately for internet cc players, one has several resources to assist them in this area. Most internet cc sites will allow you to review your moves from start to the current position, since they store the moves on their database servers (if your cc site doesn't have that, I would suggest going someplace else). Then, private comments option allows one to store what he/she is thinking at a certain stage of the match, and recall it when needed. This is particularly useful in capturing one's thoughts on crucial positions of the game.

So, what is one to do? For games already in the middlegame stage or even those in the late opening or in situations where there is already a departure from the usual opening lines, it would be a good idea to review the game from the start. Actually, it would be a good discipline to do this to all games, regardless of how long the game is already or how crucial one thinks the game is currently. Coupled with meticulous record-keeping of one's comments and notes as the game progresses, this should give one enough background to make a more sensible move than would be otherwise.

This requires that one do not rush over the games, but gives each one ample time. How much time one can spend on each game would also affected by how many games one is currently playing, since one can expect that for the discipline to be effective, it can only be be done with
a limited number of games at a time. You may refer to the first part of this series for a discussion of how the number of games can affect one's performance.

Part 3 here

Part 1 here

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Discipline in Correspondence Chess, Part 1

Having been immersed in correspondence chess for almost a year now, I had begun to take notice of my performance. While before I wouldn’t mind being floored by other players, now I take notice of that. For one, if I have to lose, I want to lose because my opponent has a better strategy, and not because I didn’t see that I placed my queen in harm’s way without being forced to do so. And because of that, I had begun to take notice of areas or factors that I believe affects my game (performance-wise, rating as a byproduct only), along with the quirks of human nature as it shows in this game. Think of this series of articles as some sort of self-therapy, where hopefully if you see yourself in a similar situation, be of help to you too. Your comments and contributions are highly appreciated.

For this article, let’s consider the Number of Games

With quite a number of correspondence chess sites allowing one to play a considerable number of games even for non-paying members, it may not take long before one is actually playing quite a large number of games simultaneously in several sites (for example, my combined number of open games in two sites currently are already above fifty). Usually the number of concurrent games grows unnoticed, especially when the sites offers tournament formats, where several games can be added at once. The feeling of adding one more tournament can be inexplicably satisfying. On the other hand, one takes in more and more games consciously, because of a perception that all is well and manageable.

Two factors add to the pressure brought about by the increased number of games. One, the games have time limits, and one is only able to play so much games before quality suffers. The second has to do with enthusiasm (and possibly addiction) to the game. I suppose it is not unusual to find players who upon logging online, would actually make moves on all their games, no matter how many they may be, and sometimes even make more than one move if the opponent on the other end happens to be online also.

In both aspects, quality of game maybe sacrificed, as there are limits to the available time one has, as well as to the level of concentration and clarity of mind to process each and every position of the board in each game.

So, what is one to do with this aspect of the game? The ideal answer is to be able to assess the optimum number of games one should be playing. By optimum means that one is able to devote enough time and concentration on each game, and without eating too much into the game’s timebank. The more practical approach is to increase the number of games being played slowly, so that one can get a general feeling of how increased number of games affects one’s performance.

Of course, work and other activities may reduce the amount of time we may be able to give to the games. In such instances, holidays could be a very effective tool to provide us with that buffer time, or simply to get us back on track if we happen to take on more games than we can handle.

Finally, when all else fails, we are faced with the inevitability of letting go of some games as lost, suffer the rating drop, and move along wiser, hopefully.

Part 2 here

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