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