Correspondence chess: Why do people play so many games at a time?

I love playing correspondence, but I keep it 6-7 at most.

I love playing correspondence, but I keep it 6-7 games at a time at most.

@X_Voltz said ^

I love playing correspondence, but I keep it 6-7 games at a time at most.

me too

Many people want to try out some openings, or just like playing. Some people might be too impatient to play just 1-2 games at once. I have played at most 13 or 14 games at the same time, with some of them just starting and others ending. The other website also runs tournaments and its Daily Chess Championship includes 20-22 games played simultaneously with 1 day per move in each round, which is extremely fast. I have been playing with an idea to participate in it once out of curiosity, but it would've cost me a lot of time and I'm also uncomfortable playing suspect-looking opponents, so I prefer to choose when to play and when not. And with whom to play. Tournaments can be thrilling, but for a free website like Lichess running correspondence tournaments would further burden the anticheating team. (It's often very hard to determine who is very strong, who works very hard and who isn't playing fair. I can guess reasonably well, but anticheating shouldn't be based on guesses, not even on good ones.)
Personally I believe that I could manage 20-30 games with 2 days per move without too many problems, as I mostly play fast and usually know when to stop for a longer think. (Obviously my level of play would be slightly lower than when I play just a few games, but the difference wouldn't be dramatic.) Playing 15 games with 1 day per move would also be manageable for me, but it would be stressful and could deteriorate my results in OTB tournaments which require full attention as well as good rest between the games. I tend to spend too much time online and have experienced some symptoms of burnout, so I had better play little corr. chess and take breaks from it.

I was playing for a while, but gave it up because it was too time consuming. When you commit to a pair of games, you commit to playing or a long while; I hate the idea that at any point in the near to intermediate future I may have to abandon some of those games because I just can't get to the computer and chess board and notebook to answer those opponent's replies that have been stacking up. It has to be something you do or a certain amount of time each and every day. For some people, that's not a difficult thing to schedule and hold to. For me, at times, it has been difficult, sometimes a bridge too far.

But if you can schedule the time and hold to it, the question then becomes how much time per day and approximately how much time per game? I had a friend in the 90s who was retired, and he spent a couple of hours every morning at the library playing out his games. He spent about a minute and a half on each move, and he routinely managed over a hundred games at a time. I'm a lot slower. I try to treat every game as though I am playing an OTB tournament game, at a serious time control. I would take anywhere from a minute to half an hour over a move, depending on what the game demands. If I only had time for so much chess that day and I had some difficult games, I would do my best with what I could and let the rest stack up for tomorrow. At my peak I was managing 30 to 35 games at one time, but that became too much for me. Life is what happens while you're making other plans.

@verylate said ^

I was playing for a while, but gave it up because it was too time consuming. When you commit to a pair of games, you commit to playing or a long while; I hate the idea that at any point in the near to intermediate future I may have to abandon some of those games because I just can't get to the computer and chess board and notebook to answer those opponent's replies that have been stacking up. It h...

I am also a lot slower. I like having about 5-8 games at a time, so that while I have enough positions to analyse and think about, I do not get too burnt out. I like correspondence in particular because it is a nice thing to do when you are not certain you have the time for an online game, but still want to play chess, e.g. on a quick break, in a waiting room for the doctor/dentist etc, although I usually just play it whenever I have time and do not want to do a timed game. The beauty of correspondence for me is that it is, ideally, 2 players of a certain level playing to the best of their ability, meaning that the quality of play is good and you can find very good ideas and tactics (I will put a game with a move I was very proud of I found in correspondence after about half an hours think below) that would be hard to find in say, rapid. This is not the case with 30 games to keep track of though.

as white I played 1.Bxd6! cxd6? (1...Qd7 was better, giving a pawn but not losing just yet) 2.Qb6+! Kd7 3.Bxb7 +-. I am threatening the rook and mate.

@ILikeBlitz said ^

Many people want to try out some openings, or just like playing. Some people might be too impatient to play just 1-2 games at once. I have played at most 13 or 14 games at the same time, with some of them just starting and others ending. The other website also runs tournaments and its Daily Chess Championship includes 20-22 games played simultaneously with 1 day per move in each round, which is ex...

22 games is surely too much, considering that those players probably have other games going on as well. In one day? The thing with OTB Is a good point though, in January I have a big classical tournament (a national event) which I am worried how I will be going with my 7 or so correspondence games while playing that, so imagine doing that with 30+ games correspondence game open as well!

In the ICCF World Championship Finals they play 14 games at a time.
https://www.iccf.com/event?id=107382

@ILikeBlitz said

it would be stressful and could deteriorate my results in OTB tournaments which require full attention as well as good rest between the games. I tend to spend too much time online and have experienced some symptoms of burnout, so I had better play little corr. chess and take breaks from it.

Yes during OTB tournaments I stay away from online chess and minimize the number of posts on social media to a bare minimum. No alcohol and late coffees also. I go to bed early and sleep much more than during non OTB tournaments. I performed well in Budva especially considering I am an amateur of 50+ years old.

@bongcloudmaster41 said ^

I was playing for a while, but gave it up because it was too time consuming. When you commit to a pair of games, you commit to playing or a long while; I hate the idea that at any point in the near to intermediate future I may have to abandon some of those games because I just can't get to the computer and chess board and notebook to answer those...

It is important to find the way of play (time control, frequency, amount of games, time spent) which suits you. It seems to me that you've found that for yourself, which is good.