Actually, I don't know that for a fact, and I'm hoping that someone can prove me wrong, but my average time per move is over 23 hours!!  I haven't seen anyone else over 12 yet (of course I haven't looked at all 44,000 profiles either).

So this is my open apology to anyone I am playing, have played, or will play.

I'm not deliberately trying to stall.  I'm not looking at my games and then spending days contemplating my next move.  As many of my opponents can testify, if we are both online, and I get into the game, we can go back and forth making many moves before one of us logs out.  Unfortunately, this also results in me ignoring all my other games for that time period, even if one or more of those opponents are also online.

Before I make a move in any game, I like to fully think it out, and examine all my options and where each of them may take me.  I have made too many hasty mistakes in the past, and I'm trying hard not to throw any more games away by moving too quickly.

I find that if I'm playing too many games simultaneously, my brain starts to get the games mixed up and a strategy that I was thinking about in one game tries to manifest itself in another game where that strategy would not be appropriate.  As a result, I usually don't even look at a game unless I know I have the time to dedicate to it.  Sometimes, when I finally get to the game, my next move is so obvious that I could have made it days ago with little thought, but I was unaware of how obvious my move was cuz I hadn't looked at the game yet.

So it's almost ALWAYS my move in at least half of my games.  To avoid timeouts, I will usually pick the game with the least amount of time left to start concentrating on.  This results in me spending more time and making moves more often in games with lower time controls.  My sincere apologies to everyone playing me in games with higher time controls as they ineveitably wait longer for me to get to them.

I don't like saying, "No" to challenges, so I had to set a maximum number of games.  Now when one of my new friends tries to play me, the system tells them that I am not currently accepting challenges.  I have a lot of people that I have promised to play once I whittle down my number of games in progress.

Finally, I often play while I am at work, or doing my laundry or whatever, so just cuz the system says I'm online doesn't mean I'm in front of my computer.  And of course, the more time I spend in the forums (which I like to do) the less time I'm actually playing my games.

So once again, I apologize to everyone, and I hope this helps explain why I am so slow at making my moves sometimes.

I hope someone can point out a profile with a higher time per move average than I have.  With over 44,000 active members, I really hope I'm NOT the slowest player on Chess.com, even if I am slower than EVERYONE I play.

I'm sure that as the year gets further along I'll start moving slower than I am now, which is pretty fast

As one of said new friends whom you've yet to challenge......  I say apology accepted and warning duly noted.

My assessment is that you're a much more thorough player than I am.  I rarely spend more than a minute or two on any given position, which leads to many mistakes.  But that's just the way I roll.

Don't sweat it though; if slow is the way you play, then that's your choice.

Whoa!  We posted at exactly the same time!  That's freaky! 

To answer your question, Diana: it's on the righthand side of your "my online chess" page, near the bottom of the statistics.

No prob, Diana.  You freaked yet, Bilium?

Only because I read his profile, lol.  I think it's awesome!  I've never known an actor before.  Though I didn't recognize the movies you listed in your repertoire, Billium.  Could you maybe say a few more of them?  We might have seen one!

holy blocks of text

Hardy har har.  That's a good one.  Bet he's never heard it before. 

Hmm.  I'll check out that site.

Impression so far: It's very green.  Haha.

Oh.  Haha.  That's from an old batman show.  Robin (his sidekick) would always say Holy "insert whatever word you want" Batman!  Like "Holy Understatement Batman"!  Or "Holy Cabbages Batman"!

He said it all the time - it was a running joke.  And it would change depending on what was going on.  It probably sounds really weird to you.  I think you'd have to see the show to think it was funny. 

Good point!  Holy "insert word" is an English expression after all!  I have no idea how they would translate it.  Or, more accurately, approximate it.  A direct translation would make people laugh for a very different reason, lol.

Vale.  It would be fun to find that out.

Oh!  Sorry.  There are lots of variations on it.  The only similarity is that they all start with "Holy".  I think the original was something like "Holy Christ".  It's used as an exclamation like "Oh God!"

But since people don't always want to say "Christ", some use "Holy Cow", or "Holy Mackerel" instead, but those are considered kind of goofy.  Does that answer your question?

lol u guys are commenting quicker than Billium makes moves lol

yeah Billium once you find some time challenge me please :)

While you're at translating "Holy Smoke, Batman!", kingchild, you may wish to translate some additional lines from the Batman shows, in order to become more familiar with the humour e.g.

Riddler: There were three men in a boat with four cigarettes and no matches. How did they manage to smoke?

Robin: "They threw one cigarette overboard, and made the boat a CIGARETTE LIGHTER!"

(I'll leave it to you to determine the reference source from which this came.)

NO Billium248 you aren't the slowest. I have 2 guys in a tournament I am playing that are just down right ridiculous. One is down to 3 hrs from 3 days. The other makes a move and then runs off on 'vacation'. They will make you want to give up tourneys.

Lol.  That was funny, but it sounds inside.  Do you two know each other?  Or is this a typical Brit vs. Spaniard deal?  If it is, sorry for being a Yankee. 

Argonaut314 wrote: Lol.  That was funny, but it sounds inside.  Do you two know each other?  Or is this a typical Brit vs. Spaniard deal?  If it is, sorry for being a Yankee. 

You talkin' to me? [Taxi Driver] http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Batman_(1966)

If so: No, we don't know each other. We have crossed sabres a number of times in the forums. It is just a typical country_X vs. country_Y deal, I guess. (Where's Kissinger when you need him?)

artfizz wrote:

Argonaut314 wrote: Lol.  That was funny, but it sounds inside.  Do you two know each other?  Or is this a typical Brit vs. Spaniard deal?  If it is, sorry for being a Yankee. 

You talkin' to me? [Taxi Driver] http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Batman_(1966)

If so: No, we don't know each other. We have crossed sabres a number of times in the forums. It is just a typical country_X vs. country_Y deal, I guess. (Where's Kissinger when you need him?)

 Ah.  What's Henry Kissenger have to do with this?

Argonaut314 wrote: Ah.  What's Henry Kissenger have to do with this?

Kissinger in his role as Secretary of State, was a globe-trotting, trouble shooter. He eased tensions between the U.S. and various states, most notably Russia and China. He got a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts at defusing international arguments. I thought he might be useful in the forums.

Right!  Of course.  Now I remember.  I guess more of history class went in one ear and out the other than I thought...  And he's even an American!  *slaps forehead*