There are at least three, and now possibly four, people who I'm playing in turn-based who have not logged in for quite a while. I'm trying to figure out why.

I didn't really pay much attention to the fact, but now that more of my opponents are doing it, I'm wondering what's going on.

Has anybody else experienced this with their opponents? I'm wondering if they're taking a break from chess and simply forgot to pause their games.

I suspect many players on this site are too busy to play, content with their "free book" and lifetime's worth of "free beer".

"Free beer?"

Uh...what do you mean?

I;m getting a little sick of chess cos I feel that I'm at that stage where I need to put in a considerable amount of time and effort in order to improve any further ...

Good point, I think the same goes for me.

I've been trying to avoid starting any new chess games (except for greeter games), and finish the ones that I'm already playing. Of course that never works...

It's very easy on this site to take on a large number of simultaneous games. It's fun for a while, then a few weeks or months later it becomes a burden...

People leave the site all the time. They don't usually finish their games first.

That makes sense. Thanks for the explanation.

I'm experiencing that too, in a way, often taking a while to make my move.

I know at least 3 friends that, now and then, forget to submit their moves in online chess games and lose on time... i'm not saying that you are playing with all of them (the probability could be taken as zero with good precision), but people like that do exist, maybe you are getting a bit unlucky in choosing your foes :-)

Lol, maybe.

I'm also experiencing such a thing. Chess is slowly becoming more of a chore than a fun passtime activity.

same with me! i enjoy some games but others simply feel like a chore. I dislike the fact that i HAVE to come on every night to make my 3-6 moves in games  to avoid losing on time (finished my vacation time). I  cant remember what it was like to not have to make a chess move at night time...

This is generally one of those things you don't feel the impact of until after you've immersed yourself in online chess games. I remember back when I joined my first group, I was joining practically every team match that I could. It kind of came back to haunt me...

I know the feeling of having chores to do .That's why i play games with at least 2 or 3 days per move. then I can look at them when I like it. Or I have some games with 14 days per move. When I feel I HAVE to make a move I don't make a good move.

I should start playing more 14-day-per-move games...

I think playing OTB chess is really important for keeping the interest alive. I'm pretty sure I'd get very bored with Online Chess if I didn't play chess with real people. Only playing online chess is too impersonal, too mechanical, too clinical - chess is, after all, a game - a battle of minds between two people, and you only really get to enjoy that interaction properly OTB.

I would be fine with just online chess, but I play OTB in tournaments to get a rating and it is a nice bonus to play a real person with tournament time controls when I get a chance to lol. But what I mean is live chess is a good substitute for OTB chess and correspondence is relaxing.

960 has rekindled my interest in the game. Otherwise I wouldn't be playing as much online correspondence. It is simply not as fun as OTB.

Thanks for the input, all.

I guess not that many people really care to finish or pause their games before taking a long break from online chess here. I'm getting a little bit tired of online chess too, but would at least like to finish all of my games before taking a long break.

Chances are you'll have ups and downs. Sometimes you're really up for a few moves and sometimes you're not.

I'm at chess burnout stage right now, but the next round of tourneys keep coming up. Fortunately a few of them are 5 days per move, so I can still take a couple of day's break from chess and come back to it a bit fresher.

Don't enter too many tournaments at once - it'll come back to bite you!