Top Three Reasons To Play Daily Chess

2021 has begun with a bang on chess.com with the start of the "2021 Chess.com Daily Chess Championships." As a keen correspondence player, I knew that I had to play in these championships to prove myself as a strong chess player! Over the course of January I will be providing a diary of the different games I will be playing during this tournament and will talk through some of my thoughts on some of the positions. Please note*: To avoid any worries about cheating I will only post the finished games with my running commentary throughout the games with my thoughts and analysis:

What is Daily Chess?

Daily chess is a much slower, more leisurely version of our beautiful game. Originally, before the days of the internet and e-mail, if you wanted to play someone from around the world, you had to do it the old fashioned way, with a letter! Speaking to some of my older chess peers, the process for correspondence would be as follows:

1. You would receive a pairing with an opponent (in the postal league you are playing in) and a correspondence scoresheet to record each other's moves

2. Upon receiving the letter, you would analyse/set-up your position with a board and maybe play out a few moves.

3. Write down your sealed move and send it to your opponent who would repeat the same process

An example of a postal chess game

With the advent of the internet and decent servers like Chess.com, this type of chess is nearly extinct, but I do know some leagues that still play this way - Perhaps out of nostalgia or likely a form of rebellion against modern technology! 

Nowadays, the internet has provided us with an avenue to play our long-distance games online without having to worry about postage - Or worse yet, losing the scoresheet in the mail!

I myself have now played Daily chess for over 8 years (and 2 years prior, I played on other chess servers like chessknot before chess.com became so popular):

My all-time stats... As you can see I have now played nearly 1000 games! Not bad for an 8-year old account! 

Reason 1# - No Rush

So why do I love daily chess so much? To an outsider it may seem odd, and when I explain it to friends/colleagues who don't play chess their reaction is always the same: "Why would you wait nearly 7 days to make a chess move?" To some extent they would be right, in fact I myself have competed (and still am competing) in a 14 day a move tournament which has so far lasted over 7.5 years! 

I, of course, was knocked out a few years ago... The final round is still ongoing, I am hoping "siamonsays" and "Neitzsche_Knight" are still with us! 

However, to me, this is one of the greatest appeals of daily chess: You can take your time. There is no rush to play a move and no time scramble like in blitz/rapid. It is, in essence, chess in its purest form of enjoyment! 

As I have entered the working world, Daily chess also provides me an opportunity to play a real game of chess, when I do not necessarily have the time. Nowadays it is very difficult for me to sit and play. I normally have to schedule a time/day just to play any form of live chess! Instead, by playing a 7-day a move game, it allows me to, when I have a brief break or moment from work,  look at one of my daily games and maybe play a move. Often I will think of some ideas, pause the position and come back to it a day later with potentially fresher ideas. It is the ideal time control for the busy man! 

Reason 2# You can practice openings

Studying the opening is one of my favourite things to do in chess.  To me, one of the greatest advantages of doing daily chess is that it can allow you to practice an opening line. This is because opening books are legal in daily chess. Want to play a heavily theoretical line in the Najdorf Sicilian like the Super GMs? Want to brush up your opening repertoire for OTB chess? These are made possible with Daily Chess.

A few years back I competed in a very enjoyable thematic tournament in an incredibly difficult line to reach: The King's Gambit: Double Muzio Gambit. Admittedly I have played the King's Gambit hundreds of times and I have never got this position: 

I got pretty far in the tournament, reaching the third round before inevitably being beaten by better opposition...

Some of the games I reached in this highly entertaining opening variation!

Had I not played in this daily tournament, I would have never played some of the most interesting chess of my life! 

Reason 3# Game Analysis and calculation

Another reason to play Daily chess is the ability to analyse your games and position, and be able to play it out with the analysis board. One of the hardest things to do in chess is calculation. The ability to think a few moves ahead and precisely predict your opponent's best responses is a very difficult skill to acquire. In a timed game, this ability becomes more impaired. As the game speeds up, calculation is superseded by intuition. 

The great advantage of daily chess is that the mystery of such positions, which may require a lot of calculation, can legally be played out with an analysis board without yourself potentially blundering away a promising position. I often find myself in a complicated position relying on my analysis board to play out the ensuing complications to a hopeful and promising ending/checkmate. Blog Edit* - Some players have gotten confused with this paragraph. To be clear: Unlike live chess, you can legally play with a board/analysis board on chess.com. However, you cannot use engine assistance when calculating positions :

I recently used the analysis board to calculate out this very interesting queen sacrifice to both mine and my opponent's enjoyment! 

I hope you enjoyed this blog, and I hope this blog has inspired you to make a "New Years resolution" of playing more daily chess in the future. Good luck in your games:

Happy New Year!