Long games without Scheduling problems

In the past, one of the problems I had faced in trying to find slow games over the internet was just managing to find a period of 3-4 hours quality, uninterupted time.(working and kids problems)

Quite rightly, everyone was saying that if you want to improve (ans I want) you need to play slow games and analyse them afterwards with your opponent (along with things like doing lots of tactics, going through annotated master games and having some working knowledge of endgames and opening principles and so on.) If I could get a "protected time " to play a long game, a 30 min more time, WITH the adversary, in post morten, was only a dream).

Really it is difficult to a 30 minute game in without the phone ringing endlessly, relatives knocking on the door or just the day-to-day aspects of daily life getting in the way.This makes people, in the internet, play blitz games without post morten that is enjoyable but do not work with the improving objective.

The real answer to this of course was to go and join a local club! Play in tournaments and stop messing about on the internet and this is what Benedictine is doing (I, UPHIGH does not have a chess club in my town or near it.

 However even the ones that have acess to chess clubs need and search for ways of getting to be able to play quality games, training games on the internet as well as still playing some quicker games just for fun. Well the OTB Sim idea allows us to do this.

Over the Board SImulator games (OTB Sim) offer a way to play quality slow games over the internet without the need to find 3-4 hours free in one sitting. This is because they are not played on the live server, but on the online server where games can therefore be paused or played in more sessions (and without the need of the two players being online during all the sessions). However, these games are treated as a real live game in that there is no use of database/books, analyse function(moving the pieces) and as ever, no engine use or other outside assistance. The point here is to practice your real chess skills as you would play OTB board (and get, also , the specific training with time management, psychological issues, how to deal whith "pet openings" and so on) so I doubt your opponent in your next face-to-face tournament would take kindly to you whipping out your laptop and just checking the win percentage for white as you ponder your 14th move in some variation of some such opening or other. Or if you were struggling to visualise the board on some difficult calculation allow you to move the pieces around a bit before you make your move. No, so the point of OTB Sim games is that they are ideal to to prepare for real OTB games or for those who struggle to find time to play regular slow live games on the internet.

How are they played?

Simply through the online server with another OTB Sim player. You decided on a time you would like to play, for example 30 moves in 90 minutes + 30 minutes extra time after black's 30th move or 2 hours each and off you go. All it requires you to do is to make a note of the time you use in the chat window. An example below:

Game starts - (90 minutes for 30 moves + 30 min inc)

1. My move. Start the clock.

2. Think. Make my move. Stop the clock.

3. Subtract that time from the total time. Put this in the chat window.

4. Click 'submit move'.

5 You then wait for your opponent to move and repeat.

It is that simple. A little like writing down your move in an real OTB game perhaps? You could also use an online stopwatch.And this routine of writing the move and the time, that occur in real tournments, will be being experienced.

The additional ruling is that you play in the spirit of OTB chess in that you play fairly and do not take advantage of studying the board too much if your opponent is not online. The time you study the board on your opponent's move is not counted, but clearly this time should not exceed the total time of the game. The OTB sim idea only works if you can trust your opponent(about the time and Db and analyse issues.About engines you, already, need to trust anyway) which is why you need to team up with someone you know and trust in order to get a fair game. Another advantage with this, is that you can talk over the game with your opponent afterwards and begin to learn from your game, as the post morten happens not after 3 hours with tired players but also not after months of online play in which the guys don't even remember the motives that they used to move.WE DO encourage this as much as possible because a EXPOSED post morten favours a truthworthy comunity

Where can these games be played?

These games cannot be played by just selecting 'play online' and just finding a regular seek and playing an unknown player, as obviously he/she will be playing with the use of database and analyse function and may take an age to play all the moves. Instead you need to arrange to play this way with a friend or to apply to join the group OTB SIM Team,http://www.chess.com/groups/home/otb-sim-team   which has been set up solely to find players interested in playing OTB Sim games and sharing in this experience and more information can be found there.We want to have an small, active and trustworthy team.

A tip:Never run more than an OTBSIM at the same time.As you get fascinated with this way of playing, reduce the number of correspondence games you play.

I have played more than 20 OTB Sim games and keep mone game running almost alltime.They have, without doubt, being the best chess learning experience I have had principally when the post morten is well done (better to do with a coach)

The OTBSIM TEAM,http://www.chess.com/groups/home/otb-sim-team does not want to be the first in number of players, in vote chess, in matchs...This team just wnat help people find trutfull opponents to play good and thought games .If you REALLY, think that this team fits to you (we do not want members that are in more than 100 teams or that are not focused in improvement or that are not able to be competitive in an unrated fashion (as a rated fashion would mess with our real correspondence (with analyze, Db and more time (I use 10-30 min/move)), join us and have fun and improvement.Also, as the motivation is to learn and not to win, it will keep the cheaters out.

Thanks for reading and welcome to our new ideas.