Burning The Chess Board at Both Ends

I'm not sure about you but I play on-line at other chess sites -- which shall remain nameless. I belong to teams on these sites and play in tournaments at these sites. At any one time I'm playing between 75 & 100 games. But lately I've been slowly cutting back on the number of games that I play overall -- and/or cummulatively. Why?

Because I feel that I am not putting my best game forward. Furthermore I have caught myself making mistakes and on occasion blunders which I do not customarily make otherwise. Remember I'n relatively new to correspondence chess. I grew up at a time when chess was played "mano a mano". Games were settled in one sitting in a matter of hours -- sometimes even minutes.

I apologize to some of my opponents for giving them my "B+" game instead of my "A" game. And in essence I've been cheating myself to boot. Because I'm not getting complete enjoyment out of each game. I feel a bit like a juggler spinning 75 to 100 plates dashing from one plate to another -- trying to keep the game going. I need to get my games down to a manageable number.

How about you dear reader & fellow chess player. How many games are too many for you to handle? Do you limit yourself or is the sky the limit?

I can't handle more than five

I probably shouldn't be playing more than 5 at any one time. ;-)

i like to stick to 1.

I'm comfortable at 50. Higher than that and I start messing up by dashing from game to game. Right now I'm down around 30.

I like having about 15-20 going at once.  Much more than that, and my game starts to suffer.

Seven's about my limit. Any more and my brain starts to hurt. Unfortunately, if your only noteworthy addiction is too many simultaneous games on chess.com, you'll never be one of the cool kids.

Jenkins12,

I've got vices they haven't even given a name yet to. ;-)

I've played about 30 games at one point -didn't enjoy it that much. I've got about 5-10 going on normally.

I always find that if I play less, and read more, I get more enjoyment from games. As with most things the better you understand it, the more fascinating it becomes.

Because I started chess quite recently - about 3 years ago, I remember how little I understood. I now understand my games and others games more. I love how I can now look at a game and by seeing the players moves I know roughly how good they are - whereas, to beginners or non-chess players they see nothing!

Essentially chess literacy is the most pleasurable thing about this game for me. That and playing super smoking moves ;)