How to play online chess

Okay, so I am basically a blitz player and do play long time controls and also occasionally OTB chess. The problem is I never know what to do with my time. I just stare at the position for ten minutes and then play the first move that comes to mind. Moreover, online chess is so confusing to me that it is practically mind boggling. 24 hours for one move? I have started online games and then just forgot I had a game in progress. For those who play online chess, please tell me how to enjoy it. Is it so that you can sit at a board and try out various alternatives? Or is it so that you can consult books and stuff. Please tell me because it seems like a decent idea however I am not experienced in this.

There's really no point if I play online chess like blitz, i.e. make a move in 5 seconds. It gets quite frustrating because I have gotten very used to blitz of which I have played approximately 20,000 games yet.

personally i just start like 50 games and play them like blitz lol. its just more convenient than having to actually sit at the screen for like 10 or 20 minutes, which im often not motivated to do.

Take your time. Play around with moves. Take a break, come back, look at the position anew. I search databases, occasionally, for pawn structures and ideas for plans. (Of course, using an engine is not allowed). Use opening books to learn openings, etc. 

Really I just use it as learning tool a way to understand positions better, how openings transition into certain structures, and to try out ideas.

Right now I have 30 games running. Whenever I'm asked to do my move there's a little hovering hand beside my username indicating to me it's my turn now. Oftentimes there's already another one of my games ready after I made my move, so there's a constant stream of games which need my attention when it's really active and many of my opponents are online. When I'm finished I go to the Online Chess main window (which shows you all your ongoing games), open up a new tab or do some other work, away from the computer. Really simple. 

i am really looking for advice from people who actually have high ratings.

is it okay to refer to databases, peanutmonster. How many games you have running concurrently.

fear, i dont like the idea of using online chess as a way to play blitz. however, if you can manage 50 games and still keep a good rating, then you must be having a lot of skill.

secondly, i want to know whether it is a good habit to roll out a chessboard and move the pieces a lot to examine variations and possibilities.

It can't hurt if you can be bothered. Lots of people here don't play OTB too often and when they compete they find focusing hard. Using a board would be a good remedy to this I think, get used to the 3D pieces.

Other than that I guess you could set your critical game up in the kitchen or somewhere, so when youre not at your computer you can still analyse it.

It is a good idea to examine posibilities. It is good while doing so to make notes in the note section [only you cna see these] as when you come back to the game it recreates the elements of a position. It is good as well to have an endgame book such as BCE. Books are fine. Tablebases are not allowed though.

my computer is right next to my chessboard. and i am reasonably okay with 3d pieces. okay, so i am now all excited by this new form of game.

Here's my advice:

Yes you can use databases, but it's often more fun to try out uncommon but sound sidelines rather than just following mainlines for 15 moves.

It's good to take your time on each game and so only have 10-20 running at once. Maybe even have a dedicated board out for important or interesting games.

Use notes so that you don't keep analysing the same lines every time you have to make a move.

linuxblue, what is meant by BCE. like batsford chess endings or something? thanks.

it seems like this is gonna be fun

BCE is basic chess endings by Reuben Fine. It is a classic of all basic endings to tell you if it is a win/draw/loss withbest play and some master examples of what to do in the situation. I would not dream of playing correspondence chess without a copy next to me. I have already used it in CC here about 10 times and without it I would have been unsure how to proceed.

My copy is in old-style descriptive. There may be a newer copy in algebraic.

He probably means this

EDIT: Ninja'd

Yes! BCE. Love it or hate it, you are going to need it.

I love it.

is it better than dvoretsky, which i have.

also, can i challenge one of you guys. i am looking to play a high rated opponent. if you want, it can be unrated. i don't mind. right now i am unrated and cannot seek players above 1500. let me know so we can start asap

I would but I have got to the critical point in some games and have to focus on them a bit. Sorry about that. I might get back to you when I finish a few more games.

Dvoretsky is a more advanced approach. BCE assumes that you know nothing already about endgames. Someone could open BCE and not know how to mate with king and queen against king and BCE would still get you somewhere.

hey great .. let me know when you are finished(no pun intended) and then will start a game. thanks.

I am not sure. I have a few games that should take under a week to end. But of course it is not entirely in my hands ...

ok never mind. i have this one game running. after that, rated or unrated, it is up to you. would like to get an exposure to it with some high rated opponents. just asking, do you play book openings or some random stuff. and which openings do you prefer. let me know so i can prepare some lines.

I play everything except the sicllian