Can't improve if I can't play...

I went to play a game on another chess site. Two games were aborted by my opponents before the first move. The third game was picked up and we both made one move each. Then the chat box pops up and the word "dumba**" is typed. (Incorrectly spelled, of course) I was confused, since my move was a respectable e5 in response to his pony ride to H3. So, I queried politely back, "Is that your real name?" , since his username was guest-something or other. To which he promptly aborted and took his errant pony with him!

I tried one more time. Another guest-whatchamacallit (probably a close relative) picked up my 30/0 game. 11 moves were made on each side. His clock showed a little over a minute gone and mine showed a little over 2 mins gone. On move 11, I needed to take a little time to think since now there was a discovered attack on my queen when he moved his bishop to attack my rook. ( probably should have taken more time to think before that point but that's a whole other issue) Approx. 2 minutes later, the game is aborted. Really? Why do people pick up a 30 min each side game and expect me to calculate in nano-seconds? Grrr. This or some variation happens all too frequently here on chess.com, as well. A little patience would be awesome.

Hi Scottk74,

Thanks for letting me know I'm not alone. Hope you have some great games at your chess club.

Friend me, I'm on often and trying to improve.You rated a bit higher, but at least I don't abort after teh first move!

I'm logged in under my husband's account which he rarely uses. I was using the forum to get advice for my son but took the opportunity to vent about games I played on another site. Last night, I decided to open my own account here on chess.com. Do you mind if I send you a friend request from my account? I'd love to play someone who actually wants to play!

You certainly can, but you won't track your improvement without the necessary field work.  If you study chess correctly for many, many months and don't play a rated game then you'll blow away your competition.  Operative word being properly of course, many study chess haphazardly like Lasker said. 

Of course it's preferable to study and play games so you could see where you go wrong, but one can never have too much technique or powers of observation as far as tactics and positional imbalances go.

Hi, Mr Boogie,

I'm not sure I follow your post. Perhaps, it was meant for a different thread?

You mentioned about not improving if you can't play, but it's definately possible but not preferable. 

If you swear off playing but dedicate your time to studying My System for at least a month for example you'll notice a sharp rise in your play, but field work (i.e., playing rated games) is how you'd gauge your progress.

CT-Art 5.0 is a must, you'll get the whole shebang with their CT-Art Beginner and Ct-Art Mating Patterns in addition to CT-Art 4.0. 

Ah, yes,I mentioned that in the header! Sorry about that! Thank you for the advice. I'm sure it's sound but I'd really like to play some games, too! It looks like that might not be an option if no one wants to play me, though! We do have the book "My System". I was waiting to tackle it thinking it might be a bit advanced. I will give it a shot, though. :)

The Quality Chess Edition is said to be the best (and my only copy of My System) though the information to noise ratio isn't always the greatest. 

Yes,send me a friend request. I'm working tonight,but I'm on often.

@ TGOBoogie That's the edition we have! I'm forewarned, I'll slog through the extraneous prose to get to the good stuff. :) I googled ct-art it looks interesting!

Michahellis - TY! Friend request sent.

people who say they dont play serious games lose alot-thats their excuse

Not sure if that is directed at scott74's comment or the people who aren't patient enough to play out the games with me?

Are you sure about this - I mean have you tried it?

I ask because it runs counter to Dan Heisman's advice, which is that for optimal improvement, time spent studying to be approximately equal to time spent playing slow games.