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Online Chess vs Over the board chess?

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dkasprick

Hey sorry I am new to chess.com and just getting back into chess again. I am just wondering how much does online chess differ from over the board chess?

As far as practicing and really taking chess seriously?

What do grandmasters think of playing chess online and over the board ?

Sorry im sure this has been discussed before so if anyone has article links or threads please link me. I cannot find anything Credible.


Thanks,

Devin

HankStamper

Devin,

My experience:  I began chess about a year and one-half ago on line at chess.com and have played correspondence chess exclusively with about a move per day (less, actually).  

A few weeks ago I played several games live with a friend and a chess clock.   I think we set the clock for 45 minutes each.  It was fun.  However!  It was very dramatic and the hearts got racing particularly as we entered the end games.  It took me a long time to come back down to my normal calm self.  I suspect that with more experience I think I would be better at regulating my excitement level.  We will see. 

Sigmoid_Flexure

Grandmasters and other serious chessers used to play correspondence chess by mail (one of the few thrills working at the PO was seeing the postcards). IMHO it is fun to learn and play at the same time which is what you get with plenty of time to study a position.

orangehonda
dkasprick wrote:  Hey sorry I am new to chess.com and just getting back into chess again. I am just wondering how much does online chess differ from over the board chess?

I played online exclusively for three years then joined a club -- what struck me the most was the change from 2d to 3d, after adjusting though I can play either just fine.  As far as strength, the amount of blitz, and risky/aggressive moves you probably see the same amount online as you would in a club.

  As far as practicing and really taking chess seriously?

The majority of online chess is blitz chess.  Your long game builds your blitz game, not the other way around -- so to practice and take seriously I've usually heard the advice to stay away from online (blitz) chess.  People point out that many GMs play blitz on ICC, but I say they're already GMs and it's not easy to compare the problems they work on to us amateurs.

As for standard time controls online it shouldn't hurt.  If you're using CC to build for your OTB play, obviously excessive use of the analysis board would hurt your calculation.  If you want to improve, it's not an issue of online or off but in opponents who are 100-200 points stronger and games not at blitz speeds.

What do grandmasters think of playing chess online and over the board ?

I'm not a GM of course, but I'd guess they'd be willing to play either way.  There have been nationally rated tournaments hosted over online servers with serious players playing so I don't thing that's an issue.  Of course top GMs do all their serious competition in OTB tournaments.  But again IMO as long as you make sure your opponents are challenging and you're not playing mostly blitz, online chess shouldn't hurt you.

dkasprick

Thats true when you guys do play online however say non-blitz do you guys ever setup a real board and follow along to simulate the 3d aspect of it and actually get the feeling of "looking at the board" and figuring it out ?

Whats the time usually used in professional games like ? It is true most onliny games are 10-15-30 minute time limit per side even the 30 minute it seems that both players still move very fast.......

I think its kind of like playing poker online though and playing poker in real life. When you play poker online its easy to make a clicks and some bets online. Different to do it in person when the chips are online and infront of you.
Same with OTB chess and actually moving the pieces

orangehonda

I've thought about setting up a board and playing along when there is a long time control, but I almost never play over G/15 online, and to me G/15 is too short to bother.  If you don't have a club to go to and want 3d practice though it might not be a bad idea.

In my area the tournaments I go to favor G/90 +30 so you have 90 minutes for the game and you get +30 seconds each move -- but you'll find all kinds, some are G/60 some may be G/60 +60.  Pros usually have 2 or 3 time controls e.g. they might get 1-2 hours for the first 40 moves, then after move 40 30-60 minutes is added to their clock, and if there's  a third time control at move 60  they get an additional 15-30 minutes for the rest of the game.

Yes, OTB tournaments vs online is not much of a comparison.  You get the full experience, not only the physical board in front of you, but an opponent you can see concentrate, sigh, or relax, who makes moves softly and carefully and then the next move with a flick of the wrist and slaps the clock.  The atmosphere is quiet and serious, it's a real competition and a lot of fun.