150 games in progress?!

I once had like 600...(greeter games)

WARNING -- Blather and Trivia Follows!

Yes, the penny would have been a good deal, even with inflation.

Just for a lark, I just checked how the current 28-cent rate compares with previous rates in constant dollars.  The turn-over point was in the mid-1960's.  Inflation since 1964 averaged 4.32%, so the 4-cent postcard stamp then corresponds exactly to the 28 cents a postcard stamp costs now.  But by 1974 the postcard rate had doubled to 8 cents, which corresponds to 37 cents in 2010 (average inflation of 4.38% between 1974 and 2010), making today's 28 cents look like a bargain.  So chess by mail cost the same as now in 1964, but was more expensive than now in 1974.

Postcard stamps cost 1 cent from 1898 until January 1, 1952.  At the end of that span it was a bargain-- 1 cent in 1951 converts to 9 cents today.  Obviously, the farther back you go, the less of a deal it was-- 1 cent in 1914 converts to 22 cents today (average inflation of 3.25% since 1914).

So the cheapest period for chess by mail would have been the years just before 1952, when the postcard postage would have had an inflation adjusted cost of about 1/3 the current prices.

--Cystem 

EDIT:  Just to be clear, these are U.S. rates for domestic postage.

Good post!

I am currently playing against a player who has 438 games in progress. It is the most annoying thing. I have been playing this game since Nov. 16, 2009. It is part of a team match we are the last to finish and this is just the first of two games!  The Match is 1mv/3days and I have made my 33rd move. I hope to have this match finished by the end of the year. This is not my only experience with people who have 400+ games and each of them took forever.

I am currently playing against a player who has 438 games in progress. It is the most annoying thing. I have been playing this game since Nov. 16, 2009.

I see your opponent is currently on vacation and has 21 days left-- that isn't helping speed your game along!  Her average time of 38 hours per move accounts for 52 of the days since your game started (115 days ago).

[EDIT:  38 hours is her overall average, of course-- it doesn't mean that's her average for your specific game, or even her average for the period since your game started]

Tournament and match directors can set controls and limitations for number of days per move and for the maximum average time per move for potential registrants.  Can they specify a maximum number of active games the person is playing as a registration criterion?  Maybe that would help.  I suppose the person could keep adding games after they joined the tournament, but at least once they hit a certain point they wouldn't be able to get into additional tournaments with a specified limit until they wrapped up some of their games.

--Cystem

This could be an added option, the ability to have a (max amount of games) in  starting new games?

The amount of games is not necessarily a defining factor, as well as speed of movement or timeouts. These are all incumbant on life. There are other factors I hate from other players as do they do me and we all have our pet peeves!

I just wish she wins a bunch so her rating goes high and I can resign the games.

Oh by the way does anyone know if you can vacation just one or some games?

I guess I don't know for sure-- I assumed if you were on vacation, it was for all of your games at the same time.

I've come here from another site where gameloads of 500+ are not at all unusual, and the record is held by someone with over 2000 games, mostly with very long time controls of course.  I've also noticed that the opponents I've found here play fewer moves - one move a day seems to be as fast as it gets here.  Perhaps it's because there are other things to do on this site than actually play chess.

You can not vacation specific games. A guard against vacation abuse; i.e. to elongate losing games or for other types of abuse is that if a player is mov(es)ing in other games while on vacation three moves triggers a cancel vacation to set the game(s) back to the regular time control.

I'm trying to "defend" people playing many games and show it's possible.

 <whispering to self> Don't say that's what she said, don't say that's what she said.... </whispering>

Hm, yes, I imagine that your opponents will be waiting a long time for your moves.

Of course. I actually spend maximum of 2 hours per day on chess.com.

how do you manage?

While it is certainly possibly to play a ton of games at once, I think there is a fairly strong inverse correlation between number of active games and in-game playing strength.  For instance, to use Kacparov as an example (since he has commented on here quite often), his online chess rating is 2027 while his FIDE rating is 2203.  I have a USCF rating around 1600 (though I have not played OTB in a while) but an online chess rating of 2086 right now.  However, I only have a handful of games that I play at a time, so I can sometimes spend 15-20 minutes (or more on a few occasions) figuring out what I want to do.  Thus it is quite possible to play a ton of games, but if you do, then your playing strength will necessarily be reduced in those games.

Almost a year ago, when I played not many games (never going over 70), I reached a top of 2272. But I couldn't go any higher.

Paul, did you miss that "CM" beside his name?  

Not to be rude, but he should be coaching you.

I don't think Kasparov's coach had a Super GM title.  

attagirl !!