2019/12/26 - Chestnuts

I’m enjoying a new way of playing chess. I call it chess without stress. 

When I first start playing chess, one of the most annoying things was an opponent who took forever to make a move. It really takes all of the fun out of playing. 

So I started using a clock, giving my opponent ample time (usually 30 minutes) to finish the game. That’s 30 minutes for each player, so the max a game could last is one hour. That’s enough for me. Any longer and my ADD kicks in. 

But then I started dabbling in shorter games, and found them incredibly exciting, but very stressful. At one point I was playing 2-3 hours a day and had to quit because my stress level was getting too high. 

But I always come back. I’m addicted to the stress. So I try different things. There was Treadmill Chess, Team Chess, Chess 960, and now I’m doing the craziest thing I’ve ever done. 

I’m playing 50 games at a time, with one day to make each move. 

So every morning I wake to 50 puzzles, where it’s my turn to move. Most times the moves are easy, but some are tricky and having all day to think about them takes all the stress out of it. 

It takes me about 45 minutes to make the 50 moves, and that usually satisfies my addiction for a while.