In my previous post, I gave 5 good ways to immediately see improvements in your chess game. One of my recommendations was to play online, like InstantChess.com (my personal favorite... no I'm not a paid representative). However, playing chess online has it's own pitfalls, which I will detail how to avoid and negate as much as possible.

The first is cheating. I'm always suspicious of online play, especially when facing an opponent who is far and away superior to myself. I don't think you have to cheat to beat me (far from it if my friendly games at the local chess club are any indication), but when I see a vastly superior player, I have to wonder if they're using a computer program of some kind. I content myself with the realization that if I wasn't playing against an online opponent I would just be playing against a computer any way, so nothing is lost.

Second is a lack of commitment amongst my opponents. In a face to face game, there's a level of commitment, ego or possibly personal honor that prevents quick, repeated resignation. In the faceless world of online play, no such compunctions exist. I don't know how many times I've blundered away a queen or a rook in a face to face game only to play the game out just to see if maybe I can come out on top, or at least draw it. Online, though, that's not the case. Blundered away your queen? Resign and play a different opponent. Sicilian defense not working out for you? Resign and try the Karo-Cann. Don't like playing black? Cancel the game and start another one where maybe you'll play white. Very rarely will you find someone who will stick it out to the end. Those that do are usually endgame afficianados (players extremely good at endgame tactics). I enjoy that most of all, because my endgame is weak from playing so many quick resigners.

Lastly is the limited pool of players. In the infinite realm of the internet, you would think that you'd have no end of players to choose from. The reality is a little more complicated. When online chess first came around, there were suddenly 100 different websites that catered to it. Now that number has dwindled, but no one chess website has the e-monopoly. While there's still plenty of players to go around, the lack of true expertise (you can bet Viswanathan Anand doesn't play online chess...) means that the likelihood of anything more than a casual player finding a true challenge becomes less and less likely.

Despite all of these faults, I still heartily recommend online chess. Playing at clubs is great, and playing against a computer opponent is certainly a joy, but no where else except online can you play 20 games a day against similarly skilled players.