Slow games on the internet

Most of my online time is spent playing games at long time controls, typically 45/45. In an OTB tournament this would be considered somewhat fast but on the internet it's very slow and many players never play slow online games even if they will play them over the board. I play blitz too and enjoy it, but the whole point of chess to me is to think carefully about my move, constantly try to evaluate who is better and by how much and try to calculate sequences a couple of moves ahead if possible. In blitz I do none of these things; I quickly scan the board, see something that looks like it might be good and play it without any additional thought. It's fine for what it is, but it isn't really chess. I'm also terrible at it.

There are definitely some challenges to playing long time controls online and I imagine some of them are keeping more players from trying life in the slow lane. So I'll go over some of them.

Not enough time

If you're going to play games at long time controls you have to set aside enough time for the game, which is a lot harder than if you just log on for ten minutes to play a game or two of blitz. I play mostly 45/45 games, so if I don't set aside a three-hour block of time to play I run the risk of having to stop the game while it's still in doubt, or even worse, when I'm easily winning but my opponent won't resign. By the way, I think the proper etiquette here is to ask your opponent for a draw if you're better or it's equal, but if he won't agree or you're worse you should resign. It sucks, which is why it's important to set aside the proper amount of time for the game. If you've got two hours, play G/60 with no increment and you're good. Usually it won't come of that because rarely do both players use all their time, but it does happen.

Interruptions

A related problem is having enough time to play a slow game, but having your concentration disturbed by interruptions. This happened to me in two separate games within the last week and I actually considered making an entire blog post devoted to this problem as it bugs me so much. You have to take precautions to try to minimize interruptions but sometimes they happen anyway. I learned a long time ago that not only do I have to wait until I'm alone (or nearly so) in the house before beginning play, but I have to take my laptop and disappear into the basement because over the course of the game the phone will ring or my dog will come up to me and insist on being walked if I'm in a public area of the house. If you're a night owl type maybe you can wait until everybody else goes to bed. Whatever you have to do, do it.

Waiting to get a game

Because slow games are less popular online than blitz, you sometimes have to wait a number of minutes before the server is able to find an opponent for you. This can be frustrating, particularly if you're used to playing blitz and are usually paired up almost instantly. I quickly learned a little trick, which is to register at several chess servers (in addition to the two biggies, Lichess and Chess.com, I play slow games at Chess24 and Chesstempo) and whenever I'm ready to play a slow game I open a separate window for each server and seek a game at each one. I'll play at whichever site gets a response first and I just close the windows for the others. In any case, what seems like waiting a long time for a game usually isn't. It would be unusual to have to wait more than five minutes to get a game, and if you intend to play for a couple of hours it's pretty silly to let a five or even ten minute wait dissuade you from playing.

Also, both Lichess and Chess.com have groups or leagues specifically devoted to slow play. In some cases they have tournaments where a game will start at a certain time every week, so you know in advance when there will be a game for you. I haven't done this, simply because I rarely know in advance if I'll be available to play at a certain time, but if one of your concerns is waiting to get a game, it might be a good option.

Jerks

I was going to use a different word, but let's keep this family-friendly.

One of the problems with online life in general is that the anonymity allows people to act like jerks with very little or no social consequence the way there would be in person. Chess is no exception, and this often manifests itself in antisocial behavior such as abandoning a lost position rather than resigning.

In blitz something like this is just a minor irritant. If my opponent loses his queen after 20 seconds of a three-minute game and refuses to either keep playing or resign and just lets his clock run out he's wasted my time but only a couple of minutes of it. If this happens in a slow game it can be infuriating. I've even seen once or twice where my opponent will make almost all his moves within one minute and will have like 40 minutes left when he loses a piece or something and then will let 20 minutes go by before he makes his next move, and then will let another 15 minutes go by before resigning. I don't know if this is done out of spite or whether it's a calculated attempt to see if I might get bored and abandon the game allowing my opponent to claim victory. Either way it's completely jerkish--again, I'm thinking of another word--behavior that definitely takes away from the slow game experience.

The good news is, it's rare and seems to be increasingly rare as ratings get higher. It's only happened to me once or twice. When it does happen, as much as it wastes my time I try to look at it with amusement; this guy thinks he's punking me but at least I'm going to get a win for my time while he's wasting his own time and he's getting hung with a loss! Then I just block them so I'm never paired up with them again in the future.

Easier to deal with are the jerks who sign up for a long time control game but then blitz out their moves and get on the chat complaining that you're taking too long. Simple solution: turn off the chat.

Try the slow lane

Even with these problems, I like playing slow games the best. It's different than blitz, and requires different skills. It sometimes surprises me how an opponent who is a lot better than me at blitz struggles at slow time controls, and even struggles not to blitz out his moves. If like me you struggle at blitz, you might find that the opposite is true for you, and the slow lane might be your lane. Give it a try and find out.