If I haven't mentioned it before, I'm slightly addicted to online blitz chess. If you're not familiar with blitz, basically it is 5 minute speed chess. I like that I can quickly take a few minutes each day to play a few games. Keeps my brain sharper than video games. Since I opened my current account almost exactly four years ago (April 28, 2006), I've played 10,000 games. Won 5073, lost 4298, drew 629.
I've actually been playing online since 1999. I wasn't very good when I started. Back then my rating was under 1300, but I've been improving year after year. The biggest jump was about 100 points when I stopped playing 5 5 (five minutes a game plus 5 seconds added with each move) and started playing 5 0 (five minutes a game with no time added after a move). I'm pretty good at thinking fast and win a lot of games on the clock.
I'm also too easily distracted - I check email or surf the web a lot during games - but I've become what is considered a decently strong blitz player. I figure I'm currently averaging around 1650, and a little over a week ago I set a new personal best, 1718.
I play at the Free Internet Chess Server (FICS). It is free. Really and truly free, not one of those 'free' sites that only try to sell a membership. http://www.freechess.org/
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