Four Types of CC Player So which are you ?
By Peter Bennett
In the 51 years since I first began to play correspondence chess ( back in 1965 ) the wide variation in approach to the game I have observed among my many opponents has always intrigued me . From time to time I have toyed with various typologies ; and the way we play has also changed and developed over the years . The advent of webserver chess has , however , ironed out some of the problematic areas associated with the postal game in which many older CC players will have originally won their spurs . Essentially , the webserver gives more and more accurate , information as to how our opponents are playing . This article is therefore a synthesis of observations I have been making over a long period but especially in the eight years since I began playing on the webserver .
During that time I have also made many friends through CC , and had lengthy discussions with opponents in many different countries through the messaging systems ; so I have also been able to draw on many other people ’ s observations about variations in CC style . The following quadrant gives a broad picture of these variations as I see them :
TECHNICIANS WARRIORS
ADDICTS TEAMSTERS
These four “ types ” of CC players are not mutually exclusive , so real people will usually have some elements of each of these styles ; but most of us , as I see it , have a stronger association with one quadrant than with the other three , while some of us will be unquestionably located in one of the four quadrants . The way I have drawn this diagram has another piece of information : the diagonal connections are the weakest , that is , Technicians have little in common with Teamsters and Warriors have little in common with Addicts .
Briefly , then :
TECHNICIANS are those who make a science of CC . ADDICTS are those who dedicate themselves to CC . WARRIORS are those who enjoy the contest in CC . TEAMSTERS are those who enjoy belonging to a CC community .
The diagram with its four quadrants can now be filled out in this way :
TECHNICIANS ( science ) Standards are important WARRIORS ( contest )
The Game is important
People are important
ADDICTS ( dedication ) Immersion is important TEAMSTERS ( connection )
Let me now elucidate this diagram by looking at what the four “ types ” have in common with one another and where they differ .
Across the top , what TECHNICIANS have in common with ADDICTS is a fascination with the game of chess , specifically the CC code . In the modern form of CC , TECHNICIANS tend to be those who reach the very highest standards and ADDICTS may briefly mimic their accomplishments , in that their highest-ever grading is often very high indeed . Where they differ is that TECHNICIANS maintain a very high standard of play for a very long time , often their entire CC careers ( rarely or never falling below 2400 ), whereas ADDICTS cannot sustain this level of play . The reason is quite simple : TECHNICIANS are very disciplined about which tournaments they enter , choosing only those which help them towards specific goals , so never take on too many games at once .
True TECHNICIANS would rarely play more than 30 games simultaneously and usually far fewer . ADDICTS , on the other hand , enter tournaments indiscriminately ; they cannot resist an invitation to play , just as an alcoholic cannot refuse the offer of another drink ; so they end up with a lot of games . It is not uncommon for addicts to have more than 100 games in progress at one time , a tally which is bound to compromise standards in the end . Even 50 games will reduce playing standards .
A few years ago I was playing a well-known addict who at one time had had a grading of over 2600 ; yet I won the game we played against each other . How did I manage that ? Simple ! I had a modest tally of games and dedicated many hours to that particular game . I worked out that my opponent had 119 games in progress - and that was just on the ICCF server ! He could not possibly have matched my commitment to our own game . At one point I wrote to him and asked : how do you manage to play 119 games at once ? He replied : thanks for letting me know , I had absolutely no idea that I was playing so many games , never gave it a thought ….
On the right of the diagram , what ADDICTS and TEAMSTERS have in common is that they dedicate a great deal of time to the game , that is , they specifically enjoy having a hobby in which they can immerse themselves wholeheartedly . While many of these people may be socially very well adjusted , some players in both these groups may be seeing chess as either substituting for a lack of fulfilment in other areas of their lives ( such as a boring job ) or even positively escaping from something else ( such as a marriage which is no longer as fulfilling as it had been in the past , rebellious teenage children or a resident parentin-law ).
Let me not speculate beyond these few comments , suffice it to say that they are based on knowledge of the individual circumstances of players I cannot name . Golf , Sailing , Fishing and Mountaineering share with Chess the capacity to absorb reprehensibly excessive amounts of time and energy , leading to the concepts of “ golf widow ”, “ sailing widow ”, etc . Enough said .
SCCA Magazine 133 9 Spring 2016