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