Amount of correspondence games at once.

Hey guys, what is a good amount of games to play at once iyo

that depends from person to person.

Some can handle hundreds, others can't manage 5

It depends on how much time you would give for each move, and how many moves you would do in one day. I think I can handle 40 games and I really want to but I don't do it simply because I don't know whether next week or month I will be available or in the mood to play.

Right now I want to play but non of my opponents make their move

I would say that for someone who's not crazy, 100 would be the max.

Less is more. The fewer games you play, the better played those games are likely to be. Once you get near to thirty, you risk burnout - chess might suddenly become a chore and you might abandon games.

I usually try to keep it around 10-15 at a time. That way, there's enough to be playing, but not to overwhelm me and I can keep ideas straight. I've seen a few players with over 250+ games on the go... and some of them are making some big tactical blunders in the middlegame simply because (I believe) that they do have too much on their plate to play to their potential.

yea.. I see what you mean.. Today I passed nearly 80, and I keep blundering.. Like I thought I played a tactic where I won my opponnents queen after Kh1, Nf2+, but there was just Nxh2 (I played Bh2+) and now my rating has gone down 20 points :(

I am trying to make it down to 15

When I played [even back to postal chess days] I averaged 45-50 games at once.

But I think a better load would be about 30.

It depends on your speed, as well as on your idea of quality. Outside the opening, it is not unreasonable to spend 10 minutes or more on a move. That means a dozen games can become a handful. Of course with 3 day time control you could stagger and completely ignore the games until you only have some 24 hours left. So I suppose you could play 30 to 60 games, but very slowly. I never do that though, since I move pretty quickly and I get moves back quickly sometimes as wel..  

I would say it's quality or quantity. With too many games you are just pushing wood. With just a few you can devote a lot of time to each game. I prefer to have only a few games at once, I treat correspondence play as a form of studying. Prior to the game I research my opponent, playing through their games getting to know their style. I spend a lot of time in the opening researching the opening theory and playing through scores of completed games to understand the ideas of middlegame play. Out of the opening theory I list all candidate moves, analyse each one, and keep notes. All of this takes a lot of time, so I prefer to have to move on only one or two games per day.

Exactly.  This has happened to me.  I'd have 30 or more games and then life kicked in.  Suddenly I had to sell a house, change jobs, or work through issues with my kids.  Then I couldn't spend time on the moves anymore.  It got to the point where I dreaded having to make a move.  I love chess, but I got to hate having to make moves in games because I was burned out and stressed.  I did the best I could until the day came when there was nothing left inside me that kept me from just resigning and leaving the site for several months.  So thats what I did. (That will sound crazy if you haven't reached burn out).

I've noticed that a lot of the higher rated players play fewer games.  I think if you are playing 45 games at a time and doing well in most of them, then if you slowed down and player fewer, then your rating would shoot up. I'd rather spend time on fewer games and do the best I can than do mediocre in a whole lot of them.  

If you have a burning need to play a game "now", then there is the live option. But if you don't want that, then you can always create a couple of new games outside of a tournament.  But if you have 20 or 30 and no one is making a move, then if it were me I wouldn't create anymore.  Download a chess engine and practice playing it at different levels.  Or play live chess.  

I was over 250 and it was too much. Now I've got down just under 150. I still blunder a lot, but it is manageable. I am on disability and I have a lot of time. I play 3 days/move up to 14 days a move. I don't like Live Chess.