Should I play daily games?

Some people swear by them, others hate them. 

Do they improve your chess?

Should i bother with them?

How many should i play at once?

I imagine they end up being a major time killer.

Many thanks.

If you take them seriously, they can improve your game a lot. For example, keep a notepad and list your thoughts, ideas and plans for each game in it. Record the games by hand and add variations that you analyze with comments as to why you chose this move instead of that one and why this line would fail while another succeeds. It can eat up a lot of time, but it's worthwhile for your game. The best thing is that you can really take your time to get a grasp on all aspects of any given position.

Not if you're going to play them the way 99% of chess.com plays them, which is playing a crapton at the same time and carelessly blitzing out a move immediately after it's your turn. Instead try playing one or two at a time and really think through each move and what it means.

Play correspondance chess, and use the Notes section to record your thoughts, analysis, etc.

yes and no

i have met a few people during daily chess who have become friends and we practice together much

and as others have mentioned, if you play them seriously and really make the most of the time then it can be a great benefit

however, i do not like the fact that the energy of a live game does not transfer to daily

and, at my total noob level as an example, blunders still happen frequently no matter how long i have to play a move- i dont need all that extra time to realize this (an analysis after a 30 live game does this just as well- maybe even better since the game is "still fresh")

which leads to my next point, people getting into a tough position and milking their time- i get it; i agreed to it- but i have resigned many daily games just to clear my game cache waiting for opponents to move

i agree with the poster who said to have one or two daily games going and really focus on those to reap the greatest benefits- some opponents i play have dozens going at once and i cant but help think that each time they log into a game it must appear like a tactics trainer puzzle with little recollection on how a position was had in the first place- but, to each his own

good luck

thanks for your comments.

I think i will play only one game at a time and set that game on a physical board.

I like daily chess because it gives me time to think about where to attack and that's a weakness of mine in faster games. I think that my training as a graduate degreed scientist hurts my efficiency in fast chess thought processing because I try to be too complete in my thinking, so it's important to play some faster chess as well.  Here's my best-ever dialy miniature, played last month, and in a fast game I would have played 10 Rf1 to prevent the N-fork of my Q & R - safety first made me focus on that moveeven though I feared 10...Qh4+.  But with plenty of time to think, I was trying to do the "make a threatening move if you can" thing and found 10 Ng5!!, which won the game - even though I wasn't absolutely sure at the time. I hope this makes me play a little bolder in the future!

 

You might consider joining a team and participating in a match where you have two simultaneous games against the same opponent: one with Black and one with White.

I'm currently playing two games against a Russian player as part of Team USA: Southeast vs Team Moscow.  It's fun and it doesn't take up too much of my time - especially since there's a major time-zone difference so it's hard to get in more than 1 move/day.

I play about five games at a time. I find that they are very helpful in analyzing the board and thinking about my moves. I often keep notes about lines that I'm thinking of playing. On a whole I think it is really helping my game.

I have played up to about 15 at a time & quality does suffer as quantity goes up. My preference is about 6 games at once, ideally 2 each in opening, middlegame and endgame. I find with just 1 or 2 it can end up in dull positions and thinking goes stale. 

daily games = simuls. 

I'm surprised you chose such a complex line like 10. Ng5!

I would think that 10. Bxf7+ is a much easier, more forcing, more human line to play there.

It's like you missed a simple path to victory, but found a complex path to victory instead.