Mastering Chess.com: How to Disconnect from Live Chess

Chess.com is a popular online platform that offers a wide range of features for chess enthusiasts. Players can enjoy live chess, learn new strategies, and even watch chess TV on Chess.com.

In this article, we will explore how to disconnect from live chess on Chess.com, the benefits of doing so, and the consequences of staying connected.

We will also share tips on how to avoid the pitfalls of continuous play and maintain peak performance. So, let’s dive in and discover how to make the most of your online chess experience!

What Is Chess.com?

Chess.com is an ever-growing platform with over 55 million users that allows you to play, learn about, enjoy, and be a part of the ever-expanding chess universe. The free version of Chess.com provides tools and options for chess beginners who want to learn more.

Features of the live play setting include unlimited access, earning up to 10,000 Chess.com ratings points (displayed as cups on the website), nine simultaneous live match games, limited numbers of taught lessons, online tournaments, and more. For more extensive learning of regular or variant chess, statistics, analysis or cheat detection, you will need to upgrade to Chess.com Premium with different entitlements at different price points.

Chess.com and membership from its predecessor, The Internet Chess Club (ICC), reside on an program created by Log-On Data Corporation, a company founded in 1995 that had bought the rights and ownership of the original ICC’s web domain and internet chess platform in 2007 from a previous company that failed to turn it into a viable online chess community. The number of members and features of the site have grown rapidly since its founding.

What Are The Features Of Chess.com?

The features of Chess.com fall into six main categories. The most in-demand are play games, play live chess, multiplayer mode, statistics, puzzles, and studying. The Play games feature allows users to play with a computer opponent, real players, or friends. The Play live chess feature is the same but with the added bonus of being automatically matched up with opponents who are at a similar skill level. Multiplayer mode enables friends or teammates to challenge others. Studying allows users to watch videos or enroll in classes to improve basic skills, for a fee. Puzzles include an abundant variety of tactical problems for practice and fun. Profiles come jam-packed with player info like game history, player-reported nationality, how long they have been a member, trophies, etc.

Play Live Chess

First of all, sign in to chess.com (if you already have an account) and choose Live Chess, which is the default after logging in. Click on the Play button under the Live Chess section.

If you the play page does not have a green dot by your username (signifying you are not in play), an arrow pointing to the green upwards triangle, and the Live Chess section layout, then you are not online playing (and logged out of Live Chess if you were previously logged in). This makes Live Chess appear to be disconnected to other viewers, even though you are the one controlling your status in the Live Chess feed on the website. The only way to be sure no one can spectate you even though you are playing is to play in anonymity by logging out first of closing the browser entirely and reopening the browser in private mode (Ctrl+Shift+N on most browsers).

Learn Chess

Chess is not only about movements and capturing of pieces. It involves key game skills and techniques. Knowing defensive techniques or mastering advanced chess strategies like king safety and pawn structures are also important. You can improve your playing skills by setting up the Learn Chess course settings in your account. Learn chess is a bi-level, gamified training program designed at two levels.

Apprentice Level: This is intended for people who are new to the game or have not touched the game for a long period of time. It reintroduces the basics of chess, such as movements of the pieces, special moves, and tips. This includes short checkmate problems.

Pawn Level: As you graduate to the Pawn Level you can do drills focused on one aspect of the game at a time, such as mobility for rooks or minorities attack. Do some Learn Chess drills in which you focus on one element of the game at a time. This is particularly useful in the early stages of chess games, where just a few pieces have been removed from the board. Learning chess helps a player develop their tactics and shines a light on the importance of combining tactics and strategy to defeat an opponent. Learn Chess is a helpful feature of Chess.com particularly for new players or inexperienced players who want to win games more. Go to the Learn section and pick a level.

Watch Chess TV

Chess TV is a relatively new platform on Chess.com geared towards people who seek to improve their game knowledge.

It connects them with Grandmasters who comment on live over-the-board games. There are regular 45-minute broadcasts that do not repeat, with each episode focusing on a recent game. As a subscriber, you will receive additional benefits as part of the platform’s Bobby Fischer 960 Tournament.

How To Disconnect From Live Chess In Chess.com?

To disconnect from live chess in Chess.com, use the Sign Out button on the right side of the community section, the Sign Out button in the menu at the bottom of the pages near the help section, the Log Out button when clicking/tapping the top right profile avatar, your privacy settings, or you can use the pause/resume feature within the game.

Some verbosity is required in the assistance steps because the first three options are not intuitive. The simplest way is to either use the sign-out button near the bottom of the page or sign out in your profile.

Pause The Game

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A live game that is paused is no longer a live game. The syѕtempl lets plaуers pause correspondencе and OTB games. It monitor timeouts and pauses to detect cheaters, аnd caьles opponents to аsk for a рause of a live gamе if an emergenсу arises. A live game in Chess.com will signal to check, and spectators, that the game has been paused if that is the case, but there is no function to pause the game for longer periods.

If a player leaves the site or ends the game during a permanent timeout or disconnect, it is considered a lost by Chess.com rules.

Close The Browser Window

Closing the browser window is another simple option for disconnected players. This will only work if the game settings are set to use browser sound alerts or there are regular visual browser notifications of the game state currently turned on. If the sound is turned off or there are no browser alerts turned on, players won’t know if the opponent has moved or if they have timed out because chess.com only sends out a sound alert or email when a player times out and the web browser notifications send alerts about both a player timing out and the opponent moving.

End The Game

You must end the game if you want to disconnect from Live Chess in Chess.com. Leaving the game without resigning shows a timeout and looks like bad sportsmanship. You can resign and leave without watching how the opponent will finish either. To do that, hover over the three dots labeled “more” on the top right of the game screen and click “resign“.

What Are The Benefits Of Disconnecting From Live Chess?

Disconnecting from chess.com live play by resigning from a game or disconnecting intentionally provides potential benefits for other people and the individual. The individual advantages of resigning locally or intentionally disconnecting are that the player has control over when they play, whom they play, and the manner in which they choose to walk away or lose the game.

For others in the chess community, there may be some benefits of resigning against an opponent that may be in ‘time trouble’. This term refers to a nearly depleted pool of available time during games, which suggests that a player is having difficulty moving quickly and so significant choices regarding the chess game’s outcomes are left to an essentially random factor, says Bowen Vaysberg of the Marshall Chess Club.

No matter how bad a position you are in, in this virtual format one reserve is that you can always force resign. Recognize when you are no longer contending for any outcome besides a draw and resign to allow someone to tender their win before the time ending. This saves time and resources for both your opponent and yourself.

Disconnecting might also just help you sleep at night. Often people can’t sleep at night because they have too much stimulation. Which can be induced by playing games like chess. Bruce Bailey, a Mayo Clinic pulmonologist, suggests that if you are sensitive to this sort of electronic stimulation, limit your time before turning the lights out. Either try to find a different way to play this game without time pressure, or resign the game and get a restful, good night slee, so you will have more power for your mind to concentrate, another game

Avoid Time Pressure

Time pressure on the chess clock occurs when the amount of time available to you becomes insufficient to allow you to find clear moves to follow through with optimal gameplay. The best way to avoid time pressure is to act swiftly almost immediately after your opponent moves the pieces which lets you have sufficient time to think ahead and plan your next movements.

Take A Break

Vacation mode enables you to take a temporary break from chess while not using your time on premium membership. After the days you determine are over, the vacation mode will end and premium membership time will resume.

To begin a break using vacation mode, go to your account’s settings. You will find an option to begin your break there.

There is no time limit on how long your break can be under vacation mode. You choose when it will begin and when it will end. You just need to specify end date and time, after which the vacation mode ends.

The days of break will be added in the ‘Paused Time’ segment of your subscription details which will become visible after the end of the vacation period. However, vacation mode can be used a maximum of 6 times within a calendar year. Every time a transition is made, players will get messages.

Regroup And Refocus

Having lost a game from a drawn position, you have already taken control and left. Use your newly rediscovered energy wisely. Look for the best possible moves you can make in the current situation and focus all your energy on that. Avoid toggling around on live chess or watching analysis videos about the game in progress, as this will only attract the player’s focus back to the moment where the conversion happened.

What Are The Consequences Of Not Disconnecting From Live Chess?

The consequences of not disconnecting from Live Chess in Chess.com are that you will not be able to see the full list of your games if you log back in because by the time you have logged on again, the closed games have already been removed from the UI.

This means that you will not be able to navigate to them because they are already archived beyond the five most recent games that you can see in the UI. You can still check the games you did not disconnect from in the Game Archive, but performance and connection statistics will be lost.

Time Pressure

Time pressure is a prominent factor in chess games that forces opponents to move quickly when low on time, often making mistakes. In online chess, it is easy to keep track of one’s time and play at the last moment because of this helpful feature of online chess. This time competitiveness is an important characteristic of chess, as many hobby players adore it, especially in 5-minute Blitz games.

Leechess particularly encourages players to exhaust their time because as noted on their site, “…for the wisdom of the old adage that time is the most valuable thing one can waste, and in the wake of the recent COVID-19 epidemic, we wish to remind all of our players that the most cherished thing in life is to enjoy and casually play a fascinating game…or, indeed, to relax online by slowly measuring out the minutes of life.”

Loss Of Focus

The second reason to disconnect from live chess is due to a loss of focus on the game. This can occur when playing games of chess with a long time control and can be exacerbated if there is no pause or offered by the platform for low focus. Disconnecting involuntarily from a game due to a loss of focus is preventable by selecting time controls with which you are comfortable and against whom it is reasonable to expect not to experience long time trouble (find someone at your language and skill level).

Fatigue

Just as in a real-life chess tournament, playing multiple games continually for days, weeks, or longer can become exhausting. The artificial fatigue of this sort of work can make this an issue via chess platforms. The levels of fatigue felt would not different between playing in a physical board game and an online chess game over a longer time period.

Decreased Performance

Your performance in Live Chess – as in Over-The Board (OTB) Chess – may not benefit from interaction with other players via chat. If you are easily distracted by peripheral chat or perturbed by players who are rude or overjoyed enough to repeatedly give you insincere “good game” comments, you will suffer a drop in performance levels.

According to Dr. Jack Singer, a Sports Psychologist who has worked with athletes at all levels of competition, he says, “always focus on your game, not your opponent.” Play your best moves because they are the best moves, regardless of how your opponent is treating you.

If the chat feature is getting to you during a Live Chess game, it is best to turn it off. Similarly, if you find you are emotionally susceptible to people’s grief or joy during a game, turning off chat is the best approach to playing your best game according to Dr. Singer.

How To Avoid Disconnecting From Live Chess?

To avoid disconnecting from live chess, stay near your Wi-Fi router to help maintain good internet signal strength. Do not browse the internet, watch videos, download files, or stream media while playing. This consumes bandwidth and might disrupt your internet connection or your network’s ability to keep you connected to a chess server.

Furthermore, do not use older electronic devices while playing chess as this can potentially cause your internet connection to become unstable. Try standing closer to your router to help ensure that cell service connectivity does not drop during a chess game. Start playing at a time of day when your internet connection is fastest and most reliable.

Manage Time Wisely

Managing time wisely in chess can not be overemphasized. When a player is given more time than they need, they are often inclined to sit and think. This is especially true in games where they are safe from immediate defeat. They wait in the hopes of achieving a win later on. In many cases, however, they simply don’t understand the right moves to take to achieve their goal. In these games, one trends toward a drawn outcome and there was little use in waiting to drain one’s time.

If you watch a professional sporting event and see an athlete that breaks all the time to try to force the outcome of the rest of the game to go in their favor, it’s very peculiar. – Levon Aronian, Grandmaster

Even if missing moves or chances to win weren’t easily visible to a player, letting one’s time bleed down does one no favors. If you are taking more time than you need for thinking, learn to finish up your games quickly after that by not taking your time anymore. It will at least help improve your flipping speed.

Take Breaks In Between Games

To learn how to disconnect from live chess in Chess.com without logging out, you can take breaks in between games. You can simply not click the Find Opponent` key after a battle ends or not agree to a new adventure. Alternatively, minimize your browser or app, get up and walk around for 20 seconds, and return to your desktop.

If you get annoyed with being constantly called out by opponents, there is a stealth mode available on the desktop but not in the mobile app. On desktop, go to the navigation menu. When you click on your name and photo, you will see an option to disable seeking or playing, thus turning off all notifications and waiting queries. If an opponent immediately challenges you, the ‘I’m playing!’ icon will be displayed to him. If you log back in and go back to the screen displaying ongoing games, you can turn it off at any time.

Stay Hydrated And Energized

Staying hydrated and energized while playing live chess aids in remaining calm and focused and reducing stress levels (L. Fumoto et al.). If you are looking to give online chess a break, get some exercise. Stretch, complete a full workout, or go for a walk or run outside. You can also energize and hydrate yourself by sipping on fluids while reading a book, or by playing low-energy board or card games. if your energy levels are low try sipping on a coffee or another low-sugar caffeinated beverage.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Disconnect From Live Chess in Chess.com?

FAQs:

1. Can I disconnect from a live chess game on Chess.com?

Yes, you can disconnect from a live chess game on Chess.com by clicking on the “Disconnect” button on the game screen.

2. What happens if I disconnect from a live chess game on Chess.com?

If you disconnect from a live chess game on Chess.com, the game will automatically end and your opponent will be declared as the winner.

3. Is there a penalty for disconnecting from a live chess game on Chess.com?

Yes, there is a penalty for disconnecting from a live chess game on Chess.com. Your rating may be affected and you may receive a warning from Chess.com.

4. Can I reconnect to a live chess game after I have disconnected?

No, once you have disconnected from a live chess game on Chess.com, you will not be able to reconnect. The game will automatically end and your opponent will be declared as the winner.

5. How can I avoid disconnecting from a live chess game on Chess.com?

To avoid disconnecting from a live chess game on Chess.com, make sure you have a stable internet connection and close any other applications or websites that may be using your internet bandwidth.

6. Will my opponent be notified if I disconnect from a live chess game on Chess.com?

Yes, your opponent will be notified if you disconnect from a live chess game on Chess.com. They will receive a message stating that you have disconnected and the game has ended.