I've fallen out of love with the game again. I just open up my games every couple of days to make my move before I time out and don't give them enough thought to do them justice. My game is deteriorating as a result. I haven't entered a new tourney or team match for a while and want to wind all my games down to have a break.

Life is just too busy to devote enough time to the game at present.

Anyone else feeling like this? What do you do to rekindle your love for the game?

Have a break

Walk away from it for a week or two and let the mind rest....

I'm glad you mentioned this. Maybe I can get a few points while your game is off-key.

It's not quite at that stage yet, Art!

Propose a new kind of vacation - a 'sabatical' whereby your existing games are frozen for 6 months. That should liven things up a bit.

To rekindle my love for the game I broke my leg 3 weeks ago - that's when I registered here.

 Is that what you would recommend? To break a leg :-D

To Johnny.

Take a break, and try to play different types of games. I too feel a bit bored at times. My solution was to enter a local chess club and play there. Tournament chess is comletely different from online chess. One thing is that you have to memorize your opening plans, another is that people play different openings - and not just the optimized lines, a third thing is the time control. It is a difference to play with 2hr than 3 days per move :)

After each tourmament it is fun to return to chess.com, because I always meet new variations or have problems with certain systems (like the slav). Then it is more interesting to try new ideas out here on the turn based system.

Besides, it is a great learning experience. Most clubs have classes. I teach 8 years old kids. They are very talented!! The club, tournament players also have experience, and it is really interesting to discuss plans with them after tournament games. Most people join you for analyzis afterwards.

And much much more.

So, if you do not want to break a leg,

then 1. take a break

and/or 2. vary your play, a chess club is an excellent place to do that.

Thats my opinion

i've felt this way too before jonny. just take a break and fool around with another hobby. before you know it you'll be back and interested again.

some times it means you are on the verge of a new level of play.. take some time away fro the game.. come back refreshed with a new game in mind.

My game has slipped in recent times.  Being an Admin or a Super Admin in Groups and asking for comments and seeing no response is frustrating at times.  Slipping in games and no responses at times makes me want to quit but somehow I feel a loyalty to others so now I can't quit.  I think this site is great but I can quickly get angered at myself and the internet, maybe it is a bad day or 2 but I must move on.  Good luck in your games.  Rod

Thanks, Rod.

I took the advice of some of the guys and laid off chess for a while, and now I've recovered some of my love of the game. I started reading a couple of new strategy books, added a new opening to my repertoire and started doing more tactics (on another site), so things are on the up. I'm also keeping my games down to <10 so I can give them max effort.

This game has so much to do with your state of mind. When you play someone of similar strength, you've won or lost the game in your head before you move a piece.

Here is my theory on games.  I always try to keep my games to 10 or less, each game I replay from the start before I move, usually flip the board, make my move and then think, then hit the submit button, generally.  I have been working on the Queen's Pawn and French Defense openings mainly, these openings must be understood in order to progress but you are likely better at these than I.

Thanks very much.

Rod