You can stop playing and read a book, strategy or tactics.
Bad chess, how to get out of a slump?
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LiamKalson wrote:
I'm currently in an even worse slump. I used to be 1100 in blitz, then I went down to a 600! I'm now slowly climbing back up. I found that if I play more than 3 bullet or blitz games in one day, I get twice as bad. I tried not playing for an entire week. Now, I'm much better, but still need work. My blitz is still 700, my bullet is 600 and my standard is 930. Now, when I play against a 1100 player, I feel like I'm playing against a genius, which is very bothersome. I would recommend just taking a long, long, long break. My slump has been going on for 3.5 months now, so I'll do the same. You can also try going without blitz or bullet for a long time. I always try to avoid much blitz.
Read chess books so you will get better. If I am you, I will skip playing bullet as it leads to bad habits and superficial thinking.
Millennium_FalconNZ wrote:
jambyvedar wrote:
LiamKalson wrote:
I'm currently in an even worse slump. I used to be 1100 in blitz, then I went down to a 600! I'm now slowly climbing back up. I found that if I play more than 3 bullet or blitz games in one day, I get twice as bad. I tried not playing for an entire week. Now, I'm much better, but still need work. My blitz is still 700, my bullet is 600 and my standard is 930. Now, when I play against a 1100 player, I feel like I'm playing against a genius, which is very bothersome. I would recommend just taking a long, long, long break. My slump has been going on for 3.5 months now, so I'll do the same. You can also try going without blitz or bullet for a long time. I always try to avoid much blitz.
Read chess books so you will get better. If I am you, I will skip playing bullet as it leads to bad habits and superficial thinking.
before i play in Tournaments particularly with tourneys, i stop playing blitz months before , as i found my chess dramtically deteriorated
and stablised at a superficial level, so i do concur, but i do know somebody, reads nothing, plays blitz constantly, then just before a tourney he will play a sh*t load of chess blitz to get in the zone
me i cant do that..i need to stop to reframe my chess mind..but thats my 2cents
Maybe he already paid his due by reading/studying a lot before.Maybe he study chess, but it does not necessarily mean using books. He might be using videos,human coach or softwares Maybe he has talent and not every body can be like him. Maybe he reads, but you do not see it. Maybe strong players help him by analyzing games and giving tips to him(equivalent of reading). What is his rating?
A player will not make significant progress if he never study chess. Even chess geniuses Fischer and Capablanca study chess to improve their game.
I think there are some measures that you could take that haven't been mentioned much online. The trouble with taking a break is that sometimes it only adds to the frustration - you want to play chess, not wait around doing something else!
1) Sit up straight and adopt an alert body posture. This helps me a lot.
2) Take frequent short breaks in a playing session - just a minute or two between games.
3) Don't feel you have to obey the "unwritten rule" of giving rematches to people you have just beaten. It can feel a bit mean, I admit, but in online chess nobody's doing anybody else any favours. Hitting and running can avoid getting you into those endless and often bitter marathons for all of ten points of rating gain.
4) KISS. Keep it simple, sweetie. Often when I am losing a lot of games, it's because I'm trying to be too fancy. It often helps to remember the basics, such as developing quickly and getting castled before I kick off anything. You can start trying out difficult strategies when you are back in form.
5) Play the strongest opponents who will give you a game! It's much easier to raise your own game and losing is not a big deal when you are the underdog. If you win, you will feel great and will get a lot of rating points too. Losing ten games is not so bad if on the eleventh you adminster a whupment to an internationally titled player.
6) Check the lighting and ergonomics in your room. Work out if your workstation is making your irritable. A badly positioned screen that keeps reflecting ambient light only adds to the mental workload, for instance. The older you get, the harder it is to ignore comfort.
Hope this all helps!
(I mean to play here soon but so far have been using a couple of rival servers)
While I'm nowhere near the rating of all you guys, I too am in a slump, I think I'm gonna also go with the idea of taking off a week or two from chess. Looking at all of your ratings I know I'm listening to experts. I can't even break a 900 rating. I know I have a long ways to go and I don't want to give up the game out of frustration and failures. Thanks for all the advice.
Go easy on yourself...just enjoy...
Great comments- makes me feel I’m not alone. The worst feeling in the world is having a winning position and giving it all away. I play 15|10 and have gone from 1549 to 1392. I am missing such obvious amateur moves. I think I am losing sight of the whole board. Too focused on one piece of the board and missing the whole lay of the land. When I sit down to play, I dread losing and so I lose. Taking a break sounds good. It’s supposed to be fun right? Losing when you play like an idiot is NOT fun
Dear Dhenley365,
I am a certified, full-time chess coach, so I hope I can help you. 
Everybody is different, so that's why there isn't only one general way to learn. First of all, you have to discover your biggest weaknesses in the game and start working on them. The most effective way for that is analysing your own games. Of course, if you are a beginner, you can't do it efficiently because you don't know too much about the game yet. There is a built-in engine on chess.com which can show you if a move is good or bad but the only problem that it can't explain you the plans, ideas behind the moves, so you won't know why is it so good or bad.
You can learn from books or Youtube channels as well, and maybe you can find a lot of useful information there but these sources are mostly general things and not personalized at all. That's why you need a good coach sooner or later if you really want to be better at chess. A good coach can help you with identifying your biggest weaknesses and explain everything, so you can leave your mistakes behind you. Of course, you won't apply everything immediately, this is a learning process (like learning languages), but if you are persistent and enthusiastic, you will achieve your goals.
In my opinion, chess has 4 main territories (openings, strategies, tactics/combinations and endgames). If you want to improve efficiently, you should improve all of these skills almost at the same time. That's what my training program is based on. My students really like it because the lessons are not boring (because we talk about more than one areas within one lesson) and they feel the improvement on the longer run. Of course, there are always ups and downs but this is completely normal in everyone's career.
I hope this is helpful for you. Good luck for your chess games!
Are hitting slumps normal? That must be the first question hovering in your mind when you struggle with no hit in several games in a row.
Maybe it's good to focus on something else for a while (as in, a few weeks not days).
Do more exercise, eat and sleep regularly, get the brain oxygenated with walks outside, do a creative or DIY project in the house, that kind of thing.
Also, watching and analysing master games always helps, and takes pressure off of your own performance. It's hard to say what exactly you need, but you will get back in the groove.
It was about 8 years ago he asked that question. I suspect he was playing too much. It's often the case.
I found this thread looking for some ideas. I’ve slumped pretty bad before, so I know it’s cyclical. Trouble is, I’ve got an OTB tournament coming up in less than a week, and I’m looking to break out by then. It’s so close that I don’t feel comfortable taking a break. I’m currently 1702 USCF. When I’m slumping, it feels like I’ve literally forgotten how to play the game — can’t see the board; can’t come up with ideas, make silly blunders, etc. Terribly frustrating, to say the least. When I’m on my game, simple plans, tactics and ideas (within my skill level, and sometimes beyond) suggest themselves to me without too much trouble. I see everything, compared to when I’m slumping.
I'm currently in an even worse slump. I used to be 1100 in blitz, then I went down to a 600! I'm now slowly climbing back up. I found that if I play more than 3 bullet or blitz games in one day, I get twice as bad. I tried not playing for an entire week. Now, I'm much better, but still need work. My blitz is still 700, my bullet is 600 and my standard is 930. Now, when I play against a 1100 player, I feel like I'm playing against a genius, which is very bothersome. I would recommend just taking a long, long, long break. My slump has been going on for 3.5 months now, so I'll do the same. You can also try going without blitz or bullet for a long time. I always try to avoid much blitz.