hey everybody.  i have a confession to make:

my chess game is slowly yet painfully falling apart.

at one point i had my rating up to 1400 (long) on live chess, now i have troubles beating people in the 1000 range.  i feel like im in a hole.

though there is another side to this story, because i literally dug this whole and jumped into it on my own accord.  i thought i was going to "quit" chess during last December.  big mistake.  im comin back now, and im significantly worse.

for some reason i just have a hard time looking at the big picture.  ive lost my innate sense of chess concepts that i once had.  and i havent a clue how to review those.  how should i approach relearning chess?

buy a beginners book?  study my current chess library? (which includes end game book, tactical device reference, opening traps, and modern defence primer)  please help.  i dont know what to do.  i tried using tactics trainer and chess mentor for a while and that didnt help, at all.  thanks guys.

I think the best idea is to keep practising tactics, but most of all, take your time doing so. Make sure you have taken a good long look at the position, don't try something right away. Make sure you understand the position before making a move.

stop playing for a bit. work on studying - tactics, videos, chess mentor. don't play for 2 weeks while you patiently study. then get back to the game and be very patient in your moves. just slow down :)

Take a break for a week or two and then study.  Don't play many live games and just improve your knowledge at chess

I'm just climbing out of my latest slump.  I find the best thing to do is to scale back the number of games I play, and to slow down my pace on the games I do play.  It gives me the time to be diciplined and check and re-check my moves before making them and also gives me time for things outside of chess.

Maybe try just a small handful of games on turn based if you must play.

Three steps:

1.  Play more games

2.  Play more games

3.  Play more games

Don't worry about the ratings, I have gone through that exact scenario.  Like anything when you get back to it you are going to have to shake off some rust.  Remember that a whole well played game can be ruined by one blunder.  I know how frustrating it is when you are not playing up to the potential that you know you are capable of, but once you get your form back you will get back there and beyond it.  Try playing the little chess partner a bunch of quick games.

I think quick games are the worst thing you can do right now.

Slow it down.

Longer blitz games are where its at, that is reality. Only focusing on online chess chess while using an opening explorer and analze board will make you a half-assed chessplayer. You have to take off the training wheels at some point and just play. If you are in a slump, play unrated games. Also working on your tactics is the meat and potatoes to your game, this is a good free site for tactics training: http://chess.emrald.net/

I'm a beginner. I'm playing against a NY22 chess computer which I love, but there are many mixed feelings about the NY22 in the forums. Anyhow what I do is go up and down the levels of difficulty depending on how I'm doing and feeling. Changing levels of difficulty is really simple on the NY22. I go up when I'm winning and down when I'm losing. And...........that's how I get out of holes and keep it challenging.

Good Luck!

I'm currently working through "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Chess" which is highly rated on Amazon.com and has 58 enlightening reviews.

Stick it out, everyone has slumps from time to time. Honestly, it's all in your head... think positive!

 I'd like to expand on the above point:

4. Play more games.

Practice, practice, practice.

I agree. It's just like playing the piano or any other skill set; you use it or lose it.

Yep it's happened to me. I was over 1600 at one point now I'm always around 1450-1500.

I still think that rest is important -- burnout can be as bad, if not worse, than lack of practice.  Balance is key.

I'm officially out of my slump and at my new higest rating, largely because I slowed things down.

I would really reccommend chesskids.com. I know its mainly for kids, but I used it a few years back and it really helped me to improve! It teaches all the basic principles of chess as well as some more anvanced stuff. Plus, you don't have to pay anything and the lessons are often very funny! Check it out!

I agree pace and balance are important. Burnout and depression are bad.