Fighting Emotions, A beginner's guide pt. 4

We all have days where you lose every game, painfully seeing that number drop further and further. You seem to play against opponents twice as good as you. You get angry and stop playing for however long. Maybe sometimes we have that day where we seem unstoppable, with our ranks climbing higher than ever, just for you to become overconfident and lose it all. You blunder a queen and your rating falls with your ego. Whatever it is, let's get into it.

Chess is a game of focus, making sure to recognize every move, see every threat, and win every game. Sadly, the plan is easier said than done. My focus today is to work on all three of these things, without working on any of them. This oxymoron is the basics of this lesson. We'll be focused, today, on holding back emotions during your games. staying straight-faced and focused on every key detail that is made. While this is sometimes difficult, learning how your body calms itself down is key to controlling emotions in chess, let alone daily life. For me, music helps. While anything works, I prefer something like Lofi hip hop or music by SHRK. Find what gives you calm.

This blog isn't going to feature any games where people lose their temper, as that's difficult to find out through their playstyle. While anger doesn't show through, being too confident and feeling unstoppable can sometimes lead to your downfall. Playing a move too quickly, not seeing a bishop across the board, leads to a crushing feeling. This sort of play is noticeable in the game. Realizing your overconfident is easy when you look back on it, but in the moment, you need to watch out. Whenever I notice I'm overconfident, I play a high level bot. This usually helps me cool down and play more thoughtfully. It's key that you remain in balance, between feeling like an idiot and a genius. If you've read the rest of this series, you'll realize balance is what this series is about. As a test, play a few games, and think about how you feel in the moment. Am I motivated, or ready to break something. If your happy, and confident, you've probably won a few games, while the opposite would happen if you lost them. It's human instinct to play more games while ahead.

Before I end this blog, if anyone wants to feature their game for my finale for part 7, please message me or leave it in the comments. I'd be happy to feature you, as I want to show off some of the people I've helped. I'm happy to block out your name, or get some words from you talking about what you felt was performed well or badly. Thank you for reading, feel free to read some other blogs in this series or follow me for more. I'm on daily, so I'll hopefully reply within the day. Have a good one.