Why This Topic?

A lot has been written (on this site and elsewhere) about players occasionally going out of form. Beginners and advanced beginners who, after a winning phase, suddenly experience a long losing streak, are understandably left wondering where all their skill disappeared to. In a fit of disappointment, almost on the verge of giving up their newfound passion, they make a final attempt to revive their self-esteem. They visit their favorite chess forum and start a post explaining what they are going through, seeking objective help and practical advice from the community.

However, I have not yet come across an "out-of-form" post that has actually been nursed or cured. Instead, in most cases I have seen responses such as "tactics, tactics, tactics"; "try not to hang pieces"; "study end games"; "study opening principles"; "don't study openings at this level"; "read (author/book)"; "learn to plan around imbalances on the board"; "take a break"...

Now, there is nothing wrong about any of these suggestions per se, except that they are cliched. But the point is, none of them seem to address the central question of the post. Of course, that last "take a break" sounds practical, but that's the closest they come to the solution.

AYR (FB Link) (Chess.com Link) is a growing community of chess players world-wide. We have beginners, advanced beginners (such as myself), tournament players and experts as our members. I am sure many among us have occasionally gone "out-of-form" at some point (somebody like me may go in and out of form every now and then). Some of our members (specially the experts) may have some useful suggestions about what to do when one is out of form. It is with this hope that I have created this topic on AYR.

The Real Questions?

Let's be clear for the sake of this post:

The question is NOT "How do I improve my chess?"
We have many good answers for that: "tactics, tactics, tactics"; "try not to hang pieces"; "study end games"; "study opening principles"; "don't study openings at this level"; "read (author/book)"; "learn to plan around imbalances on the board"...

Consider a player who is already following most of the above advice, and who is seeing steady improvement. Yet, every once in a while such a player goes out of form for some time. It may be for one game, or the phase may extend even over a week (it happens at least with me)!

So the real questions of this post are:

Is there a cure for the "out of form" ailment?
What can the player do to fight such a phase?
Can anything be done at least to reduce the frequency of such occurances?

You get the idea. Anything helpful in this direction is welcome.

The topic is open to the house. Let's discuss. :-)

Many thanks.

Prady.

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