Afraid to play

Someday when you feel that you are not really focused and you still want to play for the fun of it or to try a new opening just play unrated games....and challenge me

I suffered for many years on ICC of a fear of rated games....it really is a psychological condition and I believe it revolves around two things

A: The effort it took to get your rating and the fear of losing that rating and all that effort

B: Your ego being attached to your rating

You basically have to accept that you WILL lose and you WILL drop rating points...if you have a fear of playing rated games that means you are uncomfortable with your rating, it is now at a level you cannot cope with....let your rating drop and don't be afraid of it, believe me nobody cares about your rating NOBODY only you...chess should be fun so accept a rating where it is fun and not stressful and do not allow yourself to be trapped on a rating you are too scared too lose and you cannot manage!

Excellent post right here ^

sometimes for beginners, before playing they already feel there is no hope of winning . that's their biggest fear...

Guilty as charged.  

The more elo, the more you will have to face the level and that is the idea of how progression works in chess. Don't be afraid, face it!

All I can say is I know this feeling...

What happens after you reach a rating goal is you will avoid playing rapid for some time or play significantly less and then after let's say a month or two months where your playing amounts have dropped to say 10% of what you used to play in order to achieve that rating - you will suddenly at some point down like 100 points when one day you decide to give it a shot, lose 2 games in a row and then lose 5 more from tilt... 

So I guess it's better to go down to 1490 and still actually be at that level than strive to stay 1500 and actually slowly become out of shape and in a 1400 level... 

I'm pretty sure that happened to me and that's why I haven't been able to really improve my peak elo for some months... Also sometimes your elo goes down but the quality of your games improves. I feel like I've improved alot in the past months even though my elo is declining a bit   

I used to read books and stuff now I'm quite lazy... 

But who cares anyways it's just a hobby right? So just try to play good moves and don't think about the rating 

I hope i can remember all this advice if i ever get to 1500. Or 1400. Or 1300. Hell, who am i kidding? I can’t remember anything anymore. 

I play a lot of games as a guest in Beginner but it’s very hard to find a good match; most players are far above me in ability, and I recognize I can’t compete pretty quick.  Other times, I am playing somebody who should be in the “new to chess” section, and so I resign because it isn’t fair to them.

When I play rated games, I get a matching rated player, some not as good as me, most much better than me.  I have studied tactics and still do, strategy too, and I do puzzles everyday, but …

… when there’s a running clock and the games actually count for something, my hands shake, my heart races, and I go blind somewhat.  I cannot see my own blunders before I make them, and I cannot see (or exploit) my opponent’s blunders.  There’s nothing fun about it and I don’t enjoy it, so I seldom play rated.

And so, I have more or less hit a plateau in the low 600s, which is probably where I’ll stay, unfortunately.

I have a similar experience: unless my opponent blunders one more time than I do, I have little to no chance of winning.

A big problem lately is that, once my e/d pawns are out, knights are out, f bishop is out … I don’t know what to do.

Yeah, it is almost like chess is a draw unless someone makes a mistake. 

I am slowly losing interest in chess.  It is primarily pattern recognition and between work and family life, I have very little spare time to read books and memorize everything.  The best players seem to be naturally good at pattern recognition, but for the rest of us life gets in the way (kind of like body building at the gym - people with no major time commitments are able to do the best at it).

I am taking a greater interest in board games covering the WWII period that involve planning, strategy, but also include the variable of random events that neither side can control (weather, supply issues, combat outcomes, and other unknowns).  I do much better at these.

To get better you need a few change...

1)play slower game 15+10 or 30 min.

2) you need to learn the basic tactics and end game and one opening with white that you feel very comfortable with(that mean of few hours of study on each with a few books or videos).

3) Think very carefully on each move of you and of your opponent.

That is all you have to do to get to +1300 here if you play a few hundreds games..

You do not have to memorize much....it's more about logic in the opening...and positional play and focus...and see when a tactic is there to exploit it....and basic end game knowledge...but i agree it take a lot of games to get to 1200...and months of frustration...

Yes a lot of what you said about board games are true but you will never get the feeling of one chess game....

I played those boards games for years with a great friend...racing game on the net and mmorpg too....the friendship was the main source of the investment not the silly games...

Go to win

It's called ladder anxiety, if you're meant to be at 1500 you will stay there. If not you will be lower, if better then higher. Don't be afraid to play. Stand by your true level, don't try to artificially increase or lower it. Play at your level.

That is why Magnus decided not to play in the World championship next..he had the fear of losing the title....

He said it at 45 min.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZO28NtkwwQ

That was my conclusion, also.  Black can play without inaccuracy, without mistake, and without blunder of any kind; but if white plays just as well, black will always lose.