Are any other newbies here absolutely petrified of playing against real people?

Yes it's scary to play live chess!  It took me ages  to have a go, and haven't done since.  Prefer to play with friends.  But having said that I love playing just don't feel good enough yet...

I read this thread a few weeks ago, and I've actually completed a few games against live people.  I'm still here.    My 9 year old had a Lichess tournament recently, so I was logged in and watching. While he was on a break, I tried a live game.  I made it 20 moves and was feeling proud of myself! Then in the chat, the player wrote "You are stupid."  That is why I didn't want to play live folks...  but then I remembered some of the comments here - they let the idiots get accounts too!  So I sent back something nice and finished the game.

I played one fellow from Indonesia earlier this week here, and he won pretty decisively. But, when he would capture each piece, I would laugh knowing how bad I had moved and handed him these easy captures. I imagine that he was probably new like me, and he was excited to win a game like I would be!

After it was over, I was going to offer him a rematch.  But, he offered me one first.  I had read on the forums that it was in bad taste to offer a rematch if you win... but I didn't feel that way. I immediately accepted and he beat me even quicker.  But, it's all right.  It's still more fun than playing my kid, because he's a sore winner sometimes! I do appreciate the encouragement from the other folks in this thread, because it helps.

Shutterbug, keep in mind you are likely playing kids who are not fully cooked, and have never learned what happens when you call someone stupid to their face.  Turn off your chat or ignore it. 

i shook for half an hour after i played my first person. haven't played anyone i don't know since. This sucks becuase i want to play CoNSTANTLY, but i dont have a pertner to play with . so i do puzzles instead :/

I played this one girl who was still shaking half hour after the game.  She probably hasn't played a game since.

She probably now just sticks to puzzles.

I'm a newbie as well. Someday, with practice,we will be much better

Fear is useless +JMJ

Happy to play if you'd like.  I don't talk trash, I make mistakes, I just enjoy the game.  Send an invite if you'd like.

I feel this really hard. I do puzzles everyday and play bots but I don't feel like I'm improving at all cause all I do is lose to players my own elo so I don't even try to play real people anymore

regarding blitz anyway, you haven't played very many games. keep playing (win or lose, doesn't matter) until your blitz ELO levels off, then you are winning about half your games against equally matched opponents. The system works great. I've been playing for a few years having a lot of fun, blundering around in the 600's or so and I don't care if I improve or not. When I want to study and think a little about positions I do puzzles. Also if you read through this thread there are exhortations to play longer time controls. If you can stand to focus and think hard then by all means do. Chess done right is ridiculously difficult but it doesn't mean we can't have fun playing at a low level.

Puzzles are less intimidating than games for me. the objective is obvertly clear and the pieces i need i KNOW! are right there. i tried doing the lessons on here but i dont think its useful for me to be studying games of flippin legendary players and their 47 move calculations when i dont even know the basics. it just feels impossible to improve

I have the same anxiety problem. Maybe I should play blitz "limbo chess" and see how low I can go! LOL! Sounds silly, but it may solve my problem. Thanks, everyone. You helped me too.

know the feeling--have played only 2 live so far===one opponent stopped playing, the other was just a couple of minutes ago and he ask for a draw. Agreed which was stupid cause had him beat but accepted thinking I had missed something. Wont be doing that again. Back to practice against the computers==60 games with 50 wins/draws so I'm learning.

Don't let your opponent bluff you.

It's bad enough being pushed around on the board... don't let them push you around psychologically, too.

Nope, go outside, join a club and play tournaments.

yes if i play then i lose my rating or have to reisign

Yeah, I love playing against Petrified Noobs!

I even add a scary avatar to incentivize extra fear!

The feeling I have must be similar to a Shark during a Feeding Frenzy.

I have some of my greatest Chess Attacks against those types of players.

The feeling I have must be the same feeling Tal use to have against everyone. It’s a Shame I don’t have an Attacking reputation like Tal to strike fear into everyone. It only seems to work on noobs.

Seems to me like the best thing is just to get on with it and lose most/all rated games until your rating reflects your ability (but at the end of the day it's just a number). Then you're supposed to be able to win about half your games against players of similar rating, and you'll see whether you're enjoying it or not. If not, you could stop, then pick it up again later or not, as you prefer.