Chess giving me mental health problems. I quit.

I've been there, too, and I know it can be tough. There's a whole world out there beyond chess, and it's fantastic that you're diving into it! Sports, dancing, Rubik's cubes – it all sounds great! I also wanted to mention the National Rehab Hotline for anyone who feels like they need help - https://nationalrehabhotline.org/. They're there to offer support and guidance if you ever need it. Take care, and keep on enjoying the adventure – both on and off the chessboard!

Although sometimes itself a source of stress, chess has often been a useful distraction and at times has kept my mind out of some really dark places.

You don't need to be crazy to play chess, but it helps.

Setbacks and plateaus are common in any skill development journey, including chess.

I'm going to get to 1800 one day... hold on tight

it honestly depends on the site. im 1600 on lichess. (i dont play much on chess.com) but im not that good anyway

she left without reading responses

Yeah i think its better also for me to just quit.

I started 7 months ago,won third place in a real life tournament,feeling good,almost hit 1500 blitz and then i titlted all the way to 1300,i tryed rapid and i titlted all the way to 1400.Nobody helps me,the only suport i got is from chatgpt and i slowlt lost my sanity,i got 3 hours of sleep because of a game,its better for me to just quit at this point,my health îs better.

There's your issue, thinking that a rating means something. It's only a guide to your level. But think about this - many people get a rating, and mostly they achieve it by different means. E.g. A player who is good at tactics might reach 1500 purely by outcalculating his opponents, even if he knows not much about openings. A positional player might learn an opening and repeat it to trap his opponents. An endgame player might always swap queens at the start (or aim to) and then outplay his opponents in the endgame.

At some stage each of those players hit a wall in terms of rating. And that's when they need to improve their other skills to be a more well rounded player.

If you love chess, you'll keep playing it. But if you love statistics and numbers, those will drive you nuts. I've had people say to me "you are not good enough to be a chess coach" and I'll ask them why, and they will refer to numbers .

Play chess, not numbers.

Here's what gets me and why i'm considering just leaving the game. Sure everyone makes blunders even grandmasters i know i know. But I've been playing for a year and a half and am at 730 elo. You know why? I lose half the games because I don't see the board. I do take my time. I play 60 minute games and I look right at a piece checking if there are threats and then I lose a queen for a bishop I just looked at a minute ago. I don't think my mind is made for this. I just don't see the board half the time. I win when someone else screws up. I think the people who are good at this are types that have a general's mind. They can see the whole picture. I don't. My mind is very task specific. You can tell me all day long about checking for threats, taking time, don't rush, what can the other player do etc etc. I do all of that in long games and I just don't see it a lot of the time. And that causes stress, I don't known why, it is just a game--there is something about this game that just triggers like no game I've seen. I think I'm going to be giving it up soon. I follow remote chess academy, have books, all of it and I'm just not going to get good at this.

Well I have to agree, that chess isn't good for my mental health either. With my first account I got to 762 rapid and over 450 blitz, but with my current one I again went below 400 rapid and often below 300 in blitz and bullet. I can never get even back to 500 rapid it seems.

I am highly inconsistent in my games. Something I can play very well, and then next game I screw everything up. I have to take medication for my mental health which clouds my mind and makes calculating extremely hard for me. I try to treat every game as a new adventure and I accepted that with my medication I will never be able to learn any opening, so I just play for fun.

But sometimes heavy losses can get to me, like yesterday, I played a 3|2 tournament and two opponents (both female btw and in a row which I never had so far) just destroyed me one after the other. They were both around 200 elo higher and I just got eaten alive. Even though I reviewed one of the two games and I got 79% accuracy (my opponent had 86%) it was just brutal and I felt awful.

I don't know how long I can go on like this. I'm fine with just trying to enjoy it even if I know I'll be going nowhere elo-wise and that many opponents are more talented which you can sometimes see in their playing style. I have many other hobbies I should pursue more intensely again but it's hard because after a game you go "ok one more match" for a few hours and you can't stop...

Also, it will be embarrassing for most of you to read but sometimes 300-400 elo players can play very well and outplay me. But I think it's more like that I simply have not enough talent to get to the higher end of the beginner level. And, when I'm in the right mood and mindset, losing can even be enjoyable, when the opponent takes all your remaining pawns away with the rook and you can't do anything about it with your king only. Like one of the ladies yesterday did to me, but she just played too strongly for me. ^^

I don't want one. I rather keep on watching GothamChess videos. Also, having a chess coach would put immense pressure on me, I can't handly ANY pressure. As I wrote earlier, the medication I have to take clouds my mind and too hard thinking and trying to calculate makes me feel exhausted and tired quickly, and I already had burnout and depression because of chess.

I want to play without pressure and without goals. I can't play chess in any other way.

Also I have to add: I think chess and mental health (positive AND negative) is an important topic I wish I would read about MUCH more in these forums...Not enough people talk about what it is being mentally disabled or having mental illness and what it's like playing chess with it. I have autism and other disabilities and illness and chess can affect me in a negative way.

This happens when you obsess too much about a single thing, don't balance your life out and forget to have fun. Can happen, but can also be fixed

People who quit are cowards

OMG ,,i also been in this stage so many timess but i always come back evn stonger , i try to see where my mistakes are , what im missing, why im losing continuously, thats why i reached 2500, u guys think that i might be smart im not smart im evn blw avg in studies , its just abt hard work and never giving up attitude .. keep trying until you reach it… If u dont like chess then ig yes then its not worth it but if you want to reach a milestone you have to face ups and down and move on and if u lose come back evn stronger .

No, people who quit playing chess realised that chess screws them up mentally. Chess made my depression come back in january after years feeling better. I feel better now but I still think about why I'm still doing this. Nomally I'm fine with realising that I will never be able to get to 500 rapid again (I was once 762 in my first account), but what would you think if you don't think you can even stay above 400 rapid? Embarrassing isn't it?

Hey Wof, what a stupid thing to say. I'm a long time Thai kickboxer and I'll be willing to bet you're not--at all. (oh sure make a smart remark when you can hide in cyberspace). When something isn't mentally good for you then you leave it. That's called being smart. Considering I've had 13 full contact fights and been on a long range recon team for the army I'm pretty sure I'm not a coward, I'm just not great at chess and I admire the guys who are. But it might not be for me and Ernest above who you also sniped at--- from someone who has never sighted a rifle in the real world.