It's a ruthless game for sure....but the feeling is very satisfying when you get out of the beginners bracket(U 1200)...and you feel that 90% of the players under 1250 are not that hard to beat if you think very carefully ALL the time!
It's a first step in a very long road that never end......
In blitz, honestly, I just keep playing, because I know after 30-60 minutes I'll start winning again, and I'll hit a win streak to make up for it. It's pretty rare that I'm playing while so physically / mentally exhausted that I have to stop after a losing streak because I know it will never stop. If I'm in such a bad condition I wont start playing in the first place. Of course everyone will have their own way of dealing with it. When I'm in the mood to play, I typically don't play for less than 3 hours at a time.
As for feeling like your wins suck because you just get lucky, yeah, that's normal heh. I used to play at this club 1 hour away, and on the drive home I'd think about my games. I was disappointed with my losses because, obviously, but I was also disappointed with my wins because I made some mistakes even if I won in the end... a pessimistic view, but in general it's the mindset of someone who is improving -- that they focus on their mistakes.
If a non-player visited a chess tournament, and saw the players hunched over their boards, quietly studying the positions, they would probably imagine something like plans, and strategies, and etc are being concocted. In reality, most people spend most of their time trying to find a move that doesn't suck haha.
Of course sometimes brilliant moves are played, but mostly strong players are strong because they can string together a lot of moves that don't suck... so yeah, an old saying goes "the winner of a chess game is the player who makes the 2nd to last mistake."
I started winning more when I a) stopped blundering every other turn and b) stopped looking at the board like a toddler, a takes b ect. Now it's if a removes b then c can take d, not sure if that makes sense , I've had ciders 🤣🤣 as for tilt, I bounced from 900 to 1000 all week, I get grumpy, frustrated and usually make things worse by tilting more. I haven't solved it yet, but not looking at direct piece exchanges means you can think outside the box a little more and it does pay Off. And pins!!! Horses and absolute pins are your friend 🤣👍
Lately after a losing streak, I've been taking 1-2 day long breaks and analyzing my games and It's helped me a bit. but I swear I must have obsessive traits or something because I keep finding myself coming right back. I'll come back even after 12 hours and start winning games again and doing better too then take a long win streak, but when I tilt, I find I tilt hard.
I stop after 3 losses in a row and by then I've found I start to take that emotion hit I hate to admit many of us suffer. Like feelings of worthlessness and questioning my own skills. Reflecting on how most of my wins have been to people making stupid blunders and resigning early only to find I do the same thing even in games I win after analysis.
It's like I swear sometimes I don't even really get better I just blunder less at seemingly random times and it seems like even lower rated players play exponentially better than I can even handle. Then I come here to the forums and complain about it and get the usual "advice" as well as Russ Bell's blog spam, finally take my leave for a day, and come back the next day wiping the floor with my opponents like I was a 600 rated Mikhail Tal.
This game is a strange, beautiful, and confusing emotionally rollercoaster, and I don't even know where I was going with this. Just ate a couple of really embarassing stupid losses and felt like venting here. I honestly think I've improved a lot since the last time though, and I appreciate those who have reached out and helped me, I'm going to continue taking my break now, just felt the need to vent I guess.
"It's like I swear sometimes I don't even really get better I just blunder less"
That means you are getting better at chess. Blunders are the most important part of chess. Frequency of blunders is the most important thing about one's game. I have heard this saying somewhere and it is true "Chess strength isn't determined by the frequency of brilliant moves as much as it is determined by the frequency of horrible moves".
The main difference between a 600 and a 1000 rated player on this website is that a 1000 rated player blunders a lot less often. He may be stronger in other areas as well but that's negligable compared to the difference in blunder frequency. You can play more or less the same as you play right now if you almost completely eliminate 1 move blunders you can reach 1000 rating. Of course, along the way of reaching 1000 you will pick up other things and get better at other things as well.
Stop after just one loss. Review and analyze.
Do puzzles regularly.
Practice with bots.
Read good chess books.
Study how NM/IM/GM players, play.
When it comes to feeling that you won not because you played great but because your opponent played badly, I often have that feeling and I am rated 1900 rapid as of the time of writting this comment. You will get a lot better at chess, you will win hundreds of points and you will still have the feeling that you didn't do anything special and your opponent gifted you the win. Hell, even the world champion Magnus Carlsen sometimes thinks like this. In fact, a couple of days ago he did an interview after a win against another GM and he said that he didn't play anything special but that his opponent played horribly. So, no matter how good you are at chess, you will at least sometimes have that impression.
I puzzle my way out!
but they are only numbers, you got to remember you will constantly be playing tougher and tougher people!
ITs a bit like fighting your way to a world title spot, you have to knock out everyone along the way and beating stronger and stronger fighters!
I don't take long breaks (2 - 3 days) after losing streak because that kind of long break makes me feel rusty in the game. I have won several games where my opponents obviously played better. One of recent was a rapid game where my opponent was up a rook but lost on time. I knew for sure that my opponent played better but a win is a win.
And I have also lost games on time where I played better. For me whether my opponent played better or not, I just don't care.
On the above note, winning because your opponent blundered is still an opportunity to see where improvements can be made. I now analyse both my wins and losses move by move, where as I used to treat a win casually by instantly playing another game. I get more from analysing every game than I do from playing them.
Yes yes, I know this feeling well. I think the first thing to appreciate is that this happens to everyone, it is literally just part of being a chess player. I've gone for weeks losing games before and the way I get out of it is by playing less but analysing your games more.... I will play one rapid game every two days. I play the game the first day, and then the next day I spend a lot of time analysing the game and then finding where I went wrong. If there is a particular tactical theme where I have a weakness, I will then work on that. The day after, I play another game, and the cycle continues. I find that the losses don't impact my psychology too much that way (and effect subsequent games). I find if I play too much I get burnt out. If I play too little, I get "out of the zone" and make weird errors. One rapid game every two days seems like a sweet spot to me.
"feelings of worthlessness and questioning my own skills" -- Heh, if we didn't have this then there would be no need to improve. We all suck, the most we can aspire to is to suck a little less. When you meet someone who thinks they are great, it means they suck at chess *and* at life.
"when I tilt, I find I tilt hard" -- There are different reasons for a tilt. If it's because you are tired, take a break. Anyway sitting for a long time is not healthy, every 20 minutes you should stand up and walk around for a minute. Every couple of hours you should have a snack. If it's psychological, rather than trying so hard to win that you "play for the loss", make draws for a while, until you get the flow of "just making moves" back.
Just keep playing. If i worried about losing another one, I’d never play again.
Read Josh Waitzkin's book about learning. It deals with this kinda thing. (He's also a chess IM so it specifically refers to chess.)
Losing all the time, but improving all the time. I lose many tournament games recently but have made decided improvements in spotting threats, calculation, being more confident to attack, understanding mistakes, activating rooks and learning from stronger opponents.
After having a bad losing streak I usually take a break for the rest of the day from playing and instead do some puzzles or lessons. Analyzing your games to see what you did wrong is also good.
Lately after a losing streak, I've been taking 1-2 day long breaks and analyzing my games and It's helped me a bit. but I swear I must have obsessive traits or something because I keep finding myself coming right back. I'll come back even after 12 hours and start winning games again and doing better too then take a long win streak, but when I tilt, I find I tilt hard.
I stop after 3 losses in a row and by then I've found I start to take that emotion hit I hate to admit many of us suffer. Like feelings of worthlessness and questioning my own skills. Reflecting on how most of my wins have been to people making stupid blunders and resigning early only to find I do the same thing even in games I win after analysis.
It's like I swear sometimes I don't even really get better I just blunder less at seemingly random times and it seems like even lower rated players play exponentially better than I can even handle. Then I come here to the forums and complain about it and get the usual "advice" as well as Russ Bell's blog spam, finally take my leave for a day, and come back the next day wiping the floor with my opponents like I was a 600 rated Mikhail Tal.
This game is a strange, beautiful, and confusing emotionally rollercoaster, and I don't even know where I was going with this. Just ate a couple of really embarassing stupid losses and felt like venting here. I honestly think I've improved a lot since the last time though, and I appreciate those who have reached out and helped me, I'm going to continue taking my break now, just felt the need to vent I guess.