It's not 'stop playing when you lose' it's 'stop playing when you're on tilt.' When you are tilted just like in poker you will play bad without realising it. You are basically distracted mentally and not focused on the here and now. You're still back in the game you thought you should have won. So you take a break and come back when you're fresh and actually focused on the game you are playing.
If you are not tilted then you can play as much as you want regardless of whether you won or lost.
Any advice on if there is a way to realize you're mentally tilted before losing a bunch of games? I'm talking about subconsciously, of course, obviously if one finds oneself still thinking about a prior game, it's a sign to go continue analyzing. I find that the "stop after losing" advice holds pretty true, like if I sit down fresh in the morning and lose my first game, I can't think of any examples where I won any subsequent (rapid) games that day, losing up front is a strong indicator I just don't have it in me that day. On the flip side, if I win, it tends to more than likely be followed by another win. I supposed being a streak-y player must to some degree be a personality thing too.
Just a thought from a rubbish player from England....!
I watched a video on tactics...specifically "Remove the defender", where you take a piece that's guarding another piece before then gaining material.
Having done that, and practised a few examples in the Puzzles, I then played several live games. What I love is when the thing you've just learned comes up in the game, you see it, and then put it into practice! Makes the study worth while.
Worth a try?
Thanks for the input, I've had the same thought
. I guess my experience has been a little different, pretty much what has happened when I try this approach is that I start looking for that specific tactic everywhere, but it's usually a fine line between when to play it and when some supporting move needs to be played first. I can't say how many times the post-game analysis shows that I made a move that WOULD have been a great move just one move too early, and I should first have like moved a pawn somewhere else on the board or something subtle like that.
So long story short, I've found that attempting to practice specific tactics within games tends to sabotage me similar to tunnel vision, I do wish more tactics lessons included examples of "false positives" like presenting situations where it seems like you could do a certain sacrifice for advantage but really you should not. Personally I find it extremely rare that tactical situations covered by lessons crop up in my games, maybe that's just luck or how my play style trends.