Trap of studying too much, not playing enough

Does anyone recognise this? I study like 90% of my time, and play maybe 10%, Maybe even 95%/5% tbh. I really enjoy working on books and puzzles for hours on end. But then I play and just loose a bunch of games to people playing weird stuff that I sometimes just don’t know how to respond to and bring myself in weird positions. I’m about 820 on rapid now.

I am thinking to switch it up, and instead of studying 90% of the time, I want to try to play like at least 80% of my time, maybe more. Just get tons of games under my belt for a while, less studying, but more time to get a chance to apply stuff in my games.

I feel like studying a lot (at my current rating), is just a trap, and a huge disappointment when the effort does not show up in my rating.

Ya

I feel I am also In this trap. I prefer to play otb.

Soap, you are lucky guy if you like to study so much! Majority prefers to play and play and play. And there is question after - why don’t I progress? You are different and that’s cool!

Haha thanks. I think studying gives me the false perception that I’m getting smarter in chess. Maybe it helps (probably), but I have to give myself more chance to apply what I learn. I think I will challenge myself to play a ton of games in the coming month, see what my rating does. I’m 818 now, 218 games played in total. I’ll try to play a lot the coming month, maybe 150-200 more games? And I’ll report back here to tell how it went.

Go on with Rapid games 10/0. If you play 3 games daily it will give you 90 games for the month. It will boost you to your actual strength plus will give base for your future analysis.

A Better Ratio at Your Level Might Be:

80% Playing
20% Reviewing games / basic tactics

You’ll learn more from losing 50 games and reviewing key mistakes than from watching another 10-hour course or reading more theory you never apply.

You gained 300 rating points in 3 months! What do you mean by ‘the study doesn’t pay off’?!?

Then again, playing helps a lot.

Especially if you review those games. Find the 1 biggest mistake you made per game and list those mistakes. Without any doubt you will find topics you need to study.

Soap you are being too hard on yourself. Gaining 300 rapid elo in 3 months is amazing. At the rate you are going, you will be 1400 by the end of the year.

Very good progress..

Two points about studying.

1. What you learn today probably doesn't apply to tomorrow's game. It applies to some random future game which may take place a year or more from today. So you need to be patient and take a longer view when trying to calculate a Return-On-Investment for studying.
2. You need to try to apply your learning in your own games. This is when you really learn the material. So you have drawn the correct conclusion. More playing is needed to balance the studying. It may be a good idea to alternate periods of intensive studying with periods of intensive playing.

I do not study at all

If you enjoy puzzles and spending time to think about positions, why would you play 10-minute games? 10-0 is not really rapid, despite that it’s the most played “rapid” time control on here. It’s glorified blitz. You need to play longer games and actually play slower. Most people on here prefer being underrated, so they can use the clock to intimidate, but if you want to seriously try to improve at chess and be as good as you can be, you have to be willing to play slower than everyone else and deal with the nonsense ultra-fast play. You will lose some very frustrating games on time, but you will get better, while everyone else will keep bouncing up and down.

If what you are doing is not working, then you should do something different.

i would not encourage you to stop studying. You may need some guidance in learning how to study more effectively.

here is an example. Some beginners try to memorize opening sequences. Doing so without understanding the purpose of each move is time wasted. If you understand the reason for each move, then you should be able to figure out how to respond to an opponent who deviates from the “book” line. So, you may need to change how you study openings.

There are plenty of instruction books that provide reasons for each move. They show how a master thinks about a position and explain how he or she selects a move. Those books are much more helpful than just doing puzzles or memorizing opening sequences.