A lesson from psychology

I needed a lot of time to figure this out, so I believe this may be useful for beginners on this site.

DON'T PLAY FOR RATING. Whenever I started games with goal to increase my rating I would play awfully, scamping the game instead of focusing on a board. Consequently, my rating would melt under 1200 very fast.

PLAY TO WIN. When I start a game with intention to crash my opponent I play significantly better and usually win.

There is also a problem with constancy and I'll have to work on that but this this attitude I will be interesting to see how far I can go.

When I start a game with intention to crash my opponent I play significantly better and usually win.

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Anger is a bad counselor. Thus you will become a Korchnoi or Fisher with a broken psyche. Just to play.

Lol, you got me wrong. I'm not angry. But you must have a strong WILL to win. Daydreaming about high rating won't bring you anywhere...

too many chase high rating as it was the holy quail I am still convinced that rating will come as soon as you deserve it.  rating will go up and down but if you are good enough your rating will not stay low for long.

you have to have a fighting spirit to win of course.

also you need a get back on the horse mentality to be good at chess.

the more you study + play + analyze your games the more likely your rating will go up. 

also it is important to lose to learn what you do wrong. Many do not learn anything from analyzing games they win other than to be proud of themself for winning. So see losing as an opportunity to learn.(difficult)

The problem that I have with learning from my own mistakes is that knowing where I play badly doesn't make me smarter for the upcoming games ( that is my impression ). I play blitz chess and most of my mistakes are blunders and miscalculations which is I believe not a consequence of lack of knowledge but of lack of calculation skills and often poor concentracion.

If you are trying to learn to be "smart" in chess, play slow chess, not blitz! Blitz is a test of who is more clever more fast. Not a test of chess understanding.

TrumanB wrote:

The problem that I have with learning from my own mistakes is that knowing where I play badly doesn't make me smarter for the upcoming games ( that is my impression ). I play blitz chess and most of my mistakes are blunders and miscalculations which is I believe not a consequence of lack of knowledge but of lack of calculation skills and often poor concentracion.

it you want to improve just for blitz do tactic trainer until you are at least 1500.

finding tactics fast is key to improve in blitz.

also knowing opening 10 moves deep will make you play faster in the opening and avoid blunders in the first 10 moves.

I just doubt that you will improve in chess if the only thing you worry about is blitz rating.

Somehow, I'm bored with correspondence chess and standard takes too much time. I already practise tactice trainer, I hope that will help.

I'm finally 1300+ and with 3min game...who could guess...lol

Anger is a bad motivator.  Play to enjoy the game, and improvement will happen.

Who said anything about anger?

PLAY TO WIN. When I start a game with intention to crash my opponent I play significantly better.

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"to crash my opponent" -  Is it not angry?  Call feeling.
I warn you for the last time. you destroy yourself this attitude in the end.

PS

Just to play.

I never try to win. To me, it's better psychologically to accept that if I play perfectly, the best outcome I can force is a draw. It's better to stay in the moment and think about the best move instead of worrying about winning or losing. Many times aggressive players will try to smash you, so you let them launch a premature attack and I get an easy win. It's very amusing to see the psychology of others when you accept that a draw is okay. People are very aggressive.

In live games you need a strong willingness to win...It's hard for me to believe that it's only about playing ''the perfect move''. We are not machines.

exactly otherwise there would be no chess game. I cannot count how many games I had to think hard to get back in the game after some more or less bad moves and win anyway.

only one thing counts in chess that is to deal with the position you have in front of you. 

If I need a strong willingness to win in my play chess win so it means that had already exhausted resources of the mind. This is called to finish the mind game and start the psychological games. May be the next step I will want to bribe the judge. Or I will want to use a computer. Or .... Then I will step by step turning into a mentally ill person as Bobby Fischer in his career finish. I am not machines. I do not have spare components for replacement body and soul. this defects incorrigible. Therefore, I must take care of myself. Do not operate the object if I do not know the composition and model. Need to keep my emotions under control. I just play chess and enjoy the professional game with emotions under control.