Collide,
You may just be becomming a more defensive player. There's nothing wrong with that. Think about Tigran Petrosian.
Also, you dont know if this will be a permanent change. It sounds like you want to play more aggressively so I would guess your style will continue to change over time as you get more comfortable.
As Bobby Fischer said, you have to give squares to get squares. I can imagine if you try to avoid all undesirable elements and control every square how much it would hurt your game (a lot :)
I'm no coach, but I'd suggest analysing annotated master games. When they willingly accept an isolated pawn, or a bad bishop, less space, or an exposed king, and go on to win (or put up a hell of a defense), you can get some perspective about when and why certain "ugly" elements may not matter as well as the master's thinking behind his play.
Unless they completely outclass their opponent, no GM (even defensive minded ones) can avoid all undesirable elements. What they do accomplish though is making sure their opponent's weaknesses are the ones that count more.
I've found that taking a break from playing, and spending a few weeks going over master games (all from the same player) rubs off some of their objective thinking on me... or at least I'm not quite as impulsive when I return.
Good luck :)
I'm not a particularly good player, but I feel that if you don't focus on what's good about your position its almost impossible to win, because you will simply be responding to your opponents threats. I have won games where I had a significant disadvantage, but played according to a plan which focused on the areas where my position was superior. Plans have to be formulated based on the positive factors in your position, unless your position is so bad that there is almost not chance of winning, even then, the best form of defence is often to create threats of your own.
Wow. Thank you everyone so much for replying!
hanshauge: You guessed it. I am trying to be more aggressive.
Waffllemaster: You're more helpful than any therapist could have been. I will do exactly what you recommended. Thank you!
Nightwatchman: You're right. That's exactly what I should think. Thanks!
I'm rated around 1800 USCF and after a month of OTB tournament after tournament, I recently noticed that I am paranoid about EVERYTHING. What I mean by this is:
1) I overanalyze everything. I calculate variation after variation and don't seem to trust my own judgement. (Needless to say, this causes me to run into time trouble)
2) I overexaggerate the bad parts of my position. For example, if I end up having an isolated pawn, I'll panic and worry about how horrible it is and end up thinking that I have a slightly worse position than my opponent (if everything else is fairly equal or unclear). Another example: I won't go into an unclear variation because although I might have a slight advantage from it, my opponent will also gain something and that makes me reject the variation entirely (even if my advantage from the variation is better than my opponent's).
What is there to do? Seek therapy?
Thanks.