Chessaholism

Are you a chessaholic? Does it matter? What would be the signs that it is a problem? Here are a few that occur to me:

• You never go a day without it
• You obsess about it and learn a lot of superficial trivia
• You never improve or make any serious effort to do so (other than playing)
• You get more frustration than satisfaction from your games
• You lose important family and work time

The internet has contributed towards this in that the club never closes any more. At least in the old days you would have to leave the house. I note in passing that smokers justify their habit in many ingenious ways. Alcoholics can't imagine a day without a drink. What's the difference?

I am fully aware that not all chess players suffer from chessaholicism. Thank goodness! But... some do. Don't they?

It's not a question of whether it deserves a discussion... hang on it's my move.

darn I deleted it. What I said was, "doesn't this deserve a discussion?" Or shall we all do the ostrich lalalala

Try to plan out your chess intakes in waves of varying intensity

Hi, I am a chessholic as well!

• You never go a day without it YES
• You obsess about it and learn a lot of superficial trivia YES but this is actually natural once you have passion for something
• You never improve or make any serious effort to do so (other than playing) NO I Buy some books, follow GM tournaments, watch video lessons. I dunno whether this is enough or not. At least I try.
• You get more frustration than satisfaction from your games YES
• You lose important family and work time. No, not exacly lose, but I have my chess routine. At work, I take my lunch in 15 min and play a couple of 5 min games afterwards. On weekends, from 10 to 14, I am at the local chess community playing with friends. Other than that only late night or early morning Internet blitz

I hate to admit this, because I really only just got started with chess, but I think I'm rapidly becoming a chessaholic too.  It has been absorbing every spare moment of my time ever since I got my hands on that darned book "Chess for Dummies"!  How could those cruel people have put that book in the yard sale for 50 cents, and whyohwhy did I have to pick it up?

Well, bigalex, I think the key is that you are making an effort to learn more. Sometimes online blitz reminds me of slot machines. You want to win, but when you do, it just encourages you to play more. When you lose, you don't want to stop either. Without the learning element the whole thing becomes a self-feeding loop that takes over your free time like a weed in a flowerbed.

Don't get me wrong, I love chess, but the effect, expecially online, is not always healthy.

What a beautiful ostrich, ivandh.

I have to play chess everyday, or else its not a good day. Chess is my drug.

Now where have I heard that line before ....?

I can quit any time I want to... I just never want to.

But, the big question is, can you start back up again?

Also, you have prevented me from communicating with you privately!  It must have been that Yankees photo I posted in the pushwood thread.

That, too, is probably why Tonydal doesn't love us anymore, either.

Chess players don't do 12 Steps...they do two steps vertically or horizontally, then one step left or right.

If they do 12 Steps, they call it their "opening" and usually refer to the steps as ply.