Does everyone have days when they play terribly??

. . . I play terribly all the time . . .

That includes Chess, bowling, love, life, teaching,

and the beat goes on . . .

DENVER

yeah, today!

I've had days like that. Actually more like hours... I'm playing chess and I've played a few good games then, suddenly, my next few games I lose horribly... I'm not sure how it works, maybe it's just too much chess at once?

Months sometimes, not just days

Yes, I'm in one of those down periods right now. I vow to give up the game for even 24 hours but I can't! I'm addicted to this site! Maybe I'll just do tactics and DP for the next 24 hours? Help!

"There is no art without the resistance of the medium, no success without the possibility of failure.  Is it blasphemy to suggest that God has days where nothing goes right, and that God's days are very, very long?"  --Raymond Chandler, "Playback"

I dropped 140 elo in one day. Just couldn't think and the more I lost the less I started thinking. I would just rush moves and didn't focus on the moves. I realised I had made winning the priority, instead of playing well.

I just wanted the win to break the streak and so I moved hurriedly. The sooner I moved the sooner I will win right. Of course this is not how I was thinking actually, but subconsciously this is what I realised must have been happening.

As I said I had focused on winning, instead of playing well. The target must be to play well. If you play well you win. If you just want to win desperately and you are not focused on the game. That is why when you are having a poor run, take a break (for a day or two). Don't play. The head calms down and once again focuses on the moves instead of the adrenaline driven win win win win win just win thought process.

On that day I had dropped to as low as 1240s from 1382 and today am 1400+.

Definitely.

On chess.com especially.

But I just keep playing.

My online blitz rating literally cycles between 1600-1900, which is a very large range, but nevertheless, I can lose and win a lot.

It just happens naturally.

I would phrase this question differently: Does everyone have days when they play good??

I don't know how this works but 98% of the time I play braindead chess, kind of staring blankly at the middle of the board without seeing what's going on on A,B, G and H squares, kind of like having tunnel vision and just moving pieces without even regularly looking at my opponents moves. Normally I hover in low-mid 1200s. Sometimes I lose like 100 games in a row and go down to 1000s.

But there are those rare days when suddenly I play pretty well, and I can actually think about what I'm doing and I have no problem beating mid-high 1400 players. But these periods of clarity are extremely rare and don't last more than a few days, so my rating never goes up high enough. After that I'm back into braindead mode for another couple of weeks and slump back into 1100s-1200s.

Never stop playing though.

it's been going on for weeks for me.......heh heh ahh oooo uuuuu....

Totalmente de acuerdo amigo.
Hay ocasiones en las que se plantea la partida con una tactica y el contrincante simplemente sabe defender y atacar de una manera astuta y versatil.

YEA....espesh when they see the move 4 or 5 moves ahead.  it's all good though.  no problemo con mi.  estabien.

It's been that way for me for 2 weeks. Lost over 100 points in my rankings. I'm taking a couple of days off and then I'm going to start studying and watching videos to start over.

What?!

I don,t have off days, just weeks.

Everyday?