Severe Chess Addiction

Ive had to take long breaks from chess thru the years for the reason u mention, last year i was playing, reaching 1650 bullet, then would spiral down to 1400, then back again, and after 1 spiral, i deleted my account, i feel foolish admitting that but its true. The rating can be a frustrating part of it, i still play rated but play unrated more, in unrated a lot of 1800-2000 will play, so i see a very different level of bullet, i also stop now at intervals and just watch games and do puzzles, i think u should find your balance of playing vs watching vs studying, and mix up rated vs non, see if that works?

Crazy but i went thru that same thing, i thought how could i be on fire some days and win and play so good, then a day later suck so bad, so i thought how could it be that one day all the bad players are on so i win? Then all great players are playing so i lose? Makes zero sense. So i did come to this conclusion, maybe mentally im not sharp on the off days? If thats the case for u, then u shouldnt play those days, limit yourself to losses? Say 3 in a row, if u lose those, close the app and come back another day, there is definitely a mental dynamic here, it would explain the rating fluctuations at least. Dont delete your account, i was passed 1900 in tactics on mine, and ive been trying again to get back there.

Congratulations! You got 800 elo improvement in one year. Dont stop!!!Be a bit more tough with your studies to get another 800+800 elo in next two years. Then you will be 1500+1600= 3100 rating.

Good luck with your progress.

And again dont get frustration, and dont stop.Life is tough.

Keep it up.

Good Luck.

Usually asking other addicts to help with your addiction problem is not the best idea.

@TS lol

Pain and suffering are common hurdles that every successful people must pass.

Your improvement in 800 elo is really extraordinary, where most people can get 100-200 elo per year at most.

So you have extreme potential to be a champion.

Make more determination like marathoners , " I wont stop until I reach the finish line" 

"... find your balance  ..."  <<  that's good advice!

Try playing more Daily games.They still offer you challenge at a less stressful pace.

This is becoming a problem for me too, being homeschooled, I have a ton of spare time. I’m breaking out of a downward spiral right now. I always try to tell myself to take a break, my rating says no. Whenever I’m doing an assignment I somehow end up thinking about my stats. I play trumpet, and I’m trying to sub my horn with chess and I’m can tell i have slightly more self control, so maybe supplement the chess time with an instrument, maybe take up cubing, magic, or something to occupy your hands and mind?

If you're not in a chess club, find one, and limit your play to that for a while.  You're focusing too much on online results, but OTB play will give you a more relaxed attitude towards the game of chess.  Odds are there will be better players there, who can help you improve more easily (and without the pressure of rated games).

 

Chess is a game, it's supposed to be fun.  It's well and good to want to improve, but every player stagnates once in a while.  Whether that stagnation becomes permanent depends on whether you truly enjoy Chess as a pastime.

Become a man. Join the army. 

Stick to killing pawns on a chess board.

Play roblox or fortnite and you will get addicted to that instead

But he wants to NOT HAVE AN ADDICTION........ AT ALL.

Addiction is a mental illness. It is one of the few that a doctor is not needed to fix. Tell your girlfriend to enable the parental locks on ALL of your internet accessible devices and have her block chess com, until you stop thinking about chess for about two months. You will go through withdrawal and it will be hard on you emotionally. You can make it. After two months is up, play 1 game per day. Then the next week, play 2. And so on until you can properly manage yourself.

I too have improved a lot in a relatively short amount of time, but with this, one must put in a lot of effort/time: and this can sometimes blur the line of addiction for many. I am not "addicted" (I had to stop for a few days several times, and I had no ill consequences, and Chess does not interfere with my life), but I can see how some can become that way (Some of my friends ARE "addicted" to Chess). 

I have a few tips to break this addiction/prevent one:

1) I recommend a variety of Chess (counterintuitive that to stop Chess, play Chess right?  ). I specifically mean, do not play only bullet, or only daily games, or only tactics etc. Not only is this addictive to a pace/routine, but it actually helps improve your chess more if you do things like mixing up the time controls. Personally, I use chess.com primarily for blitz, but I also play OTB a lot (in person, not online); I also (like a lot of players) study Chess, do tactics, participate in forums etc. - but it is this combination of practices that helps improve at Chess as a whole.

2)Another huge tip is to take breaks. Sometimes a day or so are what people need, but this is not what I am referring to. If anyone does any "mental activity" for too long (Chess is of course this), you can suffer from "burnout" or sometimes even "observer effect." Play Chess for maybe an hour, or two - but then take a short break to recharge your mind. The break and how long to play varies on the person, and how you feel; experiment with this. Studies suggest that the brain usually operates optimally for up to about 20 minutes of intense focus. Clearly though, the brain still functions well enough after this (rarely does your brain just crash/turn off instantly). Anything after 20 minutes can be "too much", but with practice you can "extend" this attention span - like how exercise helps muscles; the brain, as an organ, works much in the same way. Usually for me I can play up to 3 hours in a row most days, but even this pushes what I said; everyone is different. Practice, and see what works for you.

3)This last tip is hard. Do not worry about "rating" too much, especially bullet/blitz. Rating is a good way to measure improvement, but dropping does not mean you are getting worse. This is difficult for many to comprehend (addicts or not), because we want to improve and not look back. Rating swings of 100 points or so is completely normal, in fact bullet/blitz swings of even something like 200 is not unheard of. Faster games are more susceptible to rating fluctuations/swings because more games are played in a quicker amount of time. Actually, these rating swings are frustratingly expected, perhaps even inevitable. We are humans, not computers set to a certain "rating" - a computer set to play 2000 rating Chess will do so (every single game!), but people fluctuate. A 2000 rated Chess player might beat a titled player one day, but lose to an 1800 player in the next game (same day!) - fluctuations are normal. As long as you can take a break, don't give up, and come back - you will get through this lull in rating. 

So have fun, learn from your Chess, and don't take a game too seriously (hard to not do sometimes) and I know that you can improve. My confidence lies in you, as a dedicated Chess player, a human being, and one who will not give up on yourself. Here's to future games ...

These are great tips! And Eliottka, try some of these! Just don’t expect immediate results. Thank you for posting by the way. It helped me catch myself before I went too far   My method is more coarse and tough, but helps prevent future addiction. This method I can’t attest anything about, because the only addiction I battled with was drawing. Yes. I was addicted to drawing xD! My method was what I did. My mom took all of my art supplies away and slowly reincorporated it into my life. The best part to all of this is.... YOUR RATING WILL ALWAYS BE HERE! ITS NOT GOING ANYWHERE!!

Thanks guys for all of your advice. I actually play the guitar and love drawing/painting. So I have other past times too. I know myself, the locks won't do it, so I think that I am just going to go back to studying and playing only OTB in my club, so that I can be more relaxed.

With everything you have said, I have just realized that it was really bad, and actually, I am not a fan of self-harm. So I am just going to leave that 1430 rating (as ugly as it can look) and will start again in a long time...

Will certainly write something to keep you posted. I am really motivated and am sure that this could be nice. + I have My Great Predecessors 1 to finish, and this is such a great book btw...

Thanks again for your help and jokes, I guess this is what this community is all about,

Have a good weekend,

Eliott

BLITZ RATING. That's your problem.

This. What you described is not chess addiction, but online blitz addiction.