How do I recover from a catastrophic tournament?

1st thing to remember

* it's a game

After there's cheating.  It's most of the time unfair competition. 

No matter what you do, how much u study there are clubs of cheaters poised to prove something they can't admit to themselves. We all know what it is. 

Cheating otb ain’t too easy

???? Have you even played otb?

There is not a lot you can do to recover, you just have to smile and move on.

Back in the early 80's, I was a marathon runner. Good enough to run a sub 2:30. Now I don't want you to run or anything, but the training ethos of running a marathon takes a while; in the first month, you build endurance by running slow. In the second month, you build distance with speed work. Then you work on all three, endurance, distance, and speed. Finally, you run as near marathon distance as possible at ¾ pace. Then taper off the week before. The week before the Marathon, you run a few miles, eat and sleep well. All the preparation work was completed in the preceding months, with gentle jogs the day before
I haven't competed in a chess tournament since the early 90's. Still, I used the same ethos as training for a marathon. In the preceding weeks, I studied hard (old fashioned way with books and a board), especially variations in opening repertoires, practised tactics, etc. I did nothing in the two days leading up to the tournament, apart from a few tactical puzzles and reading up on my opponents (if possible) and practised my opening lines.
Sometimes I had back to back weekly tournaments; those weeks were tiring. The only thing I did was analyse the previous week's games.

#21
"I’ll try my best to learn from my mistakes"
++ Also: what did your 24/7 training consist of?
Speed chess? That breeds bad habits: playing too fast and superficial.
Openings? Changeing openings leads to more losses, not less.
The best training consists of outdoor physical training coupled with practice games with the same time control.

i'm sorry for your loss...

...🤣

really though it's just a game.

try to put this into perspective:

is a number your worst problem?

yes lol

however, that is quite a devastating blow to your rating & i would be upset as well... you'll get it back!  😁

Ne jouez pas au golf. Le golf est pour les vieillards en mauvais pantalon.

two hops this time

I have some tips for you to improve your chess rating over time

1. get at least 10 hours of sleep before an tournament.

2.solve chess puzzles Daily like puzzle rush or endgames.

3. play rapid or classical games daily at least 4.

4. analyze the games you had (missed wins,blunders,mistakes,inaccuracies etc.

5. eat well before chess tournaments increases chances of winning and focus and concentration.

6.play long time control games.

7. dont move too fast or play too short time controls.

for motivation and recover from terrible games and tournaments i recommend taking a break from chess and the last tips i gave is just for improvement.

good luck i hope you recover.

for those questioning cheating 

I receive weekly  - when I play - reports like this 

.................................

"

CHESScom 

We have detected that one or more of your recent opponents has violated our Fair Play Policy. As compensation for potentially unfair rating losses, we adjusted your following ratings:

  
CHESScom 
May 5, 2022
We have detected that one or more of your recent opponents has violated our Fair Play Policy. As compensation for potentially unfair rating losses, we adjusted your following ratings:

....................................

Obviously you guys never knew about cheating because it's impossible and all are caught before can even start it, right ? 

Phantasy World should be left on the board. But perhaps the cheaters themselves always react in denial.  A bit obvious even for an average chess player. 

There's an old bit of wisdom that might help... it's said that if you want to predict who the winner of a race (or other contest) will be, then look for the person happiest to be there.

If you work 24/7 in the days leading up to the tournament then you wont be hungry for chess, in fact you risk being burnt out on it. That doesn't sound like happiness. Also, if you set high expectations for your performance, then this is like a trap. If you preform very well then it's just expected, while if you preform poorly then it's a disaster... in other words there's no performance that can make you truly happy... and if you're not happy you wont win. Every game will just burden you with more regrets and sadness.

So what kind of person would be happy? Well, for example, someone like a refugee from a war. Someone who has lost everything and has no expectations or hope for their future. In that case everything is a joy. Simply being able to attend the tournament is itself a joy. Getting to make a single move in a single game is a joy.

Of course you can't recreate that for yourself, but it might keep you more grounded. Also you are free to set your own goals and expectations. Kramnik mentioned in his match vs Kasparov, in his mind he didn't make Kasparov his opponent, he made himself his opponent. In other words the challenge was to do his best in each game, in each position. As you discovered in your bad tournament, your main issue was psychology. Maybe make your goal like Kramnik's. Don't think of the tournament or your rating or the opponent. Think only of the position in front of you in that moment. Appreciate the success of a good move even if you end up losing the game. As for the overall performance, set your expectations as low as possible. Maybe that means not even  expecting to win a single game. That way when you win, you can find joy in it. Be humble. You don't deserve to win. Even GMs have lost games to people under 2000, and overall, try to be thankful just for getting to be there.

As the old Bruce Lee quote goes:
"When tomorrow comes, you must free your ambitious mind, and learn the art of dying. To accept defeat, to learn to die, is to be liberated from it.”

Of course some people are motivated by setting high expectations, but as you found out, that doesn't work for everyone, and for many people it backfires.

So... tl;dr, work on your psychology. Start with setting low (humble) expectations and make your goals about the position in front of you, not what will happen many games or days later.

@nMsALpg Thanks for your advice! Even though I actually don't agree. I think one has to be ambitious even if sometimes it means deception. But I agree on the part that I should be grateful to be able to even play. And you're right that working too much leads to burnout 

I think goals are important, and some people are motivated by high ambition, but just like losing a chess game, ask yourself after a tournament why you preformed badly and try to do something different next time... I think there was something with your psychology that didn't work, so I think it's worth trying something different.

And obviously pros struggle with this too. Kramnik focused on himself and it worked for him. Whatever Nepo did was disastrous. If one way worked for everyone there wouldn't be sports psychologists.

By the way you should just work 6 - 8 hours on chess in holidays and 3 - 4 hours on school days