How to deal with extremes of winning and losing

I am in the middle of my most extreme winning and losing streaks. I won 10 in a row (had won 7 a few times), including against the best players I have ever beaten and got to my highest rating of 1365, and now I have lost 4 in a row (I rarely lose more than 2 in a row), including to 1150 players. I am not seeing the most obvious moves attacking a queen or major piece and just lose them. Every loss is due to making such obvious blunders. Have you experienced this? How do you get out of the rut of losing? Should I take a break and not play for a few days (I normally play one game per day), or should i press on and keep at it as usual? Any advice?

Your chess.com account was created earlier this year; perhaps you just don't have the experience to yet recognize that rating naturally fluctuates up and down a ton. You said you "rarely lose more than 2 in a row" and that is great if you feel this way, but it isn't realistic long-term. You will inevitably win a lose in streaks much larger than 2 games frequently.

What you describe is common, but most don't know how to deal with these unavoidable swings which are part of the learning process. My Stop-Loss System video will probably be helpful for you

Also, congratulations on your 1300s rating after just several months on chess.com! That is amazing progress. It isn't unheard of, but it is a massive accomplishment and probably a bigger accomplishment than you may realize.

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply! I listened to your video and I can see how the stop-loss discipline would really matter when you are playing a bunch of games per day.

My practice, however, is to play one game per day (in the morning after having my coffee ) and I play only rapid games with one hour of time per side (max 2 hour game). This is the longest game format. I like being able to have time to think. I spend other time practicing or learning. I review all my games and try to learn from my mistakes. Perhaps because of this approach, i don't have big fluctuations in winning and losing. I am still on a steady upward trend without big fluctuations (going from 980 to 1350 since last April, though I played chess before starting to play on chess.com). I've been very happy with my progress. I just won 10 in a row and was playing my best chess, so that is why I am shocked that I have suddenly lost 4, blundering badly in all these losses.

So if I were to apply the stop-loss concept for my situation, I would just not play chess the next day perhaps and take a bit of a break. i think that would be more to rest my mind than to "cut losses." After playing a horrible game, though, following your concept, i would not rush into another game out of a desire to get back to winning. I think I have to chalk up these terrible blundering losses to just not being sharp. for a few days.

You're welcome @WilsonGrail

Longer time controls are good for learning and improvement, so that is great.

The only concern with playing as few games as you do is that you aren't going to be gaining nearly as much experience as someone who plays more games. I'm not telling you to go to the other extreme and begin playing speed chess, but it is just mathematical that they will get many more games of experience than you in the same time frame.

If someone were playing speed chess every day, or even if they were playing 10 min to 30 min games every day, then sometimes a break of a day or two may help them prevent tilt. If you are playing longer games like 60 minutes every day though, then taking a day off every time you lose a few games in a row might do more harm than good because you are lowering how many games you play to an even greater extent than the lower amount you are already playing.

It may take some experimenting to see what works best for you, but you'll probably need to be gaining more experience in some other way if you aren't playing as many games and exposing yourself to more patterns. Unless of course, you don't mind improving at a much slower rate. To each their own

@1

"I won 10 in a row (had won 7 a few times)" ++ That means you play too weak opponents / you are underrated / you have a good day / you are focussed and concentrated.

"now I have lost 4 in a row" ++ That means you play too strong opponents / your are overrated / you have a bad day / you lack focus or concentration.

"Every loss is due to making such obvious blunders."
++ Always check your intended move is no obvious blunder before you play it.

"How do you get out of the rut of losing?"
++ Whenever you lose a game, stop playing and analyse it thoroughly.

"Should I take a break and not play for a few days"
++ No, just call it a day playing for now and analyse.

"I normally play one game per day" ++ Good.