I think nerves my be impacting my game? What to do?

I find I seem to find a lot of the times when I play chess I get very nervous or excited and it feels like my brain is in some sort of panic mode? (adrenaline maybe?) I think this is effecting my ability to calmy think up a plan as well as sometimes gets me into time trouble as well as cause me a considerable amount of mistakes made by me and losing which results in me feeling like I'm performing not as well as I should. My nerves have also resulted in me sometimes rather just study the game most of the time and play occasionally although I wouldn't think lack of play is the issue causing my nerves as I have played plenty of games over time and It doesn't seem to change much. Anybody else relate to this at all? What should I do to help this issue? I feel like I play a lot better in those few times I'm calm so solving this issue would be a big help.

You may want to try to exercise more, or develop some breathing technique (yoga could be helpful).

Maybe JSB53 has been known to be smart and clever, so during chess his ego starts panicking, as if a lost game is just too much to accept. I find that I play best chess when I'm totally calm (but alerted, not calm as in sleepy).

It's easier to see what your opponent is planning if your ego is not all cramped up in defense. Think about it this way: There are no one winning and no one loosing, if the ego is an illusion. You really think you exist? You don't.

You guys have some pretty good points, maybe it does have something to do with ego or not wanting to lose?

Yeah it's in your head.

Try to accept that you are human being, you have right to make a mistake and you will probably lose 50% of games you play~

You might want to avoid gambling, as you can get addicted easily.

Excercise can burn off some of that, and I don't disagree with the breathing/yoga idea either.

Since you've been playing less because of this, preferring study, maybe you can recall to mind that any losing game is an opportunity for post-game review. This may help break the tension before it builds and worsens a game you may be able to turn around into a win. And if you can't turn it around, do the post-game study.

Mind, it's a game.  

Do you mean OTB, online or both?

I think you take chess very seroiusly. 

play freely

Yes.

What I do is drink alchohol, you'll still lose but you won't care.

I advise playing only "on-line" chess for awhile.    Having fast time limits means much more pressure on you.    

If after a few days or weeks or months, you decide to try "live" chess again, OK.    But you may be of the perfectionist mode that is hard on themselves when making mistakes.    The "on-line" game lends itself to games that are of higher quality.

I share your experiences on playing "live",  which is why I almost exclusively play "on-line" games now.

You say you have played plenty of games, but your profile doesn't reflect that. Maybe in another account/server? What about OTB? Playing OTB is the ultimate school about all aspects of the game, I think you should try it as often as possible. Take the bull by the horns, don't think too much about it.

I have exactly the same problem. I get nervous and tense. Often more online then OTB. I don't why.

But I think the only thing too concur this, is to play lot of games. Lose or win. And if your rating goes down. So what? It's just a game. And try to learn from your losses, and enjoy your wins.

Start taking fistfuls of benzodiazepines.  You'll feel better immediately with virtually no negative side effects!

Cut your Nerve