so like for 1. I could hope to beat my brother at chess? 2. for now: Learn an opening line per day. 3.-erm, I'm not quite sure how to do this cos im kinda antisocial and shy, so is telling a friend online that I've never met before ok? 4. Maybe a few games of my favourite computer game at the weekends?
Please tell me if this is right?
Also is there really no way to trick yourself into liking it? Because I really do want to like studying chess. It's just I don't like studying it?
Watch some videos by NM ChessNetwork. I find that his videos are very entertaining. I play chess as a hobby.
If you don't feel like studying chess, don't do it.
Remember, you're not earning your livlihood with chess, so it's just a game and therefore having fun should be your primary concern.
but if I have too much fun I'll never improve?
If you don't feel like studying chess, don't do it.
Remember, you're not earning your livlihood with chess, so it's just a game and therefore having fun should be your primary concern.
my family takes chess very seriously u see :(
You don't need motivation, dude. You need to be disciplined.
disciplined?
Sure, motivation helps, but not much. What you need is don't over think and just play chess.
but if I have too much fun I'll never improve?
exactly the opposite ! to improve comes not from punishement, but from happiness .
For myself I needed 50 years to know why I played chess; I discover it was the way to ...lose I liked ! And then I started to WIN more interesting games, with higher rating ! Today I don't care about openings theory, about winning or not, I'm an happy 1450 and have fun each time I
start a game: the biggest thrill excitement is the first move. (After," it is only technical.", lik evryhing, pian, golf, pilot planes etc ...)
I don't mean to be rude or anything but erm, 1450 isn't that great? Sorry I just mean that like I'm already 1890 something according to FIDE (I've probs been boosted up cos I'm a Junior) and I want to be like higher? I mean 1450 is awesome and all but I kinda would like to be greater. Also, everyone else around me who has a higher rating e.g my bro 2300 something always tells me to study openings and stuff?
<Schwarzenegger> YOU LACK DISCIPLINE!! </ Schwarzenegger>
Seriously though it sounds like you need to take a break... a long break... a longer than long break... the kinda break... never mind. You should take a break though. Maybe you should tell your folks how you feel. I'm not about to advocate forcing someone to play or pretend to like a board game.
Not many people enjoy studying chess, they do it mainly because it has the potential of increasing their wins and that's enjoyable.
So it might be pretty simple:
If you don't feel like you want to study chess, don't study.
You may run into players that will beat you regularly. (You may not if you don't play "up".)
Then you will either really not want to continue to lose to them and will want to study ways to improve your game or you will not really care that much and continue to wing it without studying.
Either way is OK and not necessarily a permanent decision. Your desire to not lose by studying more could change at any time.
The bottom line may be: Losing is what motivates study. Only when losing is more painful than studying, will you want to study. Only when you want to study will studying be very useful.
You also mentioned "parents pushing". Related to chess specifically, that could be a problem. You and they might want to consider the situation a bit deeper if they take your losses more seriously than you do.
@Bb gum thingy: Thanks for your advice
@TitanCG: But I do like chess and well, I'm not quite sure if they'll let me take a break lol. currently studying chess abroad you see.
@Nckchrls: It does seem to me that my parents take my losses much more seriously than me and they always harshly criticise my games, even the ones I win. But I want to feel that deeply about my losses as well. I want to feel the need to study. The problem is I want to but I can't.
Anyway I think I've got quite a lot of helpful advice, time to put it into practice. Thanks guys!
Maybe you just don't care to improve. You like to play already but maybe you don't feel that the studying will go into anything useful or at least something you want. Playing is fun but all the other stuff isn't. I guess it's like learning the scales with an instrument or something and you aren't looking forward to what that's supposed to lead to or maybe you don't really care.
The only thing that gets me out of that is watching interesting games or a tournament. I'll study for a tournament because I want to do well and learn but to do it for what seems to be nothing can feel a bit tedious. Maybe you just need some inspiration rather than motivation.
#15: We were on a break!!! (Ross's voice)
that's interesting, useful, relevant, ... ty dear
Friends references are always relevant. It's in the TOS.
So like in the recent years, I just don't feel motivated to play chess. Well, maybe not play it but study it. I still like playing a few games but I just can't study it. When I was younger I was like more motivated than I am now and I did play at a sort of high-ish standard for my age but nowadays I just can't study it. I can't read any chess books, the just bore me after a few minutes and I hate studying openings, what is happening to me? Am I going insane? I've also found that I play a lot quicker while playing chess nowadays and also that I start to daydream when I force myself to study a chess book. The only change from when I was younger is I guess the fact that I joined another school. I reckon I did get bullied a bit there, and playing chess didn't help me but still that shouldn't demotivate me should it? Maybe it's my parents pushing me? I would like to get to the root of why im demotivated and get rid of it