We all have those days....we are giving it our best from a stamina/mental attitude perspective, we use our time well, we are cautious about blunders but we still wipe out and miss something at a critical moment ... game after game. I normally go over my OTB game chess database and pull out a few games where I actually played less like an idiot and more like somebody who knew what they were doing...even the ones where you find nice tactical shots feel good to look at.
Spacing out and moving away from chess for a bit actually helps.
I always feel rejuvenated after a 5-6 day break from chess :)
This past weekend I played in a moderate to large event. There were about 33 people in my section. I won my first two games, and followed that by loosing my second two games. I withdrew from the tournament before I could loose the last round. While playing poorly is frustrating and discouraging, it is all the more so because of all the work that I have put in. I have probably studied more in the last couple weeks than I have at any other time in my life.
I am not a strong player, and I am begining to think that I will never be. I have a better understanding of the game now than I have before, and I still couldn't seem to win against opponents that I should have beat. One of my losses was against a kid 130 points lower than me and also lost to a guy who was completely unrated. I took neither of the games lightly, in the past I have thought if I had a few hundred points I could get lazy. That didn't happen. I played hard and got beat anyway.
After such a poor showing I am going to take some time off. Maybe just a couple days, maybe longer.