Recovering from an OTB Tournament debacle

There are bad tournament days. Then there are the days that make the bad tournament days look good. Just had one of the latter and was wondering what people do to stop short of burning their entire book collection out in their back yard and/or using their Fritz/Chessbase cds as make-shift shuriken?

Does one ride out a slump with more chess ... exorcizing whatever chess demons you have by practicing tactics / endgames or a ton of blitz? Or is it better to just stay the heck away from anything and everything chess for a period of time before one can feel confident about playing again?

What worked for you?

Thanks in advance!

You could always hop on Yahoo.com chess and woop up on some of those dullards for an afternoon. It doesn't do much for technique, but you'll feel like Magnus for sure.

Well the denizens that shamble through the cesspool that is Yahoo Chess spend more time using language that would make a sailor blush. Though beating up on people who don't play seriously doesn't seem to be the way to go for me.

So, as I lost my final game in a tournament a few years ago...losing to younger and younger players, all the way down to a 10 year old in my second to last game...the older guy who just thrashed me said "Cheer up!  I know how you feel...I had lost all my games in the last three tournaments until I just beat you!"

This did not cheer me up.

I played in a large Swiss event a few years ago, 2 hours each for 40 moves with a Quickplay finish (clocks back 15 mins, play to finish). 5 rounds over two days... 3 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. At the end of the first day I had scored half from three, although I had overwhelming positions in all three games, I had blown them all. I went straight up to the TD after round 3 and withdrew (to some derision from my clubmates). I went down the pub, had a few pints, went home, slept well and didn't pick a piece up for a fortnight. Next tournament normal service was resumed and I've rarely thought about the episode since. It happens to every tournamnt player, it doesn't scar you for life if you don't allow it to. Good luck next time.

Take a break, then pick up on some endgame study, maybe look at a new opening. Try to come back fully to your game/studies with a fresh outlook.

What works for me is, well.. lose.. I even enjoy losing some games which I felt were great. its way easier to learn when you dont care about losing than it is when you're trying to win using your way every time.. i dont know if that makes sense but it works for me :)

Every time im in a losing streak I come back and reach a rating that I never got to before

It really helped to publish a horrific embarassing loss here on chess.com and get feedback that let me realize it wasn't the end of the world, it was just one game. Great players have had bad tournaments, bad games, etc. We're amateurs! Get over the ego. No one is too good to lose. Some days you just don't have it.

Also, just waiting a while helps because the chess addiction kicks back in and over-powers the humiliation.

Also, vodka.