Tips for Nervousness

I always get stiff during tournament rounds and I get nervous that I'm going to loss. Then I look at my time and notice that I feel much worse. I take some breaths but that doesn't help. Any Ideas on how to calm yourself down?

First thing is to realise that you are not playing against a player but the position on the board. Try to see the game as something you are doing for your pleasure, it is your hobby and you are doing what you like to do. If you begin to focus more on the game (mini operations to improve your position) and less on the possible result you will begin to relax and enjoy the game. It is also important to have the right perspective: if you lose the game you will not lose much, but you will win a lot from the analysis after the game.
The next tournament you will sit at the board, smile to your opponent, feeling happy that you have the opportunity to play a further game. The guy in front of you is not your enemy, it is a buddy who also loves the game and is ready to spend time with you playing an interesting game. You will give your best, that’s all, doesn’t mater if the guy is stronger or weaker than you. And the result is not the most important thing in this hobby. It is great to win, but better is to feel joy during the game. And by feeling joy you will relax and play better chess...and win more often.
Good luck!

Thank you torrubirubi, I shall try to enjoy my game and know that if I lose, I will learn, and that you just enjoying time with a buddy.

Good luck on your games too!

Note that this is during a game and not after. You don't know the results. Also I can bet that you don't win every single game, so it's not fair asking me to.

Winning will make you confident, but you will with the time play against stronger opponents and probably begin to lose regularly again. I remember once a GM playing blitz games in live stream. He stood completely unimpressed after a lost, and he said later that he usually doesn't fell stressed after losing a game. After this I began to change my attitude towards wins and losses.

You can play very focus and confident and still stay relaxed and have fun. I like to do this when playing tennis. I fight like a lion, but I enjoy the fight. Fun and fight are not mutual exclusive things.

"I am playing for blood and I enjoy it"

Most of this here is true, so I won't critique IronIC_U that much

However, I would like to make an important distinction here. "Play like your life is on the line" should be interpreted as "focus, and do your best" - do not take it somewhat literal. Doing so produces adrenaline in your body and will essentially put your body into "fight or flight mode", but this is BAD for your chess. During this "fight or flight response" your body becomes more alert (to sounds, actions and so on), but it lowers your cognitive functions during this time. This adrenaline will help you make split-second decisions in a life or death scenario, but in chess we want the cognitive ability you are sacrificing here. Plus, being more alert to everything around you will undoubtedly cause more nervousness. Alternatively, take slow deep breaths and try to take it easy. Unless you are playing blitz/bullet chess, you have plenty of time on your clock and you should slow down to consider other moves; not speed up by nervousness (which I personally tend to do when nervous). 

It sounds childish at first, but literally sitting on your hands can help a lot. The action of physically needing to move your hands out before making a move will help you think twice before a potential blunder and will indirectly get you to slow down and calm down. 

If this still doesn't put you at ease, then eat a banana before a game (as certain foods will chemically calm downs future, potential, nervousness). Likewise, avoid caffeine like coffee or energy drinks (remind you that GM Nakamura is not only a professional but that he also plays a lot of blitz/bullet XD). 

Jokes aside: I disagree with feeling that you are "playing for blood." You will play better chess if you are relaxed, and besides: you have no reason to get worked up. Don't worry though, EVERYONE is nervous at there first few chess games (especially OTB events) and it just takes some getting used to - like anything else.

having a healthy libido shouldn’t make you nervous. have you tried counting sheep ?

Play more.  After a few hundred games it starts to go away. 

getting rid of the heebeejeebees means having better things than chess for your self confidence to fire off.

it’s fear of losing man, toughen up, join the army and peel some spuds.

....drop something.

good idea! drop a concrete block on your toes and it will be impossible to suffer the nerves.

lol xD

It hurts because this statement is true.

U needa big picture pill. Ur not playing for da world title. So think perspective here.

And something else. Funny that ppl talk about fight, flight, or freeze. Newsflash !....there are no other choices !

Just remember that your opponent is probably just as nervous, tired, scared of losing, etc.

You're not playing against a computer but another person.

We should differentiate between “play for blood” and “keep concentrate”. I had once a student in the rehab clinic where I worked who played extremely tense at the board - in comparison to him Kasparov looked like a little child. He played fast, with a lot of dubious sacs, losing against players with less experience them him. Usually he would have a verbal fight with his opponents. I showed him that he would play much better if he would relax, playing the position and only scarifying with a very clear idea. After this he won most of his games.

you should tell him that to properly play for blood he will need to concentrate 100 percent.

not just on the blood, that will come as a byproduct.