Why did my chess skill suddenly drop?

I was playing chess normally. And yesterday, I suddenly started playing terribly. I went to sleep thinking it was just a coincidence or being tired. But today when I started playing, I noticed I play just as terribly as yesterday if not even worse.

Does this happen often? What can I do about it?

I've had this happen a few times. It usually means I'm playing too much and my mind starts to tune out because I'm bored with the game, or I'm upset about something in real life and that makes it hard for me to focus. Or it could be that the thought of being off your game for no apparent reason is destroying your confidence, so the recent bad results become self-reinforcing. Take a break from chess for at least a day, come back and you'll probably be back to normal.

Or if there is a problem in your life unrelated to chess that you haven't been dealing with, you need to get that sorted out first.

That happens to me when i cant get enough sleep regularly or i am unhappy in my daily life.

I think you are being a little overly dramatic. You may have lost a few games but this graph of your live standard rating shows steady progress over the last few years. (Almost all of your games are live standard.)

If your rating drops back below 1200, you may legitimately question a loss of skill. So far, however, your rating reduction is only 100 points from a peak you reached only briefly.

Over the last year, the graph shows that your rating stayed pretty close to 1400, except for that one recent brief rise. Your rating was below 1400 as recently as October 15th.  Such ratings swings are completely normal.

I've been having the same problem. I'm basically in the rank beginner category but I was starting to improve. I won 5 games in a row, a couple against people ranked higher than me. Then I started losing games and making glaring blunders. I just resigned after the last one and haven't attempted a game since. There have been some work issues, maybe it affected my play. I've been reading and practicing tactics. my tactics score has been prone to very wide variation. Maybe the fact that I'm older is an issue. Still, I don't aspire to be a grandmaster, even mediocre would be an improvement and it seems like it should be well within my reach. At any rate, it's very discouraging.

@mcostan there is nothing called short term improvement in chess. I dont mean just solving tactics, even if you work hardcore, many hours everyday with good concentration (playing, analysis, solving, studying every aspect of your games) its normal to see nothing until some 5-6 months. Then you get sudden rise 40-50 elo in 2-3 weeks. Then you drop back where you were and after some oscillations finally you became stable at your new strength after 1-2 months of unstable play strength and you increase your training a bit and repeat process. (With perfect training 80-120 elo/year increase in strength normal, with occasional (but regular) training some 10-20 elo/year is normal) But you can lose some strength if you stay away from chess for a very long time. (All my experiences confirm these i had all of the thing in my 22 years of chess career)

Life, Love, Lust, What could you do?

Slump.

It happens to everyone, and when it happened to me I resorted to playing against computer and solving tactics. After several hours, I get better and refreshed again.

+1

Maybe menopause?

Your chess skill didnt drop, your rating did.

stop playing online (especially if you play blitz)for a while..watch some brilliant games played by the masters..analyze those games using an engine..or solo..dont worry..Thing is u need to study chess more than play it to improve every day..It happened to me as well and still happens.And if you can afford it always play face to face with an another strong player with no time limits..That's when your originality and imagination grows.Good Luck

I take it for granted. You win some and you lose some, no big deal. At the end of the day a rewarding beer is all you need to start over again.

Happens to me sometimes. A few months ago, I got into the 1700 blitz rating level. Then for some reason, I started playing like crap, then droped to 1550 more or less. I stopped playing for a couple of days, started lookiing at my losses and watching chess vidoes and my rating went back up to 1700. I over did it, I manged to break 1800 on blitz, then it happened again, I dropped to 1700. Then got back to 1800. Now I stopped playing chess for about a week, and my rating is dropping.  

You're overworrying about it. Take a break.

Have you been to Chili's lately for some baby backs?

Glad to see that you more than recovered in 2016 and passed your previous high point by almost 100 points.

What I can't understand is why you stopped playing rapid chess games this past January after another little hiccup.

I look at the graph of your rating since 2013 and see a lot of evidence of improvement and success. If you give up 100 points up and down now and then, so what?

The long term trend is still going the right way.

 It is how chess works! Sometimes I am stuck in 2100-2200 blitz and like now I am on my way to 2400! So if you just keep learning and playing then results will show itself

You have climbed a step in rating. That means that you opposition is harder and better, and they punish you for inaccuracies that your earlier, lower rated opponents, didn't see or didn´t punish that well.

When the opposition gets too good you must hit them hard four times to get enough to win (that was what GM Jon Ludvig Hammer said after  several draws in advantageous position in the Moscow tournament).