I feel furious and disappointed

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kin2keen

I can't stop making huge and obvious mistakes I see right after I make a move, even before the opponent sees and sometimes uses my mistake. I feel angry, I want to write my opponents biting comments. (Ironic, not offensive, nothing personal or aggressive)
Puzzles do not help, I just get used to solve puzzles. I feel distracted after openings.

How do you keep calm after defeats?

jonnin

ancient advice.. sit on your hands.  when you see a move, you wait and look again to be sure its really as good as you thought.  If you are in speed games, you either make your move and hope or waste time: the real solution is to stop playing speed games if that is the root of the problem. 

wanting to insult your opponent is a different problem.  It speaks to something more serious -- inability to handle setbacks like an adult, or an anger management issue, or some other problem along those lines.   If this is a real life problem (what do you do at your job or school or whatever you do all day when things go very badly for you?) you may need to dig deeper.  If its just that losing at chess triggers you, find a way to handle it or stop playing chess.   

kin2keen

Regarding playing chess without time limit -- I've got your opinion. 

Regarding my comments. First, they are not aggressive, offensive, or personal. I have no reports, and I've got no bans or restrictions. Second, probably a war makes me feel impatient. It seems I seek for some calmness and predictability in chess, and get predictable defeats grin

Actually, I rarely write something, more often I just WANT to write something ironic. I'm disappointed because every next defeat makes me think that all my efforts to play better look fruitless.

How do you guys accept defeats? Ignore -- one of the solutions. What else?

hrarray
Force yourself to take more time to think
milkovich
kin2keen wrote:

I can't stop making huge and obvious mistakes I see right after I make a move, even before the opponent sees and sometimes uses my mistake. I feel angry, I want to write my opponents biting comments. (Ironic, not offensive, nothing personal or aggressive)
Puzzles do not help, I just get used to solve puzzles. I feel distracted after openings.

How do you keep calm after defeats?

your rating is pretty low for rapid games, just watch on youtube tips and tactics for beginners

 

ilhamzal

That is normal for speed chess. Maybe play longer time control?

kin2keen

Is 10 min game classified as speed chess? I thought, 5 min are speed

infinitefrustration
kin2keen wrote:

Is 10 min game classified as speed chess? I thought, 5 min are speed

 

If you see blunders right after making them it means you understand well enough, just not soon enough.

For you, it is speed chess. You personally need to play longer games until are faster at evaluating positions.

 

blueemu
kin2keen wrote:

How do you keep calm after defeats?

Better to avoid them instead.

Here are a few tips that helped me:

1) Play slow games if you want to improve, not Blitz or Bullet. Blitz and Bullet are for having fun, not for improving your game. And playing slow games gives you time for:

2) Sit on your hands. Seriously. Train yourself to make a final blunder check AFTER you pull your hand out from under your butt, but before you actually make the move.

3) I worked for twenty-odd years in video (making TV cartoons), so the following little trick helped me a lot:

After deciding on a move, instead of making it on the board I would just PICTURE (or visualize) myself making that move on the board. Then I would sit back and relax, as if I had actually made that move in the game. And pretty often, in that moment of relaxation I would immediately see that the move I was thinking of was a horrible error... but because I had only PICTURED myself making that move, the blunder hasn't actually been played on the board, and instead of resigning I just need to play something else instead.

 

DrSpudnik

Anything faster than 40 moves in 2 hours is speed chess from what I can tell.

infinitefrustration
infinitefrustration wrote:
kin2keen wrote:

Is 10 min game classified as speed chess? I thought, 5 min are speed

 

If you see blunders right after making them it means you understand well enough, just not soon enough.

For you, it is speed chess. You personally need to play longer games until are faster at evaluating positions.

 

I'm gonna contradict myself. You need to evaluate two positions and you're only evaluating one.

You need to evaluate the 2nd position before making your move. That 2nd position is the imaginary one that will exist after you move.  bluemu says to sit on your hands...that's 1/2 of it. You have to be able to imagine the 2nd position. If you can't see/imagine the 2nd position, you need to find a way to learn to see it.

toxic_internet
kin2keen wrote:

How do you keep calm after defeats?

I look at it as a learning opportunity.  I lost two games in a row recently and upon reviewing them, saw that I had repeated opportunities to capture a hanging queen.  But playing while tired, playing while distracted, playing while thinking of something else, playing in a hurry - all of these are primary causes of my losses.  And so, seeing this, I write a note or a reminder before my next game to "slow down and think," "guard the back rank," "flip the board" to see what my opponent is looking at, etc.

Losses are part of the game.  I once heard Hikaru say while playing poorly, "oh well.  If I lose, I lose."

It's just a game.  Cheer up, OP ... and keep playing! 🙂

Henachronism

Kin2Keen,

Elo anxiety is real. I had the same problem... All I did was lose my first several games, Then when I lost and I saw my Elo rating drop, it felt even worse.

I moved away from rapid & blitz games and instead went to daily games with a 3-day interval. I am much happier now because there is no pressure to make a move quickly. I now have time to evaluate positions and try different things by drawing arrows on the board with the right mouse button. Also, you can take a crack at different move sequences in the analysis board - available by clicking on the magnifying glass when you are in the game - This will help you with visualizing as Blueemu suggested above. (Don't use the Stockfish analysis BTW... it's a hollow victory and will get you banned).

Anyway, as it turns out, I'm not as bad at this game as I thought, I just couldn't handle the pressure of the ticking clock (compounded by obvious blunders, compounded by losing every game, compounded by a plummeting Elo rating). I feel like my chess has improved, my anxiety is gone, and I'm much more satisfied with my experience overall. Since I made the change, a defeat feels as if I am losing to a superior strategy, instead of because of my own errors.

I also watched a lot of GothamChess vids on YouTube. That guy has great content if you're trying to learn some new tricks, openings, tactics, basic principals, etc....

 

Also, toxic_internet is right, even though it sounds cheesy, it's true: 

"In chess, you never lose... You either win, or you learn."

 

YOU GOT THIS!!!! I BELIEVE IN YOU!!!!

Pawnstarshinz
kin2keen wrote:

 Second, probably a war makes me feel impatient.

How do you guys accept defeats? Ignore -- one of the solutions. What else?

Mate, if you are in the Ukraine I don't think anyone would begrudge you feeling inpatient/stressed/angry or any other emotion - it's appalling.

Maybe the secret to success (in life at least, maybe in chess too) is learning to deal with defeat. My two cents is that with sustained practice at anything you will get better. Perhaps slow down and enjoy it - it's a game after all.

 

hrarray
The OP probably isn’t in Ukraine, many people use that flag as a sign of support
CampwoodsRD
kin2keen wrote:

How do you keep calm after defeats?

I assess myself for visible physical damage, such as: broken bones, bruises, lacerations, blunt-force trauma, contusions, and/or, for signs of blood.

If none of these conditions are present, I simply smile, chuckle, extend my hand, thank my opponent for a great game - after having determined that reacting demonstratively to a defeat will not improve me as a player, person, or personality amongst others.

To me, it's simply a matter of perspective.

Or, one could go outside and kick a fire hydrant.

Works like a charm. tongue

Pawnstarshinz
hrarray wrote:
The OP probably isn’t in Ukraine, many people use that flag as a sign of support

Thanks for that. I'm pretty new to internet-related protocol.

CampwoodsRD
MelvinGarvey wrote:

Quit thinking you're playing a game.

Instead, "pretend" you're engaging a fight in some martial art, where every mistake means a painful blow in your face. Or a combat sport, like fencing etc.

Fred Reinfeld discussed the difference between playing Chess for Fun and playing Chess for Bloodas well as, the murderous artistic genius of, Alexander Alekhine - "... the proverbial magician..." at the chessboard; in his book: 'How To play Chess Like A Champion'.

Reinfeld illustrated a particularly nasty Escape & Mate, where Alekhine - playing White - mousetraps the Black King - played by Reshevsky - while escaping having his Queen anchored to defense of his own White King against the threat of being mated by Black.

For those interested, here's a link to a post which diagrams the last 5 bloody moves: Playing Chess For Blood: Alekhine v Reshevsky

kin2keen

I really live in Ukraine.
Thanks for all your opinions and advise.

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