Feeling scared while playing chess

My name is Varun and i am 14  years old. Whenever i play i am very afraid of losing. My mind is not concentrating and i cant play well. Always scared of loss. The fear makes me make bad moves and sometimes blunders. I have been studying chess a lot these days as i had my summer vacations recently. I think all my chess practise and spending time on it is just going waste. Someone please help me by suggesting some tips to get rid of this. To mention, I sometimes get very Angry after loss and feel very bad and cant play my best during next round. 

Thx

I know it is easier said than done but think of a lost game as an opportunity to learn from your mistake.

and you are only 14 as you say you can still become great.

just because you practice doesn't mean you become good instantly - have patience. keep calm and in time you will see that you will improve.

I know your feeling and anger but it doesn't lead to anything. your anger is a frustation because you feel all that training should lead to easy wins but it takes time for all that learning to be really understood.

I think we have all been there.

Imagine your opponent is scared of you too.

Get a scary avatar and change your name to Fireknuckles.

a good tip: don't think about the result while playing chess worry about making the best move on each move.

remember we are not machines - we are humans and make errors - and deal with it on the next move. accept that chess is not about perfection.

I don't know if this quote from Karpov is authentic or not, but the advice in it is directly related to your problem:

When asked by a novice what he could do to get good, Karpov simply replied, "Seek out strong players and lose several thousand games."

At 14 you are beginning your chess journey, and you are also entering that stage of life where your ego and sense of self-worth are paramount. Anything that threatens the image you have of yourself gnaws at you and bothers you to no end. But you must remember that, to get strong at anything, you must push yourself and take risks--and the major risk is losing (unless your sport is skydiving).

Imagine how silly you'd sound if you said you wanted to get good at skiing, but you hate to fall down. So you spend all your time on the beginner slope where you never fall. Or you want to get good at lifting weights, but you hate sore muscles, so you never lift anything over 20 pounds. Or you want to play the piano, but the only thing you play well is "Happy Birthday," so it's all you play. It's the same with chess; to get strong you must play strong opponents. And they will beat you--A LOT. Just get over yourself, realize it's just a game, and set the pieces up for the next challenge. Years from now you'll be glad you did.

Here is what I have done. I played a lot of games, 5 minute and 15 minute where I will move almost immediately any piece I feel like moving to any where I feel like moving it. I lost a lot of games and rating points doing this but I no longer care if I win or lose as far as rating points goes. At the same time, it does help your intuition a bit, but the main thing is to get past the point where you're worried about what move you make. Also, once your rating is in the gutter you'll have a better feeling because you'll know you're a better player than your rating and it will be easy getting some points back. Just play several dozen or even a hundred games quickly without much thought to where you absolutely don't give a crap anymore. Because one thing you are correct that the fear will always make your moves bad. So you have to get beyond it. Hope this helps.

I have been at tournaments and I thought I was nervous at times but I have seen players tremble with fear, they couldn't stop shaking.

if it is that kind of fear I suggest breathing excercise to get your emotions under control.

your thought process should be :

1. think about the move you want to make

2. take a deep breath for air (this will surface you state of mind)

3. look at the board careful if it is still a good move.

4. make the move

Josh Waitzkin writes about something similiar in his book Art of Learning.

(it is not a chess book but a book about learning and keeping calm under pressure. I highly recommend that book.)

The best thing I can recommend to you is to realize that, during the course of your career, you will lose a lot of games.  If you can accept this, the next step is to take that negative energy and focus it, to convert it into energy you can use against your opponent.  Facing your fears, and learning to live with them, will help you in more ways than just playing chess.  When I was a beginner I had similar feelings about playing, but I learned the hard way to overcome them--I had strong players looking over my games and pointing out that, right where I had given up hope, that strong continuations were available to me.  That gave me the heart to play that move that I felt was right but couldn't see to the end of the line.  Learning how to plunge in head first helped me a lot, and now I have players who do not like to play me, simply because I don't calculate to the end, I take the heavy risk that they don't look at or want to deal with, and it scares them--the fear returning full circle.  Hope this helps.

thx everyone. This helped me a lot. 

Play the board, not the opponent. Btw I guess it is normal to have a sane amount of fear losing in chess cause it is a mental game what involves us psychologically

It is anxiety.  Try the "square breating" technique.

Slowly exhale for 4 seconds; hold for four seconds; slowly inhale for four seconds; hold for four seconds - and repeat as necessary

I recommend you try a more exciting passtime, such as badmitton.

Everyone loses, even the best players. You can learn a lot from your losses. You shouldn't be that scared of losing. I suggest you to change your mentality.

A bad mitten would have a hole in it

Bad mutton would be lousy meat

Only badminton has the excitement of flying shuttlecocks

Badminton can be life threatening

Hello Varun, it's all about the ability to focus.

You have to be able to shut out everything when you're playing, including bad losses. Especially your emotions. How to do that is hard, even impossible to say. Why? Because no two persons are the same. So, there is no advice I or anyone can give you because I simply don't know you.

A grown up I would tell: Geez, let go. It's only a game. Look around you in the world. It's not that important.

But you are young and chess seems to be really important to you. So forget that last sentence.

Let me tell you a story. In my first years as a club player I did fine and almost never lost games in local and club competitions. So I entered tournaments and through lying, manipulation and cheating I almost all the time managed to play tournaments that were way above my strength. I was playing opponents 400-500 elo points above mine all the time and got my a$$ kicked on a very regular basis. For several years.

And it hurt. Every single loss. It hurt sooo much. Almost impossible to describe. Every single loss felt like a knockout. And an extremely painful one at that. Like they were tearing the limbs from my body. But I was learning. I was very aware of that.

I got up. After every K.O. I came back stronger. And I never ever forgot a single loss. I knew my time would come. And it came. With a vengeance.

What I am trying to tell you is that it doesn't help to get angry. Learn to control your emotions. You lose? Ok, shake hands, be friendly, walk away but remember. REMEMBER!

Play, lose, remember, learn. Play, lose, remember, learn. Play, lose, remember, learn. Play, lose, remember, learn. Play, win, remember, learn. Play, win, remember, learn.

If you have the talent you will get there. If you don't, you won't. The future will tell.

I wish you the best and don't forget to lose like a gentleman and much more important to win like a gentleman.

NR.

Perfectly stated!

yeah i agree stuzzicadenti , human  isnt it  and i like how we seem to identify with it too

I don't know if you would be able to do this, but the way I approach chess when I'm afraid,angry,bored is I ask myself "Is this helping my chess". If yes Then I harness the energy. If no then I try and quell those thoughts and play to the best of my abilities. If you can imagine your opponent as much stronger then you are. Then if you lose it's no big deal.