How do I overcome chess anxiety?

I love this game! It's beautiful! I love watching it on twitch, youtube, etc. I love reading about openings, learning tactics, and solving puzzles.

However, I get so tense and anxious when I play. It prevents me from playing at my best and makes me overthink. Hence, I'm constantly afraid to play games cause I have the fear of losing Elo and rating points. I am better than a beginner but not yet an Intermediate (500ish blitz, 900ish Rapid).

How do I overcome this and get out of my own head? Do I play at a different game length or completely change playlists. How do you overcome anxiety and play multiple games in a row? I want to get better and I know playing more is the best way to do that.

Check out GM Noel Studer's blog (on his website). He's written on that issue and given some amazing advice. There are some tips that really helped me: In short: 1. focus on the improvement, not the rating. 2. Set yourself a fixed goal of the number of games (like 2-3 rapid games or 6 blitz games) and then STOP and analyze them 3. When you improve your overall chess abilities, the rating will follow automatically.

your rating doesnt have to define you, its a number showing your average strength.

your strength increases when you learn new things and when you see more tactic patterns (chess is mostly about pattern recognition)

in order to do these you will have to study to input new ideas and you will have to play to try out those new informations. so you can get experience and strength in return.

losing is an indicator that you are trying new things and your rating will have to improve over time. so basically you are never losing when you are learning.

Either you win or you learn. 

Are you allowed to create a second account? Lol

Just take a deep breath before you play.

You don’t need a second account, you can alternatively play 5/5 blitz which is similar to rapid 10/0. Let your blitz rating take a dent and reserve for experimenting and learning. Plus you don’t over commit or over invest time in an agonizing 30/0 game. You get more games in this way and more experience under your belt which will relieve most of the nerves.

Then play the odd 15/10 game when you are more confident or get the itch; which you will. You’ll see you rapid games are of better quality because you transfer the game environment experience from 5/5.

If you don’t want to record your rating and progress, find a playing partner(a) for unrated games.

Lastly, if you still have nerves; play the engine to at least get practice.

Thats what I did.

Not allowed.

I stopped caring about my rating. Now I play several games per day and analyse them.

You can get a second account as long as you have more than one email address, no?

Learn to let go of your ego. Know that no one cares about you. Your loss doesn’t matter as much as your victory. It holds no value to this wretched existence either way. Just let go. Go wild. Think of each game as nothing but a learning session. 

Drink heavily

Bask directly at the sun at noon for 20 minutes

Yes, but it's not allowed according to Chess.com's Terms of Service.

Yup no one loves you.

Just take care of yourself. Eat well. Exercise. Sleep well. Hygiene. Read Books. 

I got away from most of the stress by playing the majority of the matches as "UnRated."

Creating a second account is very much against terms of service.

No one loves you. That's true.

This has been a bit of a problem for me, after I started taking lessons. My whole life I'd rather lose a good game than win an easy one. Now I HAVE TO WIN! Kinda sucks. 4

Try to attach less importance to the ELO. You won't be able to, so then....

1. Play the bots. Good games, no ELO risk. 

2. Study instead of play. It can sometimes scratch the itch.

3. If you ARE going to play, I suggest you:

     A. Meditate before the game to calm yourself

     B. Listen to calming music while you play. YouTube has many "Music for Concentration" channels.

     C. To lessen the effects of losses, do a game report. If your accuracy rating is high, the loss doesn't matter even a little bit. It is possible to play very good chess and still lose. I've lost with an accuracy rating of 94 percent or higher.  A good game with 1 bad move is still a good game, and you can feel good about that. ("Do you HEAR that, Russ?")