I have lost my interest in chess

Has this ever happened to you ? It's a really strange feeling. It is not an "I lost a very bad game lets quit" type. My last game was one of the best. I beat a guy in 2 matches who beat me a few days ago in 2 matches.
(My theory is if you want to consider yourself better than an other player you have to beat him with white and black too)
Right after my glorious victory on the following day I thought I should play again but somehow I didn't really want to. I was thinking about the game and developing fast, controlling the center, restricting the opponent's moves didn't thrill me like before. I did not play, or read a book or watch a video of chess in the last 3 weeks. In the past 1 year I didn't spend a single day without anything chess realated. I feel really strange now

It'll come back.

Don't do what I did a few years back and just stop playing cold-turkey. You'll resent the atrophy when the virus resurfaces. :)

Yup, I'm just about there, myself, and have been many, many times before this.  It usually happens after we hit a new high, and then drop a little before we plateau again.  It's no fun sticking in the same 100-point bracket indefinitely, I know that. 

I find that swtiching styles/time controls can help.  Play a new gambit opening you aren't familiar with; if you are a long game player, engage in some 1-minute chess, and vice versa; play a variant like crazyhouse for a while - I find that it can really spark an interest again. 

Anyhow, good luck, and I hope your interest returns!  :)

You have sort of described me. Except that now I just like to teach chess to beginners. I have only played seven games here in the last two years. 

The last game I played was a blindfold game with 1plus1isthree or was it four.

Read a book. Not a how to play chess but a real book.

It is a great book about twenty years old. Get it at a library or @ Amazon. Funny parts, mysterious parts, wonderful parts, many masters, you will love it.

Don't bother to read her newest book. It stinks.

Yeah, it happens to me intermittently. 

Give it up for a while, or if you don't want to do that mix up your openings- I normally play "solid" chess, so I occasionally switch it up and just play crazy gambits and get in tactical firefights. (you might want to make those games unrated though. )

I have to disagree with DeepGreene- if you're not enjoying it, don't play. The point is to have fun, right? So if you need to, take some time off, and there's a good chance it'll come back.

Happened to me twice. The first time I stopped playing for about ten years, the second time for about twenty. I now really regret that because I started out quite strong when I was just 11 - becoming "Stadtmeister" of a small town and winning some local tournaments competing with adults within just a year. Now I am much too old and without much free time on my hands to really get something going. 

what can I say I just bounced back from such an experience myself.  I didn't play for a year.  I am angry at myself because I am a much weaker player for all that wasted time.  Play but don't force yourself, otherwise chess will become a chore.

I just learned chess this morning. Tonight, I give it up.

Vodka...like Teddy Bear does...is more spirited way to go to Hell. Yah?

I know the feeling. I haven't felt like playing for about 15 minutes now...

I played in a few tournaments way back in 1978.

Then I quit, and played again in 1981.

Then I quit, and played again in 1987.

Then I quit, and played again in 1991 (yes, this is a true story).

Then I quit for a long time, and played again in 2002.

Then I quit, and played again in 2007.

Then again in 2009.

Now, here again, in 2011.

So in the past 6 years there has been a burst of activity for me (comparitively!).

Everytime I got back in, I raised my strength back up to the 1600's OTB, then quit again. So I have not really improved in over 30 years, I just keep inching back to a previous strength level, then dropping it again once I reach it.

Many have already said but I'll repeat it.  I've quit many times.  Sometimes for a few years, sometimes for a week.  I've had a game going here nearly non-stop since I joined the site.  I'm on my longest playing streak of my life right now, going on 2 years.  In the past 2  years I've had a week or two where I don't feel much like playing but have kept going.  I've found one thing that really brings me back into it is when a new round starts in a tournament that I've forgotten about, it's always a pleasant surprise to make it to the next round.

It happens to me with all my hobbies.  I get bored with one so I'll stop for a while, or I'll get interested in another and forget about chess or a different hobby.  But I eventually respark my interest.

These are heart wrenching stories. I get out my hanky.

I teach chess during the day in six public and private schools as well as privately. Then I come home and have 20-30 games going on chess.com. Yeah it is easy to lose interest so I take time off every year and play very little chess. Before doing this, I would get so burnt out that I'd have to walk away from the game for 6 months. Take break when the game starts to get stale. You'll eventually find your way back. I should start a chess rehab center for chess addicts.

Thanks for all the input they are quite instructive :)

Like many I have had starts and stops.  Usually it was just a matter of not being able to find people my level to play with.  I don't want to get crushed every game and I don't want to crush opponents in every game.

The internet was the first boon.  Now Chess.com and especially the iPhone app is allowing me to play as much as I want and the type of games I want.  I typically have a few long games going and then play 20 minute blitz games thoughout the day. 

I play for fun and don't worry about my 'rating' or getting better.  I just want to have a good time, win a few, lose a few and even draw once in a while.  I prefer otb games just because I like handling 'real' chess pieces but finding good players in my area that are my strength is a challenge.

If I get burnt out, I take a couple days off and go back.  I only get the burned out feeling though after playing and losing several days in a row!

When I get tired of chess, I play/study go.  And even though I'm not very good at chess, I'm way worse at go, a complete clueless noob, which makes me really appreciate chess again so then I go back.  Seriously who has time for two impossible games?

I also have lost interest.  It used to be that whenever I had a spare hour or two I would play over some master games, study an endgame, solve some tactical puzzles, or research an opening.  Now I either process photos in LightRoom or play/practice the piano.

I reckon the reason is that I iused to be 2150 strength (i.e. the BCF equivalent  ... 195 +/- a few points). Now I oscillate between the low and high 1900's. [That is OTB at classical speeds.  On Chess.com playing only 10 minute chess I am a lot weaker still.]

I feel bad because I know I have never reached my potential as a chess player, and I feel that I "ought"to study more to get back somehwere close to my previous strength.  But that was 30 years ago. I am older, chess has changed too, but worst of all the intrinsic motivation is no longer there.

I was recently reading a great book, The Art of Changing the Brain, by James E Zull, and found this statement which, if it is true, explains the loss of mnotivation: "Success is progress towards a goal, and nothing succeeds like msuccess. This could be one of the most important aspects of intrinsic motivation. Achievement itself is rewarding, ..."

When I was improving rapidly that itself was the motivation to continue working at the game.  Now I have slipped back and am stalled at a much lower standard. The experience of becoming weaker seems to be as demotivating as steady improvement was motivating.

As I am still improving as a photographer and pianist it is obviousnwhy they hold a greater attraction than chess.

I think also, that as a teeenager and young man I was a bit of a geek. Chess created a structure for the social interaction that I found awkward elsewhere.  Older, wiser, less geeky and more laid back, it is no longer necessary to get down to the chess club to have some human interaction.

I don't know how much truth there is in these speculations.  I can't eevven imagine how to design a rigorous experiment to test the ideas, but maybe others on this thread will recognise themselves in my experience.