Is too much chess detrimental to your game? Can you "fry" your brain?

I started playing chess around middle of November 2018 and I got immediately hooked, very hooked. I registered for Premium membership and started studying every day, doing tactical puzzles on the bus on my way to work, and whenever I had a free moment. I`m not naturally intelligent in chess at all, it took me 1500 puzzles to get to 1700 tactics rating, I`ve spent 32 hours on the tactical trainer and sometimes I still miss mates in 3 or even 2. 

I`ve played games every single day since middle of November. I went from 800 starting rating in Rapid and hit 1400 Rapid on this site 31.12.2018. after around 150 games. According to computer analyses done after the games I could consistently hit 80-95 CAPS.

After new year things started going downhill. I had played a bit blitz and had 1298 rating without too much problems so i decided to just "casually" get my blitz to 1400 as well. Another factor that got me into blitz is that I wanted to try out new openings.  New year, new openings. I decided for the Caro Kann response vs e4 and Dutch vs d4 as black, and I wanted to try my hand on the English opening 1.c4 as white.  I wanted to "get a feel" for these openings in blitz so I wouldn`t tarnish my Rapid rating too much when I started employing them in slower games. 

As preparation, I checked out a few games by Magnus Carlsen playing the English and by Hikaru Nakamura playing the Dutch, watched a few videos on basic  theory in these openings and threw myself into it.

I immediately started getting absolutely crushed. I lost 10 games in a row at one point. I just couldn`t get any momentum going 90% of the time. I don`t know what is going on with me, sometimes it`s just like a block in my head and I can`t create coherent plans or anticipate the plans of my opponent.

At first I thought it was the blitz crowd just being much tougher in general than the rapid, but doing computer analysis on my games I had dropped down to 30-40 CAPS, if even. I played a few rapid games as well to break my blitz fever, but it seems the curse stuck with me, I couldn`t get anything decent going. 

I`m starting to think that maybe I`ve just overloaded my brain with chess playing so much these last few months, maybe I`m thinking too much and not allowing myself to simply enjoy the game. I`m always trying to get "beautiful wins" and "amazing" tactical shots, but lately I find myself too much on the defensive to even be able to apply any pressure on weak pawns, let alone pull off sacrifices and setting up tactics. Before I felt like I was just trying to play sound chess, not anything too fancy. Now I`m just seeing things that aren`t there and ignoring simple stuff like protecting my pawns. Lately I`ve also started dropping whole pieces due to tunnel vision. Even if I`m trying actively to just play and not drop a piece I get myself into time trouble and still do some huge mistake. With blitz it`s so easy to just keep playing new games and going on "tilt" (to borrow a term from poker) 

I realize I probably need a break of at least 4-5 days to clean my brain, I`m just wondering if this is a phenomenon that occurs to others that have become too obsessed with chess and fried their brains, or if it is due to something else? Are the Caro-Kann and Dutch openings too heavy to try the 2nd month into my chess playing "career"? I realize the Dutch is called unsound at top level but it`s still playable afaik.

The Caro-Kann is afaik a slower more positional opening that maybe doesn`t fit me, but I`m struggling especially with the exchange variation as it just seems to open up my king a lot and and i cant develop my kingside before all my opponents pieces come crashing down on my exposed king. Anyways, will see how I do after a few days. 

I understand all the hard work to compensate for lack of natural talent. If you really love chess and got the time, continue. Less important TV time can be sacrificed. And socializing with drunkards.

You don't have to. You don't love chess that much

I'm sorry to offend you unintentionally. You know how many hours are wasted in pubs, bars, and clubs.

take a bit of time away from the board , use it well read "my system " by A.Nimzovich , one chapter at a time absorb what he teaches , in the chapter , play a game with long time limits , if your chess hasn't improved move onto chapter 2 , but don't play till you grasp what is written , it may take a few chapters but it is a well known book to increase your understanding of the games deeper thoughts and ideas

I would recommend spending more time studying tactics and endgames instead of random openings. The Dutch in particular is a tough one. It usually leads to complex closed positions with difficult endgames. Spend your time wisely. 

Ha!  I see what you did there...

It's an OPINION. Not a command. And it's the forum. Anyone can speak their mind. As long as not violating terms and conditions. One can be irrelevant 😎

 I already spent a lot of time on tactics.  I should definitely slow down and be more systematic about my studies and my learning process.  Will switch to slower time control and try to develop a more strategic and sound game. 

I probably spent a lot of time on chess to the detriment of other things. Imagine how much of a new language or a new skill I could`ve learned in those 40 hours ive spent on tactics alone. But hey, there are whole volumes of books written about how good it is to have obsessive passions etc. I`ve had enough of socializing with drunkards in my life, being from a northern european country and having helped run a student bar in my student days. 

Don't you remember the days when every text box told you to be "helpful, relevant and nice"?

Forums removed them for being irrelevant. Ads replace them.

Yes - it's too late for most of us but you should get out whilst you can:

https://bleeckerstreetmedia.com/editorial/the-most-dangerous-game

Or maybe try going back to your old openings for a while and see what happens. It's easy to get crushed in the Caro-Kann

My reaction-TWO MONTHS!-talk about a 'crash'(literally!)-course. I started on this site(but already being a player-though not again till recently)just over 3 months ago. I've had a bit of your syndrome.pushing on with games (on another site)when tired or tactics/puzzles on this and losing more than winning.As with overtraining in physical activity,common-sense tells you(not to mention,perhaps, coaching advice and results(!),also)-that breaks/sleep for body and brain are equally important for improvement.

YES! Your neurons have limited useful life.  Kind of like wires and electromigration, except your neurons are much thinner and less durable (they are biological after all).  There are research into cybernetics where (through the use of nanoprobes) they can extend your neuron use-life; ask your doctor next time you go in for a check up.  You'll be glad you did.

You should just accept you are not very good at blitz, especially because you are considered still a new player. As simple as that. No such thing as frying your brain...etc

Hey giasira, I'm a poker player myself, and I also play the caro-kann defence!

So one thing I've realised about chess is that: there is in fact some level of variance in your chess rating. The variance in chess might be nowhere near as strong as the variance in poker, but it does still exist. My rating usually fluctuates within about a 200 point range. So for blitz, I could be anywhere from 1550 to 1750, depending on whether I'm having a good day or a bad day. I would imagine that you dropping 100 rating points is much more to do with daily fluctuations than it is to do with an actual drop in skill level.

Tilt exists too in chess. Sometimes, this is caused by boredom, other times by tiredness, and other times by sheer frustration that nothing we do seems to work and we're going on a painful losing streak. This is part of the cause of our daily rating fluctuations, too, but it's not the sole cause.

When you find yourself tilting, take a 1hr break, do something completely unrelated, then ease back into the game of chess by first just watching some YouTube videos or observing some grandmaster games. It's a waste of your time and your mental energy to be playing blitz games when you're tilted, because you won't be in the right mindset to actually learn anything, and you'll just make yourself hate chess even more.

Lastly, try learning some new openings. I think that that can often reignite the flame. If you hate defensive, closed positions, then try the sicilian. Not only is the sicilian defence very solid for black and is played frequently by top GMs and top chess engines, but it's also very sharp and tactical, which makes for some fun games!

Good luck on your goals!