Lost my chess ability.

I used to be good at chess. Top 3 in my school and then I beat the #1 guy and the chess coach. However for some reason I suddenly lost my skill. I am losing every game I play and even the chess game on the computer I used to beat on 9 or 10 I now lose on 5 to stupid mistakes. I feel I am now a beginner at the game as I cannot win anymore. Has this ever happened to anyone? If so what did you do to regain your skill? Does anyone have any advise for me so that I can get back my skill?

Thanks

I wouldn't let it bother me, were I you.  You have your glory years.  Many of us here have always stunk it up--at least I hope it isn't just me.

I've never heard of anyone "suddenly" losing their skill. To be honest the very idea seems ludicrous. 

There's nothing strange about a dip in form however. I suspect this is actually what's happening.

Are you in love? When I'm in love, I am painfully bad at chess. When I'm not in love, I just suck

I'd say play play play play. Maybe the Tactics Trainer will help you (it sure helps me!).

Click on "Learn" -> "Tactics Trainer" (at the top left of this page)

Did you stop playing for a year or more?

I used to play way back in the school days, then life got busy, and I've only now (decades later), rediscovered chess. Needless to say, Iv'e had to relearn almost everything.

I started by playing the computer a lot. Start on easy just to get the hang of what works and what doesn't. If you make a mistake, back it up (you can against the computer). The point here isn't to win, but to learn.

Once you can win on easy (without backing up a move), go to medium. Once you can hold your own on medium, you've probably learned all you will against the computer (it's decent for tactics, but sucks at strategy).

By all means, keep playing other players while you are doing the learning phase, it can't hurt.

Anyhow, that's how I got back into chess, and I still have a long way to go.

Good luck.

Hey...

Yeah this happens to everyone... hot streak and cold streak... you must be going through a cold streak...

My advice:

Take a week break from chess.... don't even look at the board, that way when you come back you'll feel revived and then you'll have the renewed confidence to win games

Play from level one on your computer. Play with no takebacks at all (that's difficult i know) but if you have to spend as long as you can and plan your moves carefully, pretend you are playing in a huge match to help you focus.

Like others said, study lots of tactics, and try to play with a plan for every move.

Do you have Reassess Your Chess by Jeremy Silman? That is a great book I recommend to  help get you back on track.

Yeah as long as you keep playing even a little you certainly shouldn't get worse, that just doesn't happen.

I'm assuming the poster thinks he's losing his skill when he's actually just going through a small dip (often happens after too much chess, as it can start to get stressful and make you think more emotionally and lazily) and/or maybe facing stronger opposition who doesn't let him get away with as many cheap tricks?

@trysts: love makes it harder to concentrate, but if you can do that you should play perfectly fine.

You're just off your rhythm. Your brain does a lot of subconscious calculating- you can automatically see certain problems with a move and ignore it without having to calculate it out. But when you're not thinking straight you tend to make errors in these subconscious plans. Usually this is a self-reinforcing process, as you tend to be more doubtful of yourself,further impeding this process.

Just act like it is easy, and play a bunch of unrated games. Not so much to get your confidence back but to get your mojo back.

Unless you just left it under the couch.

The thing that makes it really difficult, Elubas, is that when you're in love, rating points descend, and you couldn't care less

Just have faith in yourself

No worries. It could simply be a case of brain damage.

Did you have surgury recently? I had emergency 5 way bypass sugery after a near fatal heart attack a few years ago. When I was in E.R. a year ago for chest pain, the doctor told me that bypass surgery does cause some brain damage and that he would never have it done to himself, truth, but run - walk - be wheeled out of the hospital and go through some sort of experimental procedure before ever having bypass surgery.

To make a long story short, since you feel you have lost your skill, which is different from going through a slump, it could simply be a case of brain damage.

Again, no worries, there are many, many things that are better than chess, like...o.k. ...here I go ... my grandmother made the best waffles from scratch on the planet, and the syrup she gave me was to die for, the perfect match for her Pennsylvania Dutch style waffles - very thick, dark,  Karo Syrup. The waffles were thick, piled a mile high, fresh and steaming hot.

Last, you can play really good chess with minor brain damage, as there are more brain cells in our heads than there are stars in the sky. Again, no worries.

I hope you found this short story helpful.

"Lost my chess ability."

I was going to suggest looking behind the refrigerator but that would be of no help. By the by, missing socks aren't there either.

I suspect you are just going to have to live with some uncertainty.

 He's not eighteen yet!

Do some states ban the sale or distribution of waffles to minors?

People! People! This is why I love woodshover, while others "love" their embarrassing position in life. A woodshover sees, knows, understands terms like "seventeen", "eighteen", and "four"! I'm sorry woodshover, I get sooo annoyed by these "people"! Go on, continue, sorry to interrupt...

I'm falling down laughing at my own stupidity.                                           

I guess the doc was right about my suffering minor brain damage.   

That's more than I can say.

Sorry to hear about your recent decline. Thanks to Musikamole we now know that it's all OK. We're just brain damaged that's all.

O.K. Even though everyone by now knows that I suffer from minor brain damage , I read every word from the OP and took it to heart.

Where in his post does it say he is four years of age - still in pre-school?

It's all O.K. whether or not one suffers from brain damage. There are still plenty of brain cells left for appreciating the best that life has to offer, like a delicious waffle made from my grandmother, may she rest in peace.

Now, being completely stupid is far worse...which is what I just admitted to being in a previous post. Does chess.com have a trophy for that one? I want one!