The Tetris Effect

Does anyone else have issues with going to sleep after playing chess. I have only been playing a few weeks properly, but find that all I can think about is the last game, or random positions just work their way into my head, and I move the pieces

There is a documented phenomenon, most noted with the computer game Tetris, when the player closes their eyes they still see the pieces falling and mentally move them into position.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetris_effect

I think I am now getting this with chess. This may be a good thing in terms of my visualisation, but may be bad for getting to sleep. I probably need to stop playing before bed

How many people get this? Did it help or how can you stop it?

that's the problem with doing something right before you sleep.

apart from counting the pieces, you could stop playing at least an hour before sleep, or something like that.

(great choice of username for a chesser btw!)

Try sleeping after realising you made a blunder in a correspondence game and having to wait days to see if your opponent realises. It can't be done.

I wish there was a option in the conditional moves thing to resign after a move is played...

on a sidenote though, if you suffer from this, you could just play over some great GM games before you sleep and they may incubate in your subconscious.

I often go days without sleep (whether I want to or not), so when sleep comes for me winding down isn't an option lol. I get crazy chess dreams aplenty.

lol the chess effect

I love tetris!

I have the reverse problem... no, not falling asleep at the board... I will go to sleep just fine, but will suddenly snap awake at 3:30 AM or so with a perfect mental image of the correct move to make in an on-going (3 days per move) online game.

It wouldn't be nearly so exasperating if it turned out to be just a stupid hallucination, but no... it really is the move that I've been hunting for. I found a winning Rook sacrifice in an endgame that way (the Rook that got sacrificed was my last piece, giving me a winning King-and-passed-Pawns vs Rook ending).

Do NOT stress over online games. Even if you made a mistake. There is always tomorrow. :-)

Let's say I've had this plague over me for the past 15 years of my life(which would be more than 75%) and not necessarily with just chess... I would always be thinking about something. I haven't found much of an answer besides 2 "cheats". One is to take a pill... not exactly "good" for your health and slightly abusive, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do (sleep). The second solution I have is to try and blank my mind (which almost never happens) so I just let my mind run with it until I can force myself to stop. Then I blank my brain (so I see black) and it'll happen. It may be more beneficial to stop playing chess right before going to bed (take a shower, do other things etc.) and go to bed earlier so if you suffer from insomnia or aren't used to the lack of sleep, you'll still get enough.

I literally can't stop thinking about it even if I will myself to. It doesn't work that way.

btw "tetris effect" is a great ps4 game. it really brings an incredible, immersive environment on top of tetris. i was just imagining how great it would be if they had a chess version of that game probably wouldnt be good for OP's sleep habits. 

I have the "Tetris Effect" with chess, but it is just random pieces moving around... Like a pawn capturing another pawn, etc, I can't control it.

It is weird bro

It's not uncommon, especially for people who engage deeply with a particular activity.

Oh man, I get this every time. I stopped playing chess before bed now because it wakes up my brain and it's so hard to sleep after then I get nightmares of bishop sacrifices on h6 or h7 lol. What I do now is I learn some lines on chessable before sleeping and it bores me to death, I fall asleep like a baby hehe

I continually "play Tetris" with my freezer box...I try to put my rectangular boxed food in one compartment and bags in another, but sometimes I need to "mix" them up....My on going goal is to leave as little space as possible...

Chess has improved my sleep tremendously. For tetris I used to have that tetris effect but then having played tons of "tetris the grandmaster series" (highly recommended and now available on switch) made the issue vanish for some reason and today I don't jave this anymore...

Tetris is awesome!