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Beginning to hate chess.

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Wimpydog44

I've been studying for months, and I have seen no improvement in the way I play. I still make stupid mistakes, can't calculate, and I'm scared of going into rated matches. I lose a lot, and I get incredibly angry when doing so because it feels like I'm just stupid.

Senator-StevenArmstrong
Wimpydog44 wrote:

I've been studying for months, and I have seen no improvement in the way I play. I still make stupid mistakes, can't calculate, and I'm scared of going into rated matches. I lose a lot, and I get incredibly angry when doing so because it feels like I'm just stupid.

First off, here's some advice:
1. Only play when you're feeling good, you'll be at your best then
2. Don't continue losing streaks by playing more games, take a break, and then come back the next day if you feel better.
3. Always look at the whole board, and look at the threats, and determine if actions need to be taken.
4. Whenever you lose a game, analyse it, and look at the graph for the 3 major points in the game that impacted it the most.
5. Don't be scared, your opponent can't hurt you physcially, and don't let them hurt you mentally. If you lose, it's not because of bad luck, but rather performance.
6. Use websites such as chesstempos to improve calculation skill
While intelligence may be a factor of how easily you can learn chess, it's not the most important factor by far as proven by kramnik. I believe that the two most important factors are your personality, and how well you can handle your emotions. If you just wallow in self-pitty, you won't improve, however, if you take your loss and ask yourself "Why did I lose, and how can I prevent that?", you'll find yourself becoming much better.
The method of studying is also important, if you don't mind telling me the way you study, I can give some advice to improve upon that.

Wimpydog44

I watch videos, do matches against bots, do drills, and use game review as often as I can.

Senator-StevenArmstrong

1. Don't just watch videos, follow along using an analysis board with a website such as Lichess, Chessbook, and Chessvision AI. Come back to your study, and go over it later until you remember it completely.
2. Bot matches won't help you improve, they're bots, and not humans and as a result they won't play "human moves", and you just have to remember what the bot will play.
3. Chess.com Drills are kind of useless? I don't know what else to add here- just use listudy instead.
4. Copy your game PGN and create a study on lichess, and paste it into that.

Wimpydog44

Well, I only have one thing I can use lichess on, and that's my school computer, which I can't use lichess on. Same with Chessvision.

TheCobraisaready

Sounds like you're on the right track hang in there, things will eventually click, just relax and don't put to much pressure on yourself

DogtoG6

you got this

mae2351

dont give up

Xavier9369

Altho Chess is a complicated game, doesn't mean you need to be a Math expert, just be step by step in simply and solid tips

sawdof
Wimpydog44 wrote:

Beginning to hate chess.

I've been studying for months, and I have seen no improvement in the way I play. I still make stupid mistakes, can't calculate, and I'm scared of going into rated matches. I lose a lot, and I get incredibly angry when doing so because it feels like I'm just stupid.

Nothing more to add than this.

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/chess-is-damaging-my-mental-health#comment-108546405

Fr3nchToastCrunch

It took awhile before something just clicked in my brain and I started playing...better. Obviously I'm still not very good, but I was almost below 500 in September, so I've definitely improved.

Experience is the best teacher.

viv1511dun
I know you can do this