Hi, does anybody else feel like this? I enjoy following tournaments, reading chess books, watching chess videos but when it comes to playing I have less and less enjoyment. Even if I am winning a game I can easily become distracted and often have to apologise to my opponent. I have stopped playing rated games because of this. Perhaps it is time to stop playing completely and just enjoy the other aspects?
Its normal. I have taken 5 year breaks before...
The game is probably too stressful for you
#1 Can be an idea to take a break from chess. Maybe you find your way back to it some day and start to like it again.
This happened to me once, some years ago as I started to study meditation and some philosophical schools, I noticed that the more I studied it, the better I felt with myself and the harder it was for me to find the joy that I used to have when I played chess.
During this time I got beaten in several tournaments with pretty bad results in comparison with what I had before. I was too relaxed and detached from the result of the game. Suddenly it made sense for me one day when I noticed that every game is basically a practice to increase tension in our bodies and release it which generates the joy that we feel.
I'm gonna oversimply a lot here and you could probably poke a million wholes in my arguments but it is just for you to get the idea.
The release of the tension that has been created is probably what make us watch a movie and feel it was exciting, or watch sports, you can even read about the Hero's Journey, which is something I find quite interesting here -> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey
I read in your profile the following: "Sometimes I enjoy playing chess and at other times I do not. Got to the stage where I really don't care if I win or lose as I will never be good enough for it to matter.", maybe if you could find a way to feel the drama of chess one more time, the excitement in victories and the sensation of losing and build tension again, forgetting about its importance which is none, due to the fact that we are gonna die. You could come back to chess feeling as you used to, a bit of attachment is not so bad here. At least in my experience, you don't want to be too detached or too attached, but gotta find the sweet point.
And if I had to guess I'd say that when you watch vids, read books, etc... you can feel somehow that tension or some kind of emotion.
Hope that makes sense
Bests,
Paul.
During this time I got beaten in several tournaments with pretty bad results in comparison with what I had before. I was too relaxed and detached from the result of the game. Suddenly it made sense for me one day when I noticed that every game is basically a practice to increase tension in our bodies and release it which generates the joy that we feel.
I'm gonna oversimply a lot here and you could probably poke a million wholes in my arguments but it is just for you to get the idea.
The release of the tension that has been created is probably what make us watch a movie and feel it was exciting, or watch sports, you can even read about the Hero's Journey, which is something I find quite interesting here -> en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero%27s_journey
I read in your profile the following: "Sometimes I enjoy playing chess and at other times I do not. Got to the stage where I really don't care if I win or lose as I will never be good enough for it to matter.", maybe if you could find a way to feel the drama of chess one more time, the excitement in victories and the sensation of losing and build tension again, forgetting about its importance which is none, due to the fact that we are gonna die. You could come back to chess feeling as you used to, a bit of attachment is not so bad here. At least in my experience, you don't want to be too detached or too attached, but gotta find the sweet point.
And if I had to guess I'd say that when you watch vids, read books, etc... you can feel somehow that tension or some kind of emotion.
Hope that makes sense
Bests,
Paul.
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