Do you play to win or mess around

I find that when I play blitz games mire often than not, I am just messing around.

@eladar said
I find that when I play blitz games mire often than not, I am just messing around.

That's a euphemism for losing.
Losing yourself in the mire!

I play to win every single time. There might be times where I might have set games or experimental games with people to learn more, but the goal is to learn how to become better at winning.

@wolfgang59 said
That's a euphemism for losing.
Losing yourself in the mire!

No, I win when messing around. I think it is called getting bored.

@lausey

Well, I do things for the enjoyment. I also do things like blitz simply because I am bored.

I am the opposite.
In 10 minute blitz I play to win at another site but here with these long games I am just messing around.
Definitely the wrong approach I am sure.

If I play for too long of a period of time I get bored and usually quit playing for a year maybe more.

@Eladar

I sometimes play to experiment with an unfamiliar opening.

@moonbus

I guess you could call some of my messing around experimenting with traps.

@Eladar

Sometimes I'm the one who gets trapped by my own experiment !

I only play long time scale games.
I think about each game as long as I think is necessary before moving.
If my opponent(s) are online and moving in our games I will continue playing in those games.
When I've had enough I simply log out.
Because all my games are long time scale I never have time pressure
I always play to win (or draw if I have no chance of winning)even in tournaments where I am "out" but I don't get upset when I lose.
I do get annoyed with myself if I do something really stupid.
I often go back through a game where I have lost and try to workout my errors.
Hopefully this way I avoid the same mistakes in the future

@eladar said
No, I win when messing around. I think it is called getting bored.

I don't see the difference. Surely it's possible to play to win while messing about a bit? Of course, messing about completely - opening with Na3 and h4 - isn't playing to win, but it's not playing for enjoyment, either. But it's perfectly possible to play a line you know might or might not be good enough, but is at least going to give you some play; without playing for a Petrosyan .25-point win.

You must play to win, otherwise you are playing to lose. But you also must play enjoy yourself, otherwise you are playing to intend to draw... and therefore will lose more often than you will win.

@eladar said
I find that when I play blitz games mire often than not, I am just messing around.

I play to win, however blitz is a good place to experiment with ideas that may (or may not) work in a tournament setting with rating points on the line.

@mchill

So in other words, you use blitzes to mess around. You do not play your best but try out New ideas hoping it might work out.