hi ive been playing chess seriously for about a year now. i'm not a very good player and my rating on icc ranges between 1200-1400. until recently i'd been playing a lot of online chess. sometimes when i wasn't working up to 5 hours a day. i play at a local chess club once a week. for about a month i haven't been playing as much chess. maybe on average one hour a day.
i notice i'm a bit more creative and come up with more interesting new ideas. my game still ranges between 1200-1400 so im not dissapointed nor overly happy.
is their a certain point when you play too much chess that your not actually improving and doing more harm then good? i feel like playing less but more quality chess is working better for me. what are your guys's experiences and opinions?
I got away from chess for years. I think when it starts to consume and take over your life, unless that is what you want. It is probably time to back off, or get away from it for awhile. I am sure everyone will have opinions which vary. I found getting away from it did me a world of good. I didn't expect to do so well after being away for about 8 years!!
before i was a member and wasn't on a clan team i wanted something like 40 games. once i got my membership i was playing 70 games then my rating soared then dropped. sometimes i can handle playing a lot of games but other times you can take a break. try to keep the fun in chess because when your studying seriously sometimes it becomes more about your rating rather than having fun. if your having fun play as much as you want. its what is comftorable for you.
One of the things that I love about corresspondence chess is that it isn't unusual to dwell over a single position for days on end. It does wonders for your OTB vision. But, by all means, when you start seeing variations in your ABCs, take a break. ...Or at least write them down!
i know its crazy when you find a move when sleeping. how about this i was in a very tactical position and almost moved then was like screw this i don't want to mess up my move now. so i went jogging to clear my head. the game popped into my head and i found the best move. made the move and a few moves later he resigned! although sleeping is hard when moves keep going through your head.
You know that you play chess too much when you grow addicted to the game. And you can tell addiction of the level of denial.
I, as an example, am not addicted to chess. I can quit whenever I want to. But I don't want to and therefore I continue to play a lot of chess.
And I don't suffer from denial either. No way. I'm not. Truly.
chess is just like anything else. if you practice it, you'll get better. unfortunately, people like to leave out a stipulation in that saying. The stipulation is that you need to be challenging yourself to get better. If you just practice (play) and do the same thing over or beat the pants off weaker opponents you aren't going to learn anything. Even if you play against much harder opponents, you have to take the time to learn from your mistakes, else you will make them again and......you have learned nothing.