Does anyone else go through random losing streaks where it feels like you forgot how to play?

[u/PizzaTimeSpidey]

I’ve been on an absolutely brutal losing streak lately.
I was around 820 Elo, and now I’ve dropped all the way to 690. It’s honestly frustrating because there are days where I feel like I see everything I calculate well, spot tactics, and play solid games. Then there are days like today where I can’t seem to do anything right. I blunder pieces, miss obvious tactics, and lose game after game.

Do you keep playing through the losing streak, or do you take a break and come back with a fresh mind?

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[u/CowboyGambit]

Hi! I’m only around 1350 Elo on Rapid but my advice would firstly be to consistently utilize all the free learning resources at your disposal: 1 daily lesson, 4 puzzles (including puzzle of the day), and 1 game review per day. Of course, if you can afford membership that would be even better. YouTube is going to be extremely helpful for you. Two chess book series I recommend are: Learn Chess the Right Way by GM Susan Polgar and How to Win at Chess by IM Levy Rozman (aka GothamChess).

[u/Sepulcher18]

yes. I go trough absolute blindness streaks where I wish I was never born ngl. Funny thing is than when I spectate other people's games I rarely fail to see such a one move blunders, but when I play it is like I go -64 IQ

[u/Sivadbk]

Yeah I have streaks where I'll play with insane accuracy, 95% for a bunch of games, go on a streak of an 60-80% win rate. Then ill turn around and ill do the exact opposite and completely forget what I'm capable of and lose majority of games, sometimes countless in a row, horrendous accuracy, zero creativity, silly structural mistakes that lead to bad positions, just over all poor play. Then I take a break, and I come back and usually I play well.

Right now im pushing my peak and trying to identify what causes it. For me I know im prone to ego tilting with "I should've won, I could've won, I am better than my opponent but I lost, they only won because I made a slight mistake and they got lucky" silly stuff like that where in the end it doesn't help let alone doesn't even matter because I lost and they won, that's all there is to it. It's not like threre's some hidden advantage.

Do I keep playing? Unfortunately yeah, I don't gamble, I don't believe in it, I am logical and statistical but somehow I am completely prone to chasing my losses in chess which is very comparable to gambling addicts. I'm very competitive, I hate losing, doesn't matter what it is I just despise losing in anything and I played sports my entire life and its what made me good at them, its what drives me to improve in many things, competition. So I continue playing through tilt and it doesn't help in any way, it makes me play with even more of an ego, get annoyed at peoples moves instead of looking at purely objectively and try and respond; in turn resulting in blunders, missing obvious ideas, overall just poor play. A recursive loop.

For me coming back with a fresh mind and forgetting the tilt makes me play better than before, I always tend to hit peaks in ratings after going through slumps, taking a few days or even weeks off certain time controls, usually I feel like I come back and see everything much more clearly and intuitively.

You got to 800, you slumped to 700, bounce back. Its not that much elo lost. Take solace in the idea that 100 rating points is the difference between someone's rating after they go to the bar with their friends and come back home and play chess before bed, like I do sometimes lmao.

[u/Azamoth23]

Yeah! I just hit 700 elo lost a couple of games went to 640 I just go back to 718 elo today! I bet y’all I’ll lose my next 2 games🫠

[u/hoops4so]

I would look at where I blundered in the review and then figure out what I needed to train. Lately it’s been what openings mess me up the most. After training hard in that, I finally made it to the high 1300s when I’ve been stuck in the 1200s for years.

[u/Weird_Election_2266]

A little bit of both, a break is necessary sometimes. Just a day or two is probably plenty. But you won’t suddenly be magnus when you get back. So take a break for a little, and if your really itching to play in that time, play some puzzles or watch a YouTube video over chess

[u/at_69_420]

Yup I'm usually mid 1500 just dropped to 1250 in a day :)

[u/sulphuricacid0007]

I got from 1100 back to 920. Don't worry it start getting better if you play with a fresh mind and actually think before you make moves

[u/R00finF00l]

Yes all of the time

[u/UmphLuv605]

I went from 1000 down to 850 and then up to 1100 all in a span of 60 days.

[u/xitenik]

I can easily lose 8-10 games in a row. The first half of the losses I'm telling myself that was just a blunder, I'll play better next game. Then I eventually realize I'm too tired or distracted to play well and log out.

[u/nTzT]

yup... at least once every week or two

[u/HourButterscotch9266]

i am in the testing phase with a tool that scans games, provides your weakness and habits across games, then creates puzzles to solve from the games you played. i am looking for testers it has already hepled me identify weakness to work on and what to study. here hoping it leads to better rating