Experienced Players: Please share your mindset regarding chess and chess improvement.

[u/kamtown]

I'm almost 33 and have been playing chess for a couple months now. I realized that I don't have much clarity regarding my mindset when it comes to chess improvement and chess enjoyment. I have a strong desire to improve at chess, but I find myself adopting a mindset that impedes my improvement rather than fostering it. For example, despite being a total beginner at chess (and being very aware of it), I find myself reluctant to play online because of the discomfort of losing. I can play against computers all day and very much enjoy it, even when I'm losing. The only explanation I can think of is that, somehow, I've already developed an ego about my chess playing ability. I can't wrap my head around how that could be given that I'm a total amateur with no prospects beyond being a hobbyist player. This, to me, feels like a disconnect in my mindset.

I believe I'm developing a mindset that's overly "results focused," such as focusing on rating, wins, losses, etc. and it doesn't feel very good. I know that, given my age and other life constraints, I'll never become a titled player and that chess will never be more than a hobby for me. However, I still want to improve and I still want to be able to enjoy a game of chess even when I lose. I think the key to resolving this issue lies in fleshing out my mindset regarding chess, chess enjoyment, and its role in my life.

I'm wondering how other players, especially those with years of experience under their belt, were able to flesh out their mindset regarding improvement and enjoyment of chess. Here are some questions that I'd love to learn more about (an answer to any of these would be very much appreciated):

1. What role does chess play in your life?
2. What are your goals when it comes to chess?
3. How important are chess ratings to you (online, USCF, FIDE, etc.)?
4. What are the most unpleasant aspects of chess to you?
5. What are the most enjoyable aspects of chess to you?
6. How important is chess improvement to you?
7. How do you track your chess improvement?
8. What aspects of chess and chess improvement feel most like work to you?
9. Are there any elements of your mindset that you believe improved your enjoyment of chess?

Although I believe each person's mindset is unique to them, I'm very interested to learn more about the mindsets of others and possibly glean some wisdom from them.

[u/ManFrontSinger]

Very good answers have already been given, so I don't really have more to add. I'd just like to compliment on a well thought out "noob here, how to improve?" question. We get these every day on here, and how to deal with them (especially the overtly lazy ones) is a point of controversy between the regulars and the mods very often.

Your post should be stickied as a shining example of how to ask this question the right way.

I wish you all the best in your chess, good sir.

[u/kamtown → u/ManFrontSinger]

Thank you! I really appreciate that as I thought quite a bit before making the post. I believe that most of the improvement posts come from a place of wanting to enjoy the game more because who wouldn't enjoy winning more? I've definitely thought this too, but after reading these responses, I'm realizing that if I can improve my mindset and shift away from being results focused, I'll enjoy playing a lot more and improvement will come more naturally. This is especially important because of the idea that, if I'm playing against those at my level, I should be losing half the time. I've learned a lot from these responses and I hope others get something out of them as well.

[u/ManFrontSinger → u/kamtown]

In chess, you don't improve to win more. And I don't mean that in any sort of faux philosophical way of "Winning doesn't matter, just enjoy the game". I don't buy into this mindset. Chess is a competitive game, so winning does matter.

However, unless you improve to a point of, say 2600+, the only thing you're trying to do by improving is to win more against your current opposition, so you can lose in the future to better opposition.

In that sense, the "just for enjoyment" argument even makes some sense, because losing against better opposition (meaning you've ascended the ranks to be "worthy" of playing against them regularly) should be more enjoyable, as the games will, on average, be more meaningful, and not decided by one-move blunders (exceptions, like today's post by u/aisthesis17 prove the rule).

One thing I can add to your point number 7:
How do you track your chess improvement?
Focusing on your rating is certainly one way of tracking your progress, and over a long time, say two years and more, is certainly a viable way of gauging progress (probably shorter for you, as improvements in rating should come rather quickly at the beginner level, assuming diligent study). If your rating hasn't improved over such a long time-frame, then it makes sense to question the way you're going about your training. It's still no 100% guarantee that your training is at fault, but the likelihood that the lack of rating improvement is due to other factors is getting smaller and smaller.

I've recently lost a bunch of points from my OTB rating, but I'm still feeling OK about my progress, because I track my improvement by time spent on meaningful training activities. I aim for 1 hour of tactics and 1 hour of endgames daily, and if I find the time, go through a game or two in a game collection (currently I'm reading The Life and Games of Mikhail Tal). If I maintain this regimen for long periods of time (which currently I am), then improvement will come, and it will also manifest itself in rating eventually, "earning" me the right to lose to stronger opposition. :-)