Quitting Chess

I have been playing for some two years now and I am fed up with chess OTB. I go to a club every week and lose handily even though I try my very hardest. Since becoming a master OTB was my ambition, I see no reason to continue on Lichess. Thank you to everyone who supported me thus far. The story ends here. I'm fed up. Good game.

~ Masquerade

Thank you especially achja.

Why quit now? The second your about to quit is when you improve the most. Being competitive myself in things other than chess says to step up your game even more. Find that last inch whatever it may be. But if you do quit good luck with whatever you do. :)

Well, most chess players enjoy the game, and not play chess only to get a title. When you don't have any fun I recommend to quite chess and secondly ask yourself why you wanted to become a master at a subject you don't like. Good luck with whatever you do.

@Markov's is on point, if chess is a hobby then you continue play as long as you are enjoying playing the game. And you spend as much time you feel like spending.

For chess there is the negative connotation that if you are not good after that much time you are not smart enough. That is not true, and certainly it cannot be quantified as it depends on how good your preparation is how much time you spend, your chess enviroment etc.. etc... Unfortunately this also can allure some people playing chess for the wrong reasons i.e. not for the pleasure of the game but because they have something to prove.

For instance I have not heard someone quitting ping pong because he wanted to win a title and he was not as good as he wanted to be.

Whether you want to quit chess is only for you to decide. Just do not do it for the wrong reasons, and the same goes for continuing playing chess.

Dont worry be happy. You will be back soon. From your comment I feel that you still like chess but dont like losing, this is just EGO what hurts you.
People quit chess because of family, work, they found another addiction, they realised that one must be a bad person too to play chess but never because they lost a game.

BTW if you are only winning it means you are not playing the players you should be, even though it is a great addictive feeling, the development is worse than if you lose every game. Just delete your ego ( the most difficult thing to do in your life ) and play another game.

@Masquerade #1

During our training games and PM conversations I do not recall a very strong urge from you to become a chess master, but maybe I'm wrong.

Speaking for myself, I have had occasionaly the wish to become a chess master in the past a few times, but I know that requires a lot of training and analysing, and most important : playing otb in tourneys.

Since I know that playing in otb tourneys can be tiring, and since I know I have some difficulties getting distracted in otb chess (and in online chess to some extend), and knowing that in Holland there are supposedly no longer National Master titles to get, and since I'm quite old aged already, I have more or less given up to achieve a chess master title in otb chess.

In online chess, I sometimes think about working to get an online title (Not those silly FIDE Arena titles), like a Lichess Master title.

One of my students pointed me, a few weeks ago, to the fact that I only would need 50 rating points more to be able to achieve a LM title in classical chess (Needs 2350+ rating according to the FAQ).
The fact that I only need 50 rating points more to get such a title could be a nice challenge, but I decided to not give it much priority.

I prefer to focus on getting my own chess joy (e.g. playing nice creative games with unexpected sacrifices, or winning a subtle endgame), work (volunteer, gratis) in my chess study group, do my chess blog articles, and other non-chess things.

In the past I have quit with chess a few times, but each time the interest in chess would come back, even after a few years without chess.

And maybe it is good to realize that you even don't need to play chess to enjoy chess.

You can write articles and books, do chess coaching (coaching chess to kids can be great fun and rewarding, I know from real life years ago), look at amazing endgame studies, start and run a local chess club as a manager, read chess news, and look at those GM games etc.

Best of luck, and fun, with everything non chess in your life.
Enjoy your time !

@Masquerade : don't feel bad about yourself : you went for a very ambitious goal (only 1% of OTB competition chess players become masters).

You gave it your best shot during two years: it shows you have courage and perseverance. These assets will help you in many other fields. I'm sure you find success in other fields.

The only thing I can tell you that might cheer you up is this: I've been playing a different game for over 15 years took me over 5 to become pretty solid, over 10 before I was considered a master and after 15 I still couldn't reach a grandmaster status, and now I play for fun even tho it was always my goal to reach GM and I probably never will..

2 years in chess seems a bit too ambitious if you're not willing to sacrifice everything for it (wich is basically not worth it if you're not a natural supertalent)

If you can only enjoy playing because of having some sort of status/title, It might not be a good reason for doing it.

From what was said here I don't believe it is my time to quit playing chess.

@Markov64 I don't like chess I LOVE chess.

I am going to keep playing in the pursuit of, not a title, but enjoyment and to obtain that feeling of what it is like to win again.

@Noob2Chess
@JanTouchTheSun

You couldn't be more right. Losing to stronger players constantly is better than winning against weak players. I will improve more that way.

@achja

The fact that you wrote so much shows me that you care about my decision to leave the game. I'm not leaving!

This thread can be closed at any moderators convenience or left to help other plays who may feel discouraged with their chess.

@achja

"I prefer to focus on getting my own chess joy."

This is the mentality I hope to adopt.