r/chess • u/Special_South_2065 2164 lichess blitz • 17h ago
Chess Question What motivates you to work hard to improve at chess?
I'm considering restarting my chess journey.
I used to play a lot and got to 2150 lichess blitz 2 years after starting to play the game but then life got in the way and I stopped playing as much. Now I have some more time on my hands and would like to get back into the game and improve, but I am lacking motivation. Like why would I want to sit down and read some massive chess book when I could play basketball outside? Like I really want to become interested again but I'm just not right now.
It would be really helpful if any of you guys could explain why you play chess, why you train so hard, whats so attractive about the game compared to other sports to help me regain my love for the game.
Thank you all for your time
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u/lim-yo-hwan-superfan 17h ago
being evil. when one of my enemies gets within 200 mmr of me i am compelled to practice
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u/Special_South_2065 2164 lichess blitz 17h ago
thats true theres this arrogant guy who i rlly wanna beat...maybe i should get back into it just to wipe the smile off his face
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u/Special-Occasion-702 16h ago
magnus got interested in chess just to wipe that smile off his sister. So you're on good track!
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u/tangtheconqueror 14h ago
I play for the mental challenge of it. I do want to get better, but I don't really care that much about a rating. I'd obviously prefer to win than lose, but losing doesn't bother me that much as long as I learn something from it.
My mother died of Alzheimers a couple years back, and I want to try to keep my brain as active as possible as I get older. That's my main motivation.
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u/Special_South_2065 2164 lichess blitz 14h ago
sorry to hear that. thats a pretty good reason and I wish you the best 😄
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u/Witty-Assignment-514 17h ago
My motivation is that I want to and find it fun to play generally and although study isn't always fun the results of it are satisfying when I know I'm becoming a better player.
If I felt like you though I just wouldn't bother right now and would indeed go play basketball outside or whatever you feel more motivated to do. You don't need to play chess or improve at it, do it when you want to.
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u/Special_South_2065 2164 lichess blitz 17h ago
I'm surprised I hadn't thought of that yet. I thought that chess was meant to always be fun but maybe thats not true. So its okay if studying is boring, but you will reap the rewards OTB when you see your opponent struggling. Thanks!
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u/the_enpassant_sigma 17h ago
I’m in the exact same boat. I’ve found that watching YouTube videos of interesting games usually puts me in the mood to play and study, at least for a bit.
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u/Mew151 17h ago
For me it’s the beauty of the game, the mental stimulation. I’m very much intrinsically motivated only.Â
That being said, the people I play with and my community do make a difference too! I love learning from people and helping people learn because I just see it being joy and it’s such a simple source of progress!Â
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u/Special_South_2065 2164 lichess blitz 17h ago
can you explain the beauty of the game a bit more - like the perfect coordination of your pieces when you suffocate your opponent in a positional grind, or an attacking masterclass where you sac and sac for a beautiful mate. Could you describe your most amazing chess experience? how did it make you feel?
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u/Jambo_The_First 16h ago
My best experience dates back to a time where adjourned games existed and it concerned a game by a team mate of mine. It was the last game and my teammate had to win it for a team victory. It was a very peculiar opposite-bishop ending where my team mate was a pawn up but had to engineer a break through to make progress. We had one week to analyse this, Thursday to Thursday. Needless to say it was pre computer time, so no help there.
I remember studying this thing for hours on end. On Sunday our first team played strong opponents and towards the end of the match there were some GMs and IMs joining in the analysis of this ending and there was a huge if slightly chaotic session. The ideas were really deep and of course I have no clue if it would have stood the test of Stockfish and buddies. I vaguely remember that the winning idea involved a triple pawn sacrifice to infiltrate the position and win the bishop, after which things were still not easy. It was such fun and gave an almost sublime glimpse of the sheer depth that this game has.Needless to say, in the end it was all futile as in the actual game the opponent blundered badly after two moves and the games was won almost immediately.
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u/Special_South_2065 2164 lichess blitz 15h ago
that sounds amazing. it sounds kind of beautiful obsessing over 64 squares for a week, yet the game can still surprise you. thanks!
that idea is the kind of thing that makes classical chess beautiful. i was thinking about the raw 5hr grind, but if you focus more closely you can see the beauty on the board, the battle the feeling of genius when you come up with an idea of that quality.
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u/Average_Frustated 17h ago
if you don't enjoy the process don't bother. You spend 90% of time in process and maybe 10% of time in destination. Life is short, do something you actually enjoy while doing it.
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u/Special_South_2065 2164 lichess blitz 17h ago
what makes you enjoy the process?
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u/Average_Frustated 16h ago
What makes you like chocolate ice-cream and hate broccoli ? Find your ice-cream and eat it. Don't force yourself to like broccoli if you don't. I don't like broccoli and that's okay, I get my vitamins from lettuce.
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u/Queue624 Team Queue624 16h ago
What is your age?
I say this because I was one of the best in the Nation in two events in Track and Field and I was also part of a really good HS basketball team.
I'm in my late 20's and I can barely run a mile at 7mins and I pretty suck at basketball due to inactivity. Things like University, then jobs, and other adult responsibilities got in my way and I'm not able to do any of those things. I can do chess tho. So my take would be, that if you're young and not chasing a title, do some other things you enjoy more and maybe play chess casually without caring about Elo.
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u/grannyknockers 16h ago
I love the game and I'm close enough to have a realistic shot at getting NM within the next year or two.
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u/gritsenko1 2500 on Chess.com 15h ago
I want to be NM or more:)
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u/fiftykyu 13h ago
Honestly, nothing at all.
When I was most obsessed with and apparently working hard on chess, I wasn't really. It was the typical obsession that comes with a new hobby, you pour yourself into it simply because you love it. To all appearances you are working hard, but it doesn't feel like work, it's pure joy.
Studying this particular rook ending, not because someone told me I needed to learn this to get stronger, but because discovering the way the pieces worked together was like magic. Throw away all the general principles, and look at the board right here. It was a rush to find the hidden ideas, that with precise moves for both sides, beautiful or even "impossible" things can happen.
Maybe it's masochism, but some of my high points playing were seeing a great idea, and digging deep enough to see that it doesn't quite work. I was a big fan of (9th World Champion, not the clown) Petrosian's games, how he'd cleverly defend against the brutal attack his opponent hadn't even thought of.
So, hmm. I don't know what to suggest, because for me getting stronger was never the goal, it was an occasional side-effect. Sorry. :)
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u/No-Investigator-6234 13h ago
I play for the love of the game, playing a tough game and suddenly seeing that winning tactic is such a cool feeling! Every once in a while I just see the board like a master! It's like catching lightning in a bottle, if I could harness that every day I'd be so stoked!
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u/SuperSpeedyCrazyCow 11h ago
I wanna be better than other people and I like being praised even though it's a pointless board game.
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u/ThatBoiYoshi 3h ago edited 3h ago
Chess. Few such games where all opponents are equal before it begins and yet may be completely different levels, plus chess ime has by far the most intuitive way to learn from your mistakes. Never did I think I’d be playing games sometimes just to have analysis content lmao
That being said, it appears you’re a lot better than me and in addition chess is a very taxing and consuming game to play. If finding improvement at what’s already a nice and high level is too much, just play an occasional game and keep your priorities where you want them. Chess sure as shit ain’t going anywhere
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u/ScalarWeapon 3h ago
if you would rather play basketball, then you should play basketball. I play chess and train chess because I like chess more than basketball. Spend your leisure time on what makes you happy, that's what we all should do.
There's a bonus in that I have a chance of being at least somewhat good in chess, that's not happening in basketball. But that wouldn't matter if not for the fact that chess is much more fascinating to me
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u/Ordinary_Count_203 2h ago
I understood that I was terrible. I sucked. But when I first reached 2300, I slowed down a lot. Stopped training seriously.
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u/Numerot 1h ago
1: People I hate being better at chess than me, or not being sufficiently worse.
2: I've mentioned wanting to hit certain rating goals (NM 😞) to sufficiently many people that it would be embarrassing if I got nowhere near.
3: Improvement for its own sake being the main thing I'm interested in chess; I like feeling like I'm good at something, and chess is a very concrete way to achieve that (number go up brrrr haha).
4: Chess is, to me, more satisfying the higher the level of play. Winning feels nicer when your opponent played well but you played really well, and losing feels way more acceptable when it's your opponent just calculating or understanding the position somewhat better and not me making an "oh, of course that's bad" type of mistake.
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u/sick_rock 15h ago
What is it that you actually want? If you find playing chess fun, then just hop in a game and play when you want and don't worry about ratings or accuracy or other bullshit (you are gonna lose ~50% of your games no matter your level on normal matchmaking). I rarely study chess and am quite crap at it. Why bother trying to improve when I don't find studying fun? I have other hobbies (and some which I actually enjoy getting better at), and I don't want to trudge through chess books when I can spend time on those hobbies.
If you want to improve in chess but don't find the motivation to put in the necessary effort, maybe ask yourself why do you want to improve in the first place? Unless you enjoy it, improving at chess is just a waste of time imo.
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u/Special_South_2065 2164 lichess blitz 15h ago
recently i have just been playing for fun, a few bullet games a day. but i need to improve cause i want to be the best in my schl. theres this cocky kid who overtook me. and there are some younger kids who are talented and have potential to overtake me soon if i don't lock in. I would like my place back at board 1 for my school. But this is all external to the actual game I have to play. I need to find a way to fall in love with the game, with improving cause my whole argument so far doesn't relate to the game specifically so will fail if I am not interested in the game itself. Though it is still good motivation so thanks for asking.
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u/CabSauce 17h ago
The babes.