Oh sure, and I report them, too. They get warned or just banned. That's why they are so rare.

So I think it is happening to me again. First time somewhere a year ago I had the same problem because I was afraid of losing the game.

Nowadays it's not that I am afraid of losing (sometimes I do it on purpose just to test myself) but of playing bad moves.

Even if I win and later in the review I figure out that I played badly I get all emotional and angry at myself.

I can't play online go anymore since I am constantly afraid of making bad moves, I just can't let go of that.

But I feel like I am working on myself since I no longer care about losing my games.

Any ideas on how to beat the bad move anxiety?

If playing Go isn't fun, then stop playing. It's as simple as that. Go isn't our job, it's a game we play.

Most people that are so concerned with losing or playing bad moves are more worried about their rank than the moves they play.

Viewed another way, at your proper rank, you're going to win half and lose half of your games.
If you're anxious about losing, you're going to be unhappy at least 50% of the time.
If you're anxious about bad moves, you're going to be unhappy even more of that because everybody plays bad moves.

I seem to have lost most of my online go anxiety.

My advice:
#1: don't get too hung up on rank. It's fun going up and depressing going down, but you have to remember to play for the sake of playing, not just to gain rank.

#2. When you play a terrible move, remember that the other player is probably not thinking "What a moron." They are probably thinking, "That was a mistake, and I KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH IT BECAUSE i AM SO AWESOME!!!" You haven't made a fool of yourself, you've made someone else feel brilliant by comparison. Just feel happy for your opponent, instead of humiliated for yourself.

Hope that helps. ^^

They may also be thinking, "I didn't see that move. What is he up to? What did I miss?"

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

Nor racial.

Hi Krama,

Same question to virre: Have you have this (anxiety) experience in other fields ?

Play bad moves on purpose, then you won't worry about doing them!

Hmm, not really.



Heh, I might try that but I think my ego won't allow myself to play the moves that I know are bad.

You are not playing on the level of a professional, and so your understanding is not the understanding of a pro player. This is true for practically all of us here, and is no shame. Undoubtedly, the relatively poorer judgement means that you play moves you think are good but which are bad. Have you considered, however, that this same judgement may judge moves to be bad which are actually good?

Perhaps they require a later tesuji that you haven't thought of, or can't read all the way to the end, or your positional analysis doesn't take into account the aji it brings in to play as a sacrifice, or something completely different? Perhaps they're perfectly playable, but they take the game in a direction you're not comfortable with?

That reminds me of something I have wondered about advising players to try as an exercise. Instead of playing the move that you think is best, play the one that you think is second best -- excluding plays that you must play, OC. I think that the results could be surprising.

_________________
The Adkins Principle:
At some point, doesn't thinking have to go on?
— Winona Adkins

Visualize whirled peas.

Everything with love. Stay safe.

In what is probably my favourite Go book, The Way of Creating a Thick and Strong Game, Hane Naoki gives some related advice. Some quotes from his foreward:

"And not only in go but in all games, one should be satisfied with an 80% result, not avariciously striving for more, overreaching and meeting with an unfortunate setback."

"So I am satisfied to settle for a second best measure. It may be said, in the end, I stick to filling my stomach to 80%"

Admittedly he is talking about results rather than moves, so it may be that the 2nd best move for a four move sequence gives the 16th best result

I've thought a lot about online anxiety and found that mine is due to one thing: A game of Go requires a lot of concentration and and can take a long time (I had a game go over four hours last night). This being said, committing to play a game is quite an undertaking. I realized this because I never had anxiety when sitting down to play against a bot. This is because I can just quit the game, or even pause it and comeback at any time. So now, when I sense anxiety before I play, I just ask myself if I REALLY want to sit down and play right this second or if I'd rather play later. Often, I'll settle for just playing a 9x9 or 13x13 first which usually gets me hungry for a 19x19.

_________________
Thinking like a go player during a game of chess is like bringing a knife to a gun-fight. Thinking like a chess player during a game of go feels like getting knifed while you're holding a gun...