How to deal with losses

[EdLee]

FCUK

[leonprimrose]

I think a good way to keep this in check is to limit the number of quality games you play in a day.

Correct. Playing junk games is a fast lane to frustration.

Yeah I only play 1 or 2 games a day at most

[globulon]

One thing that came to mind for me is the idea of expectations.

I often find that my attitude makes a big difference. If I expect to win a game, I will very often lose it. I start to think about the game in the wrong way, making wrong assumptions about the values of my moves and the values of my opponents moves.

This can stem from simply a rank difference. But in my case it can also stem from a feeling of "virtuousness" from my study. That is sometimes, when I study, I start to get a mentality that I deserve to win because of it, and that really I am better than my rating, and that I should be beating these players. When I am in this mode, I often don't put in as much effort into reading out consequences of things, just feeling that I am automatically better in a given situation.

When I go down that road, it can be very frustrating to lose.

Maybe in your case such a feeling could stem from your previous record.

I would also like to second the people who talk about improving as "two steps forward, one step back" process. I also have had the experience of playing quite well for a time, then sliding back. I have also been told repeatedly that often when we learn stuff in a game like this it can actually temporarily set us back. (Think of the proverb "learn joseki and lose two stones". The idea is that new ideas will often be implemented wrongly. This is a valuable and important part of the process, because properly implementing the idea (concept or whatever) will eventually result in an improvement, but at first it is throwing off your game. You just have to go through it.

[archpaladin1]

One thing that came to mind for me is the idea of expectations.

I often find that my attitude makes a big difference. If I expect to win a game, I will very often lose it. I start to think about the game in the wrong way, making wrong assumptions about the values of my moves and the values of my opponents moves.

I think this can be generalized. Anything that causes me to approach a game clouded with emotion or expectation is a challenge to playing my best.

Focusing on winning is a problem.
Focusing on losing is a problem.
Focusing on matching how quickly my opponent responds is a problem.
Focusing on my irritation at how long my opponent takes to respond is a problem.
Focusing on the conversation or noise in the next room is a problem.
...and so on

When I get into a losing streak, I find that I usually have too much on my mind during the past few weeks, or too much emotional expectation around the game itself. Go requires good reading skills, and these skills get disturbed easily when we are distracted. Figuring out how to remove the distractions & just enjoy the process of reading & playing helps break me out of any funk.

[CaiGengYang]

The way to become good at Go is to pay a professional coach to give you lessons ...

Or get a friend to teach you some basics


Cai GengYang
gengyangcai@gmail.com
KGS : Caigy 3dan