Getting out of Chess Addiction

Im a chess addict. Ask me why?

Well, I have this weird notion that I will become a grandmaster one day by playing loads of chess every minute of every single day. And the number of games only increases as I lose more. Ans the cycle repeats itself day in and day out.

Here's a glimpse of the number of games I played in the past 3 days. It's mind boggling as I'm 31 years old, without a job, married, and under this weird notion that I will become great one day. Chess has literally taken over life as I spend a lot of time playing online chess. Close to 3 hours or more per day.

It's just like cigrate addiction. You always crave to play one more game.

I play chess everytime I go to the loo (a quick bullet or 3+0 blitz). I get out of the toilet and then I play a rapid. There is no end to the self destructive, time absorbing, life cutting chess addiction. It has literally taken over my life

So, how do we overcome this? Actually I'll share my plan of how to overcome this.

1. Chess Theory > Online Chess

I was stuck in the 1900 to 2000 for a very long time. Once I started reading chess theory like endgame books, my overall quality of chess improved. This means I was playing more quality games which also meant at least time was wasted in quality chess and not just endless regular chess.

2. Use Appblock
I use this app to block lichess and chess.com during the weekdays. But I always find myself pausing the app to play chess. I even uninstalled lichess app but I ended up opening it on chrome. It's vicious!
But I hope to stop this addiction from tomorrow and I'm motivating myself by writing this blog.

3. Set realistic chess goals
Im a guy who always sets unrealistic goals in life. Maybe it's time I change that.
I have this inner fire within me to prove the world wrong that you can become a grandmaster even if you start playing chess seriously at a later stage in life.
Actually, I need to extinguish this fire.
I only play online chess these days and I have no time for otb tournaments. Maybe one or two per year at Max. So FIDE rating of 2000 in 5 years makes more sense than a 2500+ GM or the never too late to become GM record
So, my goal for the next 5 years is to reach 2400 in blitz on lichess and 2200 on chess.com.
And this I plan by playing one game per week.

4. Reading Chesa Books help
Instead of wasting hours and hours on online chess, I will mindlessly read chess books and fall asleep.

And one week of chess theory will all culminate to that one game on sunday for the next 5 years.

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So...
My journey to a fulfilling life starts tomorrow.
There are many things apart from chess that has worked for me and I will spend more time in those avenues.

If you go to my profile from the day of this blog, you will only find me active on Sundays with one single rapid game. Here's o life and aifee with less online chess

Adividerchi