Is it good for you to take a break from playing for more than a couple of days?
I usually seem to struggle when I haven't played for a while. Is there an equivalent of fitness in chess, that you lose if you stop playing?
How long is "a while?"
I would think a long enough break (not sure exactly how long) would negatively impact performance, but for me, a few days doesn't seem to matter. Sometiimes it even seems to be beneficial. I was unable to play for 4 or 5 days but joined a tournament yesterday and played several solid (for me) games.
Just coming off a long break, you definitely don't get better and for sure aren't as good but generally yI think it helps to reset your brain and have clearer thoughts. You also get the hang of things and don't forget much.
After a break of one year of chess I improved 200+ Elo, I am pro chess breaks for performance. Of course I didn't quit chess completely, but I quit playing games in this period of times, only read about it from time to time.
I took a long break (nine months) right before I became a master.
@MrPushwood don't pretend you are a natural born talent xD
Sometimes—like when you're stuck—breaks'll accelerate your progress faster than work. But if you're more bad than stuck, work's the way to go.
@PolerioExpert said in #6:
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@MrPushwood don't pretend you are a natural born talent xD
I'm not. At all. In fact, the last games I played before that I lost to some guy at a local club (so I wasn't real hopeful about my chances going in).
I think in the last 30 years that there were very few days in which I didn't do any chess at all. However I do take each year a break of OTB (on the board) chess of at least a month. OTB is much more demanding than online chess and I feel some rest is needed.