I know the rules, I can methodically scan every position, but I feel that I can never really think more than one step ahead. I just start feeling restless, get overwhelmed at the board and my processing slows to a crawl.
I might look calm and focused on the outside, but inside I'm fidgety and thinking "what the fuck am I looking at? how can I ever think of a larger strategy when I can barely think of a move that doesn't get my pieces killed?" It feels like I become a very slow triply-nested for-loop.
I work at a FANG and am very good at my job, so don't need the validation. Still a bummer. Wish I was better.
Chess excellence depends very much on experience: the more you play and train, the better you get. See, people say it's the mind game, but it only depends on the intelect as long both players are similarly experienced.
Also, a game of chess is long and can get boring: in the beginning of a game people usually play "by the book", trying to adhere to some basic principles (control the center of the table, pull out your pieces into play, protect your king by castling, etc).
In the middle of the game, as long as you managed to avoid losing any piece so far, is where the actual play takes place, when you try to gain material advantage and this is where I spend most of my thinking fuel.
The end of the game, again, depends very much on training and experience, because there are known strategies how one should play with pawn and king against king for example. Of course, some of the strategies are obvious, like promoting your pawn to a queen and mate your opponent, but others are not, like gaining the opposition to be able to promote/block the pawn.
I don't have too much patience playing whole games myself, but I like training my mind by making chess puzzles/tactics daily, which I'd recommend you try yourself: your offered a position where you know that after a few moves you have to end up in advantage.
I play regularly on chess.com. (I pay for a membership to avoid ads.) On these online sites, you quickly get matched with players around your skill level. I play 5 min games for the quick thrill. I just stick with the Queen's Gambit with white. There is one key mistake that black sometimes makes in that opening, otherwise, it's on to the middle game hijinks. At my level the opponents tend to favour e4 with white. You need a couple of defences for their key attacks. I usually review the game with the online computer, because you can see better moves you could have made - it's a great way to slowly improve. I'm in my sixties and finally have the time and the tools to enjoy chess.
I know the rules, I can methodically scan every position, but I feel that I can never really think more than one step ahead. I just start feeling restless, get overwhelmed at the board and my processing slows to a crawl.
I might look calm and focused on the outside, but inside I'm fidgety and thinking "what the fuck am I looking at? how can I ever think of a larger strategy when I can barely think of a move that doesn't get my pieces killed?" It feels like I become a very slow triply-nested for-loop.
I work at a FANG and am very good at my job, so don't need the validation. Still a bummer. Wish I was better.