Goal: 1000 Games Played

I have a touch of ladder anxiety. Which is fine. I have a love for chess and improvement but mixed in is some amount of dread about losing. And I fully understand the illogical nature of it. I can see the truth in -isms like:

• The master has failed more times than the novice has tried.
• You learn so much more from losing.
• If you lose rating points, it's not like you can't get them back in the next game. And if you tilt and lose 200 points, they're only internet-chess-points anyway so who gives an F? 
• Rating points are only a measure of how good you are. You improve through study and effort and that will be reflected eventually by your rating. 

It sucks when I lose and I briefly question why I spend so much time studying and why I couldn't see the obvious error before I played it. But I get up, get some water, pet the dog, and that feeling goes away quickly. Then the constant voice in my head saying "PLAY MORE GAMES" takes over again. That should be the sign that I simply need to play more. I need to hyper-focus on game counts and not rating. I recommend readers who have similar problems do the same. At the end of working on my "Seven Circles..." blog-post, I did a quick inventory on how many games (lichess only) I've actually played. I will put my records here so I can track how they change with my new focus on tactics training.

As of 6/29/2020 (in the middle of the "1001 Chess Exercises..." book):

BLITZ +29 win differential
1426 Rating
184 wins (52%)
17 draws
155 losses
356 total games

RAPID +52 win differential
1584 Rating
128 wins (61%)
7 draws
76 losses
211 total games

CLASSICAL +32 win differential
1726 Rating
132 wins (53%)
16 draws
100 losses
248 total games

Note: I've played a very small amount of unrated games and those are included in these totals. From here on out I will only play rated games.

My middle-term goal is to reach 1000 games played on lichess by getting to 400 blitz games, 300 rapid, and 300 classical games played. Why those numbers? I dunno, why not! When I reach those numbers. I'll post an update...

PROGRESS - Games played:
TimeControl > GameStats > Total

401 Blitz - 0 remaining
266 Rapid - 34 remaining
300 Classical - 0 remaining

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