Dealing with stress in competitive play Chess is one of many games I find highly stressful to play competitively. These games share one trait: I have plenty of time to think about what to do before making a move. On the one hand that's great since it makes the game independent of reflexes. On the other hand I have plenty of time to stew over how I might be making a massive blunder. This means I tend to be very nervous throughout a tournament. My heart rate can actually surge long before I sit down at the board, and stay high throughout the game. Comparatively, in games like tennis or Street Fighter, I can start a round nervous, but once I'm playing muscle memory takes over.

Chess is uniquely good and bad: if I lose, it's because I made a mistake somewhere; however that itself is a stressful thing - I can't blame bad luck.

What are good ways to deal with stress?
This article about Chess Psychology might help you reduce the stress you are feeling when playing chess.


  Psychology is an integral element of chess. To win a game (tournament,
  match) one needs to be strong not only in chess, but in the
  psychological sense as well. Every chess player can recall moments
  when he/she could not recover from a terrible loss (or draw) and kept
  losing points in other rounds. Or were surprised by a twist of the
  game and could not adjust to it. The chess elite pay a special
  attention to psychological preparation. For example, in 2008 the
  participants of the FIDE Grand Prix have been asked: “How do you
  handle chess failures?”  I can relate to the views of Gashimov,
  Cheparinov, Bacrot, Jakovenko and Akopian. 
  
  An improving chess player should not only study, practice, but also
  work on his psychology. Let’s consider two important aspects of chess
  psychology:
  
  
  Your state of mind during the tournament (match) in general
  Your state of mind during a certain game
  
  
  A regular tournament implies 1 or 2 games per day without any weekends
  or rest days. Therefore, if you have lost or failed to convert a
  totally won position and keep bugging yourself for it, there is a high
  chance you will end up in trouble again and waste a lot of nervous
  energy along the way. Your emotional discomfort may show in different
  ways. For example, if you are willing to strike back at all costs, you
  may easily forget about the objective evaluation of the position and
  start playing adventurously. Or you could get your mental batteries
  uncharged by worrying and lose due to lack of energy. Thus, it is very
  important to know how to deal with losses. Try to get over it as soon
  as possible. Do a quick blunder check, fix your opening, and forget
  about it until the end of the event. Take a good rest and concentrate
  on the next game. Remember that each loss is just a lesson. If you
  treat losses this way, it will be easier to handle defeats. After the
  tournament, however, you should analyze your games carefully and
  determine your chess weaknesses so that to know on what to work in the
  future. This is absolutely critical for one’s chess improvement.
  
  A chess game is a confrontation between two partners. The struggle is
  going on not only at the board, but between their identities. Mistakes
  are inevitable, and the one who manages to keep his cool has higher
  chances of winning. 
  
  First of all, you should feel confident at the board. I mean real
  confidence, concentration, being sure you can play well, right
  posture, not some freaky “death stares” or “arm-wrestler’s
  handshakes”. If your opponent feels you are faking it, he will become
  more motivated to win. 
  
  Secondly, never blame yourself for blunders (“ok, I’m a bit better
  now, but I would have won already had I played 25.Nf6…”) during the
  game. Otherwise you may become so obsessed with it you will make
  matters even worse. Take the game as it is, re-consider the evaluation
  of the position and try to play on calmly, as if nothing unexpected
  has happened. 
  
  Thirdly, it’s a great idea to try to lure your opponent into the type
  of positions he likes least of all. He will both be irritated (and
  that increases the probability of making a mistake) and outplayed
  (since he generally doesn’t know how to handle such positions). 
  
  Never resign too early and keep defending bitterly and tenaciously. A
  lot of totally lost positions have been saved even against world class
  players. When you are on the other side of this situation (i.e.
  winning), never relax until the game score sheet is signed in your
  favor. Otherwise you may see your lovely 1-0 turn into ½-½, or even
  into an ugly 0-1.
  
  These are the main rules of chess psychology, not to mention “the Dark
  Side” – how to suppress your opponent and make him lose comfort and
  confidence. Since I am neither practicing nor advocating the usage of
  such foul play, we won’t be discussing it in this article.