What to do after losing a game? What to do after losing a game?


I think that this question is on everyones' minds after a loss. I am guessing that everyone has their own way of coping with a loss. The best way to cope with a loss can turn out to vary from person to person. Yet, I think that it should be possible to find some sort of "best practice" procedure to draw wisdom from a loss and cope with it in a productive manner. Most chess players I know, including myself, feel terrible after a loss. One of the first negative thoughts that arises is


  What is the point? I trained and competed so much and I still lost!


Today, I know that there are (at least) three ways of losing a game.


Become completely outplayed with virtually no counterplay.
Blunder (e.g. during time trouble).
Enter a position with chances for both sides, do your best and still lose.


It is clear that whatever level of skill you have, you can still lose. So what to do afterwards? Is there a best practice?
The best practice would be to thoroughly analyze the game and also your thought process before, during and after the game. Besides, if after sincere hard efforts you still lose, it's important to have an attitude like this - 


  “I haven't failed, I've found 10,000 ways that don't work” - Thomas
  Edison


In chess, that would mean - 


  I haven't failed, I have discovered that this
  strategy/opening/tactic/etc. doesn't work.


In my personal experience, you often learn more from the games you lose than from the games you win. So use that to your advantage. Analyze the game thoroughly (of course with the help of an engine) and see where you went wrong. Also, identify faulty patterns of thinking during the game. For example - 


  "this position was objectively equal, but during the game I thought I
  was worse and so I got demotivated and played badly".


Gary Kasparov suggested the following after winning (but I suppose it applies all the more after losing) - 


  "Even the game we won always contained mistakes; inaccuracies. It's
  inevitable. I can hardly find one brilliant game with no mistakes."
  
  "If we won, it is most likely because our opponent made the last
  mistake. But, he made the last mistake and he is definitely analyzing
  the game; he'll find what we did wrong in the previous stage of the
  game. So what is important is to find it first."


I found some other interesting quotes on this page. Some of the more interesting quotes are - 


  Losing can persuade you to change what doesn't need to be changed, and
  winning can convince you everything is fine even if you are on the
  brink of disaster.  -  Garry Kasparov
  
  Don't be afraid of losing, be afraid of playing a game and not
  learning something. - Dan Heisman
  
  I prefer to lose a really good game than to win a bad one.  -  David
  Levy
  
  Setbacks and losses are both inevitable and essential if you're going
  to improve and become a good, even great, competitor. The art is in
  avoiding catastrophic losses in the key battles.  -  Garry Kasparov
  
  You may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win.
  You will have to lose hundreds of games before becoming a good player.
  -  Jose Capablanca
  
  Most players ... do not like losing, and consider defeat as something
  shameful. This is a wrong attitude. Those who wish to perfect
  themselves must regard their losses as lessons and learn from them
  what sorts of things to avoid in the future.  -  Jose Capablanca