I used to play several times a day, now I play once a week at most. The passion and enthusiasm are gone.

Have you ever taken a few months, or a year away from Go? Did it help reignite your interest?

I'm thinking that maybe if I just stop playing for a while, it might become charming again ..

(photo is not mine)

I took 25 years or so.

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I first played for a few years, then I took about 7 years off while I got my doctorate. Then, I took another few years off because I was too busy. Then, I played for a few years, and now I am playing once a month or so. I find that my rank has increased, but not because I took time off directly. The reason it goes up is because I come back and study after taking time off and get better.

Twice, both enforced by lack of access to players. The first was for about 4 years when I was 2d. The second was about 3 years when I was 5d.

I am currently in an break of about 11 years through choice. When I say that I do not include online go as I have never been able to take that seriously. I do play the occasional game on KGS and play daily on DGS, but only for fun.

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

I think that it's this love/hate relationship with Go that makes most Go players empathetic with each other.

If you feel stressed or unhappy with Go, take a break. It will be here when you come back. Go is a hobby, after all, and we are its community.

Professionals or children forced to play and learn do not have such luxury.

I've taken breaks before; they are usually motivated by a lack of access to players in person, but online go is getting nicer all the time. I love the youtube content being produced, and IGS Go Panda 2 is really comfortable to play on.

When and if you come back, be sure not to forget that your hands are playing your Go. I say it's an accomplishment that's worth being proud of.

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I've gone from playing 20+ games daily for months (mostly at the beginning stages) to no Go for about a year or so. Now it's not so much no Go, but not much either...around a game or two online, and a game or two in club meetings every week. It's not much, but I mostly do it to keep myself from decaying too much in strength.

This is mind-boggling for me. First, I'd be mentally exhausted after only 3 or 4. Second, who has that much time? What was a typical real-time length for these 20+ games?

1. I was in high school (started playing junior year) and didn't do many extracurricular activities.
2. I played brisk games, not always blitz (10s byo) but something like 20-30s byo with short main time.
3. It was highly addicting at the start from seeing the quick gains in rank early on. Combined with the Hikaru no Go high from just finishing the show (which I marathon'd in a few days), I was seriously hooked.

I am at the same time more and less jealous, so thanks for that.

When i started playing in 2002 for the first few months (6-8 actually) i was literally at work, eating, sleeping or playing go. Nothing else.

Since then i've taken some extended breaks from go.
In 2006 i only played some tournaments but no games online or going to the club. Whats interesseting is, that after this 1 one year break, i made my first real jump. I've played as 7k in the tournaments, but when i visited the go club again at the end of the year i apparently was 4k.

In 2013 i stopped playing, aside from maybe a handful private games in the whole year, as i was finishing my master thesis. This did indeed respark my interesset. With my first job after graduating university in 2014 i took lessons and generally tried to improve and play a lot. Managed to move from 2k to 1k (finally) and played a successfull camp in osaka in mid 2015. - And stopped playing afterwards. I played so much go in that 1.5 year span that my interesset and joy was gone, so i took a break. Another year went by with no tournaments and only one or two games a month (Bundesliga + another private league i was in) - and i didn't enjoy playing these games.

But finally things are starting to look up again. I've found the simple joy of playing again (not caring about winning/loosing) and played my first tournament this year, last weekend.

So yeah, extended breaks can reignite your passion for the game. Go is a fun game, but it also mentally exhausting so it's naturall that the mind demands breaks from it from time to time.
Don't worry, the interesset will come back. I always jokingly say: "You can't quit Go, only take extended breaks. At some point you will always come back." Because Go is that addicting

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I've taken several multiple-year breaks from go. It's nice to know that it's always there to come back to.

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

Took a year off chess, came back stronger and with new ideas.