Over the board performance versus online

Anybody else find that online play is harder than over the board?  Any ideas why I have problems accurately gauging pathways on computer but not on a real board?

It's just what you're used to. I'm exactly the opposite because I only play online.

exactly opposite  i find it hard over the board probably due to the fear of my opponent sitting right infront of me

I find that it is how you learn and the main method of study that determines what medium you are better at. I learned with an actual board and pieces. A lot of people these days study on their computer monitors, and thence their OTB performance lags because they're not as used to a physical board. I always study chess with a physical board to improve my OTB play. Online play means nothing

Hm, started out sounding pretty tolerant (but then duck-hooked right at the end there)...

If, like me, you play online to help your OTB play, then my teacher's advice was to also set up a board, with a chess clock next to it, for deep analysis.

After ~10 years of playing both (2d and 3d) about once every week (club games, not tournament) I don't notice any difference anymore.  Analysis really takes place in your head anyway.

Just thought I'd throw that out there.  In the beginning when I had to switch to 3d it was very difficult and I made all kinds of blunders.  I've heard that those who started on 3d had the same problem when switching to 2d.

Yes, it was impossible for me at first...like playing off a chess diagram in a book.  I had to set up a board with pieces for quite a while (fortunately I never played blitz online until quite a bit later). 

I think @wafflemaster is right.  If you learn on one system, then you may have trouble with the other in the beginning, but eventually it's all patterns and evaluation of positions.  So we have book diagrams, on-screen boards (similar) and OTB physical pieces.  UCIs now even provide for a multitude of piece styles, board colors, etc. as if that really matters, and there is the ongoing discussion of what constitutes acceptable tournament piece design.  Similarly, those of us who learned decades ago on descriptive English notation have had to incorporate algebraic and become bi-lingual in effect.

Personally, I use a physical board because I'm more concerned with my OTB play than my onine play, which for me is only practice.  There is no right or wrong, depending on your goals.

On a similar - yet completely different - subject, I was reading through the intro of "Chess Exam" last night, and the author said that the strength of a rural class A player will be much lower than that of a class A player who regularly competes in tournaments for money. This doesn't make sense to me - can anyone enlighten me?

For me it's easier to concentrate and see things with a IRL board..I thought it was the same for everybody?

On the internet I play much worse than in person, but mainly because I can't manage to take the game seriously. If I meet in person in a chess club with a physical board I'll try to work 100%, especially if it's with a friend, while when I shoot a rapid online game for me it's more of a pastime than a serious competition.

I recently joined a chess club, and I like it.

My problem is that I only play blitz online, and mostly play long games OTB.

It is good for my OTB skills, because I actually need to calculate crazy would-be sacrifices.

I actually find blitz harder now, because I am getting more used to calculating, instead of intuïtion.

I have played a lot of otb in the past and I find it harder to play cause of a lot of factors. you feel the time pressure another way. also you need to write down all moves. noise and other factors that you cannot imagine without having played otb is playing a vital role.
also sitting and thinking up to 4 hours can be exhausting.

I think this was, likely, very true before the advent of internet chess.  Not so much, anymore. 

It made sense in the past because the urban player would have had a lot more practice than the rural player.

For online games you have the tendency to think like "Oh its just an online game no big deal" and play half heartedly, while over the board your feeling more like "I really need to win this" and actually think more.

This happens, probably because you see your opponents and that stimulates you to try and win the game.

and add to that you feel like you invest a lot of time cause you sit at a tournament up to 4 hours. in tournament up to 7*4= 28 hours.

therefore it is a hard to say "well I lost - I learned some" deep down you want to win - kind of a pay check for investing your time. 
therefore during the game you start to get nervous cause you do not want to lose.

Online I may have had my doubt if I can win a position but never had the same kind of nerves on the line as I have OTB.

It's pretty simple:

A player with a high internet rating and low over the board rating has fast fingers and can find the occasional 2 move trap combos faster.  However, they have no positional understanding, no ability to calculate deeper than 2 or 3 moves tops, and even that is rare, and really isn't that good of a chess player.

A player with a high over the board rating and low internet rating can calucalte deeper, understand the positional aspects of the game better, and base their strategy around a sound plan rather than going for 1 and 2 move traps.  Naturally, these players will likely take a longer time at each move, and can often get into time trouble trying to convert to playing Blitz.

When it comes to online chess, 30 minutes is considered very slow.  Over the board, that's extremely fast.  The standards are different.

The superstars can master both, but for those of us that can't master both, a strong OTB player with a low rating here is far better than someone with some artificial 2400 rating here and a lowly 1200, 1000, or even worse, no rating, over the board.  The fact that you have faster fingers, a better mouse, less instances of disconnects than your opponent, and the ability to execute one-trick ponies means ABSOLUTELY NOTHING compared to being able to grind out positions over the board in deep thought with ample time to think and execute.

With all due respect, there are some who are not physically able to travel and/or play in OTB tournaments.  For those, and others who may be socially challenged for one reason or another, psychologically or otherwise (Fischer comes to mind), internet chess may be everything to them.

For myself, an old timer recently returned to chess, OTB is where it's at.

Yes, that was indeed pretty simple.

I think you just have to get used to it.