Strategy against a MUCH stronger player

My question has to do with how hard to really work mentally when playing against an opponent who is 500 points or more higher than you--if you still have a couple more games to go in a tournament that day.

I played in an OTB tournament last weekend. In round 2 I played against a player 700 points higher than me. I ended up playing a solid game. No serious blunders, but I he was able to build a strong positional advantage over 7-8 moves in the middle game and then the game was clearly his. Overall I was content given it was an opening I didn't know well and I was able to chat with him afterwards and learn a bit (which helped when the same opening was played in game 4!).

I've had two other OTB tournaments where I played against player at least 600 points above me in round 1 or 2 (in 4 round tournaments) and was completely mentally exhausted afterwards. Both games were close and took nearly the full 50 minutes for both sides. But even with the games close, the small chance of a draw or win might very well undercut my chances against my next 2-3 opponents anyway. 

I see two main options in these games:

1) Work as hard as you possibly can to win. Even if a loss is almost predetermined, if you play hard on relatively slow time controls, you're more likely to learn something from the game. This is the approach I've taken each time.

2) Make good, sensible moves. Try to win. But play at a decent pace and conserve some mental energy. 

What do most people do in this sort of situation? (again, assuming that this matchup comes EARLY in a 1-day tournament)

Generally you will lose no matter how you try, they are simply better then you. You can draw a player maybe up +300 if they are under expert.

go all out. that's the one game that you want to win and will learn most from. also never plan to lose, that's a terrible mindset.

I like both of your options. They are both very clever. 

Upsets do happen. Each of these two states of mind may and will bring wins and draws - and with even greater certainty if you're an improving player (such a state of mind also brings improvement). 

The choice between your two options, or of a choice "in between" in some way, will greatly depend on how you feel that particular moment, how the position seems to you (do you have chances to score), etc. 

People 500-600 points above you are still human, and are still making mistakes - even when they are experts. 

They are still patzers - they are only better at hiding it!!

You can do it. 

Good topic.

Option 1. No doubt about it. Fight till the fat lady sings! Only way to learn.

Option 2 is more suited for later on if and when you approach your 'natural ceiling' as a player.

For me, if I'm prepared as well as I could be for a tournament, I'm confident in my play against higher rated opponents. I actually enjoy playing a stronger player OTB because I can relax knowing they're not an anonymous puppet using an engine. Of course I still have to keep my head on a swivel, keep calm and simply play my game.

As White, play loose, rein in any temptation to force something if they deviate from normal lines. Which will probably be deep into the opening. Maintain the initiative for as long as possible til that point. If they play something out of the blue early in the opening, and heaven forbid you're totally at a loss of what to do in unfamiliar waters you're done. Heh. All you can do is just rely on general principles, King safety, development, center control etc etc.

Otherwise, if you're well prepared, you have a great chance of winning or at least drawing which is always my mindset when I'm on offence.

As black, I normally play for equality anyways soo it doesn't really matter at all how strong my partner is. Stay above water. Who knows, they may overpress in an attempt to blow you out of the water. Go for clarity rather than giving in to wild complications as that's their strengths (calculation)

Exactly, play as well as you can. That way the game will contain good lessons for you.

Don't pace your mental energy, but only to the extent that you're not running out of time in the middle of the game. You still have to make some practical decisions.

Basically play a normal game, but you'll do a little extra calculation on every move to be sure you double check things and try to calculate any forcing variations to the end... but again, within reason so your clock doesn't run out in the middle of the game.

For me, psychologically, it's more relaxing, because neither I nor anyone else will care if I lose horribly. The only tragedy is not playing as well as I can.

Go for an all out attack! If you lose, no one will blame you, but if you win...

It's fine to play sharply, but IMO it's a mistake to vastly change your style or openings. Imagine playing a pet line and losing horribly... yeah that sucks, but it's like a private lesson.

My inflation-adjusted $0.02, if you are playing to win the game:  Play to make the game last as long as possible. 

My rationale:  Any game that's supposed to be a mis-match where the heavy favorite has to play late into the round carries a psychological boost for the underdog, the longer the game goes.  If you're one of the later games going, you will be able to feel the energy as onlookers start to encircle your table.  What's better, you can safely know that most of them will be rooting for you to win (as many people like watching upsets).  Finally, the more moves you make, the more chances you'll have for the higher rated player to teach you something new.

Practical application:  Play an opening you know (even if you think the higher rated player knows it better).  Keep material level, and try to avoid long-term positional weaknesses (backward pawns, open files that you can't contest, etc.) - higher rated players love to get their hands on one or two of those weaknesses, and then they can squeeze you for a while without risking much.  Manage your time well - leave plenty of time to work out complicated middlegame and endgame issues.  In many such upsets, the clock becomes a factor, because the higher rated player will burn time looking for the pretty win that isn't there, while the lower rated player will play simple, practical moves.

A few additional comments:  If you attack, do so VERY selectively.  Sometimes, the position simply requires aggressive play...but you can usually do this without torching all your bridges.  (In concert with this, I'd avoid certain all-or-nothing openings.  An extreme example:  the Latvian Gambit.)

As a director, I've had the opportunity to witness a fair number of heavy upsets first-hand.  The factors I've laid out above don't necessarily all apply to every such upset.  However, most of them appear in most of the really big upsets you see.

In my biggest upset (years ago now), I was a very modest 1350 or so vs. a 2000 (rating floor) player. I played an Alekhine Defense, and he went in for a 4 pawn attack. I happened to play the fairly rare c5 line (1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. c4 Nb6 4. d4 d6 5. f4 dxe5 6. fxe5 c5), which is really not very good (but tactical), and I happened to have uncharacteristically actually read the entire chapter of my Alekhine book 4 pawns book (well, at least the small section on 6. ...c5). So I was pretty well versed in the main moves and common mistakes. Meanwhile, my opponent had never seen the move c5 before. And he went wrong pretty quickly in a way not outlined in my book, but which I was able to figure out anyway. And the game was over in like 22 moves. I had heard later that catching your opponent in an unfamiliar opening can be equal to as much as 500 rating points, which I think there must be some truth to after this experience.

It's true that, if you are very well prepared in an opening that your opponent does not know, it's a huge advantage for you.  The problem is that even if your opponent doesn't know the line, he's usually going to find a reasonable continuation, which blunts the advantage you might gain from your opening surprise.  Therefore, trying to catch a much stronger player off guard (especially using a dubious line) is not generally the best idea.  Better to play sound lines that you know well.

That said, a 650-point upset is impressive.  Belated congratulations.

Playing a higher rated player under tournament conditions is a huge opportunity to learn. Don't hold back, embrace the opportunity.

You are very unlikely to get a win, (but it has happened) but what about a draw!! Heres link to a lecture by Yasser Seirawin that addresses that scenario.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qejc9ISNMBU

My best upsets was when I was N-elo 878 and beat a 1600 N-elo (1800Fide). I was familiar with the dragon and tried to play the accelerated (forgot about acceleration and it transposed to a regular e6 dragon). I played solid and with superefficient development. He got slightly frustrated and made a strange decision, gave his bishop for a knight and doubled a pawn and got an open f-file in front of his rook. After that I was able to force another knight-bishoptrade, and got the bishoppair. He pushed with all he got, and with high knightpressure he overextented himself so bad that I could race with my longrangebishops and win a pawn far away, which finally gave me pawn promotionplay. He was mated in 78 moves. 

His mistake is that he played to hard for the win, because his mindset wasnt ready for fighting for saving  a draw with white against a very lowrated player.

Followup to my previous post. Recently a friend of mine played a 3 day/move game here on Chess.com His rating was 1298 & his opponent was 1996. Foregone conclusion that that the higher rated player will win even though he is playing black.

But my friend had a secret weapon. He is part of a small but dedicated group of devotees of the Stonewall attack, an opening I played a lot in my early career. (see my blog on Stonewall basics for beginners) I no longer play the Stonewall as I believe it is not sound at higher levels but I do believe it is a good secret weapon to be dusted off occaisionally for shock tactics. My friend unfortunately lost the game from an overwhelming position but he was so close to a win the game is worth a look.

I have left in my analysis which was intended for my friend & is far from exhaustive but the game makes a point that sometimes a higher rated player will stumble & if you are good enough you can take advantage of it.

About the game, I was rather puzzled that the NM did not adopt the traditional method to blunt the Stonewall by fianchettoing his DSB & it appears he was not familiar with the opening & its dangers if White is allowed to achieve his opening goals. If the Black player is reading this thread I would be very interested in his own comments & analysis of the game. I have removed the names from the game to respect the players privacy.

I once got hammered before a rated night (game/25) at the local chess club and was paired up against an 1100.  thought it would be funny to play my cheeky attack (opening moves: 1.c3 2. qa4 3.g4 4.g5). I was  up 3 pawns and my opponent kept offering me desperado draws (nothing annoys me more and I do not understand this shameless tactic) until I told him to 'please stop'.

2 moves later I missed a mate-in-1. Right as my opponent slammed down the mate he exclaimed 'sorrryyy!'

It was well deserved, and I never played 1.c3 1.qa4 in a rated game again...

study their games prior to match start have they a particular opening they favour (all openings have weaknesses )

not foolproof but better to be prepared than not

When you play with a stronger player there's always something to learn.

Just play your best and enjoy your game. Don't care about results. 

And if you win, means he did a mistake.

I agree.

To play against a strong player is a win win situation. You win excperience, and your ideas will be tested against a player good enough to punish slight inaccuracies.

At the best days you can take a half point or more too.

To win against a weak player isnt only good. You might do mistakes that not gets highlighted and punished, and can carry on longer with bad habits.

Thank you all for your comments! I am usually excited to play someone higher rated than me for many of the reasons given above.

Surprising them with an opening is probably not going to happen since I don't know much about openings! At some point I'll get to that; so far I've done fine in the openings of games and I just try to learn a bit as I review my games. After having two opponents (including the +700 player) play the KID this past weekend, now I know more!

@Eastside: your practical application is very helpful. Indeed, the turning point in my game this past weekend against the player who was 700 points higher than me was when I created a positional weakness that he then slowly exploited into a winning advantage. 

@ pfren: very wise!