I have no idea what is the reason behind that, could be anything. Maybe try to not look at your opponents rating it might help you to play better against anyone. I do that but only in online tournaments, I cover their name and rating. That way Im playing the board, not the opponent(person) and it helped me quite a bit. If it doesn't work for you simply stop doing it.
tendency to play better against higher elo opponents
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I have had this happen many times, no idea why.
It is psychological.
Against a stronger player we think more carefully and give our best.
Against a weaker player we get careless and play badly.
dcglanton wrote:
I like to play in arenas a lot (usually 3/2 time control) because one, it's fun, and two, due to the nature of the arenas I get to play against a lot wider of range of elo(for reference I'm mid 1200's blitz and mid 1300's rapid). I find that I play better chess against higher rated opponents and have even beaten a few people way above my level. for instance, I beat a 1700 and an 1800 recently and I held my own with a 2400 before collapsing in the endgame. I say this because I feel like I'll play well against people like that but then when I end up playing against lesser rated people I end up blundering or doing something stupid positionally. Do you think it has to do with how much attention I give to higher elo's? Or maybe because at a certain level most people know some theory so the positions are more orthodox? what do ya'll think, anyone experience this as well?
I think that you are simply more attentive when you play people with high rating.
You mobilize yourself maximally.
tygxc wrote:
It is psychological.
Against a stronger player we think more carefully and give our best.
Against a weaker player we get careless and play badly.
It is not good... but when I play a guy with rating much less than mine is.... I am a bit relaxing.
)
We all are people. We don't like a lot mental tention.
Especially we, russians.
Its more prestige to beat a higher rated player. Like imagen beating a gm, thats something to flex with. But there no prestige in beating a player with same rating as you, also you get to do that anyday anyway. So yeah when facing a higher rated player one simply try harder.
But at the same they, the higher ranked has nothing to win on the matchup so he or she is probably not trying his best. Like you would probably not try your very best if you face a 600 rated player.
I think optimissed nailed it, if you played over 100 capablanca games and some one hits you with 2Qh5 you are going to be thrown off unless your tactics are good.
Oct 21, 2021
0
#9
I second the suggestion of not looking at opponents' ratings.
Not just for the reasons given but also because you don't *really* know the level of your opponent. The Elo is an estimate, but there are all kinds of reasons why it can sometimes be misleading.
My rating varies between 1700 and 1900. But i can honestly say I've played at least one 1400 that crushed me twice and i didn't ask for a second rematch. And meanwhile i beat a 2300 FM comfortably once. Who knows what was going on with my and their games? Better just to focus on the game, not the ratings.
Oct 21, 2021
0
#10
You are almost certainly suffering from something called confirmation bias: you are remembering games that support your belief. Check your stats. If this were truly the case, then across all games, not just the ones that stick in your mind, you will win more against higher rated opponents than lower.
All very good answers so far.
It requires great mental energy to maintain focus for all moves of all games. If you try it, you will become depleted/tired and then you will make "uncharacteristic" mistakes in your next moves. If you redouble your efforts to maintain focus, you simply become tired faster.
Is it possible to overcome this limitation? No not really, since it is basic physiology. All you have are some workarounds. (a) Raise your general level of play, so that the mistakes made when tired are "better" mistakes and don't cost you so much. (b) Raise your general physical fitness so you have greater physical reserves to draw on for thinking. (c) Choose during some moves or even whole games to not try so hard, conserving energy for other games. Effectively you are already doing this, but by making an explicit choice "when" you might optimize your overall results a little bit. It probably makes more sense to try hardest against people closest to you in rating, rather than trying hardest against the absolute strongest players. (d) Take mini-breaks during play with e.g. stand and stretch, eat a snack, anything to recover your energy levels.
I like to play in arenas a lot (usually 3/2 time control) because one, it's fun, and two, due to the nature of the arenas I get to play against a lot wider of range of elo(for reference I'm mid 1200's blitz and mid 1300's rapid). I find that I play better chess against higher rated opponents and have even beaten a few people way above my level. for instance, I beat a 1700 and an 1800 recently and I held my own with a 2400 before collapsing in the endgame. I say this because I feel like I'll play well against people like that but then when I end up playing against lesser rated people I end up blundering or doing something stupid positionally. Do you think it has to do with how much attention I give to higher elo's? Or maybe because at a certain level most people know some theory so the positions are more orthodox? what do ya'll think, anyone experience this as well?