Why do we win/lose so many points per game?

I AM FROM THE FUTURE!!! 

WARNING: Donald Trump is president 

You guys can talk about 30-50 points. I have witnessed my opponent move from 1963 to 1848; a 113 points decrease. Then a beat him again and his/ her rating moved fron 1848 to 1773; a 75 points decrease. 

I went to his account and I only saw 4 games. His/ her name is fouad330. Their first game was a draw against a 1600+ player, yetstill their rating increased to 1758. Chess.com starts us out at 1200. After 3 games this person reached 1900+. Very suspicious.

I would love for my matches to give me 60-70 points per win again.

Now,I get like 10 or 20 per win for 15/10 matches.

Yeh you should only lose like 15 or so points not 50 or so

The rating fluctuations will become smaller as more games have been played on the account. This is because there needs to be a sufficient number of games played for a more precise or accurate rating based on the player strength.

Just like in badminton, winning three games against an opponent does not mean that you will win the same opponent all the way. For all you know, he might just win the next five games. If you have played perhaps 100 games, and won 75 games, the win/loss statistics should be sufficiently accurate to determine the relative strength of both players.

I would like to say something that maybe is slightly off topic. I started playing daily a few months ago and my rating went up and down like a yoyo. I realised there was somehing lacking so I started 20 games and when white I played the same opening with the intention to learn it's strenghths and weaknesses. As a result I lost a lot of games as I was too focused on the defence. My ratings plummeted. But then the study started to yield resultsand I started winning games, and slowly my ratings went up about 200 points. I was satisfied by that result. But then I retreated from several games. Some because they were taking too long (I was in a winning position and the opponent just dragged it out) and some because I retreated from a tournament. So my ratings dropped again about 30 points. Then there are games that I play with friends and they're not so serious as in a tournament and we can play fun moves or doubtful moves. Then as a last point I would say that my ratings will be higher in a certain well known opening and lower in another.

What I would like to say is that these ratings are not very important. They are an indication in time, but there are a lot of factors that muddy the waters. Like if you play when you're tired or have a cold or the flu or when personal things are troubling you you will maybe lose a number of games.

So it is a very fluctuating number and only a temporal indication. I know my rating is a bit too low now. I know, because I'm winning games against players with 150+ higher ratings. But then I again, I screw up games too because of not thinking straight, so i realise my ability to play chess is not stable. What I did find is that is easier to fall back than to climb back up. Maybe If I only played much stronger players it would go up faster, but I feel I'm still learning and the mistakes I make will have to go before I can claim a higher rating I think. So it is not so important for me. as long as I improve my game it's fine with me.

Cheers and wish you interesting and exciting games

Well, it could be an indication for yourself, to see if you improve overall, but it's ability to predict your winning or losing the next game is practically zero.

I wouldn't leave the site over such a matter. Every algorithm has its flaws and in practice it's only being used to define the limits of a tournament.

Never underestimate the value of a good nights sleep.

When u start chess.com, u start at whatever skill level u selected, like 1800 for expert, or 1000 for beginner..etc., but for the 1st like 30 games, u can lose up to 300 points per games this rating is only provisional. As u play more games, the number of points u lose/gain per game decreases gradually until eventually it is only like 8 points per game.

Some websites will not post an adjustment to your rating until you have completed 50 games due to this phenomenomn

Maybe you have a point there

Some days I play well, and other days I play like a beginner would. I guess sleep may be a factor towards our playing performance.

Several months ago I attempted to solve many tactics puzzles in a row on another website. On one of the days I started the session with at least 6 incorrect puzzles before finally solving one puzzle correctly and I felt devastated. The next day, I went on a tear of many correct puzzles to begin the session.

Alcohol has a negative effect too. I used to drink quite a lot in the past and at one time I was really into crosswords. I found out that my ability to solve these was diminished the days after drinking too much, as was my concentration.

  Coffee helps!

I find I am best after a session of study of a book or article. If I make all the moves on a diagram (or board), and read everything the author says, and try to understand the why of each move, then for a while afterwards, every position I look at  is much clearer. I see things in my own online games that were invisible before. I also do much better at tactics problems. This clarity diminishes gradually over the time of maybe a day or two. Then I am back to my usual blundering board blindness.

It's kind of dumb, because I made my account a while ago when i sucked at chess, I lost a bunch of games, and my rating dropped by 100 for every game. I quit chess.com for a while, and then when I came back, my rating was really low. I played some games, and my rating only went up by 7 for each win. Now i'm really underrated and it is hard to get back up because it takes a long time to win many games.

I study, but I still don't get better.

You know you just revived an old forum, right?