ELO 200-ish at Chess.com is a strange place

I'm just a casual chessplayer, no ambitions which makes sense cause I never got beyond ELO 400 here at Chess.com. But I find it a weird place. 50% I win because the opponents are so obvious beginners: hanging pieces, weird moves which make no sense, early Queen attacks which they eventually keep hanging, they miss my hanging pieces i sometimes do on purpose just to test the opponents abilities, so in short; easy wins.

Then however those other 50% of the games....it's like I'm all the time moving 3 paces behind my opponents. They are agressive and/or very cunning in their tactics, and even if I'm trying to stay cool, think, aplly all those prinicples I picked up in all those youtube tutorials...in the end i loose hopeless. It is really either easy win or complete helpless games. Hardly any games "in between", makes sense? can anyone relate?

I think you lose the principaled matches because you need to follow through with them, im guessing you develop nicely, take control of the center and your opponent plays nonsense, thats just what happens, you need to stay principaled and not be like "He moved is a pawn 1 square so i should too" watch gothamchess's new Slowrun episodes, they should get you above 400 in no time, he shows you how to deal with nonsense

200 is indeed a strange place. Some people are down there because they are just not very good at chess. But other people accumulate down there for a multitude of reasons. Some are rebels who hate the rating system. There are a few who dislike winning. There are some who get despondent after a lose, and lose another 20 games in silly ways. There are some who just enjoy the sheer randomness down there. Any of these non-bad-at-chess people can quite likely turn out a really good game when challenged, so if you bump into people like that, and play well, you suddenly find that you're up against a Capablancaesque super-opponent.

(Incidentally, I know: I've been down there. I'm a 400-ish who hates winning, but I daren't lose enough to land up back down there, because hard to emerge from those depths. For some of us, the constraint on chess is at least partly personality).

Weirdest thing about it is that it almost feels like its a algoritme thing. the bunch of good vs bad opponents almost always seem to come in phases; a streak of easy wins against players who are obvious beginners, making me climb fast but still in this 200 ish region, and then BOOM...a streak of one good tactical players after the other. Once from where it it obvious it is not luck. They set up their tactics 3 4 moves upfront etc. It's hardly random this pattern,

In the games that you lose, your opponents still hang pieces and make weird moves which make no sense. The only difference is that you play even worse.

This is your last lost game:

https://www.chess.com/analysis/game/live/144311755466/analysis

Look at the moves form 5 to 10, almost all moves are blunders by both of you. Then you crowned it by suddenly resigning for absolutely no reason.

Don't play random moves in 2 seconds. Use your time and think.

And don't resign.

Cherry-picking games to make a point?

Should I pick another game? This was the only one I looked at.

It's a free world, make yourself happy

I guess so, I always wonder what if the opponents also follows good chess principals........

Actually i do try that, particularly those games I loose. Trying to figure out/at what point the defeat/the blunder/the opponents tactic started. And why I really noticed....thinking 3 , 4 5 steps ahead does seem to be crucial.

Have you considered a paid membership, not necessarily the top grade? Paid membership (or the trial version for a month) come with an Review function that will go through any game you want, showing the alternative good moves, and pointing out the missed opportunities, mistakes and good moves. It's actually very useful. I tried it on a couple of your games where it found you were playing quite well, agreeing with tactics you'd found, and pointing out a couple that you missed, or set up but then forgot to activate.

Also if you want to increase rating, the advice about not resigning makes sense. I'll admit this is a case of do-as-I-say, not-as-I-do. I resign the moment I'm dissatisfied with my play or find the game has gone boring, and I'm pessimistic about my chances. But in one of yours that I ran through the review tool you'd resigned in a situation where you were likely to lose a knight, and were definitely going to lose a rook for a bishop. In points terms, this is a maximum loss of 3 + (5-3), i.e. 5, but you were 8 points ahead, and there wasn't any huge positional difference to justify your opponent's 3 point behind after all possible losses had been lost; you'd already nabbed the opponent's queen! It was probably a won game for you, if you'd wanted to continue it. No problem if you were just fed up of it though!

Wow, I am humbled by your attention and your advice. Yes i have been considering the paid version to be able to review every game I play and not just 1 per day. I guess your right I sometimes give up too soon but it is kind of a self inflicting mechanism to be harsh on my self when I blunder. Even when I'm in a wining position. And yes, I know, often I play way too fast...should be evaluating each move more carefully if there is not a better move. And sometimes I should not be starting a game because my heart and mind is not at it and I just start game out of boredom without really wanting to play. Once again, thx for all the advice. Cheers

I went from 300s to 600s by sticking to 1 opening for white (Italian Game) + 1 opening for Black (King Pawn). (1) Learn a few lines for each. (2) Stick to Principles e.g., Center, Castle, Develop (3) Middle Game target weak squares on your Opp's side of the Board

What starts to happen is you get faster at opening and responding with shorter calculation, finding targets/tactics because you plan the same opening = helps your middle game plan to attack your opponent side of the board e.g., target squares that can't be defended/attacked by a pawn

1. Be a student and have fun 2. When you can't do either, take a break

It's a weird thing to be rude to a poster who took time out of his own life to look at one of your games and leave a comment. Why make a thread if you don't want any feedback?

Do the 400 players bully the 200 players?

200s are quite cunning