people pretending to be weak

I’m new to online chess. I’m new to chess in general. I love it and I love the online community! I’ve noticed something I don’t understand. When I play I’m matched up with someone pretty close to my level. Sometimes that person who is rated a 1000 on the computer is waaaaay better then that and destroys me. That’s fine. I know going through that will make me better. I just don’t understand why they do it. Can someone explain? And do these people have a ‘name’ in the online community? Thanks

The general term you're looking for is "sandbagging".

Either that, or your opponent just happened to play really well. 1000 is that weird rating where people can hang pieces or play like GMs. 

I’ve also had the people that are my level and play a good game. That’s not what I’m talking about. The folks I’m talking about absolutely strangle me into a corner. And I’m not talking about just my king in the end. I’m talking bout, by the end of the middle game, most or non of my pieces have a place to go that doesn’t make my situation worse. Now, I realize that’s on me and my skill level, but I’m not referring to me right now. I’m referring to the sandbaggers, and what they are looking for. My initial thought is ‘ego stroking’. But… I don’t know…

You've just played a few games, so your rating is not certain at the moment. For instance player rated 1 000 should beat 767 rating most of the time.

If by destroys you mean like he beats you in less than 20 moves, that depends on what you do in the opening as well. For instance in your last game you just left a queen hanging on move 4, so he didn't do anything special. Game before that, same thing. You've made a mistake and lost a piece without a reason, and you've weakened your king by moving the f pawn which was exploited and followed by a quick defeat.

On that level players implode at any moment and it is customary to see these things happen. The player you've faced wins and losses regularly against other 900 rated players, so I don't think that he is purposely decreasing his rating. It is actually a bit more likely that you will drop a bit in rating before you are rated accurately.

By the way, quick losses happens to all of us. Even very strong players can misplay the opening and find themselves in a losing position right of the bat.

nonononononononononononononono

you got it all wrong mister, 1400 is that weird rating where people hang pieces or play like GM's, not 1000.

In bullet, even experienced strong players make obvious mistakes in opening...its chess..what do you expect?

Just to be clear. I’m here to learn and become better. I realize that my mistakes put me in bad positions. I don’t care at the moment about wins and loses. I also know that I have enough experience to know when someone that is ranked on this site close to mine totally outclasses me in every way, and I’m not talking by a small margin… and I’m also not talking about one time or two times…back to my original question… Is there such a thing going on? If so, cool. Not a problem. I’m simply looking for a yes or no answer. If no…moving on. If yes… why does it happen? I’m not for or against it, I just would like all the facts as I move forward.

You've just played a few games, so your rating is not certain at the moment. For instance player rated 1 000 should beat 767 rating most of the time.

If by destroys you mean like he beats you in less than 20 moves, that depends on what you do in the opening as well. For instance in your last game you just left a queen hanging on move 4, so he didn't do anything special. Game before that, same thing. You've made a mistake and lost a piece without a reason, and you've weakened your king by moving the f pawn which was exploited and followed by a quick defeat.

On that level players implode at any moment and it is customary to see these things happen. The player you've faced wins and losses regularly against other 900 rated players, so I don't think that he is purposely decreasing his rating. It is actually a bit more likely that you will drop a bit in rating before you are rated accurately.

By the way, quick losses happens to all of us. Even very strong players can misplay the opening and find themselves in a losing position right of the bat…..


Also, I can assume that’s past games are up for review. If so, how would I go about accessing them? Immediately or maybe weeks or maybe months in the future?

It depends. Some people lower their rating in order to gain access to tournaments which requires up to let's say 1 200 rating, 1 500 rating and so on. That is punishable and it can lead to accounts being closed. 

That being said in those 2 games I've mentioned where you lost against 900 and something player out of the opening I do not see that.

Up to 1 200 level, games are decided by simple blunders. But blunders happen on a higher level as well. A few days ago, I lost a game to a player rated over 1 900. It was a difficult game and I lost after many moves, after a mistake in the endgame (the game was actually pretty quality one without major mistakes up to my bad trade in the endgame - which in the endgame can be lethal). The next game, the same guy played again against someone else and blundered a piece around move 7 and resigned immediately.

But back to your games. That opponent is nothing special I feel for that level, he lost games against other 900 something guys before beating you, so I find it highly unlikely that he was lowering his rating. And as I've said, he is somewhat higher rated than you.

Up until 1 200 level you should have 2 main goals in your games: Don't hang your pieces (it would be helpful to always double check your moves) and follow opening principles (learn what those are if you already do not know). You will be amazed by how much you will improve when you successfully implement these 2 things. When you you make a terrible mistake every few games instead of a few times in every game (which is completely normal for sub 1 000 level) you will be able to implement more difficult concepts. 

By the way, I see that you are playing longer games, that is very good for improvement. One more suggestion is to really use your time. Aim to finish the game with less than half of the time on the clock.

I am not sure that I understand. Do you mean how can I see your past games?

If so, you have completed games when you click on home tab. Then you click on completed games and there is a list with newest games on top.

I had a look over some of your recent games. All the opponents you played seemed to play roughly at their rating level. If I was playing guess the Elo, I would guess around 900 for most of them.

Sometimes, you have good days and bad days. Sometimes, your opponent gets lucky on one move and it looks like they "destroyed you". For example, I can beat a 2300+ fm in 3+2 with 96 accuracy like here:

 

And at other time I play like this and hang multiple pieces:

 

 

Great information! Thank you all. I was happy to see that I wasn’t smashed on to hard. Thanks for that!

There is a certain player type who suffers from chronic tunnel vision.  They can spot tactics, know a lot of opening theory, and know the fundamentals of good positional play, they just aren't careful and blunder things stupidly a lot, or they simply always underestimate threats. They are just too focused on stuff going on elsewhere on the board.

A rating doesn't care if you know a lot, a rating only cares about win probability. Someone who is erratic, with really great wins, but really dumb losses may have the same rating as someone who objectively knows a lot less about chess, but just doesn't make a lot of mistakes.

It certainly is possible that you ran into one of these types when they were sharp and had a good game. Some players are just super erratic. In good games they can play really well, and in bad games they look like they barely know that the horsey moves like an L.

I'm erratic.

Possibilities; sandbagging, cheating, a new player on site who didnt reach real rating yet, a master streamer playing lower rated players and making a content like "0 to 2000 in 1 hour"

@kuitko: Show us at least two of the games you are talking about. That would help to understand what exactly you mean.

Hang in there my friend, it takes more than a few games to level out your rating. your rating doesn’t mean a whole lot, but overall it will help pair you with others close to your level. If you set your parameters appropriately. 

These are quite possible.

OP should check and see how long their opponents have been at Chess.com.

It takes awhile for new accounts to settle into their rating area.