puzzles v games

I've focused on puzzles recently, and then dipped my toe back into some rapid games. weirdly ive played some terrible games and feels like I'm swimming in treacle again, not sure where to go, blundering and been lucky to scrape a few wins.... not sure what's going on! I'm looking towards a 1200 rating and 2500 in puzzles by Feb which would be 12 months since starting my chess journey. these are loose goals but just wandered if anyone else struggled with games after having a run on puzzles, I was expecting more solid play but all I could see while playing my games was the weaknesses in my positions and feeling like I was drowning.

This just goes to show that game ratings require more than simply being good at solving puzzles; chess puzzles can be very useful for tactics and pattern recognition, but they seldom display "positional" chess and concepts such as "strategy" or "planning." A "real" game has these elements and many more things in it as well. Plus, in a real game, tactics are tougher to spot because you might not know to look for them. In a chess puzzle, you "know" the solution must be buried there somewhere, yet in a game, no such "solution" may exist.

A game winning line might be like looking for a needle in a haystack...except you aren't even sure if there is a needle in the haystack!

I am guessing you are strong with tactical ability (due to much higher puzzles rating to your game rating, even though chess.com puzzles rating is known to be inflated by a few hundred points to live chess ratings), but perhaps lack some of these positional concepts. 

As for the "drowning" feeling, I haven't checked any of your recent games, but this sounds like suffering from a lack of space and getting into a zugswang. If true, then trying to exchange pieces when cramped is typically one good plan of action because with less pieces on the board, it frees up some room to move around for your cramped position. Conversely, the player with more space usually wants to keep pieces on the board if possible so that they can cramp the opponent even more and those cramped pieces will have trouble maneuvering as they are in the way of another.

Always feel free to message me on chess.com if you have any questions or want to chat chess etc. Hope my response has helped in some way

To be honest I think chess is like a puzzle. It's just more complex and challenging.

Thanks for the replies. Interesting read of your response. Very accurate to be fair..... After a few more games it's been going ok. Drawn the last two(one a glaring rook blunder on the 70th move) and had a few wins. I think what I'm currently lacking is a firm process during games at calculating moves... I can do it but in games I'm lazy it seems. My other trouble is having time, I play at work and when the family are about and neither helps. I was getting mugged off yesterday by an opponent for taking so long , it was only a 15/10 game and I'm really trying to blunder check and find tactics. Getting into good habits is hard. I won with 4 minutes left whilst they lost with ten minutes left, still annoyed me the chat function is used to be negative but just another part of the game I guess.

There's an unintended bad effect of doing puzzles that I find happening to me in games. In puzzles, often times forcing moves like checks and captures are good because there are tactics, so we don't calculate as much to see the line to the end and refute all counterplays by our opponent in puzzles. In real games however, most often there are refutations to the tactics or the end position simply isn't good at all, and trading pieces might actually be positionally bad for us. The position simply isn't as clear cut as one-tactic-wins-all. I think that is why solving puzzles with one critical solution or obvious tactic don't help as much in real games, as it could create some sort of "bad habit". 

I'd agree with that, the reliance on there always being a best path in puzzles. It's making me see the importance of king security, in games forced moves and absolute pins are certainties in a mass of questionable paths.

Usually, if someone means I played too slow, I response "you could have chosen bullet...no?" and then turn chat to "off". Sorry for bad English.

I did suggest that, I generally play slow for the opening and mid game as although moves are obviouse I'm trying to see more.

My last game was a blinder, it's been a good weekend chess wise , puzzles haven't hindered, certainly saw the checkmate opportunity last game.