What does it say about you when you are much better in rapid/blitz than Dailies?

I have been playing Chess on and off for about a year and a half now. The vast majority of my games have been 15/10 rapid games, and there my score is in the 700s, or around the bottom 17th percentile. Yeah I know, pretty bad... but recently I've been dabbling in dailies, and there my score is just 616, placing me in the bottom 2%! Now I know that neither score is anything to boast about, but I find this discrepancy striking since usually the common refrain is that you do better/learn more from dailies than fast games. I have my theories, but what do you think?

I'm asking because this happened before: Are you aware of the additional resources you are allowed to use when playing daily (books, analysis board without engine)?

I was vaguely aware that additional reference materials were allowed for daily games than on rapid, but the details are very fuzzy. I'll add that to my list of suspected reasons why my dailies are so bad vs rapid.

This should shed some light onto it: https://support.chess.com/article/317-what-counts-as-cheating-on-chess-com

The Opening databases together with the analysis board use make for a couple 100 points easily, if you really use them.

Note that there are players who refuse to use these options because they aren't available in a real game, but that's like an athlete refusing to do specialized training because it's not exactly his event.

Thank you for that link! Now it isn't so fuzzy.

I've tried playing the analysis board, but I haven't figured out how to use it effectively for games. I think this is due to major deficits in visual intelligence (IE reading the board) and ability/patience for planning ahead, which in turn stem from a mild developmental disability I live with.

So maybe that means that in daily games, these deficits are exacerbated since opponents can better make use of the extra resources than me - and others like me? That is my best guess right now.

Yes, in particular when it comes to long term planning or very deep calculations the analysis board is very helpful for most players. Shouldn't it be even more useful if you have difficulties visualizing upcoming positions?

I think it would be helpful if I could somehow improve my ability to read the chess board and see the game from my opponent's perspective. Maybe the question I should be asking myself is "If I were the opponent, what move would I play against me?"

That is indeed absolutely mandatory.

*Mind Blown* (sadly)

In all seriousness, I don't think I really managed to spell this out to myself before. Thank you!

yo i would say that at your rating level the discrepancy doesn't matter at all. you are still missing some of the basics and fundamentals.

but in general some people are better playing fast, some people are better playing slow. i've tried to play bullet and am completely unable to do it. i keep flagging. so i have a sub 1000 rating there LOL. but my other chess mode ratings are much higher

Ratings are about results and not necessarily about strength. In lower rating games, the result is commonly related to who makes more tactical mistakes. Then it's reasonable to think that your rivals make more mistakes in rapid games than in daily ones.

Its normal, I have 2000+ on blitz and 1700 on daily, usually when I play a daily game I spend about 5 sec thinking the move, in my case is not something that I take really serious, blitz I try my best

That much I know about myself, but even here down in <1000 land, the difference of a hundred points or so can be very meaningful in gauging a player's strength. Even if neither party grasps the full strategic level of the game, the basic things like not hanging pieces and spotting basic traps mean that its far from a game of chance.

Just play.  Don't worry about ratings.

I learned to play chess by Watching my uncles play. I suggest you watch other chess players play. Don't watch bullet games. At least 10 minutes per player time control.

At your rating level you probably lose material to undefended pieces which then gives your opponent an advantage that they can convert to a win. One of the first things to get under control is undefended pieces and piece coordination. It takes time for this to become a natural (habitual) part of your game. This is helped if after every move you ask yourself, what is my opponent intending with that move (what are they threatening). This will prompt you to look for captures and whether the piece they are attacking is defended. A second question to ask is, what does their move tell me about their plans and what they are intending more generally. You can then look at how you could frustrate their plans and develop yours at the same time.

This all takes thinking time which is why Daily chess is better for learning than blitz. Long time controls for improvement, short time controls for fun. Back to your original question, the reason you are better at short time controls maybe because you aren't developing your chess you are just shuffling pieces. Your long time control opponents are using that time to out think you.

Update everyone: Thank you everyone for the advice! Granted, it didn't stop my downward spiral, but they were valuable things to think about perhaps for the future, and it's probably my fault anyway for not trying hard enough to implement it all. I am trying to make better use of the Analysis tool, and even though it hasn't stopped my continued slide downward (Now I'm in the bottom 1%, yay!), it has opened up two important and interlinked slivers of hope for me in a situation where I'd otherwise give up on daily chess forever.

- How to use the analysis tool properly

- You need to try and think from your opponent's perspective when playing, too.

PS. ...Actually I lied. I'm probably giving up on daily chess permanently. But I do greatly appreciate the help nonetheless!... Yeah!...<cries quietly to self>

I briefly looked at a couple of your games. Do you calculate? So are you imaging a couple of moves ahead. And do you do this for a couple of candidate moves before picking the one that looks best.