2100+ in tactics but 1000 in rapid. What is wrong with me?

Sort:
arigonnomog

I think there's something wrong with my head whenever I try to play anything with a time control. I started playing daily and haven't lost yet (up to 950 elo players but it moves so slowly), so I don't know what my rating would be there. But when it comes to rapid, my elo is always around 1k to 1.1k, and it feels like my head. This becomes really obvious in bullet, where I boast proud 500 elo or something like that. When I have all the time in the world (puzzle and daily) I feel like I can always manage to find good moves and correctly evaluate the position. But if there is a clock my brain just dies. And I'll make stupid one move blunders that make you think I'm a baboon with only half a head. I know you are supposed to be better at puzzles than the actual game. But I feel a 1.1k difference is too big, and that my puzzle training just doesn't translate to the actual games... Does anyone have any tips?

SenseiWu0513

I have been in your situation before. What I did was work on my visualization skills. I think this is often overlooked. The reason you're not at the elo you want to be in is that when you make a move, your opponent makes a move that you didn't see. Now I am considering my opponent's response after every move. While doing my puzzles I started to think thru the entire solution in my head without using arrows BEFORE making the move. After implementing this change, I broke thru the 2400 puzzle rating that I was stuck at for almost a year to 2600 in less than a month. My rapid elo also drastically improved. I owe the credit to this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WChrD2tXiWQ&t=614s 

eric0022
arigonnomog wrote:

I think there's something wrong with my head whenever I try to play anything with a time control. I started playing daily and haven't lost yet (up to 950 elo players but it moves so slowly), so I don't know what my rating would be there. But when it comes to rapid, my elo is always around 1k to 1.1k, and it feels like my head. This becomes really obvious in bullet, where I boast proud 500 elo or something like that. When I have all the time in the world (puzzle and daily) I feel like I can always manage to find good moves and correctly evaluate the position. But if there is a clock my brain just dies. And I'll make stupid one move blunders that make you think I'm a baboon with only half a head. I know you are supposed to be better at puzzles than the actual game. But I feel a 1.1k difference is too big, and that my puzzle training just doesn't translate to the actual games... Does anyone have any tips?

 

That's actually pretty normal. I expect most players puzzle ratings to be 500 to 1500 rating points above their regular game ratings.

tygxc

@1

"if there is a clock my brain just dies"
++ Play 15|10 rapid. It is the standard rapid time control like for the rapid world championship etc. Thanks to the increment you can always win a won position or draw a drawn position. That removes any clock stress. Use all your time before move 30 and finish the game on increment.

"I'll make stupid one move blunders"
++ Always check your intended move is no blunder before you play it.

"my puzzle training just doesn't translate to the actual games"
++ If you spend more time on a puzzle than you spend on a move in a game, then it cannot translate. Also in a real game nobody tells you there is a tactic, or for whom.

medelpad
I know of a guy who is 1k rapid and 3k puzzles