What sounds like it could be the case is there has been a rating change. But I play elsewhere too and my rating has been consistent up in the 2150 - 2200 range and this suggests no rating change. It sounds like you have just been experiencing a slump.
Does knowing your opponents rating affect your quality of play?
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It just boggles my mind how I've turned into such a crappy player. My tactics aren't as sharp as before and I can feel I'm not as mentally engaged as before but besides that my strategies haven't changed that much. Its just that the 1700 and 1800 players for whatever reason play really well against me now. Its strange. I was in the 1900s to 2000 rating for weeks. Now it's tough to beat 1700s
Its really frustrating losing the way I've been losing.
I first noticed the decrease in my game when I changed the tactic trainer level from normal to hard. Its almost as if only training tough puzzles hampered my overall game. And honestly I think a big part of it is the ratings. I feel like lower rated players are playing me a lot better than they did when I was ranked much higher than them because they have more confidence
Jun 5, 2018
0
#5
You should do what you are most comfortable with. Best to ignore ratings altogether. The 1700 guy you meet could be a 1900 guy in his worst slump ever (broke up with girlfriend!),or a 1500 guy playing his tightest month ever. Just let it all hang out and let it happen.
Well, my chess game has recently fallen off a cliff. I play mostly on another site on my phone. I was up to 2044 at one point and in the 94.2 percentile. Now I'm at 1715 and getting whooped by 1700-1800 level players. I've noticed that these players make less blunders than they did when I played similar rated opponents with a higher rating. I would rarely ever loss to any player in 1700 rating yet now most games with them seem like dog fights. It almost seems like these people are playing me with more confidence due to my lower rating.
I've come to the conclusion that people are more likely to play tense and make mistakes if they know they are playing a higher rated player than them. The ratings are a distraction and I wish there were options to block them. I've tried blocking my opponents ratings before for about a week and I noticed that I would beat more higher rated players than when I didn't block it but you can only cover up part of the screen with your thumb for so long.