Huge rating difference between USCF and Chess.com

I understand that there is no correlation what so ever between online chess and OTB tournament chess. However, my online chess rating is over two times my OTB rating (700's). I make really stupid blunders when playing OTB that I would never make in an online game (I recently hung my queen in the first 5 moves, by not moving it when it was attacked. This was against a player rated 800 OTB.) No, I don't cheat, and no, I don't use a database outside of what the free opening explorer gives me (the first 2 or 3 moves).

Could you guys help me figure out what I'm doing wrong, or at least suggest what may be causing this huge rating difference? Here's one of my recent OTB games:

Do you play more OTB or online?

why would you play 9...0-0-0, when all your pieces except the pinned one are on the kingside?

It's normal to have your online much higher than your OTB when you're a newer player... but your difference is quite a lot... 700 points.

I'd guess you rely a lot on the analysis board / can't focus during an OTB game.  Or maybe you just need more practice in how to organize your thoughts when playing a game.  For example get into the habit, first thing after your opponent's move, you have to look at the new squares that move attacks.  That will stop you from losing pieces to direct threats.  Then again before you move, "sit on your hands" and visualise your intended move 1 last time, and check to see if you've missed anything big.

In the game you posted at first I thought you were ignoring some basic threats.  But ok you played 10...a6 in response to the threat Bxc6 followed by Qxa7 I guess.

Then as another posted said, castling queenside was bad because... well for one thing almost your entire army is on the kingside :p  But also the queenside is where white (and black) are able to open lines with pawn breaks (advancing pawns to force pawn trades).  This is often the case in openings beginning with 1.d4 d5.  White can try for the pawn move c4 and black c5.

Also doubled pawns are often a weakness.  When you castle it's to protect the king.  The king is secure because of the three pawns in front of it are like a shield.  To attack the enemy king you almost always have to strip away 1 or 2 of these pawns one way or another.  In the few moves before you castled, White could have played Bxc6 at any time doubling your c pawns and opening your b file i.e. strip away some pawn cover.  This makes your king very vulnerable after you castled.  For these reasons (not may defenders near, and immediately doubled pawns possible) after 0-0-0 you're walking into a strong attack.

On 10. Qa4 a6 there are two pieces attacking your horse and only one defending it (the pawn).  Instead of a6 I think you should have played Qd7 to defend the knight and then a6.  

Also, on 7. Be5 Nf6 you created your own pin by putting the Knight between the bishops.  The Knight could no longer move without you losing the bishop.  They could have also traded bishop for knight if they wanted to with Nh4.  

You were probably thinking you would rather trade the knight for the bishop, but that would be giving them the choice when they wanted to trade.  Your black bishop was basically locked in because they were controlling the dark squares and his was eyeing your c7 pawn.  

That being said, after you took with your bishop they would have probably taken back Nxe5 and again two pieces were attacking your knight which was pinned to the king. Qd6 is probably what you would have wanted to play there and then looked to castle kingside.  

I don't think they would try to take the knight because you woud be winning a bishop and a knight for a pawn and a knight, but I would have castled queenside because that queen was probably coming to a4 at some point.

The biggest mistake, however, was not seeing two pieces attacking and one defending.

Just my opinion.  I'm not that good, but maybe it helps. :p

I am the opposite, for I move much faster online and thus more blunders. One of the easiest ways to improve your OTB games is to simply use good clock management--you've got more time, so slow down (e.g., you lost the above game on move 16; thus, you had probably almost all your time still on your clock---I'd rather be in time trouble on move 38 than to lose in the opening). For example, before each move, run some positional checks to make sure nothing is hanging and that no piece of your opponent can hurt you in the next move or two (yes, deeper is better, but don't miss one or two move attacks that are on the way). Lots more could be said and by better players than myself. Good luck.

wow this is seriously depressing, could my otb rating be 300? lol jesus normally I see people saying that it overestimates by a few hundred points but 700? ouch. Is it maybe an adrenaline rush in the middle of competition that blinds you? This often happens to me online rather than otb and I mess up constantly because of it, the only thing that helps is when I notice it is to stop stop thinking for a moment take a few deep breaths and remind myself it's a game. 

Live chess' rating are more difficult.  A nearly 1000 standard live rating means you're much better than 300.  In fact winning just 1 game here in your first 20 very likely means you're better than 300

my uscf is like 1109 but here im like 1800s blitz. it's so EASY getting chess.com ratings high...

Your 1100 USCF rating (if that's real lol) is obviously inaccurate.

While I appreciate all your wonderful analysis, I was looking for something along the lines of the post quoted above. The point is, I would never have played that badly (I don't think) had that been an online game. I'm curious as to what's causing this huge rating difference. Yes, I know that there's a completely different player pool and all, but there's no way you can explain a 700 elo difference with that (or is there?). For example, here's a recent online game:

And in case anyone is wondering, no, my primary purpose is not to gain rating points (through methods such as only playing low rated players). I'm just trying to play chess well, and for some reason, it works better on chess.com than OTB. If anyone can tell me why, that would be wonderful.

And I play far more online than OTB

Well... we can only guess right?  How can we know what you're doing OTB that's holding you back?  I think a big clue is your last sentence "I play far more online than OTB."  With more practice you'll learn to even out your play.  So maybe you're playing too fast?  Ok you'll learn to fix that.  Or maybe you have a problem with the 3d pieces (when people first switch from one to the other it's difficult).

A reason that's probably secondary is online players are not going to be very principled... so you're just going to get a lot more chances than you would at a tournament.  For example in the game you posted you're really not going to run into any tournament players playing moves like 2.h3, 8.a3, or 11.g4 no matter what their rating.  They may be rated very low because they miss tactics, but they're going to play more principled chess than what white played in your above game.  (h3 and a3 just lose time in the opening and g4 says he'll castle queenside, which looks much riskier than kingside castling).

18.f4 and 20.axb4 are two other moves I think you just wouldn't see.  Most players play or get coached for some amount of time before venturing out into a tournament and would know f4 closes lines where they're attacking / traps the knight and know axb4 is very risky.

This isn't to take away from your play, that was a good game by you.  But tournament games aren't likely to feel as easy even when you win and are better than your opponent.

I think nerves are another key difference between online and OTB play. Some players simply intimidate me in person---or their mother's do. Many many years ago at Junior High Nationals, I played a kid in the final round whose mother stood behind him and never stopped staring at me. Let me tell you that it freaked me out. The result: I missed a forced mate that I normally would have seen and I lost the game (a win would have given me six wins and maybe a trophy of some sort). When I was a kid, older players also really intimidated me. People that looked smart, etc., etc., etc. Online has none of these concerns. So that's one more piece of the puzzle as to why you might struggle with OTB play. Regardless, I wouldn't let it bug you. Just play under control, use your clock wisely, and if you have to, go rock star and wear sunglasses!

You are rated much higher than me here on chess.com. But two moves you made in that game (castling long, and missing the mate on b7) even I would not have done. And I bet you would not have done it either online. Suffice it to say, you are better than 700s OTB.

One thing that worries me a bit about real life games is my ability to understand what's going on on the board. I think the perspective, piece shape, color, and all the other visual differences would cause me trouble because I spend so much time looking at the chess.com look. Add in writing down moves and hitting the clock, it's such a different experience. I bet all that would significantly impact my performance. I suppose that goes away with practice and repetition.

one of da reasons that yur otb rating is lower then yur otb rating is probbly that yur otb rating starts at 0 and yur chess.com rating starts at 1200.