...just relax...in the grand scheme of things it is nothing...
I am freaking out! Fear of Stronger Opponents.
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trysts wrote:
LudRa95 wrote:
For me, it can be playing on a "bad day" on a correspondence game to destroy the entire game with one move. I can have outplayed my opponent for 20-30-ish moves, be up material with better piece placements and then blunder the queen because I played a day I was tired.
I rarely outplay my opponents. My best games are the ones where I stay in an even position with my opponent without making huge errors that I'm aware of. In fact, this is why I don't have any of my games in the "game showcase" section, because the ones I win are just because of an obvious error instead of a nice combination, like others have. Perhaps there are many people like myself who play thousands of games of chess without doing anything special or exciting in those games which others can enjoy. Yet chess is very enjoyable for me. It's just that the enjoyment is being able to think and concentrate.
I also have a lot of those games. I win some and I lose some. Of course, my errors happen in those games too, but I could had lost those games without a blunder, so those doesn't feel as devastating.
I remember one game that I was up a lot of material (5-ish) and my opponent forked my king, queen and knight with their knight. Instead of capturing his (unprotected) knight with my knight, I moved my king out the the fork. That's way below my usual ability and that one move during one "bad day" destroyed weeks of good moves and lost me the game. That's an extreme example, but the principle is the same for how your rating can be lower than your "normal" ability.
Don't take the game so seriously.
If its annoying you, stop playing. Don't force your self. Its not worth it.
Thanks for your replies. I notice though that most of the replies have been for me stating that i could be better than what my rating implies. That should not be taken too seriously. It is just my way of explaining what a friend of mine(tournament player) says after going through my games, he is of the opinion that i get to good positions early and suddenly i just blow it. I am not worried about rating expecially online rating because many times while playing i get disconnected(where i live presently, internet is such a huge problem)....by being a low-rated player, i was not really stating online rating as it goes without saying(a quick peek at my profile will reveal that) it just means i have nil tournament experience, i fidget when i play stronger players and lose later...etc.
As to my choices of opening, are they smart choices? Any thing i need to take cognizance of? Thanks.
trysts wrote:
cyracles wrote:
I am low-rated player(even though i think i am slightly better than i play).
Now that is interesting to me: Can someone be better than how one plays? I think I am worse than my rating(or how I play), because far too often my positions are bad yet my opponent doesn't take advantage of them. But if a person thinks he or she is better than how their playing is does that mean the person is getting good positions, but failing to win? Are they my opponents?
How good someone is at chess must include other variables besides getting into good or winning positions.
I play better OTB than online, so am I better than my chess.com rating? I would like to think that maybe by 50 points.
ahhh