Yes, it is normal.
As your game improves, so do your decisions, but as you increase in "rank," so do your opponents. Techniques and plans will founder when they would otherwise work so you must rethink strategies. Intuition plays a role, but that intuition is strengthened and adjusted by real-life experiences and they can change.
For Chess specifically, I consider myself a casual player, but my ratings follow the same basic pattern:
- Started at 600 (after failing miserably after a looong hiatus)
- Improved to 700
- Took a hit back to 650 as I started fighting stronger players.
- Improved up to 750.
- Took a hit back to 700 as I was fighting 800 players.
- And onwards...
I think this is very natural. You see them kind of curves in practically everything. Looking at your stats, it does say you've played 13 rapid games this year, so there's not really a lot to anaylse, stats wise. Also, I've found playing online with people around the world with different ways of thinking is very different than playing with a group of friends on a physical table.
On the whole, I wouldn't pay too much heed to your ratings until you're fully back in the swing of it, but if you're curious at what I'm looking at, here ya go: https://www.chess.com/stats/live/rapid/bushidobam/365
Wow, it's hard to believe I've been a chess.com member for over 10 years and this is my first forum post.
Ah well, here goes.
I've decided to play competitive chess for the first time in my life this year after several years hiatus and always being just a casual player. Back when I was playing semi-seriously games OTB with friends and with random online opponents, my rating was nearing 1500 at my peak, but always averaging high 1200s, at least. The guys I was playing with were all 1500-1700 rated, so these guys were a little better than average.
Now that I'm actually studying the game, joining USCF tourneys, and actually trying to become a better player, it seems that I am actually getting worse.
Is this normal? Does one typically get worse for a bit before they get better? Does this have to do with trying to apply the knowledge/theory that I'm teaching myself, and it's a matter of working out the kinks?
This is rather disheartening and I'd love to hear if anyone has had a similar experience.
It seems that when I was playing from the "heart'" or from "the gut," that I was actually doing better.
For background, I am concentrating on playing only 30 minute games or greater. I will throw in the occasional blitz game if I'm in a waiting room or just want a quick chess fix, but otherwise I am actually trying to play games that allow me to calculate more deeply.
Thoughts?