Is it suicidal to want to play higher-rated players?

The good thing about many strong players is that they love to see their beautiful games and explain what the mortal did wrong.  GM Tigran Petrosian and GM Sandro Pozo Vera, to name two, both analyzed the games immediately afterward for me, so you are more likely to get a lesson out of these games, so long as you make it clear that you'd like to "go over the game" with them.

I still regret I didn't go over the game when I lost to a FM in my first FIDE-rated tournament. At that tournament I made two upsets against higher-rated players, and the FM wanted to prepare against me and found none of my games online :) He outplayed me and I was tired after the game and just wanted to rest, but I should have taken a free lesson instead!

And yes, thanks David, for pointing out the process of proving/finding my rating - I am in the process of this. I have pretty good results against the NZCF 1900s in the club and am still consistently losing to the 2000s. So that's about where I am at the moment :)

That really helps you improve the most. Especially if they go over why you lost, and what you did wrong. If you are friends with a stronger player, go over opening lines, and check mating patterns with them. You will definitely improve.

Same here.  My rating is slowly floating toward 1900 (USCF).  In mixed tournaments, where I play a blend of ratings 1400-2200, I am scoring performance ratings of 1900's and I've had 2 2000+, but the performance ratings look more like 1800's against tournaments where I play mostly 2000-2200.  It's a higher level of consistency, and there's less room for error.  They'll more often test your practical chess more, too, such as forcing me to hold draws when we are down to minutes after many hours of play.  That's also where physical performance comes in.  It's next level, without a doubt.

I am the friend that played with Tim in the tournament.

There are some poins that need clarification.

1) All of this "play with stronger" means that you need to sit against someone not overwhelmengly better. We are not robots: playing 1900 against 2200 or so and constantly loosing- is DEMORALISING.

2) All "valuable experience" is in fact simple: play stronger. A stronger player will not show all the skills that need improving in one game. We need to do it ourselves or with a coach.

3) The "weaker" Grade (but in fact my level players 1900) was chosen not only because I could win something (but that too, of course).
The main point was to meet more or less equal rivals. Even meeting equal or weaker players I am aiming to fastest win. Do not relax. Even then, I played weak and got 3.5 out of 5.
If I cannot score 5 out of 5 in my own Grade - there is a lot of work to be done before I go for stronger opponents.

 To conclude, I am for a gradual improvement technique.

@aln276 Alex, playing with one's own grade is available in the club already  As for the last tournament, I've learned quite a lesson by losing all four games that I played.  I will post a separate blog post about that after I have annotated those games.  Thanks for your input.  Playing with the stronger and more experienced helped me see where I could be better.  I doubt weaker players would have exploited those weaknesses of mine.

Another thing, though, it looks like I'm overrated at the moment.  Will need more tournaments to find my true place

aln276 wrote:

If I cannot score 5 out of 5 in my own Grade - there is a lot of work to be done before I go for stronger opponents.

I agree with most people that playing up is good, but I'm also a big advocate for at least occasionally playing tournaments where you are one of the top seeds. Constant playing up means mostly being at best equal out of the opening, and constantly feeling under pressure. It's important to learn how to win won positions against weaker opposition, and to win under pressure (when you need to for prize money for instance). Also it should show you that you are improving :)

Play down at least one tournament of four.

@timothyha of course, nobody prevents occasonal games with very strong players. Don't get me wrong. :-)

No of course not. It is a good experience to want to play higher rated chess players!!! Even if you lose. Study the games and see where you went wrong and work hard to improve on those mistakes!!!

No! It's the *1 way of learning. Better if you play unrated or over the board so your rating doesn't get smashed up, but yeah always try and take on better players. 

I often play unrated games at three days per move against the lower-ranking players in my groups. It gives them a chance to get thrashed by an Expert, without risking any rating points or losing a Team Match. If we look over the game afterwards, they might even learn something.

More on-topic: When I played in the Canadian Open in Montreal, I shelled out the extra money to play in the same section as GM Larsen, GM Hort, GM Lyubojevic, GM Suttles, GM Quinteros...

... didn't end up paired against any of those top guns, but I played some strong players, learned a lot, and finished with an even (50%) score.

do you mean you can kill yourself

no i don't think so