I play lower rated players sometimes who ask. I'll give commentary if they want.
I'll also play lower rated players in blitz just for fun (I don't have to try hard and win nearly every game) ... not very good for improvement I know haha.
Do you learn a lot from playing someone your rating? I guess. 100 or 200 points higher is preferable, but someone as good as you can push your limits and show you new things too,.. just not as often as a better player will.
Playing someone way above my level is generally not fun for either of us. I make a series of "obvious" mistakes (they will think they're obvious anyway). So it's never really a game for them, they can just go through the motions to win. For me it's not fun because I don't know what I'm doing wrong and I also don't really get to play... my position is bad before I realize it.
You can learn things from people of your own rating but you will potentially learn more from higher rated players.
At the club, there area a few unrated, lower strength players and I will sometimes misunderstand a position and either give them an even game or potentially give them an advantage. Even being higher rated than they are, I can learn from mistakes I make.
You will understand the mistakes that players closer to your rating make more easily but can still learn from those games as well as those against lower rated players.
I'm not quite sure how to phrase this, but I notice that even though I will accept any games from any level, I get matched with someone almost my exact level. The "problem" (for lack of a better word) is that I'm 550, playing another 550. I know both of our endgames are atrocious, and higher rated players would be laughing at our ineptitude.
If you're higher rated, do you ever play lower rated people to help them?
I know I can post the game after for people to comment on, but it would also be nice to get a "why would you make that move? This or that was way better"
I don't know exactly what I'm asking. I'm not asking for free coaching, but even at the higher levels, does a 1300 player learn much from another 1300 player?
I know I'm rambling.