Psychology in Chess: Otb vs online

Do you believe psychology plays a role in otb? Why or why not

Do you believe that psychology plays a role in online games? Why or why not

Yes to one, no to two. I don't think there's a single OTB player who'd say psychology doesn't play a role OTB. Online, though, it isn't the same. Basically all you can do is chat... it's nothing

OTB - Yes.

Online - Absolutely Not.

A great example of OTB would be the Karpov vs. Korhnoi match, when Korchnoi thought Karpov's yogurt was a signal for a draw offer. 

Korchnoi wearing mirrored glasses to ward off the hypnotic rays of some guy in Karpovs camp.  

It plays a role in OTB, the way you move your pieces, how you look at your opponent, what you wear/look like...can all influence your opponent. Online there are less ways to influence your opponent I think, although there still are some. I don't know whether it was his intention or not but once I played a bullet game with someone with a chicken username with a profile picture of a raw chicken which made me laugh out loud for 10 seconds

For me, I concentrate better OTB.  If this is due to attitude:  OTB I sit correctly, whereas online I'm reclining in my chair.  It could be that I visualize better in 3D than 2D.  Or that I take my real rating more serious than the ones I used against the small percentage but well known cheaters.

Agreed.  ONline is something to pass the time.  OTB is where the serious play is.  Though...I do TRY and take correspondance chess serious.  

Just to include IMBacon's idea, I do play correspondence on this site.  I get discouraged because it takes longer for the board to interact with me than for me to decide on my move. 

I somewhat disagree with there is no psychology in online chess.

Here is a few examples I can think of:
1) when you trash talk your opponent and they play at a faster past & more aggressively.
2) when you offer a draw request early and frustrate your opponent.
3) when you are running low in time and your opponent thinks they can just slack off bc you will lose to the clock. I've won many rapid games in the last 10 seconds of a match bc my opponent was just moving quickly and didn't pay attention to the coming mate.
4) being nice. Starting causal talk. Sometimes the opponent won't finish the checkmate & offer you a draw bc they "feel bad" lol

I agree it doesn't play a significant role, unlike otb games, but I think if you try you can get a psychological boost to help your game, even online.

It depends on your attitude towards online play and your results in online play.  For me, I don't care about my results in online play.  Not really anyways.  I get mad at myself if I blunder, if anything.  

 

But rated OTB with classical time controls?  That's a whole different ballgame.  The juices are flowing, baby!  Psychology makes a difference.

 

Online blitz, shrug shoulders.

*tracking*

I can see that SP. I never had a chance to play otb for real. Just with friends who are not serious about chess. So i mainly play online rapid 30 minute games now. 10 minute games for fun. But either way I hate to lose. Especially to a trash talker or arrogant player so I take each game serious as a tournament. Lol

None of your examples are "psychological" They are examples of being rude.  

Exactly SP!

Nothing replaces that feeling of getting to a tournament, waiting for the parings to go up, and sitting across from your opponent.  Its one on one...no excuses, no "I lost connection", "My opponent cheated", "I was hacked"

 

Yes.  But being rude is a psychological ploy.  And it works on occasion.  Not always.  But these "rude" players are probing.

Gotta disagree...being rude is just being rude.  If i know im going to play osmoene that is a SF Giants fan, I can guarantee you i will be wearing a LA Dodgers jersey.  Thats using psychology.  

If the examples above are psychological, then why are they against the rules in OTB play?

I play better online, specially because I like to listen to music while I play, drinking some coffee and the absolute silence of my bedroom. 

OTB, in my case, is A CHAOS! There is no possible silence, the sound of the clocks: PAC PAC PAC!; kids, your opponent seeing you quietly while you are thinking... What can I say? It is terrible! But, despite all, OTB games has a magic I cannot describe, it is the real feeling of a chess tournament, to touch the pieces, using a clock, writing your moves...

There is behavioral psychology that only applies OTB, but there is more subtle psychology in what moves you play that applies OTB or online.

 

Example of the first: You're playing a sacrifice, and as you're about to let go of the piece, you suddenly see you missed a resource for your opponent and the sacrifice is unsound. So you slam the piece down, punch the clock, get up from the board and strut around like a peacock. You hope your opponent buys the act and fails to see the sacrifice is actually a mistake, and declines it. You can't reproduce that online.

Example of the second: You're playing someone who is a better positional player than you. You have a choice: play a speculative sacrifice, or go into a slightly worse endgame with equal material. Maybe the endgame is objectively the better choice, but you know he'll outplay you in it. So you play the sacrifice instead and try to create chaos on the board. It's a psychologically based choice that applies in OTB or online games.

I'd say there's much more psychology in OTB than in Online, at least for me, but also most of the others, methinks. However, from the resposes above, I gathered some thoughts:

OTB

• the way opponents move pieces (determined -> I'm doomed )
• their body posture (relaxed/tense)
• unfamiliar openings (I find it harder to get ideas as opposed to online)
• trash talking between the games
• illegal moves (should you call the arbiter or not?)
• technical/practical issues, especially in time trouble (practical: falling pieces; technical: crappy clock - lost on time in blitz once because the clock didn't register my presses everytime)

Online:

• moving fast (you can get in time trouble and lose in fast games, eventhough you're capable of winning, you just get nervous)
• losing streaks (I feel it's much tougher to stop losing online, games come fast and you lose fast, game after game after game after rage quit )
• maybe some trash talking before/during the game or draw offers

Both:

• FM chuddog said it all actually. Peacock sac and complications.
• playing a friend (you always hope you won't lose and maintain plus or = score, so they can't brag for the time being  @NewArdweaden? :)

Thats reminiscent of a lecture Victor Korchnoi gave right after his match win against Enrique Mecking.  He went over a game, where he made a "sub-optimal" move.  Korchnoi said that he just sat there quiet.  Mecking looked at the board, and instead of making the obvious reply, he spent some time on the position, and played a losing move.  Korchnoi credits that to his silence, and not worrying.  

Although I don't do it, I have had it done to me countless times and worked. People will intentionally try to get under my skin by being rude. So I have I agree with SP bacon. It works, even after I turn off the chat lol I know I play worst when I'm angry. Playing off someone's emotions is psychology 101. Granted chuddog gave some clear cut examples about behavioral psychology that cannot even be close to replicated online so I'm not comparing the two I just think there are ways it can be done