Puzzles vs. games…what’s the knowledge gap???

Hey guys! Just want opinions on what could make up my knowledge gap in puzzles vs. games. When I first started doing puzzles I was lucky to get 7 or 8 in survival. And today I shattered my personal record of 19 and got 24. I get that’s not huge for some of you higher rated guys but to me it’s massive from where I started. I’m solving puzzles with 1300-1400 difficulty once I get past like puzzle 20. But my game rating doesn’t reflect the same skill set AT ALL. I broke 900 once and lost it just as quickly. Been struggling around 850 still for months. Where is the gap in knowledge?!?! Any ideas on where I should shift my focus? Thanks in Advance!

Jeremy

Puzzle ratings are usually a few 100 points higher. It may be a normal gap, but I don't know.

(I looked at 2 of your recent games, and you seem to know basics like development in the opening)

Sheesh…dunno if my most recent games are the best to view. I’ve been trying some new stuff

Also my puzzle rating is 1361 vs. a game rating of 850 or whatever it is right now. Just a huge difference. I understand a lot more concepts that I didn’t before but it just isn’t translating to consistent wins in the lower rating.

400-600 point gap is normal from what I've seen.

One way to think of ratings is like currency. If you travel to a different country your 10 dollars  worth of gold would be about 1000 Japanese Yen.

When you go to a chess site, your skill might be worth 800 blitz and 1300 tactics. The numbers aren't an absolute measure, they're relative to the other players in that group (and will also depend on where the website chose to initially set the average).

There are several reasons why puzzle ratings are higher than game ratings.  One reason is that you know that the puzzle has a solution and you are focused on finding the key move., whereas in a game, you are looking at a position wondering "What should I do now?"

That can be a reason you find tactics in puzzles but not the same sort of tactics in games.

It's not a reason the ratings are different because like I said ratings aren't an absolute measure.

I understand it this way, When working through tactics-i know there is something there and i just need to find it. They don’t necessarily exist in my games and therefore i don’t see them. I suppose what I’m trying to learn from the tactics is pattern recognition and then the ability to strategically arrange a given tactic. Hence my game rating is much lower than my tactic/puzzle rating. 

My puzzle and rapid gap is over a 1000 now.

 

Makes sense! I appreciate your input guys! Thank you!

How much time do you spend solving a puzzle? How much time do you spend on a move in a game? The time per move in a game should exceed the time you spend solving a puzzle, as in a game you do not know if there is a tactic or not, so you have to assume there is one.