There is a somewhat straightforward answer actually. If everyone played every time control often (lets say every day) then the ratings would probably be very close.
But notice some people only play blitz. Or some people play everything but standard. etc. Combine that with the observation that the rating measures you only against the players that play that category and you can see how there can be a big rating discrepancy.
For example lets guess beginners are uncomfortable with very fast time controls and stick to 30|0 games. As they get more experience maybe they move to faster games, even bullet. So we could guess that standard rating would be higher (because on average the players are not as good).
To counter this effect there's probably the fact that there's more cheating in longer time controls. Oh well. You get the idea though. If a master joined a site where most players were masters, he might only have a rating of 1200.
Anyway, I have also noticed I sometimes struggle against players ~300 points below me. I usually win, but it can feel very difficult. For me I think it's a combination of noticing their multiple sub-par (but not terrible) moves and that they have no fear of my subtle threats (because they don't notice them at all). So I can quickly get into "punishment" mode so to speak, and try to convert what I think is a winning advantage while they fiercely counter attack not knowing they're in danger of losing right away. So the game feels dangerous up until the end. But a higher rated player, seeing the danger, would react more defensively, and even if the game isn't winning it feels like it's under control.
Hi all,
I am now playing for about 6 month or so on chess.com. I have not much experience with rating systems but I have noticed a strange pattern. In Blitz, at least to me, it seems that players <1150 are way stronger then players at 1250-1350... I loose A LOT of games, but in the games I loose against 1100s I simply do not have ANY chance it seems - they just mostly knock me out... whereas at 1250-1350 the games are much more even and balanced. This is something I dont understand.
Another point I noticed is that the ratings are very much specific to the category. I now play around 1250-1300 Blitz but I have absolutely NO CHANCE against Bullet players of that level. In Bullet I fall down to 1000 or lower. How can that be? Shouldn't the rating equalize a bit more among those categories? Standard vs. Blitz is even more unbalanced.
Sorry, there is probably no straightforward answer to this... just something I noticed and wanted to know if you guys have the same experience?
As a newbie, it is just so freaking crazy to me HOW STRONG people already are at these super low levels of 1100-1300.
That's all.
cheers,grechbert