ratings variability, harder players suddenly bringing my rank down

I’ve noticed this same pattern with the Elo ranking system in video games where eventually and suddenly harder players start showing up that you not used to seeing but same rank and even lower and they take you way back down in the ranks then it goes back to how it was before where you get average players that you can win somewhat more often and your rank slightly bounces around until you get up then the cycle starts over.

This whole cycle can take weeks or months depending how much you play and how fast you rank increases.

Starting to notice this cycle in chess now that I’m playing consistently, is this something you guys notice also?

I get so frustrated during these downward slides…

The pool of players at a particular rank is constantly changing. New players join, experienced players return, and others may take breaks. This means you'll encounter a range of skill levels even at the same rank.

As you improve, you'll reach points where you're consistently beating opponents at your current rank. However, when you start facing players who are slightly higher-skilled, you might go through a period of losses before making a breakthrough and climbing to a higher rank.

View losses as opportunities to learn and grow. Analyze your games, identify mistakes and work on specific areas of weakness. Remember that progress in any competitive activity is rarely linear. It's normal to experience ups and downs.

Yes thanks for the advice I’m surely an armature chess player many thing to learn that will come with experience paying attention And analyzing some bad games.

But what I described above is a pattern not just have ups and downs, and have noticed similar patterns in video games ranking, I go through ups and downs all the time and sometimes I have normal loosing streaks but this losing streak was different, the platform consistently gives me players the I have no chance against who send me down 200 point, the weird thing is their ranks don’t look much different and lower, ofc because I’m declining in rank as we go, then the platform slowly integrates normal people I can start having good matches with.

I’ve also noticed this! All of a sudden the 1000 players are looking 4 moves ahead and then my rating drops 200 points.

It’s common for players to convince themselves that such a phenomenon is happening, but in reality it’s just not. The player pool is random.

It is happening it’s real buddy they will deny but we see it happening

yea im reaching into the 400's, 420 now or so, i expect this is going to happen soon; right now im getting people that feel what i should expect to see comparison based on my time bouncing around the 300's, even see people that are making moves they shouldnt; but mark my words, hear soon i am going to start getting people not much higher rank than this but will smack me down to the 200's or so, and as my rank drops so will the people i play but they still will be smacking down, it will happen, its happened multiple times.

yea its happening now

What you’re noticing is especially prevalent at the sub600 level, as that’s where most new players start.

I dont disagree with that but cant fully agree because those new players coming in would happen more randomly which i do see those random good players with a lower rank every now and then; but what i describe is it comes in waves and new players arent all deciding to start playing around the same time to cause one of those waves, it only occurs after ive reached or exceeded my peak rating and is somewhat predictable in that sense

And im in one of those waves right now again, im playing people who 'got my number' almost every game where i feel soo helpless to play, and my ranking is much lower that usual, thus my opponents ranking is much lower than i normally play also, however my opponents feel like they should be in the 600's +...
Im sure its these odd waves of lower ranked but higher actual skill players, that im going to have to learn to beat to start maintaining my rank well above 500...