The unbeatable strength of very low rated players

I am low rated (around 1300 in live) and often play good games with better players (1500 and 1600), even winning sometimes. Yet I find many <900 players very tough opponents. I once lost 3 games in a row against a 800..... Are there any explanations other than: 'I suck at chess' ? Am I the only one?

lo96:

You should read this article:

deleted Mod KS 

I think it is because the higher rated players think it is an easy win when they play the lower rated players and relax. I once had an OTB rating in the 900s and played in the U1500 section and was undefeated for the entire tournament. Either the lower rated players are playing higher than their strength, or you are relaxing more.  

The most difficult aspect of playing very low rated players for me is the unpredictability of their moves.

A lot of intermediate players (like in an under 1500 tournament) can fall into the trap of relying too much on set openings and memorization, so when a novice starts playing totally out of nowhere, strange moves it can throw them off.

But in most cases, it doesn't matter how unorthodox they player--a 900 player should still be making at least 1-2 blunders a game and I can take advantage of it and win. You do not really start drastically decreasing blunders in standard games until about 1250+. At about 1500 and over, blunders should be extremely rare.

But live chess with 10 minute time and under, yeah...that is a different beast. Most anything can happen in games like that due to the time constraints. I mostly avoid them =/

The <900 players are playing Chess, you're not.  It sounds like they're clearly superior to you tactically.  Memorizing the Grunfeld 10 moves in isn't playing Chess unless you know how to exploit their inferior "novelty" moves.  The fact that you can't exploit their seemingly nonsensical moves tells me you're not much more superior to them, you just think you are because you're copying off of better players.  Chess at the low level is ALL about tactics, traps, and fast mates.  I would recommend you stop being arrogant.

Charming... I recommend manners.

wrote the man that created an account for posting but not for playing so no one can see how good he is....
and how do people win games copying other players? is that a shortcut to GM title?

 subinde_vinco: nice link, but I think it refers to better players than me

wait, this site is only for playing?  wow.

luckily the guy who loses to 900s and 800s let me in on the secret.

secret?

your stupid secret

what secret??????????

is it really necessary to be offensive?

i'm being offensive?  you're the guy that tried to belittle someone who made a comment in your wacky thread becasue he's posting but he hasn't played a game on this site--as if the site serves only one purpose.  you found the secret rule and i'm sooooo impressed.

Good onya flags!!  

this is fun

I nowhere wrote this site is just for playing

it is undenyable that some users try to avoid comments on their skills by creating accounts just for posting

pointing someting out is not belittleing (?)

A low rating means you have lost a lot, but you can, after all, play unrated games on here. There might be a good number of players on here that would have no trouble achieving higher ratings, but have stopped playing rated games in favor of unrated ones since they enjoy preying on higher rated players that underestimate them. Some of them might have been bad enough to get, or deliberately obtained a very poor rating to make it even easier to be underestimated.

It doesn't really matter for you at all. If you got beat, you made mistakes. Find them and work on them. I wouldn't waste a shred of a thought on your rating or that of your opponents.

@ilikeflags: To be fair to lo96, he wasn't the one who started making rude and unhelpful posts. If he's to blame for something, it's the poor comeback.

EDIT: To answer a question from the original post: "Do I suck at chess?" Well, I can't speak for you, but when I ask myself that question I always come out "Oh dear god yes." There are so many aspects of chess that I haven't come close to grasping, so many mistakes I still haven't stopped making. I will probably never stop sucking for my entire life.

It doesn't matter, because it's still damned fun.

lo96: One answer is that rating might not mean that much; there are often a lot of real-world distractions when playing live chess after all.  Also, when I play a higher rated player, I really want the win and play my best (because sometimes it's hard to find a higher-rated player willing to play someone rated 200 below them).  And kudos to you for having manners.

Sorry for having an offensive tone in my post, I also made alot of assumptions which might not have been appropriate.  Anyway, what I was saying was actually already mentioned here:

by Teary_Oberon

A lot of intermediate players (like in an under 1500 tournament) can fall into the trap of relying too much on set openings and memorization, so when a novice starts playing totally out of nowhere, strange moves it can throw them off.

This is your problem, and then you most likely lose to the tactical aspect.

+1

good year that