You are probably not used to seeing the board in 2d. Just stick with it. If you are truly that stregth your rating will eventually get there.
Why am I worse at chess on this wesite than in real life?
Sort:
Or, maybe you're playing while distracted here.
It's probably because you are not playing as seriously online as when you play "in real life." I know that's true for me. I sometimes log in when I have a few minutes to kill, and then make my moves without much thought. At times, I have some other appointment or event in a few minutes and have to rush to get in my move(s). Often, I am playing with distractions in the background. In contrast, if I play an "official" OTB game, it is usually as part of a tournament, where they enforce rules about no noise etc. I am also in a more serious mood because the whole reason I am at the tournament is to play chess. That is not to say that I play perfectly or don't ever blunder at an OTB tournament; it's just that the probability is lower because I am playing more seriously and paying closer attention to the game.
Well, let me explain it this way Darkness (nice name by the way)... If you sit in a room filled with mindless baboons who put a chess set on a table and would be seen as amateur to ordinary players, then you'll have a very good chance of defeating every single one of them and if by chance any of those players are "rated" after having beaten similar amateur players, then there is a good chance that you could have an inflated rating yourself. It is similar to pouring sand in a sandbox. At home, you have a small sandbox with less sand. Online, you have a big sandbox with more people (thousands) some overrated, some under rated, some just simply crazy or close to borderline insane. So, I hope I have helped to clarify the situation for you without making it sound overly confusing or pressing your mind to the brink of exhaustion.
AlCzervik wrote:
Or, maybe you're playing while distracted here.
Very good point... I have tried to play chess while watching TV and it did not improve my concentration. In fact I think I lost 10 games in a row. True story
[Edited - DB]
One other factor -- which probably only applies to an old carmudgeon like me -- is that I "see" the board better with a physical board versus a virtual chess board. The same is true when I try read chess books -- the 2-D representations somehow just are not the same as a real 3-D chess board. I usually have to set up a real board to really understand a position. Remarkably, I often have better insight when looking at a real chess board as compared to the 2-D representation of the same position. I also find that sometimes it helps for me to walk around to the other side of the board to better understand my opponent's plans. It really shouldn't make a difference, but it does!
FEAR_THE_JOKER wrote:
Well, let me explain it this way Darkness (nice name by the way)... If you sit in a room filled with mindless baboons who put a chess set on a table and would be seen as amateur to ordinary players, then you'll have a very good chance of defeating every single one of them and if by chance any of those players are "rated" after having beaten similar amateur players, then there is a good chance that you could have an inflated rating yourself. It is similar to pouring sand in a sandbox. At home, you have a small sandbox with less sand. Online, you have a big sandbox with more people (thousands) some overrated, some under rated, some just simply crazy or close to borderline insane. So, I hope I have helped to clarify the situation for you without making it sound overly confusing or pressing your mind to the brink of exhaustion.
I am a little bit confused.
DarknesMetalDragon wrote:
I am a little bit confused.
To be honest.. so am I, but it makes me a happier person.
Excellent resopnse Fear. Maybe you can help me. I have decided to improve my game by studying the openings the defenses. Play more...more seriously. After two years. my ratings have dropped 100 points. Now my question is.... how do determine if i am a normal Baboon or a crazy Baboon in a sandbox. And am i the only chess player driven crazy by chess. Sadly im serious about the last question. 
vsopwill wrote:
Excellent resopnse Fear. Maybe you can help me. I have decided to improve my game by studying the openings the defenses. Play more...more seriously. After two years. my ratings have dropped 100 points. Now my question is.... how do determine if i am a normal Baboon or a crazy Baboon in a sandbox. And am i the only chess player driven crazy by chess. Sadly im serious about the last question.
Dear Vsop, judging from your insightful self examination, I would say that you are a normal baboon. With a 1500 rating online, you probably have enough skills to get you by against ordinary players, but not quite enough skill to beat the truly great grandmasters of chess.
Don't let it get you down and remember that chess is a great game. Try to be a good sport in bad situations and try to recognize when it's time to change a few things in order to get better. I once bought a chess book and fell asleep with it on my face and when I woke up in the morning, I knew all of the contents of the book by heart and played excellent chess online. I thought that I absorbed the information through my forehead, but when I thought about it, I probably just read the entire book and was so tired afterwards that I forgot that I had finished its contents. True story.
FEAR_THE_JOKER wrote:
Well, let me explain it this way Darkness (nice name by the way)... If you sit in a room filled with mindless baboons who put a chess set on a table and would be seen as amateur to ordinary players, then you'll have a very good chance of defeating every single one of them and if by chance any of those players are "rated" after having beaten similar amateur players, then there is a good chance that you could have an inflated rating yourself. It is similar to pouring sand in a sandbox. At home, you have a small sandbox with less sand. Online, you have a big sandbox with more people (thousands) some overrated, some under rated, some just simply crazy or close to borderline insane. So, I hope I have helped to clarify the situation for you without making it sound overly confusing or pressing your mind to the brink of exhaustion.
Vsopwill's post makes me wonder the same thing. Joker, can you tell me whether I am a baboon or an ordinary player. Btw, Vsopwill, I think you should create a forum for your question.
markgravitygood wrote:
Playing online chess in a correspondence time control is a great way to practice your "thinking methods". It is useful to have a checklist next to your computer that you mentally go through each move to come up with your ideas.
The basics are stuff like "Checks, Captures, threats". Just sticking to that you probably won't drop any pieces and you'll likely play a little more aggressively. Another way to go is to use Silmans Imbalances and go through each one each move:
Minor Pieces - the interplay between Bishops and Knights (trying to make one superior to the other).
Pawn Structure - a broad subject that encompasses doubled pawns, isolated pawns, backward pawns, passed pawns, etc.
Space - the annexation of territory on a chess board.
Material - owning pieces of greter value than the opponent's.
Files and squares - files, ranks, and diagonals act as pathways for your pieces, while squares act as homes. Whole plans can center around the domination of a file, or the creation of a weak square in the enemy camp.
Development - a lead in development gives you more force is a specific area of the board. This is a temporary imbalance because the opponent will eventually catch up.
Initiative - dictating the tempo of a game. This is also a temporary imbalance.
There are probably at least 100 other documented methods of thinking to avoid bad play. If you think you are all that you can try Bangiev's Squares Strategy Method. Have tylenol ready.
The key is to practice any method consistently and make it routine for yourself.
Blah blah blah.. how about opening a six pack of Bud and popping your head against a wall instead?
Don't waste your time thinking about chess in such old fashioned ways. Think outside the box and try new things.. like playing chess naked with the air conditioner running. I do it all of the time and I believe it makes me a better chess player
FEAR_THE_JOKER wrote:
... like playing chess naked with the air conditioner running. I do it all of the time and I believe it makes me a better chess player
cool ideal. I'll try it sometime
I mean idea
macer75 wrote:
cool ideal. I'll try it sometime
Don't forget to close the windows. Your neighbors might get the wrong idea if you're sitting in front of the computer naked with your face glued to the monitor.
I see you haven't tried Online Chess here. My advice is to start a couple of games with a 3 or 5 day turn base. Swear off Game 30, Blitz etc. for at least a month. Then try it again. You may find that those 'long thinks' have improved your quick time play.
anpu3 wrote:
I see you haven't tried Online Chess here. My advice is to start a couple of games with a 3 or 5 day turn base. Swear off Game 30, Blitz etc. for at least a month. Then try it again. You may find that those 'long thinks' have improved your quick time play.
The problem is I don't like to play that kind. I have tried it before on other sites, but I hate it. If they had an hour or two hour or even three hour version, I would play it, but I don't like playing turn-based games, because in a real chess tournament game, that isn't going to happen. Plus, I forget to go the next day, so I end up losing. When two grandmasters play each other, they don't play turn based games. Turn based games are not real chess.
That's interesting, I've often seen people suggest that ratings on here are quite often higher than the player's OTB rating.
For many people though, computer use can influence behaviour which affects concentration. Many people who go online can find themselves flitting between different tabs; checking facebook on one tab, email on another, reading a news article on another and so on. You then build a psychological association between going online and feeling your attention needs to be jumping between several things at once and it gets difficult to truly focus on one thing for long periods. It's just like many people have developed compulsions to check their phone nearly every few minutes and can't simply relax and focus on something else or even just sit quietly doing nothing, like on train or bus rids.
The following article sums it up well: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/7967894/How-the-Internet-is-making-us-stupid.html
It could well be in your case that the psychological associations you have made when using the net are hampering your ability to concentrate as well as you could do, having a niggling feeling something else might need your attention, even just subconsciously.
Of course, everything I suggested might simply be wrong in your case and one of the other suggestions above is the reason. Hope you find out whatever it is that seems to be holding you back!
Acoustician wrote:
That's interesting, I've often seen people suggest that ratings on here are quite often higher than the player's OTB rating.
For many people though, computer use can influence behaviour which affects concentration. Many people who go online can find themselves flitting between different tabs; checking facebook on one tab, email on another, reading a news article on another and so on. You then build a psychological association between going online and feeling your attention needs to be jumping between several things at once and it gets difficult to truly focus on one thing for long periods. It's just like many people have developed compulsions to check their phone nearly every few minutes and can't simply relax and focus on something else or even just sit quietly doing nothing, like on train or bus rids.
The following article sums it up well: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet/7967894/How-the-Internet-is-making-us-stupid.html
It could well be in your case that the psychological associations you have made when using the net are hampering your ability to concentrate as well as you could do, having a niggling feeling something else might need your attention, even just subconsciously.
Of course, everything I suggested might simply be wrong in your case and one of the other suggestions above is the reason. Hope you find out whatever it is that seems to be holding you back!
No that is not the case at all. I'm on there for the entire chess game. I don't go on other tabs at all.
I'm finding out that I keep stay around the 930 level on here, but in real life, I have a rating of approx. 1400. In over the board, I don't leave pieces on here en prise, but here I do it pretty often, so I know for sure that I am worse on here. Why is that? How can I play as good as I do in real life on here. If I can't learn to play as well as I do in real life, I can't really have good practice here. I am noticing that I leave them en prise closer to the end of the game with slightly reduced material. E.g, I played this game against a player who was about 370 points ahead of me (about 1300) and I would have likely beaten him, except for, I left my queen en prise.
Game: http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=593859404
I've playing on here two consecutive months.
en prise: moving pieces to a square that is being attacked without intention of letting it get captured.
My profile: http://www.chess.com/members/view/DarknesMetalDragon
(Newly added):One possible reason I might stay at this level is that I get overconfident about my moves and I forget to see if it is a blunder, or don't take long enough to do. But if that's the case, why don't I in real life?