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 How to cope with losing to a lower rated playerFirstly, I hope that everyone is now settling in to my Club! There is one issue that I feel is worth airing, it is ....... Anybody had that terrible sinking feeling that their position is soooo shot that they are gonna have to hit that resign button? It is bad enough when that player is near your rating but a hell of a lot worse when that player is far south of your rating. I remember playing for Cambridgeshire U100s against Nottinghamshire U100s against a young lad rated 20 ECF points below me. I was doing very well until I slipped up late on in the endgame and lost it. My captain was angry with me, particularly as my game was the decider and our team lost overall - he said that I should have won it. That humiliation and regret stuck with me for a long time and it reinforced my preference to play players much higher than my rating - at least the underdog is not expected to win. On gameknot the thought of losing 20 points if you are playing a rated game is really ghastly. When my Gameknot rating was in the 1500s - high 1600s I played 20 odd games with a player rated between the high 1100s to mid-1300 - that player later reached an optimum rating of over 1400 before a series of timeouts took him back down again. He is known as The Dentist. Although I managed to win many of my 20 odd games against him and conceded the odd Low Draw, the wins were not as convincing as they ought to be. In the middlegame I would be a pawn up or the position would be even material wise, but boy did I not get an attack of passivitis big time and I would be struggling like mad and then thankfully he would make a big slip up and I would be back in the game and then go on to win it. So, although I was getting the wins, psychologically I was a beaten woman and eventually I ended up with this near miss:- gameknot.com Sadly, by the way I was playing against him, defeat was an accident waiting to happen. Luckily when it did I was playing him unrated. gameknot.com So, I did get that horrid sinking feeling when I found I was about to be 3 pawns down with no compo whatsoever and a horrid passive position to boot I felt there was no option but to have a large glass of vino to give me the Dutch courage I needed to hit that resign button. It seemed like a fate worse than death! Strangely, after hitting the resign button I felt as though a 10000 tonne weight had been lifted off my shoulders. The worst had happened and I told myself that the only way was up. Luckily, at the time, I was listening to Gloria Gaynor's "I will survive" on the radio when I did it. Not long after that I won a game against a 1400 player that I looked destined to lose and it gave me the boost I needed. Not long after that my rating climbed rapidly past 1700 and thankfully up to the high 1700s and then my timeout boost to where I am now - in the high 1900s. Thankfully, in most of my subsequent games against The Dentist, and particularly after this one which came immediately after my defeat to him, I have crushed him early doors and have not allowed the passivitis scenario to come into the equation against him:- gameknot.com Since then I have lost to lower rated players but I have resolved to learn from my mistakes and move on as quickly as possible. Yes, I do intend to inflict an upset on my Expert/Master opponents, but if it happens to you - remember - it is not the end of the world and I know you guys have not got those ratings for nothing and I can certainly be prepared for a huge dose of revenge! Anyhow, I hope you have all enjoyed your Xmas Turkey. I am going with my family to see the in-laws tomorrow for another ceremonial present opening - lurvely! So, have a nice evening all of you. Kind regards Joanne |
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Lower rank does not always translate into much worse a player I also notice when I take on a game with somebody who is, lets say, 1100 or so I go in with too much confidence, bordering on arrogance. Well, I used to. I have been quite humbled, but the point being even now I may just assume I will win the game. I devote more time to the games with the higher ranked guys and suddenly I find myself in a real mess, often dealing with a lower ranked guy who is just pummeling away, like Rock Balboa going against Apollo Creed, just wanting to go the distance. I recently just barely won such a game and only because my 1100ish opponent blundered big time while in a winning position. Many of my 1300-1400 area chess mates have won games against 1700+ players as is shown in their profiles. It can simply be a case of the 1700+ playing a bad game while the 1300 guy plays a good one. Or the 1700 guys plays a good game, but his lower ranked rival just plays a better one that day. It happens. In the long run the better player will win more and no doubt have his/her revenge. Many guys 1300 to 1400 are always looking for that game and I think what separates the 1400 player from the 1800 one is simple consistency. Like what separates the good cook from the chef. Playing that match well from game to game the way the chef cooks the same meal to near perfection each time. Guys my level just get overwhelmed or dazzled by too many games with complex moves and situations, but there will that one here and there where their potential bursts through, and they win. Ultimately they slip back as they cannot sustain that level, especially if they are playing too many games to focus, but I do feel they should be given their due. But sometime they play a player 300 or 400 higher and win. I think they deserve a "good game" from their higher ranked opponent. I beat a guy a couple hundred points higher than me once and he blocked me! He was lecturing me all through the game and I was humbly taking it in, when suddenly he 1) lost his queen (he said he did it on purpose to beat me with just his rooks) and then 2) lost a rook. Sort of funny really. But he resigned and blocked me. He was the better player in the big picture. I just got him one game and he could not cope. Maybe once a person is over 1800 losing is a whole different thing, but for me is part of just logging into Gameknot. "Hmmm, lets see who beat me today?" |
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Frustrating as it is to lose against somebody lower rated, ratings protectionism is a bit silly, as the elo system ensures your rating stays more or less where it should be based on your level of play. Of course very high rated players may be justified in some protectionism given that they might end up playing 20 games against Houdini if they aren't selective about who they play rated games against. But generally speaking it is futile. And most importantly, almost all loses are a learning opportunity to improve your game. |
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