• bryan s posted an update

      9 months ago

      I have another question if I may: My ELO is 500-600 on Rapid (15:10 games) vs my ELO on daily games of 800-900. I noticed some of the others I have played in my range are also doing the same thing – +300.

      Playing Daily games on chess.com is like doing a chess puzzle for me and after a few minutes I can figure it out.

      I have only been playing for 12 months & am 70 years old. There is a lot to learn in this game.

      Why is there such a dramatic difference of 300 ELO between Rapid games and Daily games for me?

      Is this a clear signal I need to slow down my playing responses in the middle game in a Rapid game? Is that the issue? I notice that some 15-minute Rapid games have ended & I still had 11 minutes left on the clock…

      • I have a 600 rating difference between Rapid (766) and Daily (1344). Daily games give you much more time to consider moves and the analysis tool which is indispensable for blunder checks so I play much better on daily. I think all the streamers playing 10 minutes games gives us mere mortals false expectations.

        If you are winning 15 minutes games with 11 minutes still on the clock I wouldn’t worry about it. But if you are losing games with 11 minutes still on the clock it is a clear sign you need to slow down and spend more time thinking about each move.

        1
        • Daily (or correspondence) games are just different than playing Rapid (or OTB in person). You will typically see that daily games will be a higher rating simply because you have more time to make your moves (less likely to blunder pieces and you have plenty of time to calculate multiple lines and choose the best one). In Rapid games, oftentimes you have to sacrifice move quality for time efficiency. If you do that enough times you will have a less accurate game. It also increases the likelihood of blundering. If you can only do a quick 30 second – 1 minute check vs. a 5 minute check, you will inevitably make more mistakes. Then it really comes down to who makes the first mistake and then converting. I don’t actually play daily games unless I know the person IRL to make sure that they aren’t using an engine. Just keep playing and you’ll get better in both formats.