hills and valleys in ratings

What causes hills and valleys in the ratings chart for a lot of people? I have these as well. Some people don't rise and fall, but I have done this.

winning streak/losing streak?

Originally posted by TomCr
What causes hills and valleys in the ratings chart for a lot of people? I have these as well. Some people don't rise and fall, but I have done this.

I think the biggest issue is having too many games on the go. this leads to mass resigning/timeouts or poor play. I ran up a silly number at one point and I needed to play far too quickly to make all the neccessary moves. I played on in all my games but not very well! i know talking to some of my opponents that they have mass resigned games. There also the last minute emergency. I played a guy who had to go to Iraq at short notice. I guess playing all his games out on time was the last thing on his mind.

When your rating is high you play high rated players giving more losses, forcing the rating to go down. When your rating is low you play low rated players forcing the rating to go up again. Thats why the chart have hills and valleys characteristic.

When you're on a chess studying and playing streak (when you're motivated), it goes up, when your tired of chess and need a break (when you're unmotivated), it goes down.

Random walk.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_walk