Playing Weaker Opponents

What do you think about playing weaker opponents before a tournament in order to gain confidence? Is this a good idea?

i like to go in tournaments feeling good as i want to go into games confident in regular games as well. when i'm feeling down about my chessplaying abilities its nice to take a win over someone who is 150 pts below you. also usually there are tons of tactics in there you get to employ so it helps your tactical edge.

I gain much more confidence out of beating players rated higher than I am.

true but if you play a bunch of games before a tourney and play all higher rated players and lose the majority of them it doesn't really set the spirit....

Originally posted by kmac27
true but if you play a bunch of games before a tourney and play all higher rated players and lose the majority of them it doesn't really set the spirit....

You can't improve by playing weak opposition. Psychologically you will e on firmer ground if you know your limitations. Going into a tournie after winning 100 games against sub 1000 graded players is not going to help much when you get beaten in your first game. Will you be prepared to deal with this loss? One would think not...

I find I get better results in otb tourneys by holding my opponent in high esteem...like think that they are really good and have to play carefully....keeps you alert and when they make a mistake its a huge sigh of relief. The worst thing you do when playing an opponent is think before the game that you are better then them, it really messes you up

Originally posted by Restless Soul
I find I get better results in otb tourneys by holding my opponent in high esteem...like think that they are really good and have to play carefully....keeps you alert and when they make a mistake its a huge sigh of relief. The worst thing you do when playing an opponent is think before the game that you are better then them, it really messes you up

Don't think it.

Prove it.

Originally posted by Restless Soul
I find I get better results in otb tourneys by holding my opponent in high esteem...like think that they are really good and have to play carefully....keeps you alert and when they make a mistake its a huge sigh of relief. The worst thing you do when playing an opponent is think before the game that you are better then them, it really messes you up

I am the same.

I always used to outplay people and then make huge mistakes. I gradually learnt to stop being complacent, but it took many defeats before I realised I was not as good as I thought I was.

Wait for them to get an idea.

Then show them what's wrong with it.

This piece of advice was bought to you by the beer mats of the world.

Originally posted by Restless Soul
I find I get better results in otb tourneys by holding my opponent in high esteem...like think that they are really good and have to play carefully....

strange. for me its vice versa. I keep thinking how badly my opponents play and how pathetic moves they keep playing. You can even bluff against weaker opponents (ie. make unsound sacrifices) coz you know your opponents dont have courage do "go for it".

I would think you'd want to play some games against people at about your level before going in (if only casually).

If you seem to be winning a lot of those games, your confidence will be better founded than defeating easy opponents, and thus more powerful. If you lose a lot of those games, you might be able to discover something to keep an eye on in talking with them.

Originally posted by Jusuh
strange. for me its vice versa. I keep thinking how badly my opponents play and how pathetic moves they keep playing. You can even bluff against weaker opponents (ie. make unsound sacrifices) coz you know your opponents dont have courage do "go for it".

Thats true for most of them. Eventually this strategy will burn you when someone does call your bluff.

Hmm... it's a bit like this...

I sometimes play chess against my 3 year old brother before a tournament, he doesn't know how to move the pieces, let alone walk or talk... However, I win, and therefore feel like a God walking into that tournament!

😏

Originally posted by Jusuh
strange. for me its vice versa. I keep thinking how badly my opponents play and how pathetic moves they keep playing. You can even bluff against weaker opponents (ie. make unsound sacrifices) coz you know your opponents dont have courage do "go for it".

One trick is to threaten checkmate - half the time they don't notice.

The difficulty with only playing weaker players is that you end up unable to cope with the demands of playing stronger players. The main problem with only playing stronger players is what it does to your self-confidence. You should try to keep it more or less even with some easy games to remind you that you do know how to play, and some games against people who are going to give you a hard time to learn how to play better.

Against weaker rated opponents, sometimes I like to use openings that I don't usually use against stronger rated opponents. 😀