What should I set as my rating range of opponents if I aim to do the following:
1) to increase rating
2) to improve?
Currently I am playing lowest up to -200 of my rating, no upper limit (not that many high rated want to play me though).
Clearly, I don't want to play too low rated players, since even if I win it is meaningless (as in I don't learn much), and in the event of a loss it is a big drop in rating points.
What do you guys set as your opponent rating threshold?
I'd go for about 100-150 up and down from my rating. So if I'm at 1850, I'd look for 1750 to 1950, and if its slim picking for whatever reason I'd go with 1700-2000. Obviously you want to play higher rated opponents, but hey, beggars can't be choosers, lol. I myself am loathe to play opponents lower than 150 of where I'm at in the ratings because a loss of 20 points is tough to swallow... and I've had plenty of losses to lower rated clowns that really puts me off to playing those much lower than my rating. Just using the quick-game buttons is fine for me since the pairings rarely go outside that 150 boundary.
I would love to go for only -100 in rating, but to get a game faster I go -200 most of the time (no top limit naturally).
So I'd say keep doing what you are doing to achieve improvement and rating gain.
Both to improve and to increase rating the rating of your opponents should be as high as possible.
But to enjoy the fun of winning a lower rating is advised.
I go for -50 to no upper limit.
Improving (getting stronger at chess) is not the same thing as getting a high number by your name
and I play above my rating and play well
I think you are correct in separating those two questions:
1) to increase rating
Here, the range of opponent ratings should not matter.
The points you gain/lose for beating/losing opponents is a function of your win probability. My understanding of the Glicko-2 ratings, is that is specifically designed so that the expected value of playing high rated players is the same as the expected value of playing low rated players.
If your playing strength remains constant, your rating should remain constant (on average), regardless of whether you tend to play strong or weak elements from the pool.
Basically, you can't "game" the Glicko-2 ratings on your own (you would need to coordinate with a sandbagger).
2) to improve?
Here you have a good point: Playing low-rated players constantly might not be good for your own playing strength. But again, that's a different question.
I take between 1500-2900. Normally You wont get anyone over 100-150+ above your rating but on the 1/100 chance that it happens its worth it. Also I don't mind playing 100-700 points below my rating. I wish that people who were 2000 would play me when i was 1100.
So I try to let the lower rated people play. Sure they can get wins off of me but that's my fault and they deserve the victories.
I think you can learn a lot from playing people 300-400 points below you. I use to play different against the weaker players and this gave them chances to win that i would not allow a titled player.
In a tournament if you play in a U2000 section there is Always someone around 1200-1500 who is playing up. and don't sneer at them they take games off of 1800-1900s every so often. I think its important to learn to play against those who have lower ratings, if you play it by ear you may find yourself on the receiving end of "Brilliant sacrifice" that you allowed because he/she was 400 points below you so he/she isn't a threat.
When i was 900 I beat 2 1400 and one 1700 which took me to 1300 and I always seemed to excel at beating the higher rated opponents but sometimes i would be lucky to draw someone who is studying and coming up from the triple digits.
#6 If you improve, then your rating goes up as well, so both are the same.
@tpr oh yes, of course. My point was that you can't game the system. There's no good strategy beyond what leads to self.omprovement.
We're in agreement.
I play mostly above my rate a do not consider my opponent rating. After all you get points when you beet a lower rated player. Any player that is rated well above me is free to challenge me to a game (I do not play blitz or bullet try a 30 minute game) rating do not matter look at any "High rated player" most play many thousand games against lower rated players and they play only bullet,blitz etc
