I noticed this happens a lot. A lot of players don't like to play against players the same rating as them. I come across this one player who was 1900+ and I just mostly see them play against people in the 1200-1300 range.
Now I am not generalizing people on here, but I suspect some people just want an easier game for easier points.
okay.
I set my filter so that I don't even see people rated below 2000, but I often get paired with low rated players (mostly 1500-1700) at the start of tournaments.
Chess24.com has a filter that allows you to challange only players within a range of your own rating.
I don't know but with a 400 point difference there should not even be a rating gain.
I think I can provide a little more insight into this as well. Lets say you play 1 classical game against someone of your playing strength... you might gain or lose a few points maybe even double digit. Assuming the game takes about an hour that gives you 10 points/60 minutes. If one played 3 "chumps" (people several hundred points below your rating) in classical games you can probably get the same amount of points or maybe more by finishing those games in 20 mins... much of who I play depends on how much time I have and how much I feel the need to play "winning" chess. Someone in the 1600 range can be used like a long tactics trainer for masters and I only want to play an hour plus long game every now and again :)
It really is just time management... or they are scared! lol
I have seen many people claiming this but my guess is that it's an illusion. In fact, on average, it seems people gain slightly more points by playing higher opponents, so this "cheating" would be self-defeating (my Insights do show I earn more points with higher opponents).
Of course, a stronger opponent will usually win, but they will earn 1 or 2 points every time. And then every 10 games or so they will be defeated and lose 30 points.
fr.lichess.org/insights/JacquesD/ratingDiff/opponentStrengthI posted once about it, and the discussion seemed to show that this is so most of the time.
Your insights arent public, so we can't see what you are saying. :)
Rating inflation that way seems defeatist anyway - if you are just trying to get your rating up by playing lower rated players, then you will lose against people of your new rating, because you haven't developed the skills necessary to compete at that rating level, surely? (Given that at some point you will play a game against someone of equal rating)
Sorry! and thanks for letting me know. The link should work now:
lichess.org/insights/JacquesD/ratingDiff/opponentStrengthLet me answer your question in the form of a question. Why does anyone play against anyone?
Another thing that I am seeing is that I have (slightly) more games with lower rated player, while my matching filter never contained an upper limit, and does contain a lower limit. If you're above half of the bell curve, there are more lower opponents than higher opponents, so I guess that's why you play more often with lower-rated players.
