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How do I focus when I play a tilted player?

Titled players put their pants on in the morning one leg at a time, the same as you. They are human and make mistakes too. :). Zen mode it and play chess. Last I heard, the pieces move the same for everyone (except Kasparov). Gl!
@Drhack

Thats a lie. Titled players do a reverse backflip off their chessboard and right into their pants. Both legs.
Freakin shirts even button themselves. I seen it.
That's a GREAT question! It actually has tandem ideas that stretch deep into other aspects of the game.

1. ZEN MODE is a good thing because you can't see your opponent's rating. So firstly, turn on Zen Mode.

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2. When I first touched 2000 a few months ago, instead of doing what I did when I reached 1800 and 1900, which is obsess over my rating and try to protect my rating like a baby, and everything else...

...I did something completely different this time.

I recognized that every time I reached a landmark, chess would become extremely stressful, and I could on longer focus on what I needed to be doing, which was to find the most efficient move for the position.

I would find myself trying to "protect" my rating, but meanwhile I didn't play in a way to "protect" anything in order to get where I was. So my own higher rating was causing me to play an inferior version of my best-self! So this time? I just TANKED my rating down to 1850, giving less than a damn, and knowing that one good afternoon would put me back to 2000.

Same thing if I was playing overrated opponents.

You're right!

***When you see that you're playing titled, you immediately entertain and envision and assume that you'll likely be checkmated, and this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, instead of you doing what you should be doing, and doing what you did to get where you were.***

Let me ask you something...

Do you ever notice when you're solving tactical puzzles that on first glance you don't see a winning attack?

Did you ever think, "if they didn't tell me 'white to move and win', I would have played a different move and blown an opportunity," while solving a puzzle?

OK.

So what I notice when I play my best chess, is, I notice that this little spidey-sense radar, that comes from the exact same place in my mind that dreams come from, alerts me to "STOP... ...WAIT...LOOK...THERE IS SOMETHING CRITICAL HERE TO FIND".

9 out of 10 times, I avoid a sickening blunder, see an attack that I need to defend against, and sometimes a crushing attack leading to better position.

NOTICE! Nowhere here is the idea of giving a damn about my opponent, their ratings, or anything else.

So at the end of the day, you just have to get a hold of your mind, and practice doing what it is that you came there to do, which is to ***find the best move for any given spot in your game***.

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WITH THAT SAID...When I was playing my game to break 2000, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't PURE NERVES. I am very lucky that I got a strong position early and managed to hold it. Sweaty palms, pounding heartbeat, and all the rest. Oh yes. I know exactly what you mean...but this should only be happening on millennial landmarks...not everytime you see someone that's overrated.

With a little work, tunnel-vision can be interrupted, so long as you acknowledge it and put in measures to counter it.

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3. Far far far far far too often, especially 10 years ago playing somewhere else, I would become extremely nervous when playing anyone that was +50 points better than me. When I was 1700, 1800 scared me. When I was 1800, 1900 scared me.

So upon playing these overrated players, titled or not, I felt that I couldn't win. The point that I started making in point #2, but didn't finish, is the point that:

When you start off from a position of, "MY OPPONENT DOESN'T MAKE MISTAKES, AND WILL PROBABLY WIN," it creates a total and complete 'blackout', a massive 'blind-spot' in terms of looking for, and finding mistakes.

***So what happens is that instead of punishing your VERY FALLIBLE opponent for their oversights, mistakes, and even outright blunders...we can easily, instead, find ourselves too busy shaking in our boots to prosecute them.***

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that if you knew your opponent was 200 points BELOW you, you would have seen that rook that they left hanging, or that one little move order that drops the bishop, or whatever.

But when they're 200 points ABOVE you, you're only looking for how they're beating you, and have no idea of the existence of their weaknesses. You've assumed it doesn't exist. You literally can't see it. YES. LITERALLY. Cognitive-dissonance will captivate you to the point that simply seeing that you're playing someone overrated on move 1., will cause you to miss shots that you would otherwise have found if you thought that you could beat your opponent.

"Overrated always beat me and play better. This is because they don't make mistakes. I will lose this game. Let me at least try to fight against this flawless opponent." < - - - You've already beaten yourself. Short of your opponent slipping his queen, or something equally crushing, there is no way to win. Even in a winning position, you'll make sure that you hand the keys right back ASAP.

It's a literal blindspot.

I know all of this is correct and exact, because I was playing someone overrated a few months ago...I got distracted for a few minutes...and when I returned...I was about to make the move that I was going to make before I got distracted...when I saw a bishop hanging.

I blinked twice...snapped it off the board...and my opponent resigned.

This is no joke. It is absolutely psychological.

Now, you've diagnosed this, so you can have high hopes that you'll finally move past this roadblock in the future with a little bit of attention. You'll be fine. Just start implementing the psychological mandates that will allow you to master your own mind.

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4. Play overrated!! Set your game filter to play NO MORE than 50 points below your rating, and about 200 points above.

So if your rating is 1670, set your filter to 1600 to 1900.

This way, you'll be making sure that iron sharpens iron.

This way, you'll find a good handful of overrated 1700 and 1800 trying to feed on you, and you will win, and your confidence will grow, and ratings won't matter quite as much.

This way, you'll routinely be playing overrated players to where you basically blitz your "omg I'm playing overrated they're going to beat me" nerves...to where it just becomes so common and normal.

***Trust me man...after a few wins vs. overrated...those nerves disappear entirely, and you become ferocious and eager to punish them for what you know now is completely inferior play. You will think, "I didn't beat you before because I didn't think that you could be got, but since then, I have a graveyard of your overrated kinfolk in my backyard...and I'm looking at you now.***
(1. e4 with bad intentions.)

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5. Try the following: The next time you have a deep instinctual sense, no matter how fleeting, no matter how clandestine, say to yourself the following sentence: There is a BIG problem in my opponent's position, just like a tactical puzzle, and it's my move to win...now let me...with this in mind...find the win.

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Do all of these things, and there is no doubt in my mind that you'll add at least 100 points to your rating, simply by mastering your own mind as pertains to the issue of nerves while playing overrated.

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If you found this helpful, gimme a thumbs up!

And whatever you do, win lose or draw, let me know how this all works out for you down the road.

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If you liked this, you might also appreciate the chapters I wrote on , *STUDY, BLUNDERS, THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN FUNDAMENTALS AND TACTICS, AND HOW THEY'RE ALL RELATED.*

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May your pieces find the best squares!
@DrHack
Now you know and knowing is half the battle.

*** Lol after re-reading my first post I now come to the realization that a reverse backflip....would be a flip. Lol***
Hmm @achja U r right I did beat a titled player but I have that inner feeling that I just suck Idk something has happen to my confidence, I feel I am low has the land and the sky is just to far to reach Idk but i beat a CM, but after that..... I feel like I am lossing I am feeling something wrong Idk why I feel like i am lost, btw the zen mode seems a good idea lets c what others think
Just confidence, it literally means nothing to beat one... I have beat titled players many times and I still suck at chess
I enjoyed the read DeeVeeOss.

The way one of my club friends put it to me was: you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain, worst case you lose a couple rating points best case you get a huge upset that guy will never forget.
Thansk for the tips there I liked the overated ideas of getting comfortable with overtared people thanks for the tips @DeeVeeOss
Is that even a problem? Usually when I see a high rated opponent it makes me concentrate on my game like "Oops, he's a pretty strong guy, but I still have chances to trick them, let's watch out carefully" and not like when I see "Oh, come on, he's 400 points belo... oops, that doesn't mean he can't see that blunder..."

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