My take is -
Play up if you want to increase your rating & have a challenging but low-stress experience
Play even if you want to win money or practice dealing with high pressure matchups (beating lower rated players with Black and the like)
Lol I was literally just wondering this. I'm playing up in an event at the end of the month. A few other 1900s are there, and there are several people 400-500 points higher than me. I don't believe I'll be playing them too often, and even if I only can score like 1 win and like 1 draw, I'll still be happy with myself, as my dad's friend says that 1 win in a champion section is equal to 3 losses.
i think that is better to improve play more against better players
According to me, playing up is fine as long as it keeps you in touch with the game; playing against much higher-rated players helps you get insights, which help a ton in order for you to progress. As for the results, I'm always happy to win a few games if any, but the amount of learning matters much more. I also have a tournament in a week or two, and I am playing U19 (I am 14), but due to my rating, I am almost top seeded.
Have fun in your tournaments!
Nice article but feels incomplete
@AakashAlt said in #14:
> According to me, playing up is fine as long as it keeps you in touch with the game; playing against much higher-rated players helps you get insights, which help a ton in order for you to progress. As for the results, I'm always happy to win a few games if any, but the amount of learning matters much more. I also have a tournament in a week or two, and I am playing U19 (I am 14), but due to my rating, I am almost top seeded.
> Have fun in your tournaments!
U1900 or U19 as in age
I have mostly regretted it when I played up. The last time I did it I didn't win or draw a single game. My opponents were rated 250-350 point above me. The only thing that I got out of the experience was that I learned I need to work on my openings. Also I didn't get to play as many games I was hoping to. In the last round instead of getting to play I received a full point bye. This was a situation where I already missed playing a game because I requested a half point bye in an earlier round, so in a 5 round tournament I only got to play 3 games. The experience was unpleasant but it provided some motivation for studying so I guess it could be good in the long run.
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Another time I played 2 sections up at the Chicago Open. I regret this for a different reason. My rating was 1163 and for some reason I thought it was a good idea to play in the U1600 section. My result was okay. I scored 3.5/7.0 I was happy about it at the time, but later it left me wondering what would have happened if I had played in the U1200 section. It is hard to win a big tournament like Chicago but maybe I could have done it that time.
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There is another reason not to play up and that is that your friends who aren't chess players may not understand that a 50 percent score against higher rated opponents is a similar result as winning a tournament against lower rated opponents. It is more fun to tell these friends about tournament victories.
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On the other hand, if playing in your own section means playing against much lower rated opponents every round then it is probably better to play up. This is more common in local tournaments that don't have a lot of prize money. I am not often playing in those kinds of events.
@Cutesnoringbeast
U19 as in 19years of Age
Oh I played in an age on and I did decent but was top seeded aswell.