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Curtis · 01-31-2009, 10:59 AM

Granted, my personal experiences have been with ping pong and chess. In my experience, I get better when I play people at my own level or just a little above… or a little below, if they have a different style than I'm accustomed to. I get sloppy when I have a steady diet of players noticably worse than I am, and I get frustrated against players who are noticably better.

For years now I've been looking for a computer chess program to play against, because I'm a 900 on a really good day, and the variable programs available for the Mac bottom out at 1200. The Chessmaster series, which I played briefly when I had access to a friend's PC, went all the way down to 500, and it was really ideal. I could really only keep focused in a relatively tight band between 800 and 900. Ping pong was similar (except that my rating would be considerably higher).

To maybe more support RonCo's point, I've read that most people who play chess alot can be competitive (and, I assume, learn things from playing) in a 400 point band, rather than my 100. (That would be 200 points above and below their actual rating.)

01-31-2009, 10:59 AM	#10 (permalink)
Curtis Hall Of Famer Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Watertown, New York Posts: 4,530 Thanks: 1 Thanked 108x in 91 posts	Granted, my personal experiences have been with ping pong and chess. In my experience, I get better when I play people at my own level or just a little above… or a little below, if they have a different style than I'm accustomed to. I get sloppy when I have a steady diet of players noticably worse than I am, and I get frustrated against players who are noticably better. For years now I've been looking for a computer chess program to play against, because I'm a 900 on a really good day, and the variable programs available for the Mac bottom out at 1200. The Chessmaster series, which I played briefly when I had access to a friend's PC, went all the way down to 500, and it was really ideal. I could really only keep focused in a relatively tight band between 800 and 900. Ping pong was similar (except that my rating would be considerably higher). To maybe more support RonCo's point, I've read that most people who play chess alot can be competitive (and, I assume, learn things from playing) in a 400 point band, rather than my 100. (That would be 200 points above and below their actual rating.) __________________ 2012 — The year for Inside The Park 2!