Where rating goes besides openings and tactics
Players rated under 1700 look for rating points in openings and tactics. Meanwhile some points are lost for other reasons:
- Tilt after a loss: you sat down to win the points back and lost three more games.
- Time pressure in a winning position: a piece hung in the last seconds.
- Resigning too early, in a position that still had play in it.
- Chasing an immediate rematch with an opponent you hated losing to.
chess.rodeo counts several of these on the Game Insights page, over the games of the period you choose. The sections below explain how to read each number and what to do about it.
Tilt Rate: a loss right after a loss
Tilt Rate is the share of losses among games played right after a loss. Next to the number the page puts a verdict: “Calm” up to 30%, “Tilting” from 30% to 50%, “On tilt” above 50%.
What to do:
- Stop after two losses in a row. Close the site and take a break of at least 30 minutes. Don’t start one more game to win the points back.
- Don’t play blitz after losing a rapid game. Blitz leaves less time to calculate, so you blunder even more.
- Check your Tilt Rate once a week. If it is rising, the cause may lie outside chess: lack of sleep or stress.
A Tilt Rate above 50% means that after a loss you lose the next game more often than not. A routine helps: sleep and breaks. It is worth writing down in advance when you do not sit down to play, for example after a sleepless night or after two losses in a row.
Recovery Rate: how you play after a loss
Recovery Rate is the reverse measure: the share of wins among games played right after a loss. Here higher is better. Above 40% the verdict is “Strong”, up to 20% it is “Fragile”, and in between “Shaky”.
The next game is the next one by time, even if you played it on another day. So you can recover through rest as well: a game played after a break counts too.
Timeout Rate: the cause is often the opening
Timeout Rate is the share of games you lost on time. Up to 8% the verdict is “Good”, above 15% it is “Problem”, and in between the page says “Watch it”.
If yours is above 15%, the time is most likely going in the opening: you don’t know the lines and think every move through from scratch.
What to do:
- Cut your opening repertoire down. If you play a new opening every game, pick one. Minimal opening repertoire explains how.
- Spend no more than a quarter of your time on the first 10 moves. In a 10-minute game that is two and a half minutes. If it takes five, you either have no repertoire or have not learned it.
- Look at the Move Times chart in the game analysis. It shows which moves you thought about longest.
Resignation Rate: are you resigning too early?
Resignation Rate is the share of games you resigned. Up to 20% the page calls you “Fighter”, from 20% to 35% the verdict is “Normal”, and above 35% it is “Giving up”.
Some resignations are premature: the player resigns in a position where the opponent has no clear winning plan yet. They show up when you review the game. You resigned right after losing a piece, although the opponent was still a long way from winning. Or you resigned in the heat of the moment without looking at what was left on the board: the position seemed hopeless, but an opponent of your level might not have won it.
The rule for rapid: don’t resign, play on to mate or to a draw. At 1300–1700 opponents blunder in winning positions too. An early resignation gives away a game you could have held, or won on the opponent’s mistake.
Blitz is different: in a hopeless position, at −5 or worse, resigning is reasonable.
Win and loss streaks
Under the four rates the page shows Best Win Streak and Worst Loss Streak. They tell you how evenly you play:
- A long win streak: you are in form, so change nothing.
- A long loss streak: you got upset, started playing worse and did not stop. You need a rest.
- Both streaks short, one or two games each: you play steadily.
Five or more losses in a row are a reason to stop and look for the cause: lack of sleep, stress, or opponents who are too strong.
Time budget by phase
A rule for rapid, 10+0 or 15+10:
- Opening, the first 10 moves: no more than a quarter of the clock.
- Middlegame, moves 11 to 35: about half.
- Endgame, after move 35: the remaining quarter.
You need the reserve because at 1300–1700 an endgame is decided by knowing exact positions (see 7 endgames). Without time you will not manage to recall them, and even a winning position will slip away.
An example: if 8 of your 10 minutes are gone by the endgame, two minutes are left for 25 moves, less than five seconds a move.
The Move Times chart
In the game analysis the Move Times chart sits under the evaluation graph: each bar shows how much time a move took. It is drawn for games that carry clock data. Look at it after every serious game:
- A tall bar in the opening. You don’t know the line: learn it or change the opening.
- A tall bar in the middlegame. If you saw a tactic and were calculating, the time was well spent. If you spent it looking for a move without knowing what you wanted from the position, you lacked a plan.
- Many short bars in the endgame. You were moving quickly, on intuition. Check whether you know the exact positions, the Lucena position for example.
Over a few weeks you will see what repeats: for instance, that you sink into thought every time you come out of the opening.
The rules in one list
- Get enough sleep. If you slept less than six hours, don’t play rated games.
- After two losses in a row, stop for at least 30 minutes.
- After five games in a row, take a break, even if you are winning.
- Don’t resign in rapid. The opponent can still go wrong.
- Open the coach once a week. The Report tab has the same statistics, and with Pro the coach also shows your typical mistakes and the openings where you lose points.
Related
- How to grow from 1300 to 1700: the overall training plan, with a section on psychology and time trouble.
- How to train tactics: how to solve puzzles so that you find the same tactics in your own games.
- Game analysis: reviewing your own game step by step.
- Common chess mistakes: where players at different levels lose points.