Do you earn more points against lower or higher rated opponents?

My Insights show I earn way more points when playing higher rated opponents than lower rated ones. In fact my gain on "much weaker" is -1.4 while my gain against "much stronger" is 3.4.

I'm wondering about what other people's data are and how it can be interpreted. My guess is that I am more careful when playing higher-rated opponents so I play better.

Or when you won against a higher opponent, you earn more points, so, even though you lose against another higher opponent, the balance still positive.
And if you play a weaker opponent and you lose, you lose more points and a victory against another weaker opponent is not enough to catch the precedent losing points.

A theory I have - which is pretty hard to prove! - is that ratings systems tend to underestimate the chances of a weaker player winning against a stronger one.

There is some evidence for such a thing, discussed here:

http://en.chessbase.com/post/the-elo-rating-system-correcting-the-expectancy-tables

Part of the explanation may be that the stronger players get a bit careless, while the weaker ones are extra-alert and extra-motivated compared to normal.

Another part of the explanation may be that the mathematical assumptions that the rating systems are built on aren't such a perfect fit for reality. I think maybe they don't account for the fact that even strong players make many bad mistakes, and even a much weaker player can beat them when that happens.

i've seen people with lower rating than mine making less mistakes than me....we have to accept the fact the they might use engines, if not all the game, an important amount of time of it

@OnlySleeping

> Or when you won against a higher opponent, you earn more points, so, even though you lose against another higher opponent, the balance still positive.

The average sum of earnings should be 0 as you will lose more often than you will win against higher-rated opponents. For similar reasons it should be 0 as well for lower-rated opponents. The first preset question of your Insights indicates the departures from this expected figure.

@jvs

Lichess uses Glicko2 not ELO if I understand correctly.
If the FIDE ELO charts shown in the article also apply here, then indeed it would seem what I have is typical and should be the same for most players!
For some reason I assumed that the rating was made so that the average be 0.
As things are, it seems one would naturally climb up the Glicko2 ladder by just setting the opponent filter between 200 and 400 points above oneself as on average he will earn points.

In this case as in other cases, it would be nice to be able to compare, in Insights, one's figures with the average figures from all players.

This is a very interesting topic.

There are two explanations in my opinion:

1. Weaker players are more concentrate when playing against strong players. Stronger players are more careless, relaxed when playing against weaker opponents.

2. If you are a strong player, to change your rating you need more games played against weaker opponents (because if you win you gain just few points). But you don't play against the same opponent all the time, you play with different. So you are getting tired, but new opponents are yet full of energy.
When you play with opponents of your level, you need less games to change your rating, so you are not tired so much after games.

We had very aggressive discussion about this.
http://en.lichess.org/forum/team-30-seconds--0-time-control/discussion-of-rating-attributes

lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/why-am-i-not-in-the-rankings-in-the-bullet

lichess.org/forum/off-topic-discussion/is-playing-with-lower-rated-players-considered-boosting

Some called a player coward for playing only with much weaker opponents. And they were trying to prove that you win more rating points if you play against weak players. I were trying to prove the opposite.

As you see now, the statistics shows that you win more rating points against stronger opponents.

Also in this tread we see these opinions.

However, I was shut up in a very harsh way for trying to prove that playing against lower rated opponents doesn't benefit you at all, and, in contrast, even makes your chances to increase your rating smaller.

And I still am willing for an opportunity to find the truth.

Would be glad if I find people, who would like to find out the answer.

I checked the statistics of many people and I have found out that 19 of 20 players have the same statistics as you, JacquesD. They win more points against higher rated opponents.

@ciocca992

As you can see from the FIDE data in the article, it is NORMAL that weak players sometimes win against strong players. No cheating needs be involved.

@Chesstroll #8

OK, then this seems to confirm what I say in #6...