I once watched a 2100 ELO player lose to a 1200 ELO player for this exact reason. The instant I saw the game turn around, I could only pity the advanced player for expecting the novice to predict anything. Afterward, the advanced player was bizarrely shaken by the loss. I wish I had saved the replay.
The odds of winning between 1200 and 2100 is what, 1/1,000? It felt like seeing a unicorn.
I used to play tournament level chess. I found leaning into this to be quite effective.
I was never very good with memorising opening gambits. I excelled in the mid and late game however. If I realised (or suspected) my opponent was playing a preplanned gambit, I would make a deliberately suboptimal move or 2. I might lose some positional advantage, or even a pawn or 2. I could generally make it up, once my opponent was kicked off their rails.
I had somewhat of the same revelation when I was younger; a few classmates and myself subbed in for a sport we’d never played while the players went on a school trip
As we learned the traditional plays, I mentioned to my friend we might have an advantage because we had no idea what we were doing so wouldn’t do it “properly” and it might throw off the other team
It was chaos but my prediction was somewhat correct; coupled with our enthusiasm we did surprisingly well
I once watched a 2100 ELO player lose to a 1200 ELO player for this exact reason. The instant I saw the game turn around, I could only pity the advanced player for expecting the novice to predict anything. Afterward, the advanced player was bizarrely shaken by the loss. I wish I had saved the replay.
The odds of winning between 1200 and 2100 is what, 1/1,000? It felt like seeing a unicorn.
Edit: 1/179
I used to play tournament level chess. I found leaning into this to be quite effective.
I was never very good with memorising opening gambits. I excelled in the mid and late game however. If I realised (or suspected) my opponent was playing a preplanned gambit, I would make a deliberately suboptimal move or 2. I might lose some positional advantage, or even a pawn or 2. I could generally make it up, once my opponent was kicked off their rails.
I had somewhat of the same revelation when I was younger; a few classmates and myself subbed in for a sport we’d never played while the players went on a school trip
As we learned the traditional plays, I mentioned to my friend we might have an advantage because we had no idea what we were doing so wouldn’t do it “properly” and it might throw off the other team
It was chaos but my prediction was somewhat correct; coupled with our enthusiasm we did surprisingly well
As I once heard it, “practice makes predicable.”