I think that sometimes it has a lot to do with the types of games they play.
My blitz games are mostly 2 12 and if I play someone who has the same rating
as I do sho plays mostly 3 0 games for example, they are generally much
stronger than I am.

"Ian Hurley" wrote in message
...
I recently lost several games to 2 different players, and in both cases I
felt
that although our ratings were similar, their play was significantly
stronger. On checking their ratings, I noticed that both had recently had
much much higher ratings.

Player 1 - currently rated in the high 1800s, but only last year had a
blitz
rating
of almost 2600

Player 2 - currently about 1750 but only 3 months ago had a blitz rating
of
about 2250

no matter how badly I play, I never lose 700 points or anywhere near. How
is
it that some players have a rating substantially lower than a few months
ago?