One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet on this page is the huge role of overconfidence in chess. It serves as a devilish kind of levelling factor: If I play so

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet on this page is the huge role of overconfidence in chess. It serves as a devilish kind of levelling factor: If I play someone much lower-rated than me, it's hard to care much about the game. I will play careless aggressive moves, make reckless sacrifices, thinking anything will be good enough. They will be playing a much higher-rated person. Winning will mean a lot to them, they'll try hard, focus intently, make the most of resources etc. Because of this, I've often had the impression that higher-rated people are easier to beat than lower! Then when you get in a very easily won position, it's really hard to keep focus, you just think it's already won, are already celebrating in your mind. But in chess, one slip is often fatal, no matter how winning you are. Or there are stalemate tricks, and the win is thrown away. And the more you're winning, the more paths to victory to select from, and the less you care to think about it. You impatiently wonder why the other guy hasn't resigned already. Thus the saying "There's nothing harder to win than a won game". When you are losing, you focus, use every resource... Survival mode kicks in.