From what pros are saying after matches, especially in classical chess, it's almost always preparation and metagaming the opponent vs finding good moves. It's

From what pros are saying after matches, especially in classical chess, it's almost always preparation and metagaming the opponent vs finding good moves. It's a lot of mind games involved, going for specific openings, repeating same moves as last match, doing a poor by surprising, move etc. Many GMs said that to win a match you have to play non-ideal moves many times, otherwise it will likely end in a draw.