I played Charles last year in a rapid game- I played the Smith Morra against his Sicilian- he looked briefly worried (he had just watched me almost beat an expert) and he instead weenied out into some slightly inferior position but one I didn't know so well. He then gradually outplayed me but at least I made him work for it. Hilarious title BTW,

Hi Steve, I really think you missed a trick with this game. A big theme here is psychology.

The higher rated, "stronger" player overpressed in an equal position. The "weaker" player, rather than taking advantage (Bxc3) got a bit defensive-minded and played the passive Bf6. Just 1 example. The game is crawling with them. Both sides played as if white had an advantage- and eventually becasue of this, he did!

You got a point there. Xiexin is young and this may well have been the case. For me, higher rated means the opposite to me. I talked with Lev Altounian about this matter some time ago, and he said that he sits down at the board and does whatever he can to intimidate his opponent, to make him scared. For me it makes no difference. Well, okay, when I made 1701 I was sure I'd never face anyone 1000 points higher and my first game at that rating was against Wojtkiewicz he was 2706. I knew I'd lose that one, but he told me after the tourney that that was his toughest game, and that was probably because I didn't care about his rating. Heck, half of that playing time he and I were outside shooting the bull and having a smoke or three or five.

I would suggest not to get worried about a person's rating, just play as best you can. If you lose, that's expected, no harm done. But if they lose, it's a much bigger deal! This has actually been my problem in reverse; against stronger players I do very well but people my own rating or lower I tend to take too lightly and my results suffer.

You should be more consistent like me: I suffer no matter what my opponent's rating is