[bluGill]

But you only need to get a bit better to see through the common traps even the first time. The very first time I saw a scholars mate attempted against me I thought the moves were weird and made the obvious tactical response, only end up down a pawn. I was annoyed at being down a pawn afterwards and looked it up the opening, and only then did I discover the so called trap that I unknowingly didn't fall into because there are several good defenses that someone who knows even a little tactics will discover.

Now at the 2500 level you get into sequences where you need to see a trap 15 non-forced moves in advance to not fall into it with seemingly natural moves. These can only be found in advance.

[toolslive]

Hold on... you're 2500?

[ummonk]

I doubt it. Actual 2500 rated players aren't looking 15 positional moves ahead during a game.

[bluGill]

I didn't say 2500 raters players look 15 moves in advance in games (though in some simple endgames they can see farther than that). I said that they can see 15 moves in advance when they spend weeks (or even years) before the game preparing their openings. It isn't unheard of for players at the >2000 level to pull out a planned novility 15-20 moves into a game - a position never before reached in chess that they prepared for one specific opponent in a tournament.

[bluGill]

I don't have a rating, but somewhere in the 1000-1300 range is a reasonable guess. I have beat a USCF 1500, but that was 1 game out of hundreds.

I don't need a 2500 rating to know something about how they play.