The best counter-move is often just doing your plan better than they do theirs.

Reacting to an opponent feels productive and quietly hands them your calendar. Every move spent answering theirs is a move not spent building your own position, and you end up playing their game at their pace. Often the strongest reply is plain execution: your thing, done properly, while they are busy watching you. Not every move needs an answer.

Give whatever rival or comparison lives in your head one week off. Put the hours into your own training, revision or work and do not check on them. At the end of the week, judge by what you got done.