International Master start rating?

Hi

I am an International Master, do have have to start here from rating 1200? I have tried to write support but no answer...

I hope for an answer here :)

I'm certain I read somewhere that they will start you with your FIDE rating, you might also be interested in this:

http://www.chess.com/forum/view/community/titled-players2

 They didnt let me start with my fide rating, I started at 1200.

Oh, Ok. I must be mistaken then. I searched the forums and couldn't find nything... Could have sworn, though, lol

See http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-players/why?

The account later turned out to be a fake but the point is, with the proper documentation, title holders do not have to start at 1200.

 I played for 25 years in the USA and when I moved to Europe was over 2200 (uscf) and had to start all over as an unrated here because I had no FIDE rating ! When we move to the USA I wonder if my wife will have to start over as unrated because she has no uscf but she does have fide ? It seems a bit nuts to me.

Doesn't bother me, if he really is an IM then I'm sure he'll be quite a bit above 2200 soon enough.

I think it's a good rule because it further encourages titled players to join and declare their identity because they won't have to go through a long process to reach their level. Imagine if they only wanted to play 5 games at once and 1 or 2 moves per game each week? It could take months and months to climb up.

I notice he hasn't got a dimond yet though. That's weird - gets the points but not the free membership.

Your OTB rating doesen't count here, start from 1200 like the others. 

You'll probably be able to challenge 2000+ players annyway.

This is a titled player (IM) so 2200 turn based seems reasonable for starters.

Going off topic rather, I would put a ceiling on chess.com grades at 2400, until the given player supplies evidence of otb performance.

>:)

 The purpose of ratings is to provide an assessment of a player's relative strength.  Making established strong players "start at the bottom and climb the ladder" seems spitefull, and it does not alter the fact that they belong high up in the hierarchy.  A person's initial Chess.com rating is an arbitrary 1200, probably because there is usually no method of determining a new player's strength, and 1200 is about average.  If a new player's strength can be determined, and it is much higher than the average, it makes sense to give that individual an initial rating higher than 1200 (again, the value is arbitrary, just higher).  That way, he or she does not have to spend their time playing weaker opponents until they have reached the position where the higher rated players will accept their challenges.

Isn't the rating system set up to fluctuate at the beginning so that when the IM starts taking down 2000+ players it will realize he is strong? Why is a rating on a chess site so important anyway? Isn't the purpose of this game to have fun? If we really need to feed our egos, just spam your profile page with all of your accolades   Maybe there are some real petty people online, but personally, I have deep respect for titled players and I really couldn't care less what their online rating is. Is an IM with an online rating of 1200 not an IM?

If an IM wants to get their chess.com rating up, just throw a 2100+ simul or something. An IM would rip that field apart and have a nice online rating in no time. I'm sure most chess.com members would jump at the chance to play against someone of such high calibre. It would be a good way to welcome the new IM into the chess.com family, by offering them a sacrifice.... us

I don't think that it is a matter of IM's wanting to get their Chess.com rating up.  They want to play against people at their level.  Higher rated players tend to refuse challenges from low rated players, and there are probably not many 2000+ players who will accept a challenge from a 1200 player. 

There are even fewer who wish to play a 1200-rater with an IM in front of his handle.

Thnx Prawneatsprawn. I never even considered the difficulty trying to find a matchup game for the IM. If he had the 1200 rating, no high rated player would play him due to their ratings drop. So the IM bump-up is actually the best course of action for chess.com.

 Not having played otb since I was young, and having played serious cc for many years since then, I'm against this poposal. The idea that otb sonehow is superior to cc performance strikes me as somewhat odd.