Real life vs. Online chess ratings

Hi Everyone,

This is my first post on the forums even though I've been a member for about a year and a half now. I read the "ratings" post and the "how ratings work" post as well, but the threads are so many pages long that it would take me forever to find the info I'm looking for.

How does one's rating on this site translate into real life? For example, since joining the site in May 2008, I have completed 265 games and am currently ranked at 1605. I don't know how to determine my RD, so I can't even guess a range in which I truly belong (though I'm guessing it's probably high 1400s - low 1500s). I guess my question is: how well would I perform playing against someone ranked 1350 - 1400 in an over-the-board, USCF tournament? Have I even played enough to be considered as having a low RD? As a note, in my last 20 games, I haven't dipped lower than 1540, but I've been really lucky.

The reason I'm asking this question is I feel like a lot of my games have been due to luck and my rating is seriously inflated.

Thanks, all!

Your OTB rating is probably around 1000, max 1200, It's easyer to compare your live rating, but the livechess on this page is not so good...

I was referring more specifically to my turn-based chess on this site and not the live chess rating (if I read your response correctly). I'm assuming, however, that you are referring to turn-based and how it translates to real life. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

The 1600 (turnbased) level on this site, is really low, I would guess 1000-1200 in OTB

But it depends on how you are using this site, if you do what you can, analyzing the position, moving the pices around, and don't do to many obvious stupid moves. 1600 is bad, but if you play on this site as you would do in a blitz game, 1600 could be good!

The only way to compare is to start playing OTB chess, thats the real fun!!

Thanks for the info, pskogli! I'm going to see if there are any tournaments or local games going on in the Los Angeles area some time soon and start playing OTB.

It really depends on how much you rely on the internet while playing CC. I personally don't believe there is (usually) a 400-600 point gap. I would be more inclined to believe you are in the 1200-1400 range, even if you do rely on the internet a little and take your time thinking your moves out.

The reason that everybody has an inflated rating here than OTB is quite simple: greater distribution of players.  Rating does not indicate how good you are.  It simply indicates how strong you are compared to others around you.  Because mainly the best players play OTB and worse players tend to focus exclusively online, you end up being rated higher in the distribution than you otherwise would be.

A friend of mine on the site is ranked ~1820 and his USCF rating is 1100. I don't know if he hasn't updated his true USCF rating in a while, but it seemed like such a big disparity! I guess the only way for me to find out is to start playing rated OTB games.

My online rating is below my actual rating.

Another person on my friends list seems to have a USCF rating below his online rating as well. Do you play more OTB chess than you do CC?

 Nah.  I'm just more attentive OTB.

Apples to oranges, in my questionable opinion.

Real OTB games do not have

• Analysis boards to make up for lack of visualization skills.
  
• Opening Databases to leverage off other people's hard work :)
• Unlimited (24 hours = infinity for modern tournament players) time to kotov out your trees.

Tourney OTB games have

• Touch move rules (no "uh-oh" moments between moving and hitting submit)
  
• Distractions such as opponent / other players / noise
• Demands on one's nerves, stamina and long-duration concentration skills.

There really is nothing much to correlate.  Though many might agree that if your tactical strength is significant, you will quite easily reach and maintain a very high rating.

Dont believe what poeple say.. Its really a confusion.. you will never know your OTB rating until you start playing OTB..

For example.. My friend is 1900 FIDE rated with 2100 Online chess,

another friend is 2300 rated here (believe it or not..) with 1600 CFC. (Chess Federation of Canada)

Also Erik is like 1700 rated with like 1900 online based..

I play better OTB then Online Chess.. (i dont have a r-l rating) because im more focused in it.. i beat my friend (CFC rated 1800) twice and lost twice and 1 draw.. and yet im only 1800 Turnbased..

Some people play better online, some others OTB,

So you really wont know until you play in Rated Otb tournaments..

Hope this helps!

Surely you're not confusing this with poker?

Not to be rude, but some punctuation marks would have made that a whole lot easier to read.

Thanks to everyone else who responded. I'm looking into local chess clubs now. I didn't realize it costs so little to a member. Had I known, I would have done so long ago!

Schachgeek => True. I'm dealing with 1-2 of them as I type this.  No wonder most people improve the most when they're kids. :)

you're all talking about FIDE ratings, in England with use ECF ratings .....

I know this is a little off topic, especially since I started the thread, but I always find it fascinating when people say, "Ratings don't matter. They mean nothing in chess." Who honestly believes that? Perusing the other threads, it seems that some players have adopted this mindset. Maybe it helps them in games because I do know that ratings sometimes affects how one plays (i.e. nerves can get in the way when playing someone of significantly higher rank).

Otherwise, I think ratings are important in determining who I decide to play games against. For example, when I was in the 1200s on this site, I would never challenge a player ranked 1600 - it would be an absurd waste of time and I would learn little to nothing. When the gap is so big, it's tough to really learn much because the weaker player is just busy getting whipped by the stronger player.

yes i agree

,here is a table of conversions,im bcf 101 so i would be 1750 converted which highier than my chess.com rating,i like others more attentive in otb as im inly concentrating on one game instead of 20.