Dissatisfaction in Crushing a Barrier
Today, I overcame the 2000 rating level on Chess.com for the first time! I constantly hear about how we shouldn't focus on rating, and just focus on improving the quality of chess, but it is nice to see improvement and rating is likely the only tangible metric that can show a player that he/she is playing better. Having said that, I don't put much stock in internet ratings. Players often win on time, abandonment, serious blunders, etc. Rarely is a player as dialed in online as he is at a USCF rated OTB event. I like to play slow games in leagues and mimic tournament-level effort as much as possible. I don't think the online ratings reflect accurately OTB, tournament-like playing strength. Online ratings don't mean too much, but they mean something, and we all like to see them rise, so I congratulate people all the time for achieving their goals. I think the key is not to fixate on them, and give 110% effort every time you play in any time control. The good thing for me is that my Chess.com rapid rating has always been the closest to my USCF rating, so maybe good days are ahead.
Today I beat the London. I love beating the London. I think the reason why has to do with how en vogue it is, seems everyone is playing it. Not only that, I used to get checkmated with the London! It is extremely dangerous for black. Now, I no longer get checkmated, and often win. A former coach helped me with the opening in a way that remains consistent with how I usually approach d4 with black. I scored a nice win in Reno in Round 5 in October. This game is sloppy, but I came out on top. I share it with you in full, followed by an explanation of my remaining dissatisfaction.
Now that I have overcome this rating hurdle, I'll back away from chess.com for a time. Internet chess has been dissatisfying for me of late, and especially on Chess.com. On Chess.com, nearly all of my games are quick games, so nothing that mimics a classical game. The only real way to get a game is by clicking on a short time-control, pairing button. The vast majority of players do not say "hi", "good luck", or "bye", "good game", even though it simply involves clicking a button. Chess.com has made it easy (but is a bit harder on the phone I know). (When I blitz on the iphone, I don't always say something, but usually try to hit chat/quick/hello) Very few people are actually willing to talk about the game. Players go straight to a computer printout type of report card to find out how they did, without doing any analysis of their own. Much of what I am describing here is bad for chess, and bad for chess improvement, in my humble opinion. It does not foster sportsmanship, friendship, camaraderie, or serious post-mortem analysis leading to improvement.
Yes, I will appear from time to time to see if I can win some quick games in a quest for 2100 rapid or 1900 blitz, but I mostly play on Lichess, where you can nearly always find a game with a > 30m time control just by putting out an ad. Yes, they also have auto-pairing buttons. (By the way, blitz is fun, just like eating candy bars or hamburgers! A few to many of those is bad for your health. I find that when I am eating real food likes low chess, I don't even have an appetite for the junk food. Try it!) Following league games, most opponents will review the game with me if they have time. This even happens in random games. Of course there are always players who don't want to say a word and just play a game, which might as well be against a computer if they want no human interaction.
I really enjoy the community aspect of chess and the friendships I have made over the years. I recently created a group in the Band App for discussion of all things chess. It was set up mostly to let friends know I was looking for a game, but it has morphed into sharing positions/puzzles, books we are reading and how we are studying. This isn't all rosy however, as often times people go weeks without checking in with the app. Occasionally we have a flurry of activity in discussing a hot topic (Hans allegations, etc), and I always feel like I have connected with some friends, whom I won't see until we decide to meet up at a tournament in the near future.
Well, that's more than my $0.02! Let me know if you have any similar thoughts, frustrations, or disagreements.
