Your Elo is lying to you!
When we tell normal people that we play chess, they ask us if we are good. The first thing we do is turn to ask our Elo rating. It compels us to say, "I manage", with a mix of humility and insecurity.
Too often, we reduce ourselves to our Elo score as we reflect on our chess journey: "I'm not an 800 anymore," "I'm a 1300", "I lost 200 Elo last night" (An awful night that I would rather not talk about. Please respect my privacy at this time.)
As we try to improve our game, I'm going to try to talk you out of the Elo obsession. It's as if our Elo is telling us who we are, but it should be the opposite. You can control the narrative.
You are not your Elo
You are not your rating. It's not an accurate depiction of who you are right now. In some games, you channel your inner Magnus to find three brilliant moves in a row. In others, you play like a baboon trying to do algebra while juggling eight knives.
Then, we learn. And the next time, we play like a baboon trying to do algebra while juggling seven knives. See! It's already better!
Your Elo doesn't change until your next game, but you are not a monolith carved in stone. Your level of play changes according to many factors: your sleep, your stress, the time of day or just your mood. Identifying yourself with a few digits doesn't even reflect how you play. Don't let it define who you are.
Whilst you are evolving on your own, the same thing applies to your opponent. As all the other players are also in motion like tectonic plates, you are never truly chained to your Elo score - just as they aren't either. Sometimes, I play a blitz tournament on this website, and a 700-rated player finds a way to sweep me off my feet, making me lose 16 points in one blunder.
Other times, I get to spar with an opponent rated 125 points higher than me, and I manage to find a checkmate in 12 moves. I even wonder how they got that high!
Don't let a few digits speak for you.
Context needed, STAT!
Not only does your Elo not represent who you are, but it might also not represent where you are. Let's say your are 900. Sometimes, resources targeting an Elo of 800-1000 might not be appropriate for you - you've may have outgrown that topic. Conversely, a YouTube video aimed at complete beginners might still teach you a thing or two.
Your Elo is just a number. Stripped of a conscience, it is a false narrator of your chess evolution. Your personal stats would look more like a DnD character sheet with attributes like board awareness, proactivity, opening comprehension, concentration and endgame mastery.
When you click Play game, you are rolling for initiative to find out whether you are playing first or second. Phew! That DnD analogy works perfectly and has absolutely zero flaws!
An example of what I'm saying: How To Win At Chess, written by GothamChess, is a great book filled with QR codes that brings positions to life.
However, in its Amazon description, it says that the first part of the book will help 0-800 rated players while the second part will be useful to the 800-1300 players. I read the whole thing when I was 1100, and I must admit that I, personally, learned pretty much next to nothing.
It doesn't say anything about the quality of the book. It's more that my personal weaknesses weren't covered in it. My biggest weakness has been that my endgames are really clunky. For real, I need to get better at those because I'm losing so many winning positions - I keep forgetting how the rooks move in the last moves of a chess game!
I'm saying all that as a big fan of Levy Rozman. I'm also a bigger fan of my local library where I borrowed his book for free... I'm an even bigger fan of free stuff!
Check your local libraries for free chess books!!!
Even if I'm rated 1300 rapid, I would learn a lot from a Chessable Course on endgames targeting 1000-rated players. Even if it's 300 points lower than me, I know that I could get better by studying it. My Elo of 1300 alone captures only a blurry picture of my progression.
Now, I just need to understand how Chessable works.
Still an indicator
If you are rated 1200 Elo, you are not a 1200. It means that you are about 1200. A grandmaster will crush you blindfolded, and you will beat your uncle "who played a little chess in his youth".
The elo system is not worthless but it's just an indicator. You have to consider the whole context. For example, when I'm stresses or overworked, I know that I play below my potential. Or at least, that's the story I tell myself when I blunder my queen in one move.
You are better than you think
I love the Guess The Elo series as it's both instructive and entertaining. A caveat here is we see a player that we respect telling people that they are a certain number. As a French-speaking comedian who thinks a lot about words, I believe that the English language doesn't help when we say that we are 800 Elo.
However, technically ( 🤓 ), we have earned 800 points. We have gained 800 points. We have accumulated 800 points. We have reached the 800-points level. It's so strange to use the verbe to be with things that are not an intrinsic part of us.
When you go to the supermarket and your roommate asks what you brought, you say "I have 10 frozen pizzas", not "I am 10 frozen pizzas."
Now, I'm sure nutritionists will comment that I'm going to become diabetes.
It's you versus you
No matter what your Elo is telling you, just know that you are better than you think. Even if you're going through a losing streak where you're tanking your Elo by a lot of points, remember that, at first, you won so many games that you brought yourself to a higher Elo rank. To lose those points, you had to win them at first. You did this. You are still you.
If you are going through a hard time in your chess progression, take a few minutes to analyze games you played six months ago. Check your wins - you'll be surprised by the quality of your play. Check your losses - you know you wouldn't make those mistakes nowadays.
So, stand stall in front of your Elo. Don't let a number berates you. Let your parents, boss and traumas do it.
