What is your Rating?
What is your rating? This is a simple question I get asked all the time, but these days it does not have a simple answer. Do you want my online rating or OTB rating? If online, which website? Do you want my rapid, blitz, or bullet rating? With so many different rating out there, it's hard for people new to chess to understand the differences.
Differences Between Ratings
The only rating I truly care about is my OTB (over the board) classical rating given by the USCF (United States Chess Federation), which is the governing body of chess in the US. That is because I think it reflects the most accurate measurement of chess strength. This rating must be achieved through official regulated tournaments and the games are generally of the highest quality since the classical time control is the longest. It's worth noting that the USCF gives out a "Quick" and "Blitz" rating as well, but these are only for shorter time controls and they do not contribute to getting titles or norms.
The most similar rating to the OTB classical USCF rating is the classical rating given by FIDE, which is the international governing body of chess. In fact, many tournaments in the US are dual rated, meaning they affect both your USCF and FIDE ratings. Both of these ratings are great ways to measure your skill.
On a personal note, the only reason I care slightly more about my USCF rating is because not every tournament in the states counts towards FIDE ratings, but they do always count toward USCF. It's simply easier to play more USCF tournaments and increase the sample size of games that count towards that rating. Either way, these classical ratings are the gold standard.
The only problem with these ratings is that they can only be achieved through playing in tournaments, which many players have not done. It's much easier to sign up to a website like Chess.com and get assigned a rating for free. Another problem is that online ratings are extremely inflated compared to OTB ratings. For example, my blitz and bullet ratings on Chess.com are around 2400-2500 while my USCF is only 2200.
Here is a rough conversion between USCF, FIDE, Chess.com, Lichess, and more:
This table is from Chess Dojo: https://www.chessdojo.club/blog/new-ratings/noseknowsall
The Rating Problem
My issue with the current state of chess ratings is that it is too complicated for the masses to understand. I have seen players refer to themselves as "expert" players for having an online rating over 2000 (often a blitz rating) even though their OTB rating is only 1600. Usually these cases are genuine misunderstandings but sometimes they are intentionally misleading people to inflate their perceived strength. In the age of social media, it would be easy to convince non-chess players that I am GM strength because my Lichess bullet rating is 2600. Of course this is ridiculous on many levels 
Another problem with online ratings being inflated is that it gives some players a psychological shock when they do enter their first OTB tournament. I've seen players who get to 1500 online enter their 1st tournament expecting to wipe out the U1200 section and end up struggling. Then they get a provisional OTB rating much lower than they expected. This can sometimes lead to an unhealthy mindset, all because their expectations were too high to begin with.
Some of the excuses I have heard in these cases are:
- I see the board better in 2D
- My opponent distracted me
- I'm not used to playing with a clock
The reality is that these are all simply excuses and can lead to people not being honest with themselves on how to get better. It's also unfortunate that people choose not to play tournaments because they are self conscious about having a "lower" OTB rating.
The only solution to these problems is educating people on the differences between these ratings and promoting healthy mindsets when it comes to the rating. It is hard not to obsess over the number we are all given next to our names, but if we can appreciate the fact that we are not defined by our chess rating, we can all enjoy this beautiful game no matter our playing strength.
