Chess Rating 977 Blitz above average?

I have a blitz rating currently at 977 and it is in the 52.7% percentile... this means I am above average correct? The reason I ask is I would assume average rating (50%) would be at least 100 points higher. Isn’t the starting ranking for most official tournaments 1200 (USCF for example)...

No, it means you are above the median.(50%)

The average is different. The blitz average is reported as 992.5.

Chess.com ratings are not based on USCF ratings. The methods used to calculate ratings are different.

 

Well I guess I am roughly a average player with Blitz rating of 1005. Do you think this rating is worth of joining a local club / USCF tournament or would I just lose to everybody and have no fun? I would assume the average rating at club / USCF level to be much higher maybe 1300+... does anybody who transitioned from beginner online player to low level club / USCF player have any advice?

I thought the average club player was around 1600-1700 OTB, which is closer to 1800-1900 online rating.

I’m 1500 blitz and would likely get destroyed by most people at a club, but part of it is learning so it’s still good to play stronger opponents, plus there’s bound to be some beginners at them too.

Median is one type of average. Most people use the mean. In this case, I would say you are above average, because you have a higher rating than 52.7% of players on chess.com.

You are more than strong enough to join an over the board tournament and club.  You will get your head handed to you some times and vice versa until your rating gets settled.  That is normal.   Unless you join the open higher rated section of the tournament, you will probably find people that you can beat.

It is a completely different experience than playing online and is highly recommended. 

1800 blitz rating on chess.com does NOT translate to 1600 OTB. I am about 2000 OTB and only 1600 here, it's completely different. it's STRONG blitz players who have an online rating  above their OTB rating, because they play a lot more and  get a lot of rating points from guests or new players who are given an arbitrary first rating above the average. These points then migrate all the way up to Naka, creating inflation. I suppose if you have a median rating here it should be about median OTB too, so 977 is quite decent. Many club players are weak anyway, and that's OK, it's just about enjoying the game really.

I don't know how things are in Indonesia but in the US, your average chess club is filled half with fools mate players and some ex and current tournament players who range from 800 up to master. The ones I have visited are more than happy to welcome players of your strength. 

The USCF published a rating distribution chart back in 2004 which showed the breakdown of active tournament players.

The average rating was only 1068 and that was for tournament players. If you exclude the school age players, the average rises to 1198, certainly nothing for you to fear.

when i started going to my chess club a few years ago i took a lesson (playing a game with the coach and then going over it and working on a couple of basic mates)

coach then encouraged me to play in their saturday quad’s tournaments

i dont even know if i was 1000 on chess.com at that time

i was awful but i got better pretty quick (especially when i could start accurately keeping a scoresheet and adjusted to otb play)

anyone under a 2700 rating is an absolute joke and all non-super GMs are not very good at chess.

that is fine

but if i am getting good and competitive games in tournaments why would i not enter?

Hellooo??? Even my (admittedly poor) 1642 rating puts me in the 94th percentile here on chess.com, so what are you even talking about? Your book recommendation is excellent, but if someone wants to join a chess club, they should do so regardless of their playing strength, simply to meet people who share their passion for the game.

Some of the comments on this thread are downright apalling. Of course in absolute terms we are all pathetic players (including, and in fact especially maybe, IMs who have devoted a significant part of their life to the game and are still outclassed by super-GMs), but if you compare online rating and FIDE ratings, you clearly have zero understandig of how these work. Even FIDE ratings are not consistent over the planet, because there are pools of players that are basically not interrelated at all and play amonst themselves. Btw, the same applies to online players: depending on your playing hours, you will be paired with people from a different area of the globe whose rating may not mean the same.

I think "average" in this discussion means "the statistical average", no more, no less, and certainly not "pretty good given the circumstances" (though I do agree with your reasoning along those lines). In the case of chess.com, below is a screenshot that clearly says "991", and you can see that the median is even lower. I agree that on lichess, ratings (mine anyway) are about 200 points above chess.com.

hi

 

 

I'm curious.  When you are black, do you take a lot longer to write down your move on the score sheet?  That's my problem, I always run out of time when I'm black if we are playing 30-minute time controls.  That's if I'm playing a good player.  (Good player for me = A few hundred points above 1500 USCF)

The last tournament I was in I seemed to draw most of the people that were 1500 or close to it.  I did lose one game against 1500, mainly because I didn't consider his move as a threat, which cost me the game.

 

I see a lot of ghosts in tournament conditions.  I do not play as good as I normally would in a tournament, and if the time control is long, I tend to make moves too fast.

Just curious, what are some of your strengths and weaknesses?

I remember reading (on this site) that when an American says they're OK at chess it means that they know how the horsey moves. When a Russian says it, they're a candidate master.

But the point of this thread was whether or not someone with a 1000 blitz rating should try out over the board clubs or tournaments.

Meeting other chess players is a very good thing. 

I started chess ~1 year ago, and just a few months ago I got to play for Canada at the World Youth. The funny thing is, when I first started, I was a legit 600. No joke, I couldn't even sustain my online rating above 1000. At my second tournament (my first at my local club), I scored a whopping 0.5/5 against a field of players more or less rated around 1000 CFC. (CFC is basically equivalent to USCF) But I (somehow) managed to keep coming back to the club every Monday, and the experience has been invaluable. Studying chess whenever I have the time also helped my rating grow exponentially, even if its just 10 minutes a day. At around your rating, I would highly recommend the Play Winning Chess series by Yasser Seirawan -- those were my first chess books and I still read them occasionally. In terms of videos, I recommend the St. Louis Chess Club, and Adgamator's chess channel, which are both suitable to all rating levels. 

Feel free to shoot me a message if you have any questions regarding my post, or would like additional resources to study -- I would love to help

-- @1_a31-0

when i play otb my coach always reminds me to a) be mindful of opponents threats b) step out of comfort zone and “break principles” when the position warrants this

in the heat of the game, i have trouble keeping to my premove routine- which is usually just recording the previous move accurately and taking in the new position which arises after each move

i also will get into trouble when i am “in my head”- going over a plan or variation or whatever and then make a move on the board before i completely return to “the present” as kind of a final safety check

i have no strengths other than showing up with the attitude that i will usually get wrecked but i will still learn much since opponents are usually stronger and more experienced