All games lost - what is my ELO?

Hi, folks!

I am casual chess player so I'd like to improve my playing strength. Therefore I acquired Fritz 10 program and I played several training rounds. Unfortunately I lost all those games against both Fritz 10 and much weaker Flail 1.4.4 engines set at 1000 ELO. Here you are my three last games together with Fritz analysis:

Is that mean my ELO rating is below 1000 points because I read such rating is granted to all meople who can play chess?

PS. Sorry for my accidental deleting of this thread before. I read there one user's opinion that my rating is even above 1000 ELO judging on above rounds!   

Burbon> "Is than mean my ELO rating is below 1000 points because I read such rating is granted to all meople who can play chess?"

In either the USCF or FIDE ELO rating systems I think you would be around 700 elo. That's not bad... most adults do not magically begin at 1000 elo. But the only way to be certain of your rating is to compete in rated over-the-board events, against humans, with the clock ticking. (Note: in the chess.com "Online Chess" (non-ELO) rating system you may be 1000.)

Burbon> "Black has a cramped position."

These words are not useful yet. It's like memorizing that integration and differentiation are opposites when you're trying to master multiplication.

Focus on your thought process. Every move, look for checks and captures for both sides--play games slow enough that you can do this. Study tactics like forks, skewers, pins, mates, etc. In no time, you really will be 1000.  :)

Thanks for your opinion! It is true I did not play chess for a long time. Besides I have read in Wikipedia that USCF and FIDE ratings are not equal i.e. USCF ELO is about 100 points higher than FIDE. Anyway I definitely must play much more games. Yet I am not sure Fritz 10 as my first opponent is a good idea. Isn't this program too strong for beginner? I know it is very configurable but its learning levels (friend, sparring, handicap) are bit unclear to me...I could only win easily with Moron, Drunk and Putzer personalities there.

PS. By the way, multiplication is a foundation of most methods of numerical integration! ;)

Burbon> Besides I have read in Wikipedia that USCF and FIDE ratings are not equal i.e. USCF ELO is about 100 points

Yes, they are not quite the same. FIDE usually only rates players 1800+, and how the USCF and FIDE ratings compare depends on your rating. Specifically:

"For FIDE rating [between 1800 and] 2200, the converted USCF rating is the same. For FIDE rating between 2200 and 2600, the converted USCF rating is FIDE + (FIDE-2200)/8. For FIDE ratings above 2600, the converted USCF rating is FIDE+50."

But back to the practical matter...

"Yet I am not sure Fritz 10 as my first opponent is a good idea. Isn't this program too strong for beginner? I know it is very configurable but its learning levels (friend, sparring, handicap) are a bit unclear to me..."

Why don't you play on chess.com? In most cases, practice with a human is superior to practice with a computer... unless you are working on specific lines of your opening repertoire or a particular endgame. At least, that's what most people find.

"Live Chess" with long time limits (30-45) and a 5-second increment comes closer than a chess engine to simulating over-the-board chess conditions.  :)

Burbon> PS. By the way, multiplication is a foundation of most methods of numerical integration! ;)

Heh. True... there's time for integration, after multiplication is mastered. :)

I will add, Fritz did a horrible job of simulating a 1000 in your games. I am not sure if/how you can fix it. Hopefully another Fritz user will speak up.

Of course I want to play chess with humans via Internet but first I'd like to exercise with computer to gain more practice. In fact I did not notice that human style of playing can differ considerably from chess engine one. Moreover I was searching for such forum and real chess-play community in Poland but I could not find any. Well, a year ago Polish Ministry of Sport stated that Government would not finance "niche" sport disciplines like chess any longer...

As I remember Fritz's 10 lower ELO strength is 1375 points in friend game and 1840 points in rated one. No way I can try this! Thus I downloaded Fail engine but I also was defeated. Yet now I won game against Delfi 5.4 set at 850 ELO! So my present rating is really somewhere between 700-1000 ELO. Here you are this round:

My another game. This time I lost to Delfi but Fritz's outstanding analytical commentary helps in chess understanding well!

Play with humans rather than against Fritz if you want to make progress, and ask stronger players for feedback. This way you will improve.

In fact I do not know opening lines theory at all. I simply played round beginning "as usual" without any theoretical knowledge. It is possible Fritz played some good opening properly and that is why he gained advantage over me already at start. However I think my most serious drawback is lack of fluency in finding and detecting forks, pins etc. That is why I often lost much material in the middle-game. Look at thi party below. I can gain superiority in opening but only against very dumb artificial opponent.

Certainly I'd ike to play chess with you but how can I find you on chess.com in proper time?

Burbon> In fact I do not know opening lines theory at all.

I noticed in all the games you posted you are playing White. Real opponents make you play Black, too! Do not worry so much about losing against a human. All skill levels are here. There's someone better and worse than you, or me, or paul211, or hicetnunc on chess.com! Everybody (who improves) loses games. Lots of them, in fact!

Regarding opening theory, most amateur games are out-of-book by move four; so memorizing lines tends not to be too important. Thought process and tactics are key at your level, although there are at least a few other things worth learning: 10 opening principles, K+R vs K ending, K+Q vs K ending.

paul211> you played 6.Nb3, what did you have in mind?

Great question. Tactically, he didn't "look for checks and captures for both sides" or he missed Qa5+. Strategically, the move violated opening principles. Then there's the interesting question of why put the knight there at all?

I won with Fritz 10 in friend mode at +233% handicap level! Now my handicap is +190% after four games of which one was won. This is my first victory over Fritz in this type of training game. Unfortunately I do not know how to calculate Fritz ELO rating basing on the handicap percentage. Maybe somebody more familiar with Fritz program can help me? Here you are this round:

PS. I always make Full Analysis of my past chess games. However I noticed that Fritz 10 engine is quite slow in this mode as compared to other engines (even build-in Fritz 5.32 and Comet B68 for instance). Could you acknowledge this or give me a tip how to accelerate analysis of this chess engine?

Never heard of "Chess.com". Thanks!

I find that most chess-playing programs that classify their strength based on how much time they get to think about their moves are very hard for me to defeat, even on the lowest setting.  Sadly, this is how most low-end chess-playing programs operate, such as MacChess (yay freeware!) and portable models.

I suggest you make use of the Tactics Trainer that this site has.  While you're limited to 3 problems a day in the free version and that well-crafted strategies (or your opponent's blunders) are what allow these tactical opportunities to materialize, it's still good practice for developing awareness of the entire board as well as that "killer instinct."