Depends if your rating is still provisional. If you've played less than 25 games then it can still go up hundreds of points in 1 tournament.
I didn't know you could register a different membership... doesn't sound quite right. But if it is possible, and you're willing to pay for it, just do it. Otherwise I guess you have to listen to your dad.
Neither, how many games did you play for starters? The more you played the longer it will take.
If you beat a few 1400s (which at your supposed level should be a breeze) you will rise VERY quickly.
Once you get to maybe 1400-1500 I suspect you will have accumulated enough games for the process of getting to 1700 to be quite long, but not a lifetime.
The fewer the games you've played, the more wildly your rating fluctuates. For instance, if you walk into a tournament as an unrated and beat an 1800, you will have a very high rating. If I walk into a tournament and beat an 1800 after years and years of languishing around 1200, I'll bump to maybe 1230. That's because I have an already established rating, and my victory is considered a fluke.
Bottom line: start playing in tournaments again, and your rating will go up to your "real" value within about 25 games. It won't take half a lifetime. Of course, the stronger your opposition, assuming you win, the faster it will rise. If you play only players rated around 1000-1300 and you're hoping to see 1700, then it WILL take half a lifetime.
Oh, yeah, if you play in a bunch of scholastic tournaments where nearly everyone is rated below 1200 then it would take a long time.
by quite long I mean like in the vacinity of 10-15 tournaments , so not even close to a lifetime. Maybe a year if youre dedicated and continue to practice and improve.
The fewer the games you've played, the more wildly your rating fluctuates.
This. I started playing on this site about six months ago, with the usual 1200 provisional rating. It's gone up nearly +900 points in the past six months. If I'd already had an established rating of 1200 after thirty or forty games, it would have taken far longer to rise that much.
Thank you all for your replies. I currently have 21 regular games and 16 quick games under my belt. Is that still low enough to raise my rating quickly?
Depends on your opponent's ratings. If you have to do it facing 1200 rated players then it will take a very long time.
A few years ago, I played in a few chess tournaments without much preparation and a lackadaisical attitude and ended up sinking my rating all the way down to just under 600. Keep in mind I was only 9 at the time, and since then, I have improved much as a player. The chess coordinator at my school (who happens to be a USCF master) says I play at about a 1600-1700 level now. However, he says it would take "half a lifetime" to make the 1000 rating point jump and that I should register a different membership in order to hasten the process. The next day my dad called USCF who said that creating a new membership wouldn't be necessary and that my rating would rise drastically and reach 1600-1700 level after a tournament or two. The question is: Who should I listen to? How hard is it to raise my rating that high?