Sometimes when I play a game of "Live Chess" and win (or lose) against a higher rated opponent, my rating doesn't change at all. Why does this happen?

hello im new to this site and the internet and all this stuff and i have a few questions on how to work the site.  if someone could tell me why all my live games start with a draw request? That would be a big help.

Also im not a member here but the site has placed restrictions on my playing time (5mins between games) because it said i was rude, or wasnt playing fair or something, and i just wanted to let the players here know thatany offense i may caused you by waiting to long to make a move or getting disconnected was not at all intentional.  Ive been onsites where players will do that kind of thing and i find it petty and annoying.  and unsportsman like.

Thank you for your time

Mcleanio, I have no idea why your games start with a draw request. A bug, probably - not that chess.com has many of those. Try a different browser.

You probably received the playing time restriction because you let the timer run down in a live game.

New to this site. I have a 1600 plus rating but only have played a few blitz games. Will I get another rating if I play slower time controls? Also where are blitz tournaments advertised?

Sean, there are a variety of ratings. There are bullet, blitz and standard ratings for live games and standard/chess960 ratings for correspondence games. You'll find blitz tournaments in the live chess 'tournaments' tab. Tournaments start every 15 minutes or so.

openings are very difficult to understand.The chess struggle starts fighting for abstactions.The center space pawn structure piece activity ect. Another words the creation of a plan.Later on in the middle game the game becoms more tangible and clear and concrete.The plan the exists and becomes more tactical.Much more easier to understand but difficult to play less room for error.Obviouly the endgame isthe most difficult to play but easy to understand.very little room for error                           

MY point is maybe persons should have ratings for each different portion of the game.

Maybe from apractical point of view that would not work but would be helpfil for the individual.

Ira, Igor Khmelnitsky's "Chess exam and training guide" gives you exactly what you're asking for. It pointed out that my positional understanding was at expert level but my tactics were class D. After a focused training in that area of weakness my rating went up some 300 points.

Full disclosure: I won't receive a dime should you buy the book, nor will any of my friends or family.

And this is why you have a rating under 1000.  Some people play this game to get to a certain rating, my personal goal is to become an FM. 

So, what you're saying is that he has a low rating because it's directly linked to his level of desire for a higher rating? Well, I really, really wanna be a Super-GM. I desire it greatly. Now let me do my "I Dream of Jeannie" nod 'n' blink, and pow(!), I'm a Super-GM. I just can't figure why you only shot for FM....?

Maybe you'll forgive my tone if you take into consideration the *myriad* of reasons why a player might currently have a low rating and not try to shame them.

why the **** is this website so ******* **** every single game is buggy and ******* laggy cant even finish game coz peices get stuck to my cursor *** is that

Some of us find that charming.

Don't use netscape grandpa.

Oh, was netscape a self-censoring browser?

I was once in a tournament that had my incorrect rating(191) when it was actually 426 or something. I got to play a 998, the highest rated in the tournament. He underestimated me because he thought I was bad, but I whooped him.

once played a 1850 rated player,i was 1650. reached an end game of oppossing bishops and a/b/ f pawn vs. my b/f pawn. controlling a1-b2(black squares)w/ my king and protecting my 2 pawns(f4/b2)w/ a bishop, this was a draw-HE CARRIED ON FOR 10 MOVES claiming his rating meant he was not only a better chess but also he was supposed to win! Of course "FISHER" w/ draw this game---talk about mis-placed entitlement!   What counts is what u feel about playing this game.

Oh hell no, Netscape was not self-censoring.  When I was growing up in the 90's Netscape Navigator was porn central for me!

All I could ever find in the 90's was pr0n on BBSs.