How do you overcome fear of losing rating?

ha OTB I didn't even know how to check my rating for sooo long, I was a definite patzer (and still am)

I would sit down for the next round game, and my opponent would ask me: "What is your rating?"  My reply would be "I dont know" or "Its somewhere in the...'s"  The looks were comical, that i didn't know what my rating was.  So they would have to get up and go see.  That would be followed up with "Do you want to know what your rating is?"  "No...I dont keep track of it." 

ya I would get my rating at the start of each tournament though... so I knew ABOUT where it was.

Rated games OTB can only be on tournaments?

that's how I've always done them

Like you can't just have a single round with a player of similar level OTB and have the game rated or something?

If there are odd number of people in different sections, and they agree to play each other.  They will play a rated side game.  I have volunteered to do that a few times at tournaments.  That way the person gets to play instead of just sitting and waiting the next round.  The TD will ask what the ratings are for the simple fact some people wont play depending on the rating difference.

I think of it in a few ways:

- 1st of all, know that your temporary rating is NOT equal to your chess ability or intelligence. Usually the rating you have now is the result of the work, study and games you put into practice within the last month or so. The work, study and games you play today will go towards your ability in the future. This is because new ideas take a while to implement and stick, so if you learn a new concept; say, something like smothered checkmate pattern, then it will probably take you about a month before you start seeing possibilities for this pattern in your own games.

- Another thing I think about is how NOTHING can change the fact that you reached x-milestone. If you reached 1000 chess.com rating, then NOTHING changes that. Yes, you might drop below 1000 again (actually extremely likely if you grinded your way up there), but that is temporary and nothing changes the fact that you were once there. Same thing for every other rating or milestone, 1200, 1500, 1800, 2000...whatever. If you want to give yourself a chance to reach those new milestones, then you must play rated games - even if that means risking some rating points temporarily. 

- I like having a "reserve" time control or at least a time control I don't play as much. Let us say you decide to grind your 10 min. chess.com rapid rating, but then blitz you don't care about much. This blitz category could be the one you "reserve" for when you want to play rated games with good competition, but you don't care about losing. This way, you can keep playing rated chess when tired, tilting, or just not playing well, but it doesn't impact the rating you care about. Yes, ideally you should learn to manage things like tilt or sub-optimal play, but in the meantime you at least won't lose rating in the category you care about. You can play the category you care about when you feel focused, motivated and on your "A game."

* There are other things you could try to overcome the "fear" of losing, but this is a good start. I also want to add that I don't really "fear" losing. That doesn't mean I want to throw away hard earned rating though! If it drops, then okay so be it, but I'm not going to just give it away

You overcome the fear of losing rating when you gain the confidence to win it all back

Sup KeSatoKaiba, thanks for sharing this knowledge.

That is the irony!

This idea sounds good in theory, but tends to fail in practice. It would work if we constantly kept improving at a nice pace, but the problem is that we improve by challenging ourselves and gaining chess experience - both of these come with playing rated games in addition to other things like study or practice; not playing rated games is giving up a large component of the improving "formula" and we are much less likely to improve if we aren't playing challenging games (like rated) as much.

We simply must risk losing points to gain points and there is no way around this, but what we can do is change our mindset so that losing points doesn't hurt us as much.

I do understand why others in the forum tell me to quit. I actually did ask myself if I truly was enjoying the game or if I was just out there to farm rating points. Realization hit me like a truck and figured that setting my priorities and goals on the right track and viewing the game as a hobby and not a job are just 3 steps to overcome my problem. But I ain't quitting anytime soon though. Still love the game despite the few bad moments.

If you continue to play, and continue to learn/improve, your rating will continue to rise, on a long-enough timeline.

So, really, if you're worried about your rating -- keep playing. Keep learning. Your rating will, inevitably, go up and up in the long run.

A certain amount of fear is healthy.  But when it cripples you, that is not healthy.  And dont let anyone tell you that being scared makes you weak. 

If I recall correctly, that's against the rules, sandbagging.

That guy just makes these kinds of jokes on threads. No need to correct him.

Of course. Fear is universal and although it is a weakness, its not a sign that a person is weak.

Welcome fellow chess player