well you'll get a rating by playing.
Just play a few live games.
Play - > Live ches -> Hit the big orange button that says 'play live chess' -> choose a time setting you like (10 mins or 15|10) and play other people.
The more games you'll pay the more accurate your rating becomes and the more even the competition will be.
Have fun!
new to this site, best place to start?


Ok, first game played, got my clocked cleaned. Is there a way to have the game signal when your in check?

Also, it became obivous that I was at his mercy after losing most of my pieces, is there a way to resign so he gets his points, but I don't have to just run for my life.

You can hear it when you are in check, the computer will give a "check sound". You resign by pressing the resign button to the right of the game, where the draw offer button is as well

Also, I'm not quite sure how I ended up getting into that game if the first place. I clicked on Play, took me to a new screen and started a game. I thought I was to pick a player or game type.

i would recomend not doing live.You should play online instead
i can send you an unrated challenge to you if you want

i would recomend not doing live.You should play online instead
i can send you an unrated challenge to you if you want
Snar, that would be a great way of learning how to use this site. Perhaps you can explain the other ins and outs of how things work, such as send unrated challenge. Please do.

The first thing a newcomer should do on Chess.com is to look at the forums and look at "trolls". Then, they should play some chess.

i would recomend not doing live.You should play online instead
i can send you an unrated challenge to you if you want
Snar, that would be a great way of learning how to use this site. Perhaps you can explain the other ins and outs of how things work, such as send unrated challenge. Please do.
i can't send you a challenge, try sending me one or change your settings to let me do so

Snar, I sent a challange, 3 day game. I am guessing that once the game starts, we can use chat to communicate.
I've been sifting through the forum topics and help section but can't find the topic of where to start.
I have no idea how good or bad I am. I have played against the computer and win once in awhile, but usually get beat.
I don't want to jump in somewhere and get people upset with not knowing how things work, yet I want to play. I'm slow on moving but not dead in the water either.
So where / how do I get started? I'm sure this has been asked before, but darned if I can find it now. Well, that's because I'm still learning my way around here.
Can I get my feet wet with out being rated at first, or should I get rated right off? I'd actually like to be rated as to know where I am now and compare that to a year from now.