Rating's importance for yourself

That happens to me too,my friend.I just wanted to say that if you lose a game because you wan't so focus on that game,that does not mean that you are not able to beat that player and does not mean that your level of playing is getting lower.That only has importance for ratings,nothing else..

I think that rating's objectivity is weakening while going from OTB to online chess and from online chess to bullet.

How much importance do you give to ratings?

How much--> to your FIDE(or any other official) rating you give?

I watch my official rating religiously. I track not just if it is going up or down, but trends and I use that information to help me plan how much time to dedicate to studying chess. I also use it to motivate me both to study harder and to focus more at the board. 

How much--> to your chess.com ratings(or in any other website)?

Absolutely none what-so-ever. 

How -->is rating affecting your general chess goals,long-term and short-term?

When I start seeing a decrease in my rate of improvement, I change what I"m doing and how I'm working. It doesn't effect my long term goals, but I use it for feedback to change what I would call my study plans, and thus my short term goals. 

Do you change your goals or your behavior in order to improve your rating?

Yes. 

How high do you target to get your rating?How "higher" do you see yourself in 5 years according to your rating?

I don't think that far ahead. My goal is this year to improve 200 rating points. If I do that or better, then I'll worry about next year's goal. For me, trying to plan 5 years out seems contrived. It is still about enjoying the game for me, and I'll continue to try to be the best I can so long as I enjoy doing it. But that might well be this year or next or 20 years from now -- so I don't worry too much about goals longer than a year out.  Such extra-long  term goals are perhaps improtant for players who have hopes of entering the professional ranks (or at least the realm of titled players) but it strikes me that even in that rarified atmosphere 5 years is an awefully long time. 

I don't care about my on-line rating because i play for fun and to try out new things. My USCF rating is the only one i worry about, right now it is at 1803 and the highest it has been was 1846. Where would i like to be in 5 years? I would like to be over 2200 USCF which means i have to gain about 80 points per year in playing srtenght not an unreal goal to achieve but i am guessing my rating will probably fall somewhere between 2050- 2100

I don't care for my online rating. Now my USCF rating is different (which is a respectful 1983). About 80% of my online losses are due to countless timeouts. Now my OTB games. I average about 70% wins against players at my own level, meaning i win 7 out of 10 games

Thirty years ago my USCF rating was important to me. I am now very prone to blunders in OTB.  I have never taken any kind of on-line ratings seriously.  I just hope in 5 years (I will be 72), I can still play a decent game of turn based chess at the rate of a move a day.  Currently I can probably play about 5 moves a day (turn based) without blundering too often although I have occasional oversights even at that rate.

I think the rating is important and everyone cares about it indirectly.

"Do you care about the rating ?" could be asked in other words: "Do you play for a win or you don't mind if you lose you just want to push your pieces all over the board ?"

How much importance do you give to ratings?  Not Much

How much--> to your FIDE(or any other official) rating you give? Some...but only to measure my progress

How much--> to your chess.com ratings(or in any other website)?  None

How -->is rating affecting your general chess goals,long-term and short-term? Obviously id liek to continue improving, but as long as i continue to play in tournaments im happy :-)

Do you change your goals or your behavior in order to improve your rating? My goals remain the same...have fun, improve. 

How high do you target to get your rating?How "higher" do you see yourself in 5 years according to your rating?  2012 goal is to reach USCF A player.  5 year goal to reach Master.

 Very intriguing question.  The obvious answer is we all want to improve, but at what point does the game cease being fun if the main goal is improvement? 

I started playing at 46...im 48 now and im a USCF B player.  My ultimate goal at my age is to make Master at some point.  I guess to answer your question honestly, i get more satisfaction, and enjoyment in the travel, and playing in tournaments then i do getting all worked up over my rating going up and down. 

I think a good example is a gentleman that lives in North Dakota.  Hes in his 70's and travels to Reno, Nevada twice a year for tournaments.  His USCF rating floor is 1600, his chess playing ability is considerably lower than that due to his age.  He probably has more fun than anyone i have ever seen at a tournament.  he is always last or near the very bottom of the B section standings, but doesnt care.  He plays for the fun of it, and to meet up with old friends.   

I'd much rather my rating be higher than lower, and I'd for sure much rather win than lose. But it's a game and it's supposed to be fun. If it stops being fun, I'll stop playing.

I do'nt care about my rating in the slghtest, but i hate losing on time.

I've been playing Chess Titans on Windows 7 for a year...then I realised you could play here with ratings etc.

So...it didn't bother me for a year or whatever...I didn't even know there were ratings.

And online chess...well I think it's easy for people to cheat...so what value is there in an online rating?

...and then you have 4 year olds who play the game like someone who has done the hard yards, learnt the nuances, committed themselves to dedicated study, the years of brutal lessons taught on the back of failure...

So...you know...you either have it...or you don't have it...

Hard work is a great thing...but natural talent...or a lucky brain is pretty nice too

In the "Upcoming Tournaments" there are very few "unrated" tournaments.  Players prefer to gamble a few rating point. 

I once challenged a friend to an unrated game and he wanted to know why I  wanted it to be unrated.  Probably I didn't want to gamble my hard earned rating points on a friendly game.  It ended up being a rated game, and I lost.

  Whether my rating has some sort of "indirect influence" on me I can't say, but, like I wrote earlier, first and foremost the quality of the game in terms of "did I make gross mistakes/blunders or not ?" is the most important for me.

If I lose a game just because my opponent understands some positional subtleties better that's fine with me. I would even go as far as to value this as an improvement on my part, despite of the rating points loss.

On the other hand, a rating gain just because my opponent blundered more than I, is meaningless.

By the way, when was the first rating system introduced ? How did the players prior to that measure their improvement ?

Whats this for/against count? I may be nitpicking but I dont think that's appropriate.

Like I said, my OTB rating is very important to me. I track it religiously. 

On-line ratings are meaningless because you have no idea of the quality of player you're facing or how seriously they're taking the game. So what if I'm rated 1400 and just took down a 1900. I don't know that it wasn't his 1000 rated kid playing the moves, or that he was having a few adult beverages while playing, or he was trying a new opening he'd never played or whatever. And if I'm 1900 and some 1400 takes me down I have no idea if I lost to a person or Rybka. 

There's every good reason to ignore on-line ratings. Online play isn't real chess. 

 

So...cheating...is it common do you think...online?

I wouldn't say it is "common". I haven't played alot on here, but I don't think I've ever encountered it. But it certainly will happen, whereas at the board its almost impossible to cheat.

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