Ratings is the sole reason we play

My OTB rating is known?

For that matter, what's your OTB rating?

Wow, a tick below IM. That's impressive. If that were true, I wouldn't have lost our second game then! (-:

Course Rh3 was a great move and I'll probably miss it even after I get my FM title.

Generally, players that are not rated are below my skill level at chess. Therefore I joined this site to play people near my own level and above. Ratings are nice. They are a measurement of a person's progress. However, I love chess itself...not the rating I get from chess.

I'm not always adequate at articulating my thoughts, and I appologize for that.  Please understand that I have never been a person who is completely on one side or another in 98% of all issues.  I will always be able to put my self in another person's perspective and can understand what they are saying. 

Nothing that has been said on either side, promoting ratings, or being against it  is wrong.  This is a very open ended topic.  Everyone plays with different purposes, some casual some serious.  A part of me knows ratings are irrelevant in certain situations, but I have to repeat that still ratings are why we play one reason or another.

huh?

Gonnosuke, richie and oprah, cobblepot...  you honestly don't know one another's otb ratings?  how coquettish.

 It sounds contradictive, but what I'm saying is ratings is what we use for improvement, satisfaction, competition, and drive.  I know why people think it's not always important, but ratings is the root that keeps everything fun and competitive with people. 

I would think with you being an athlete, you would understand the aspect of competition.

 You got a good poker mentality, maybe you are in the wrong game, I am telling you, switch to poker, you will not regret it, you could make millions and millions!

 Make millions, lose millions & more.  =)

 lol!  No, but listen, there are no friendly games in poker, in chess , yes, not so in poker you'd be good at it, trust me...

Sorry I don't understand exactly what you are saying, but I haven't told anybody at chess.com who I am or what my rating is, so very few people here, just my IRL friends, know what my rating is. I can tell you that it is in the 2200-2250 range for both USCF and FIDE though, if that helps.

I guess that both Richie and Gonnosuke have a USCF rating in the range of 2100-2250.

I will answer your post with something Bruce Lee said about belts in martial arts.  Belts serve one purpose...to hold your pants up. 

A chess rating is like a belt in martial arts.  It doesn't define you and who you are.  Its a measure of improvement nothing more. 

While as in chess just as in other things in life.  Some people do things purely for the recognition, while others do them purely for the enjoyment.

Having read some of your other posts sockettome...its obvious that you are the resident troll.  So I'm not going to get in into anything else regarding this.  I have stated my opinion and for me personally i play purely for the enjoyment. 

 In chess, amongst all games, there will always be different mentalities.  My view of ratings applies to everyone.  The truth is people won't admit they play with the number looking at their face every time they log in.  Ratings shouldn't dominate their lives, but what competitor of any sort would not care about their ratings or progress.  It is so simple, but people love to fight fear of potential failure.  They are scared that when their ratings drop they won't feel as confidant. 

Me, I don't care if my rating drops 200 points.  The reason is because THAT is part of the game.  You will gain, you will surely lose.    ; )

My teacher, a very wise man, told me to focus on your playing strength, and not your rating. I've had a tournament once where in the first round I lost to a slightly higher rated player, but I knew that I had played well, that I had calculated variations well and seen the board well. All the stuff that I wanted to do, I did (well except win haha), including deciding what my opponent's plan would be, what my plan would be, how I should change my plan given what my opponent's plan was, etc.

I had a great tournament.

He was very fond of saying that if you increase your playing strength, then the rating increase would follow naturally. He is a 2600+ rated GM.

 That is a very cool thing; however, there is nothing wrong about trying to increase ratings, but declining games against much lower ranked opponents in anticipation it might hurt your ratings in potentially detromential to your psyche.  I am a patzer, but that is the way I see it. 

Thanks for your input,

socket

He would probably say that you should have a target type of person which you want to play against. If you are rated 1500, then he might say you should target people rated 1500-1900, which might indicate not playing against people outside of that rating range.

Just my $0.02

2022 and it has been ages.

Numbers control our interest here on chess.com.  I am still waiting to see something that negates my point.  Yes, we play for enjoyment, but I must admit you play stiffer with 5 losses under your belt in a row.  When you win, you play better, when you lose a few in a row you play more tight. 

"So with that said, if you think your putting a halo over your head because you think ratings don't matter.... I think your just trying to pad and soften the blow of lost rating points." 

This sounds like nothing but you attempting to justify your reason for playing chess, and trying to convince yourself at the same time. 

If you play solely for points then that's fine.  My rating doesn't define who or what i am.  If my rating goes up it doesn't make me a better person, just as if my rating going down doest make me a worse person. 

Contrary to what you want to believe, there are some of us that play solely for the enjoyment of the game.

Absolutely CPawn.  We play for the enjoyment, most definatly.  I purposely created this discussion that we play for ratings too.  This comment can be perceived in multi faceted ways, but what I was saying is that it comes down to ratings.  Your enjoyment would be more fullfilled with increased ratings, something to shoot for, etc.  Your enjoyment would MOST LIKELY decrease if you lost 20 games in a row here.  For instance, my enjoyment is that I shoot for a goal at chess.com.  I aim to be 100 points higher each month and gives me something fun to compete with. 

Your comment was fully understood and makes complete sense to me.  But your comment comes from the heart and mine from the head...