What was your rating?

When I started on chess.com, I quickly dropped into the 800's (I hadn't played in many years and I wasn't very good even when I had played before) - but eventually my rating started to climb, hit a plateau, then climb again, hit a plateau, etc. -  you just have to keep playing, it seems like a slow learning process for most people.    

In one of my first OTB tournaments I played a kid that was rated one hundred and something. Needless to say he went straight for the Scholar's mate :)...and lost.

 Natalia, the question was ---what was your rating when you began playing chess. No one begins playing chess at the 2159 level. You began playing and studying chess in 93'---what was your rating in 93', 94' or 95 ?

She did not have a FIDE rating. Perhaps an unofficial estimate she could calculate herself based on playing rated players.

http://www.chess.com/news/your-questions-answered-by-natalia-pogonina-6693

"Q7: What do you think of FIDE's decision to decrease the rating floor to 1000?

... when I got my first rating (2159 in year 1999) the floor was 2000"

When I started here I had 5-6 consecutive wins for 1500s but then fell quickly into the 1100s ,but recently I had a streak of 14 consecutive wins and ended with 1339,which is my top rating for a year or so, but now I'm 1260-70 because of losing on time (bad connection) or a 1 move mistake or a misguard that spelled disaster.

My first USCF rating was 694 way back in high school after my first tourn.

 Well, I would think there would have been elo ratings for Russian junior players. Elo ratings have been around forever. Fischer got his first elo rating when he was around 12 (1700's).

If she answered the question honestly I think her answered would have been around 1300 or 1400. I've said it once and I will say it again---nobody begins playing chess at the 2159 level---unless you are Capabblanca or Morphy, and, of course, they didnt either. 

Your question is kind of strange. Every person starts with an unofficial rating of - I'm not sure - 700, 900? In other words, when she learns how the pieces move. Depending on talent and other factors it tends to grow. Therefore, one can track progress over time (e.g., ask a person how strong of a player she was in a year after learning the rules, in two years, etc.). Or, like the OP did, inquire what the player's first ELO was. Mine was 2159. Some veteran Soviet masters who never had a FIDE elo got over 2400 as a starting rating. That's just a fact, while you are trying to make incorrect implications, i.e. associate initial rating with overall chess greatness or talent.

P.S. There are no official Russian elo ratings. We have grades - 4th grade, 3rd grade, 2nd grade, 1st grade, candidate master. Then titles - master and grandmaster of Russia. I was the 101st ever in Russia to become a grandmaster. Anyway, most competitive players have FIDE ratings by now, so there is no need to maintain a national rating list.

This player's first rating could be above 2400!

"The C tournament was won by Russian Sergey Gilev after he beat the leader unrated Dmitry Mikhailov, who nevertheless finished third with a 2435 performance. In second was Gleb Apryshka."

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=7922