Should You Care About Your Rating?

The perfect video after losing 40 rating and questioning my existence

It took me a long time to understand that a short term rating change does not at all reflect a change in my ability. The rating and my ability are like a walk in the forest with a dog. Sometimes the dog will be half a mile ahead, sometimes half a mile behind, and sometimes it will be completely off track. But nobody would take your dog to assess whether you are progressing with your walk through the forest. The only difference in chess is that everybody can see the dog, but the man walking is invisible.

Chess is a psychologically hard game. I keep seeing people new to the game trying to find ways to avoid stressing themselves out (and quite often these people avoid playing rated games... to not be disappointed, I suppose). But I think one just has to embrace the stress. And once you do, you realize stress stamina/management is actually one of the key skills chess helps cultivate.

It's important to maintain perspective. I don't think of it so much as a reflection of my chess strength but as a direct numerical index of my inherent value as a human being.

For what its worth, I found it excruciatingly slow to improve past the beginner level but I think that I didn't appreciate just how difficult chess is especially when learning without a coach. Now, as an advanced player, I only worry about realistic progression meaning I know it takes 6+ months (with a lot of hard work) to make big jumps in rating. If I reach a new goal and my rating drops temporarily I don't worry too much as I know I can reach my peak again. However, one thing to keep in mind is that the game gets increasingly difficult as you move up the ranks. If you plan on earning a title it might be a good idea to hire a coach once you get past the beginner levels. Just keep in mind that a good chess coach won't come cheap.

Great points. People get way too wrapped up in rating to the point the game is no longer fun. When you consider that the vast majority of us are not chess professionals and never will be, it's absurd to have a hobby--regardless of how much time you put into it--that makes you miserable. A while back I realized I did a lot of chessable and puzzles but stopped playing games because I was afraid to drop below a milestone I hit. Ridiculous. And I've played people OTB (I'm only 1100 USCF) that I feared were about to hyperventilate they were so nervous. I think its normal to be competitive and want to improve, but when it obscures the reason we even started playing chess it become pointless.

“Grateful for every loss” is a point I doubt I’ll ever reach 🤣

Thanks for caring kostya! We appreciate the love!

Every time I hear you talk about learning from your losses, I think about the quote from Capablanca (A Chess Primer, page 73): Never hesitate to make a move for fear of losing. Whenever you think a move is good go ahead and make it. Experience is the best teacher. Bear in mind that you may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win. You will have to lose hundreds of games before becoming a good player.

I actually care about my rating: in my family, the purpose of teaching Chess Is to surpass One day your menthor; my menthor was my father, he was around 18-1900... My goal(for now) Is to Reach that rating. ( Now i'm around 1650)

Great advice from IM Kostya. Especially about interest in the game, and learning from losing a game. Great video.

I was thinking about how 12 yr old kid became GM but I'm 23 yrs stuck at 1400. I was feeling bad about myself. Thanks for making this video

This was a helpful video. I don't care about my rating, but I know others do, and they judge one accordingly... and that is a smidge bothersome. I know I will have to get over that. It would be interesting to see the other sensei's views on chess, or rather their philosophy.

Thanks Kostya, another great video!

Thank you for this..makes me letting go of worry about my rating easier as I fall into the under 3 years of chess category and want to focus on enjoying and learning the game.

I like the point that rating is more fluent than class. Bear in mind that, in order to move up into the next class, you need to be strong enough to beat players two classes higher in at least 1 out of 4 games against them. So, rather than focusing on your rating, focus on who you need to be able to beat – play up in tournaments when possible.

Great video. I have fallen into this after a huge improvement from like 1200-1500 in two months and I've felt frustrated that I havent been able to improve much since. I got stuck between 1450-1500. My rating was a measure of improvement for me and it felt like my efforts weren't working anymore. I'm up to 1530 now and also felt like I got lucky wins lol. Video is spot on.

Worrying about rating more often than not just sucks all the joy out of playing.

I remember playing someone 100 points above me, then a couple days later, we had switched ratings. Sometimes it feels cliche to say "ratings are just a number" but this example brought that home for me. I know I legitimately enjoy seeing what I did wrong, against someone rated 200 points lower or higher than me. Also, I've found I've blown a few games where I was close to a new all-time high, because I was thinking about the rating. That's another reminder to put ratings aside during the game if at all possible.

Play Long Games. Play atmost 1 Game 1Day. Analyse the Game. Daily 10 puzzles . 1 Chess lesson has helped me keep my sanity