Advice for True Beginners

Originally posted by Eladar
The question you answered wasn't the question I was asking, or intending to ask. What I meant to ask was how good a person is when the person first picks up the pieces. When the person is just learning to play the game, how good is that person?

Sorry about that.

I'm not sure how you can really tell when it's that early in their development.

Originally posted by SwissGambit
I'm not sure how you can really tell when it's that early in their development.

Easy, have them play and see how they do! Chances are, they are pretty bad. As they develop, they'll get better.

Do you think that a person's rating is pretty much static? If so I can see what you are saying. I believe that most people spends many years playing before they top out and reach their ulitmate rating.

True beginners (the topic of this thread) are far from topping out (hopefully).

Originally posted by Eladar
Easy, have them play and see how they do! Chances are, they are pretty bad. As they develop, they'll get better.

Do you think that a person's rating is pretty much static? If so I can see what you are saying. I believe that most people spends many years playing before they top out and reach their ulitmate rating.

True beginners (the topic of this thread) are far from topping out (hopefully).

Some people never really get beyond just learning the moves. These are the strictly casual players; chess is just another board game to them. They probably don't know about castling and en passant. They're lucky if they remember how the horsey moves. So they're topped out on day one.

Players who take more risks and play more games may have a rating that fluctuates violently even after they are not getting any better. But if you average it out over time, you will see they're really about the same strength the whole time. Rating can't always tell the whole story. But if someone goes from 1400 to 2000 in one year, that's a pretty good indicator that they're getting better.

Originally posted by SwissGambit
Some people never really get beyond just learning the moves. These are the strictly casual players; chess is just another board game to them. They probably don't know about castling and en passant. They're lucky if they remember how the horsey moves. So they're topped out on day one.

Players who take more risks and play more games may have a rating th ...[text shortened]... rom 1400 to 2000 in one year, that's a pretty good indicator that they're getting better.

I totally agree. Of course a sharp increase in rating over a year also might indicate an upgrade in computer for his fritz program. 😀