I started to play chess last year. Last few months I started to study game a little bit more serious, so I am interested joining the chess club in my town. I think my estimated elo rating should be around 1450, and since I heard that the average club player has more then 1600, I am a little bit discouraged about the idea. Maybe is better to improve more on my own, because is a pretty good chess club, and it would be pretty emberassing to lose all the games, because my playing level is not very high. What is the probability to find some players of my level in a average chess club? Yeah, I know, my question and this tread is without a doubt pretty dumb, but I am very interested in your opinion. How did some of you reach so elevated ratings?
Originally posted by ivan2908 I started to play chess last year. Last few months I started to study game a little bit more serious, so I am interested joining the chess club in my town. I think my estimated elo rating should be around 1450, and since I heard that the average club player has more then 1600, I am a little bit discouraged about the idea. Maybe is better to improve more ...[text shortened]... y dumb, but I am very interested in your opinion. How did some of you reach so elevated ratings?
truth be told however -- you will probably learn much quicker by just joining now.
Originally posted by ivan2908 I started to play chess last year. Last few months I started to study game a little bit more serious, so I am interested joining the chess club in my town. I think my estimated elo rating should be around 1450, and since I heard that the average club player has more then 1600, I am a little bit discouraged about the idea. Maybe is better to improve more ...[text shortened]... y dumb, but I am very interested in your opinion. How did some of you reach so elevated ratings?
If the average rating of a club player is 1600, then in all likelihood at an average club there will be players way either side of that, including beginners. Btw, I doubt you'll lose all your games, but even if it doesn't go well, your self-consciousness will not help your game - you might get nervous about what your opponents think of your play and this will put you off, for instance. So if I was you I would go along, enjoy your games and play the best moves you can think of - and worry about nothing else besides that.
Originally posted by ivan2908 I started to play chess last year. Last few months I started to study game a little bit more serious, so I am interested joining the chess club in my town. I think my estimated elo rating should be around 1450, and since I heard that the average club player has more then 1600, I am a little bit discouraged about the idea. Maybe is better to improve more ...[text shortened]... y dumb, but I am very interested in your opinion. How did some of you reach so elevated ratings?
Absolutely not so.
The players at our club that want to play in the league are probably averaged about 1600 but half of them are probably 1400 to 1500.
Then there are the others, the majority, who just don't want to play competitive chess and they are rated from about 1200 upwards. The top players (who doesn't want to play for the club) is rated 2350 OTB but he plays in the 4NCL and is the single exception.
Am working on him to join RHP and our clan. Am confident his correspondance rating is +2500 as he has at least 1 GM norm to his name.
I have been part of 2 differnt chess clubs. The current one has me, 1 master, 3 class A players, 1 class C player, and 1 class F player who always show up (the F plays anywhere fom D-B level based on how good of a day he is having but doesn't want to pay to play in tournaments).
We also have 8 more people ranging from class F-A (evenly dispersed) who show up about 50% of the time.
So basically I am saying that 1600 may be average but there are people below that. Most importantly, you can learn a lot by playing the stronger people and reviewing your games with them afterwords. All the people at my club love to discuss the game immediatly after and have given me numerous good suggestions on what I missed. I believe that this is the easiest way to quickly improve your game.
Finally, I need to point out that most clubs want more members which means that they are far more likely to help you than ridicule you for poor play. Besides, isn't human interaction a lot more fun than a chess book or even online chess?
In the USCF, just over 17% are rated above 1600. See http://www.uschess.org/ratings/ratedist.php.
In my local club the players in the B class make up the bulk of the strongest active players, and several are young kids. We have one FM (inactive) one NM (away at college) and one expert (recently crowned the new city champion after defeating the FM in a four game match), and a handful of A players. In recent quads with 25 participants, I was the second highest rated player at 1618.
I'd say that 1400-1450 is closer to the average club player, but there are many clubs (especially in larger cities) where such players seem scarce.
Originally posted by bolshevik I'm not disputing your claim, but the Atticus website www.atticuschess.org.uk has been acclaimed as the best chess club website in Britain.
Not bad I'll give you that but how much did it cost you.
Just go along, pay the subs and enjoy. That's what I did. Clubs need members. In ten years time you'll be a regular and someone new will walk through the door and you'll be able to help them. There will be a few players who only like to play higher rated players but you'll also find some who are happy to play you and offer help and advice too. Maybe have a chat with the club secretary before you go. After a few visits you'll get to feel more comfortable with it, you'll meet some characters and there might be some teams/matches etc. that you can play in. You can also watch others play. If you find yourself sitting alone without an opponent just set up a board and work through some endgame or tactic exercises from a book. And, I'm sure you'd know this anyway but: don't ask for takebacks, speak in a whisper and be sure you SWITCH OFF YOUR MOBILE before you enter the room🙂
Chess clubs
01 Sep '06 12:21
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