Personal Bests

I like how such servers as playchess, ICC, and FICS track your best rating achieved. Rarely, I have achieved a best yet in more than one category on the same day, such as bullet and standard. On ICC, I have played bullet, blitz, 5 0, and standard. I have achieved my best rating there so far in all four categories three days in a row. I've never accomplished such a feat before.

Have the other players there suddenly become lousy?

well that feat would be quite easy if all your personal bests were prevoiusally 700 🙂

(if it was a gliko rating system it wouldn't be too hard ethier)


beating your best is darn hard though....well done, I guess

Gliko requires a certain level of activity for the best to be recognized, making it more difficult than standard Elo. ICC seems to use something along these lines, I think.

My ratings there are comparable to my rating here (a few lower, a few higher). All are slightly over 700. 😉

If you're improving upon your personal bests then you're obviously improving.

"Have the other players there suddenly become lousy?"
No. You've probably made a psychological step in your game or something else, and something "clicked".

We all go through slumps and high periods, and it's up to us to try to maintain the high period for as long as possible. I have had 2 large slumps, dipping from 1500 to 1300, and 1800-1650. (That's not on RHP, rather Internet servers where I usually play 60 5). Now, I have maintained around 1900-1950 for a while after jumping from 1700.

The high point of your rating is really how good you potentially are, the low point is how had you can become. That is, without changing your playing strength at all! You have to focus on what psychological factors are impacting you and you can pull your rating back up to your all time highs and keep it there until you increase your strength. When I went through my first slump I would play a ton of 15 0 games a day, and at first start winning a little. Then when I lose a few games, I played a lot more to try and regain the rating I lost. Eventually, my rating went downhill.

I began to discipline myself and eventually pulled out of it. In my second rating dip, I was watching TV and listening to music whenver I played and I made big blunders. I changed that too, and now I'm a much better player.

So you must be doing something right as well.

My highest published USCF rating was 2002, achieved in 1987 when I was 29-years-old.

Now I'm almost 50-years-old and I'm at my floor of 1800. Brain rot is doing it's thing!