Playchess.com

Ok so i decided to get a sub over there about a week ago. The standard is really high! I'm struggling to maintain a 1500 rating! Anyone else find this? I haven't really played blitz for about a year or so so i'm definitely rusty, but i managed a 2150 grade on chess.com a couple of years ago. Is it just me or is this site populated by rather more serious chess players? Definitely enjoying myself, gonna have to start raising my game somehow. 😀

Any thoughts?

Originally posted by Marinkatomb
Ok so i decided to get a sub over there about a week ago. The standard is really high! I'm struggling to maintain a 1500 rating! Anyone else find this? I haven't really played blitz for about a year or so so i'm definitely rusty, but i managed a 2150 grade on chess.com a couple of years ago. Is it just me or is this site populated by rather more serious ...[text shortened]... Definitely enjoying myself, gonna have to start raising my game somehow. 😀

Any thoughts?

Yip. Playchess and ICC are where all the chess nuts hang out. Sites like RHP have a large casual player base.

Originally posted by hedonist
Yip. Playchess and ICC are where all the chess nuts hang out. Sites like RHP have a large casual player base.

I'm going to have to start playing when i'm fresh rather than 4am when i'm obviously sleepy. Do you play there? I joined so i could play tournaments but you need a 'knight' symbol and i'm still a pawn. I can't seem to find any information on how you become a knight though...? 😕

Originally posted by Marinkatomb
I'm going to have to start playing when i'm fresh rather than 4am when i'm obviously sleepy. Do you play there? I joined so i could play tournaments but you need a 'knight' symbol and i'm still a pawn. I can't seem to find any information on how you become a knight though...? 😕

It was along time ago when I played there. And not for long as I much preferred ICC. Playchess just didn't have(at the time) anything to rival chessfm on ICC. Tony Rook was the Alan Partridge of internet chess 😀

Originally posted by hedonist
It was along time ago when I played there. And not for long as I much preferred ICC. Playchess just didn't have(at the time) anything to rival chessfm on ICC. Tony Rook was the Alan Partridge of internet chess 😀

I've never played on ICC, it was just a bit too expensive for me. Do you still play there?

Originally posted by Marinkatomb
Ok so i decided to get a sub over there about a week ago. The standard is really high! I'm struggling to maintain a 1500 rating! Anyone else find this? I haven't really played blitz for about a year or so so i'm definitely rusty, but i managed a 2150 grade on chess.com a couple of years ago. Is it just me or is this site populated by rather more serious ...[text shortened]... Definitely enjoying myself, gonna have to start raising my game somehow. 😀

Any thoughts?

I haven't played anywhere on the web but RHP. I had been playing here for awhile to get the rust off my chess after a 30 year absence and thought I was ready for OTB chess again and joined a chess club. After having trouble with players rated much lower than myself, I mentioned it to the club organizer and he told me not to take anyone for granted because many of them played much higher than their rating indicated. He said some of these young kids started playing and got a low rating to begin with and they all found out about playing on chess.com.

They apparently learned a lot from playing on chess.com and now they can all give anyone a good game even though some of them are rated only 900 or 1000 USCF. So perhaps that is the answer. Young minds that learn fast. They could be playing on other sites, but he mentioned internet chess like chess.com

I struggle to get a blitz rating over 2000 on playchess.com (I only play 3-0). I managed it a few years ago but am now stuck in the 1900s. This seems to be quite common for aging OTB players like myself. If I took it even halfway seriously I'm pretty confident I could get my blitz rating up to 2100 or so, but probably not much higher.

I often spot RHP folk there and watching their games. Heinzkat is on most evenings (playing under a different name) and he's an excellent blitz player with some really impressive scalps under his belt. See his blog - http://heinzk.blogspot.co.uk/ - for some examples. A year or so ago he had a fantastic run in bullet chess, pushing his rating over 2700 and now he doesn't seem to play it anymore. korch is another irregular visitor.

Originally posted by Fat Lady
I struggle to get a blitz rating over 2000 on playchess.com (I only play 3-0). I managed it a few years ago but am now stuck in the 1900s. This seems to be quite common for aging OTB players like myself. If I took it even halfway seriously I'm pretty confident I could get my blitz rating up to 2100 or so, but probably not much higher.

I often spot RHP fo ...[text shortened]... ing over 2700 and now he doesn't seem to play it anymore. korch is another irregular visitor.

I got really into 1 minute a couple of years ago (before i lost the net for a year!) I was regularly beating 21/2200 players. Highest scalp to date was 2643 (and that was a mate, not a timeout). Now i'm on playchess i find 1500 players who can play like 1900 players on RHP. It's great to have access to such good opposition but my ego feels a little bruised that i'm not one of them! LOL 😀