Retaining rating.

A month or two ago I was at 250+ games, which were far too many to give sufficient focus to each game - maybe a minutes thought before each move with no consideration of what has gone before or what my opponent is thinking. Not good chess at all.

I am now down into the 150s and still I find that there are too many games, so I am playing down to around 50 games, where I feel I will be comfortable.

Can playing a lot of games help your rating? Yes, at the start to an extent. I used to play chess as a kid, but didnt play for 20 years or so, so when I joined RHP I was basically a novice again. I have played a lot of games, have watched good players play and tried to memorise as many moves as possible. I do not use a database, or any books etc. I dont even play against a computer package of any kind. But with the massive gameload I have improved slowly my own knowledge of chess.

Now I believe that I am getting to the stage where I need to stop with the highs and lows of my rating flux, focus on a few openings and analyse better. I can note down my gut instinct moves and then research them and other moves. Hopefully I can reach 1500 by the end of August and be consistantly above 1400. Small steps!

With lots of games, I recommend that you create folders for each move time (i.e. 1, 3, 7, 21 day moves) so that when you only have a brief time online you can prioritise the urgent games.

Just my 2p worth!

Surtism

Originally posted by surtism
A month or two ago I was at 250+ games, which were far too many to give sufficient focus to each game - maybe a minutes thought before each move with no consideration of what has gone before or what my opponent is thinking. Not good chess at all.

I am now down into the 150s and still I find that there are too many games, so I am playing down to around 50 ...[text shortened]... ly have a brief time online you can prioritise the urgent games.

Just my 2p worth!

Surtism