I was looking at old ChessBase articles and saw the article where Short took on players and reached the top ranking.
It was not all smooth going, and there were occasional setbacks. But around game 380 Nigel at last got the hang of it. Most importantly he understood some of the important principles of server play, applicable to people who desperately need to move forward:
1. Never play when you are tired. Do not even think of it before you have had your shower, breakfast and coffee. Make sure your brain is fully booted before you log on the server.
2. Avoid playing against high-rated opponents who only have a "pawn" ranking. Some of them might be cheating with computers. And although they will be caught and punished by the server in the end, you stand to lose some unnecessary rating points against them.
3. If you lose a game to an obviously inferior player, do not immediately rechallenge him. Do not be led by a determination to punish him, teach him a lesson he will never forget, kill the patzer, rip off appendages, or anything along those lines. Take a deep breath, chat with someone for a while, resume play when you are absolutely sure you have calmed down.
4. Never play after you have drunk more than two glasses of red wine. Some people can do it, assume you are not one of them. You don't want to lost rating points with a silly grin on your face.
http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=1597