Unhealthy Rating Focus

@fit_lyanna said in #10:
> There is a setting called 'Show player ratings' (preferences -> display). Click 'No', and you won't see ratings on lichess (yours and others).

It's not quite as easy, because your style of play can depend on your opponent's strength. I know it shouldn't, but you need to know for which opponent to focus more, otherwise playing a lot of games would get really exhausting quickly. It's good advice from you, I'm just saying, it does have a downside.

@BlockMyPremove said in #8:
> @Le_Patzer83 if you were born in 83, then you are likely to see rating erosion soon. You see, your fast twitch muscle fibers in your hand decline and you lose roughly 1% of your testosterone each year after 40. I suggest playing slower games to accommodate for your reduced mouse speed.

That and because I am a slow in general.

@CheerUpChess-Youtube said in #9:
> If you want to get a healthier relationship to your rating, follow those 3 points:
>
> 1) Improve the rest of your life, get happiness and joy out of other things too, for example petting your pet.
> 2) Constantly remind yourself that the rating reflects your current performance, NOT your overall ability!
> 3) Play slower time controls on bigger screens in zen mode or blindfolded, don't focus on ratings in the first place!
>
> Repeat those 3 things everyday for the next month and I promise you, you will care less about your rating plus it might eventually go up aswell, because you are more relaxed - I also wrote about this topic in my blog "Don't be so hard on yourself", I don't know if you have seen it, maybe it helps you or those who feel the same as you aswell.

I have other hobbies as well, which is mainly why I havent improved as much as I could have. Ah well.

@CheerUpChess-Youtube said in #11:
> It's not quite as easy, because your style of play can depend on your opponent's strength. I know it shouldn't, but you need to know for which opponent to focus more, otherwise playing a lot of games would get really exhausting quickly. It's good advice from you, I'm just saying, it does have a downside.

True, it has downsides but it also has upsides (not intimidated by the high ratings, and not being too relaxed with the low ratings, etc). I think it is worth trying it. It might be exactly what one is looking for.

@Le_Patzer83 said in #12:
> I have other hobbies as well, which is mainly why I havent improved as much as I could have. Ah well.

That is not what I meant. I meant things that are deeply connected to love, joy, connection. Not just "having other hobbies", but feeling really greatful and connected and without any need of recognition, desires or sorrows. Those "feeling free" moments that you may experience when having a romantic partner, a pet or standing at the top of a mountain with your hand stretched to the sky or playing soccer and touching the grass. Or meditating. Or praying. Those moments, the more you have of them, the more you will see rating for what it is - a number. Nothing more, nothing less. A number reflecting current performance.

Now if you have a lot of other hobbies or work or kids or some bad things in life to deal with, well it's clear that you can't perform as well as someone who does nothing else in his life (not meaning to insult anybody, of course there are just natural talents too). This is also the big secret (whoah surprise) why I gave up going for a master title. I decided to not care about it. Because the friends I had with master titles never had time to meet up somewhere, because of studying chess. No thank you, this is not for me. Why would you sigh? "Ah well" - isn't it great how rich your life is? And how you still managed to get one of the best players (better than 99% of the world) while having a rich life? I think it's an achievement! Think of it this way!

@CheerUpChess-Youtube said in #14:
> That is not what I meant. I meant things that are deeply connected to love, joy, connection. Not just "having other hobbies", but feeling really greatful and connected and without any need of recognition, desires or sorrows. Those "feeling free" moments that you may experience when having a romantic partner, a pet or standing at the top of a mountain with your hand stretched to the sky or playing soccer and touching the grass. Or meditating. Or praying. Those moments, the more you have of them, the more you will see rating for what it is - a number. Nothing more, nothing less. A number reflecting current performance.
>
> Now if you have a lot of other hobbies or work or kids or some bad things in life to deal with, well it's clear that you can't perform as well as someone who does nothing else in his life (not meaning to insult anybody, of course there are just natural talents too). This is also the big secret (whoah surprise) why I gave up going for a master title. I decided to not care about it. Because the friends I had with master titles never had time to meet up somewhere, because of studying chess. No thank you, this is not for me. Why would you sigh? "Ah well" - isn't it great how rich your life is? And how you still managed to get one of the best players (better than 99% of the world) while having a rich life? I think it's an achievement! Think of it this way!

Thanks man. I really appreciated this post.

@CheerUpChess-Youtube
«A number reflecting current performance.»

Thanks for a good and wise post.
Here’s Just my opinion about online rating as a number vs actual performance: In my opinion players online ratings up to around 2700, does not reflect current performance, because of the massive amount of smart-cheaters and selective bot-cheaters. I have seen what the «experts» say about this, that it is rare and that the detection-methods capture most cheaters. In my opinion that is far from reality. Allmost every day I experience opponents that play imature with errors in the opening/midlegame, but suddenly takes a pause, then plays very strong in total crash with their early style, and eventually outperform me, but where I might get lucky to win on time.

@Lars-trygve said in #16:
> @CheerUpChess-Youtube
> «A number reflecting current performance.»
>
> Thanks for a good and wise post.
> Here’s Just my opinion about online rating as a number vs actual performance: In my opinion players online ratings up to around 2700, does not reflect current performance, because of the massive amount of smart-cheaters and selective bot-cheaters. I have seen what the «experts» say about this, that it is rare and that the detection-methods capture most cheaters. In my opinion that is far from reality. Allmost every day I experience opponents that play imature with errors in the opening/midlegame, but suddenly takes a pause, then plays very strong in total crash with their early style, and eventually outperform me, but where I might get lucky to win on time.
If there are a massive amount as you say, why do you still play?

@BlockMyPremove said in #8:
> @Le_Patzer83 if you were born in 83, then you are likely to see rating erosion soon. You see, your fast twitch muscle fibers in your hand decline and you lose roughly 1% of your testosterone each year after 40. I suggest playing slower games to accommodate for your reduced mouse speed.

I was born in 83, and the erosion has begun!

In all honestly, I’ve played chess on and off since I was a teenager, with a few very long periods of little to no chess along the way. Probably pretty common. I only got back into it sometime in the summer of 2019 when people started randomly playing chess at a pool party i attended.

@Lars-trygve said in #16:
> @CheerUpChess-Youtube
> «A number reflecting current performance.»
>
> Thanks for a good and wise post.
> Here’s Just my opinion about online rating as a number vs actual performance: In my opinion players online ratings up to around 2700, does not reflect current performance, because of the massive amount of smart-cheaters and selective bot-cheaters. I have seen what the «experts» say about this, that it is rare and that the detection-methods capture most cheaters. In my opinion that is far from reality. Allmost every day I experience opponents that play imature with errors in the opening/midlegame, but suddenly takes a pause, then plays very strong in total crash with their early style, and eventually outperform me, but where I might get lucky to win on time.

Thanks for finding my post wise. This topic is not about cheaters however and if you find to have a better judgement about who cheats and who does not than 4000 rated engines and masters together this is a little crazy.

@Autofill said in #17:
> If there are a massive amount as you say, why do you still play?

Because, despite my suspicion about that, I find playing is quite fun, even rated games, but I will from now on probably throw the rated option in the litterbox, and instead play solely unrated.