Rating is just a number

Well, If @opperwezen can post a blog then there is no reason why I can't (typically, my good friend @Zaraza had alerted me to the possibility of so doing about as soon as it existed).

I should begin by saying that I am not now, nor have I ever claimed to be a good player. Anything I can impart is something that I have learned the hard way, but as a friend of truth I never shirk from the task of dispelling myths, however much they resemble/become conventional wisdom.

You know what? let's make this pseudo-FAQs (I didn't plan this, I just write as the mood takes me)

Q: My rating has improved, does that mean I am getting better?
A: Perhaps, but it's not a given. You gain rating by winning games, but how did you win: did your opponent leave the game, have a shakier connection than yours, fall for a sucker punch anti-pre-move trick? Or did you outplay your opponent from go to whoa?

Q: I lost to someone lower rated, that means I suck...does it not?
A: Perhaps, but it could have been a sandbagger/smurf/duplicate account of someone who knows you, which is an advantage if you don't know that you know them. Or it could simply be that they know a line that you don't, or that one of the above scenarios applies.

Q: The engine said I was winning until I did the wrong thing on move 25. How the heck am I supposed to remember every possible move to that depth?
A: You aren't, of course. There are opening lines that can be memorised, and motifs that can be applied at different times in the game (for instance, in standard it is generally a good idea to get your rook to the 2nd/7th rank, whichever is further, if you can do so safely. And it is generally a bad idea to put a knight on the edge of the board. In both cases, the operative word is 'generally'). But there is a knack to the middlegame which must be developed through experience. If you learn to look at a board after the opening and say to yourself, 'oh hang on, what if I do that? I would expect him to do this, allowing me to do the other!" then you are going to improve. 960 is supposed to be good for developing this "boardsight".

Well, there you go. Three questions, three answers. Three wishes. Three...is the magic number.

We'll see if anyone reads this or likes it and if so I might do more.