Once upon a time, I joined the 1v1 ladder as South Carolina froze over, last January. I turned out to be an idiot, as is evidenced by my 12% score in my first eight games.

I then left the 1v1 ladder, dazed by the knowledge that I was not as awesome as I had expected.

I took some time off, returned last month and since then I've had a bit more success. My rating has reflected that somewhat, although now it has stayed at a steady 1235 for the past seven games.

All I can say is, best wishes to those 3-4 hundred points above me. We'll meet in May, when my first ladder games expire . . . ;)

Random math of today: the average ELO rating of my opponents for this last month was 1131.5; my score, 15/18 or an 83.3%; theoretically, with the knowledge that a person rated 200 ELO higher is expected to win 3 out of four games, using the equation 1/ (1 + K^(ratings difference/400) ) I have determined that I am playing at a skill of roughly 1411. So, again, best wishes to those three to four hundred points above me. We'll likely meet more often, and I'll get beaten!

Kasparov with Carlsen for a profile picture talking about trying to get up from bottom of an ELO rated game... It's like a joke, within a joke, within a joke. :)

;) I'm glad someone got it!