FIDE 1270 or unrated?

Applying to College
1

I’m applying this year, and am looking towards colleges on the more selective side. My major EC is chess. I’ve been playing chess for 5 years now, have participated and finished high in various local tournaments, and as the captain of my school chess team led my school to 2nd in the national inter-school tournament for the last 3 years.

But where I live, in Qatar, there are no FIDE rated chess tournaments. I’ve participated in a few when I travelled back to my home in India, and got my FIDE rating 2 years ago. Unfortunately, it was a below 1600 tournament, and I got a rating of just 1280. Last year, I played in one tournament, lost 2 games. My rating is now 1273, dismal and trivial in competitive chess.My coach says I could easily be around 1600 or even 1700, but I don’t get a chance to play in a rated tournament here.

i do not want admissions officers to think I am such a weakly rated player, and not strong enough. But since having a rating is often better than being unrated, I do not know whether to include my rating and be seen weak, or not disclose my rating and may be appear not serious. Is 1270 > Unrated?

2

You should include the fact that you are rated. I doubt college adcoms will know what the actual ratings are. The important thing is that you are good enough to be rated. How many students in the world who play chess can say that? You are not going to be seen as weak, so cheer up:-)

3

@Lindagaf from what I remember, it doesn’t take much to have a FIDE rating, other than playing a certain number of games in sanctioned competition (don’t know the exact reqs but they can be looked up).

@BharadwajS I’d still mention it on college apps. Yes, 1270 isn’t a great rating, though I’m sure it’s better than that of the average person (majority of students here don’t play chess competitively). You can mention that you played in FIDE sanctioned events without mentioning your rating.