>This whole argument is just ridiculous. Nobody is going to care about this,
This is simply not true.
In 1964, when I was 19 years old, I played in the California Intercollegiate Championship in San Luis Obispo in May.
I drew master John Blackstone in the first round. I had a winning position against Walter Cunningham, the eventual winner, in the second round but blundered and lost.
Then I got sick but refused to drop out. I lost all the rest of my games and all of my opponents were Class C players.
After that, in July and August, I went to Townsen, Maryland and played in the US Junior Championship. I defeated Sal Matera and was one of the tournament leaders but lost to John Meyer, the eventual winner.
I then played in the US Open in Boston where I had another good result, although I lost to Robin Ault.
I then played in the New Jersey Open over Labor Day weekend, losing only to George Kramer.
After all these excellent results, I calculated my rating at about 2100.
However, when my rating came out it was less than 2000.
I called the USCF and found out the reason:
The California Intercollegiate Championship in San Luis Obispo in May had been sent in late and rated after the US Junior, the US Open and the New Jersey Open. Therefore, the games I lost to class C players in May counted for more than the games in which I defeated masters and experts in August and September.
I was devastated and still have never recovered from this. Although I was the second most active player in the US in 1964 (John Blackstone was the most active) I virtually quit tournament chess and have only played sporadically ever since. I did not play in any more Swiss events in 1964 and played only in the Greater New York Open in 1965.
So, do not say that nobody is going to care about a minor difference in the rating.
Sam Sloan
[Event "California Intercollegiate Championship"] [Site "San Luis Obispo USA"] [Date "1964.05.??"] [Round "2"] [White "Cunningham, Walter"] [Black "Sloan, Sam"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "C34"] 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d6 4. Bc4 h6 5. h4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Bg4 7. d4 Nh5 8. Ne5 dxe5 9. Qxg4 Ng3 10. Bxf4 Nxh1 11. Bxe5 Nc6 12. O-O-O Qd7 13. Qf3 Bb4 14. Bxg7 Rg8 15. Bf6 Bxc3 16. Qxc3 Nf2 17. Rf1 Ng4 18. d5 Ne7 19. d6 Qxd6 20. Bxf7+ Kxf7 21. Be5+ Ke6 22. Bxd6 cxd6 23. Qb3+ d5 24. exd5+ Nxd5 25. Re1+ Kd6 26. Rd1 Nge3 27. Qxe3 Rac8 28. Qf4+ Kc5 29. Qd4+ 1-0