Why is my rating so low?

[Nick Grey]

This has probably been on before but never mind.

I had a good 5 months off chess to think about this.

In my case if someone on a neighbouring board is playing an interesting game I'm likely losing concentration on my comparatively boring game.

That's one of a number of failings. But I'll let others list their reasons before listing more...

[Gavin Strachan]

Rating is related to performance weirdly though it can be inaccurate due to numerous factors. There are numerous things you can do to improve but generally play more - slow play is best, study, join a chess club, use tools such as tactics trainer, and i avoid thinking too much on other people's games when i play. There are several good books/dvds that help with overall game play. I have only touched on the surface of what you can do and everyone learns differently. Playing too much quick chess never really helped me.