Yea, once I figured out that the true object of the game was to be the last one able to move, and not be the one who captures the most pieces - it took away from the game and personally do not find the game of Alquerque too much fun
And actually how ratings work, especially before you get an established ratings, sometimes a win against a lower ranked player will make your rating go down (Mathimaticly) - but the system here is set up to not let your rating go down with a win.
Plus your rating may have went up. For example, the first time it might have been 1966.1, after the next win it might have been 1966.35, etc... etc...
So it is very possible that your rating will not move - and act very strange until you start getting many more games to get an established rating. :-)
Wow Fencer, you were not kidding about the boards being a little big. I feel sorry for those WebTV people (or anyone with small screens) - even on my big monitor at work which usually maked everything look small, this board is HUGH! :-)