2010-2011 Grades?

[Alex Holowczak]

Is it anticipated that the new grades will be out before the start of the British?

Unless anything crazy happens between now and then, they'll be out next weekend. In other words, exactly the same time as last year.

The graders have the grades in their possession at the moment, to check there have been no local cock-ups. Two I found, with names made up:
(1) A player was in the form J Smith, and then straight underneath it there was a John Smith. John Smith played in a congress in Warwickshire in February with the club Rugby, and J Smith played 1 league game for Rugby, which would have been graded in April/May. The problem is very likely to be a grader who hasn't updated his masterlist when Richard sends out updates through the season, so the grader didn't see that John Smith already existed.
(2) A player was in the form Smith John, as well as John Smith. This was probably caused by a grader in a hurry, who instead of writing Smith, John, wrote Smith John. I can't remember if the checker rejects it without a comma. If it does, then it's likely he just got the name back-to-front in a hurry. The checker probably wouldn't realise that he existed with his name the other way around. I don't know, I've not yet made that mistake...

Graders all over the country should be doing the same sort of thing, in order to make sure there are no mistakes.

[Nicky Chorley]

Unless anything crazy happens between now and then, they'll be out next weekend. In other words, exactly the same time as last year.

Cool. I'm looking forward to see my first grade. I should have played enough games for both a standard and rapid grade .

[Nicky Chorley]

I think mine should work out at about 15 for standard and possibly 30ish for rapid. Hopefully next season, it'll be better.

[Nicky Chorley]

I would like to think so too, but I did lose all my games in the Coventry league and haven't done much better in rapid tournaments .

[Christopher Kreuzer]

Is there a minimum number or percentage of wins or draws needed to get an initial grade under the ECF system? I don't want to lower Nicky's hopes, but I'm not sure whether it is possible to get a grade by losing all or most of your games. Certainly if an ungraded player loses 10 games to players graded 200 and another ungraded player loses 10 games to players graded 100, I don't see how either can be assigned an initial grade that is meaningful. FWIW, an iteration scheme is used that includes results against other ungraded players. See here: http://grading.bcfservices.org.uk/help.php

[Sean Hewitt]

Is there a minimum number or percentage of wins or draws needed to get an initial grade under the ECF system? I don't want to lower Nicky's hopes, but I'm not sure whether it is possible to get a grade by losing all or most of your games. Certainly if an ungraded player loses 10 games to players graded 200 and another ungraded player loses 10 games to players graded 100, I don't see how either can be assigned an initial grade that is meaningful. FWIW, an iteration scheme is used that includes results against other ungraded players. See here: http://grading.bcfservices.org.uk/help.php

Unlike FIDE, you can get an ECF grade having scored 0 in your games. I agree with Christopher that such a grade is not very meaningful as you cannot assess the actual strength of the player but hey ho.

[Roger de Coverly]

FWIW, an iteration scheme is used that includes results against other ungraded players. See here: http://grading.bcfservices.org.uk/help.php

The iteration scheme has been suspected of delivering misleading results for players close to 100% or close to 0%. Without detailed results for the players with too high a grade or too low a grade, it's been difficult to prove one way or the other. Some of the results which emerged during the 2009 exercise were regarded at the time as seriously suspect.

[Stewart Reuben]

Nicky Chorley. I suspect you would be well-served trying the www.certificateofmerit.org.uk quiz. It's fun and good practise. Once you have tried the free test, then try level 2.
Stewart Reuben

[Nicky Chorley]

Thanks for that. I'll have a go at it when I've got some spare time!

[E Michael White]

Unlike FIDE, you can get an ECF grade having scored 0 in your games. I agree with Christopher that such a grade is not very meaningful as you cannot assess the actual strength of the player but hey ho.

Applying the Morecambe-Previn principle and losing to the right opponents at the right time, it is possible to become the highest rated player on the ECF grading list by playing only 9 games and losing them all. Rating systems contain anomalous possibilities and the change to the proposed twice yearly last 30 games system will also bring a new set of anomalies.

[Sean Hewitt]

Applying the Morecambe-Previn principle and losing to the right opponents at the right time, it is possible to become the highest rated player on the ECF grading list by playing only 9 games and losing them all.

You tease. Do tell how a player can get a grade above 296 by losing all nine games.

[Paul Cooksey]

Applying the Morecambe-Previn principle and losing to the right opponents at the right time, it is possible to become the highest rated player on the ECF grading list by playing only 9 games and losing them all.

You tease. Do tell how a player can get a grade above 296 by losing all nine games.

I'm intrigued too, here is my guess:
I need a 4NCL weekend, 2 Russain GMs who have never played an ECF game, a completely healthy Mickey Adams and my neighbours cat.

The first Russian GM plays Adams and win. (He has to be healthy, because I read an aricle where he said he played better with a mild ilness). The second Russian GM beats the first one. I then set up a 9 game match between the winning GM and my neighbours cat. The GM wins 9-0 (all on time probably, I guess we all know the Geller joke).

Does the iteration for ungraded players give the GM: Adams+100, and the cat: Adams+100-50?

[Christopher Kreuzer]

I then set up a 9 game match between the winning GM and my neighbours cat. The GM wins 9-0 (all on time probably, I guess we all know the Geller joke).

The iteration scheme you set up there sounds right (though you neglected to say what grade both ungraded Russian GMs would end up with and is it the second Russian GM that plays the cat or the first one?). But I've not heard this Geller joke. First, is it Yefim Geller or Uri Geller? Second, is this a Schroedinger-type cat? Third, how does the cat do against another neighbour's dog?

[timlawson]

Does the cat lose one life for each lost game? Sounds pretty harsh if so.

[John Hickman]

The first Russian GM plays Adams and win. (He has to be healthy, because I read an aricle where he said he played better with a mild ilness). The second Russian GM beats the first one. I then set up a 9 game match between the winning GM and my neighbours cat. The GM wins 9-0 (all on time probably, I guess we all know the Geller joke).

Make sure your second GM isn't carrying a mobile phone, otherwise your neighbour's cat could score an unanticipated victory

Getting it to sign the score sheet might be a problem too