English Chess Forum

I know the basics, 40 point difference, +50, -50 and opponents score etc. But I'm a bit confused about the countbacks, especially now the lists are six monthly. I'm sure there used to be a page with this info on the ECF website, but it seems to have disappeared.

I assume, if you've played enough games in a year then your grade is based solely on this year. How many is enough? Is it 30 or 50? If you haven't played enough, then you get a lower quality grade, A,B,C etc, again I understand this and games up to either 30 or 50 are conted back.

But what If you've played 50 games in a six month period? Do your games from earlier in the year count?

If they do, and it is as I suspect, always a years games or counted back 50 whichever is greater. it calender years or a rolling "last 12 months"? Are January and July grades worked out exactly the same way? Or if you've played 50 games in 6 months is one of the grading periods limited to six months?

On the grading site, click on Help and then How ECF Grades are Calculated

Thank you, but it doesn't answer the question. Theres a hyperlink on this page,

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/ecf-grading-system/

to what used to be (I think) the page that did answer my question.

But it's a dead link.

Dewi Jones wrote:Thank you, but it doesn't answer the question. Theres a hyperlink on this page,

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/ecf-grading-system/

to what used to be (I think) the page that did answer my question.

But it's a dead link.

I've just clicked on the hyperlink and it appears to work for me. It takes me the correct web page.

Really? I don't mean the page I linked to but the link on it from the word 'here'

Dewi Jones wrote:Really? I don't mean the page I linked to but the link on it from the word 'here'

I think that you are trying to link to a page that has been replaced. Just do what Clive Blackburn suggests and you get the most up-to-date information.

Clive Blackburn wrote:On the grading site, click on Help and then How ECF Grades are Calculated

Dewi Jones wrote:Really? I don't mean the page I linked to but the link on it from the word 'here'

It has all just changed for next January. Regrettably, I have to say that the ECF forum is the most authoritative source at present.

In essence, all games for the last 12 months count, but the grades are still calculated twice yearly.
If you have less than 30 games in the last twelve months, complete previous 'periods' are added in until you have at least 30 games. This is limited to the last three years. By 'period' is meant either the previous six months or twelve months (I can't remember which and it's too late to go and look it up).

The changes are sensible, logical, consistent, simple and perfect. Lets hear it for Richard Haddrell!

Michael Farthing wrote: The changes are sensible, logical, consistent, simple and perfect. Lets hear it for Richard Haddrell!

Or Brian Valentine as the theory man.

The notion of an X grade based on six months only is scrapped. So those of us who got ever higher personal best grades by playing well for much of a six month period have been thwarted. Even those who never played more than thirty games in a six month period are affected as all games over a twelve month period will be equally counted.

Under the previous rules, if you played a consistent forty games a year spread evenly, the second ten would always be counted twice. Now all games are counted at least twice.

The other abolished problem is that it no longer matters what date is put on internal club events as long as they are in the correct six months. Whilst graders have usually been able to correctly date Congresses and League games, internal club and county events of the play when you like format have proved next to impossible to pin down the date of individual games.

The next and potentially more difficult task is to re-integrate the Under 18s to abolish or scale back the downright hack of treating them always as new players.

Michael Flatt wrote:

Dewi Jones wrote:Really? I don't mean the page I linked to but the link on it from the word 'here'

I think that you are trying to link to a page that has been replaced. Just do what Clive Blackburn suggests and you get the most up-to-date information.

Clive Blackburn wrote:On the grading site, click on Help and then How ECF Grades are Calculated

It has not technically been replaced, just the link is wrong.

The link points to http://www.englishchess.org.uk/ecfgradi ... lp.php#top , if you remove part of it, you get a link that works:-
http://www.ecfgrading.org.uk/new/help.php#top

This gives you the same page as far as I can see as Clive Blackburn's suggestion, but removes the useful left frame, so I would still use Clive's suggestion.

Thanks. I couldn't find it from Clive's suggestion. But that latest link is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks all.

I've not sure the page on the ECF website is fully updated. Some aspects of the language seem to be carried over. The official announcement appears to have been here:

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/Forum/vi ... f=31&t=177

The associated discussion there is relevant. That link from here to there was buried in 'July 2014 gradings out'. Really, it should have been cross-posted here under the same title to make it easy to find again. I will do that now.