New rating list is out

[Neill Cooper]

This is now happing so smoothly and efficiently that there is no longer the 'When will the list be out?' posts appearing here.

There have been some intersting changes including 'P ratings' after just one game which means many more players have grades. Indeed Wilson's School now has over 200 rated players, though only about 180 are present pupils of the school.

[J T Melsom]

Agreed and it looks as if more organisations are reporting league results more frequently.

[Reg Clucas]

I'm not convinced of the value of publishing 'P' ratings. There is a tendency for people to take them as gospel, despite a warning on the ECF rating website as to their unreliability. Our local leagues allow, even encourage, clubs to use their own estimated ratings for players who have P ratings.

[Roger de Coverly]

I'm not convinced of the value of publishing 'P' ratings.

It'a a start rating really, so progress against it can be measured. It's what online servers have been doing for twenty five years.

[David Williams]

I've just returned to chess after a four year gap. I expected to be a little rusty, at the very least. I have won three games against players rated between 200 and 400 points lower than my old grade converted. My rating has gone up by over 100 points. I now expect to be an IM by Easter.

[David Gilbert]

I've just returned to chess after a four year gap. I expected to be a little rusty, at the very least. I have won three games against players rated between 200 and 400 points lower than my old grade converted. My rating has gone up by over 100 points. I now expect to be an IM by Easter.

I'm guessing you have a P-rating? Incidentally a lot of people think P stands for "Provisional" but P is for “Partial”. So this is my understanding. If you had an active grade on the day of transition to the new system those records went forward, but if you didn’t or you'd played fewer than 5 games you were treated as a new player. P-ratings aren’t quite fake, but they shouldn’t be used in isolation of other evidence of playing strength. They’re not entirely meaningless but the Manager of Rating has previously described them as “flimsy”. So only your three games so far will count towards your current P-rating - you'll need at least seven more to join the ranks of As or Ks on way to hitting your IM title!

[Simon Rogers]

The new January 2023 grades have just come out on the ECF Grading Database.

[Joey Stewart]

I know it is helpful for new players and improving players to find their level faster but still it feels like the monthly ratings have significantly reduced the fanfare and excitement that used to be present for the yearly or even half yearly ratings.
Back in the day of once a year it was one of the greatest sources of entertainment to scan the lists and see the movement, but now they move up and down, often in a very volatile way due to lack of data (unless you you are really active in tournaments you are only realisrically going to be playing 5 or less games in a month)