English Chess Forum

A few questions about the process of members being able to check their grading results online and the timetable involved with that. Asking here, as it was said in the other thread that this subforum is a better place to ask.

I presume the system of grading check e-mails going out to ECF members (who have provided their e-mail address) has been discontinued? I vaguely remember something about the idea being that everyone can now check their results as they appear online and check they are correct. When is the best time to do this if:

(a) You want errors to be corrected before the July 2012 list is published?
(b) You want errors to be corrected before the post-July 2012 corrections are published?

I see that the list of events received for grading is here:

http://www.sccu.ndo.co.uk/events1112.htm

At the ECF grading help page:

http://www.ecfgrading.org.uk/help/

It says: "Players are advised to check that their current-season results (as published on this site) are correct. If results appear to be missing, remember that leagues will usually report only twice a year, and that congresses vary in promptness. (Check “Events Received for Grading”.) In the case of incorrect results, your first contact should normally be with the organisers of the event."

What I'm looking for is an indication of how much of a window is available is to check the final batch of results between them appearing on the site on an individual's grading results, and the new list being published. An example is here:

http://www.ecfgrading.org.uk/?ref=15528 ... 1676933033

That includes some of my games from the second half-year (some carried over from the first half-year due to late submissions), but not all (mainly the second half of TVL results and all the London League results - probably working their way through the system as we speak). Once the missing results are up there, I intend to double-check them, but not sure when is the best time to do this check. I was wondering if e-mail notifications will be sent out in place of the previous system of e-mailed list of grading results?

Hi Christopher - I'm sure Richard will correct/confirm, but as far as I know the new July grades will be released at the same time as the games/results processed from now until the deadline in July.

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:I presume the system of grading check e-mails going out to ECF members (who have provided their e-mail address) has been discontinued?

It has.

I vaguely remember something about the idea being that everyone can now check their results as they appear online and check they are correct. When is the best time to do this if:
(a) You want errors to be corrected before the July 2012 list is published?
(b) You want errors to be corrected before the post-July 2012 corrections are published?

Why on earth would anyone go for (b) when he can have (a)? I would say the best time to check is monthly, and get errors corrected as soon as possible. People are doing this. Don’t forget a correction can take some time to verify. Spare a thought for the Grading Administrator too. The last thing he wants is all the complaints coming in simultaneously at the end.

What I'm looking for is an indication of how much of a window is available is to check the final batch of results between them appearing on the site... and the new list being published.

There isn’t one. The July revision will publish the final month’s-worth of game results, and simultaneously the new July grades. You’ve had five months to check the earlier games, and errors in the final batch can be corrected in the ensuing month. Remember the July grading list is provisional. The August revision is usually considered definitive.

I was wondering if e-mail notifications will be sent out in place of the previous system of e-mailed list of grading results?

They will not.

Richard

Where/how does correcting the Teignmouth RapidPlay results from their current designation of Longplay fit into the timetable.

http://www.ecfgrading.org.uk/?ref=12148 ... 1676933033

E Michael White wrote:Where/how does correcting the Teignmouth RapidPlay results from their current designation of Longplay fit into the timetable.

I've just done it. It was a grader error which no one had mentioned till now, though the games were in the May revision.

There are two points I should make. One, the correction has been made in the central database but will not be reflected in the online one till the July revision comes out. The online database is a monthly snapshot of the central one.

Two, I don't think this Forum is a sensible vehicle for notifying corrections. My email address is not a secret, and if you don't know it I can be contacted direct via the online Contact facility. It's in the menu on the left, Michael. Lots of people use it. I can’t guarantee to spot Forum posts, promptly or at all. General comments are one thing, but I will not again respond to posts about specific detailed corrections. I may act on them if I see them, but I won’t reply. I haven't the time to run two separate correction services.

Richard Haddrell
Grading Administrator

Richard Haddrell wrote:

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:I presume the system of grading check e-mails going out to ECF members (who have provided their e-mail address) has been discontinued?

It has.

Thank-you. I couldn't find this stated clearly anywhere, so it is good not to look out for an e-mail that will not arrive.

Richard Haddrell wrote:

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: I vaguely remember something about the idea being that everyone can now check their results as they appear online and check they are correct. When is the best time to do this if:
(a) You want errors to be corrected before the July 2012 list is published?
(b) You want errors to be corrected before the post-July 2012 corrections are published?

Why on earth would anyone go for (b) when he can have (a)? I would say the best time to check is monthly, and get errors corrected as soon as possible. People are doing this. Don’t forget a correction can take some time to verify. Spare a thought for the Grading Administrator too. The last thing he wants is all the complaints coming in simultaneously at the end.

I was hoping for a period of checking between the publication of the last set of results and the publication of the final grades, but I can see now that this would delay the publication of the new grades (though it seems this was done in previous years?).

Am I right in thinking that the schedule is something like this:

- (i) Previous grading list is published
- (ii) New results added as they come in enabling ongoing checks
- (iii) Final set of results arrive too close to the publication of the new list to enable such checks
- (iv) New grading list is published
- (v) Any errors in the final set of results are spotted and corrected after new list is published
- (vi) Revised list is definitive one for forthcoming season

Is that about right? This seems different to the previous system, where members were e-mailed the results and asked to check they were right, and then the list was published. What I was hoping was to be able to check all my results (including the ones submitted at the end of the season, not just during the season) before the new list was published, but if that is not possible, so be it.

Richard Haddrell wrote:

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:What I'm looking for is an indication of how much of a window is available is to check the final batch of results between them appearing on the site... and the new list being published.

There isn’t one. The July revision will publish the final month’s-worth of game results, and simultaneously the new July grades. You’ve had five months to check the earlier games, and errors in the final batch can be corrected in the ensuing month. Remember the July grading list is provisional. The August revision is usually considered definitive.

Thank-you for clarifying that. When you refer to 'final month’s-worth of game results' that may include large batches of results from certain leagues going back over the whole season... Not everyone will realise they are meant to do two checks (one of the results published in the lead up to the new list, and one after the new list is provisionally published in July). Some will only do the latter check. It is useful to know that the July list is provisional and the August list is definitive.

Richard Haddrell wrote:

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:I was wondering if e-mail notifications will be sent out in place of the previous system of e-mailed list of grading results?

They will not.

Thank-you. I apologise for asking here (and taking time away from other matters), but none of this was stated anywhere clearly that I could find anywhere on any of the relevant webpages (either at the SCCU site or the ECF grading site). A published timetable each year might help. Like you (in a later post), I hope that people will be sensible enough to e-mail specific enquiries, and limit this forum to general enquiries.

Richard Haddrell wrote:....Two, I don't think this Forum is a sensible vehicle for notifying corrections. My email address is not a secret, and if you don't know it I can be contacted direct via the online Contact facility. It's in the menu on the left, Michael. Lots of people use it. I can’t guarantee to spot Forum posts, promptly or at all. General comments are one thing, but I will not again respond to posts about specific detailed corrections. I may act on them if I see them, but I won’t reply. I haven't the time to run two separate correction services.

Thank you for making the correction.

Although you say many people use the correction facility of your preference it cannot be working that well as no one else contacted you by any means for a tournament that took place nearly 3 months ago.

I dont think players will routinely check the online database; I only noticed by chance when looking for another reason. The way you are proposing to work will give a smaller window for correcting reults but no doubt you have thought this through.

Would someone mind sending me a PM with the appropriate email address for grading corrections? I assume it's Richard Haddrell, and I did try to look it up on ECF website, but the link activates a mail account on my mac which I haven't set up. So I can't get the address from there. Thanks in advance.

Christopher Kreuzer wrote: A published timetable each year might help. Like you (in a later post), I hope that people will be sensible enough to e-mail specific enquiries, and limit this forum to general enquiries.

This year is a bit different in that with six monthly grading, they've extended the last date from 31st May to 30th June. They've retained the existing publication date of the first weekend of the British ( which is early field this year). This means they've needed to cut a month off the production process. I suppose it's a calculated risk, that the July grades may be not as 100% correct as they've been in previous years. So they should be regarded as marginally more provisional than in previous years.

Whilst at one time, calculating and printing the grades had all the complexity and elapsed time of an RBS overnight banking run, I believe it's now straightforward once everyone is satisfied that all the data is present and correct. Graders will have been informed of a last possible date for submitting data or data corrections, which isn't greatly earlier than the expected release date to the grading website.

If you right click on the link in your browser there will be an option to 'save link as', 'copy e-mail address', 'save link' or similar. After clicking this option you should be able to paste the e-mail address into a word processor or e-mail software.

Thanks Justin