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Subject: Re: Nimzo 99 is 4th???? What!!!? Reply from Hiarcs fan

Author: Eelco de Groot

Date: 08:13:41 12/01/99

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Hello, couldn't resist, it's me again Tina,

Your tables were much neater than my particle-lists were, Tina! I should have
used Tab-stops, I suppose.

What you said about Hiarcs and Tiger made me wonder last night. If the results
would have been not 16-26 but say 8-13, would the ratings then have been
different even though scoring percentages are the same? I'm now thinking they
could be if at first I thought not. Maybe somebody from the SSDF could correct
me.

My thinking was that if all of the results against different computers were in
perfect agreement it wouldn't matter how many games were actually played. Only
the error margins would be different and there would be no skewness of the
curves. But as Jan Hein Donner, a Dutch Grandmaster, once said: "Chess is just a
game of chance".  So there will be differences and especially with computers it
is often like they are playing a Paper, Rock and Scissors game. A beats B, B
beats C and C tears A to shreds again.
Then if the results had been 8-13 against Tigger, Hiarcs rating would go down as
compared with better rating-results against other computers and you would get a
skewness in error margins too. Tigers rating goes up but I am assuming here that
the average of ratings for the older platforms doesn't change, that that acts as
a reference? Not really sure what method they use. So, skewed error margins
would be an indication that not all the results were in perfect agreement,
things could well change if more games were played because it could have been a
chance effect. Else it could have been that Tiger is sort of an "Angstgegner"
for Hiarcs. Then, after a  8-13 result for instance the SSDF could have decided
to play some more games, to see if Hiarcs could pull back. And if it didn't its
rating would go down again even if the percentage against Tiger didn't change.

Bottomline: I hate to admit it but think you are right again, Tina!
Yes, I will finally shut up now, things keep piling up and I have to get at
least some of them done.


But eh, about Playing, your Games are Important! Please Have Fun...
Just had to tell you that..

Best regards, Eelco



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