Author: Mike Byrne
Date: 17:37:19 05/31/04
Go up one level in this thread
On May 31, 2004 at 19:27:20, Jonathan Lee wrote:
>In the ICD chess software, the engines surpass 2750 and going over 2800 at 1.2
>GHZ?
>How high can the Swedish rating system, SSDF, can it go?
>
>FIDE's and USCF's highest are 3000.
>I learned later that ELO perhaps can go over 8000 (that would be somthing like
>50+ ply for ELO).
>Jonathan
Without knowledge of the rating population, the absolute value of any ELO is
valueless. The way SSDF is designed, a fixed pool of computer programs
generally running and rated on older hardware with the new blood coming in on
faster hardware with more modern programs - there is only one for the ratings to
go and that is up. They have bad case of what I call the "Bloodgood" effect
with the limited rating pool.
This phenomena has been also noted in very small pockets of human players that
do not play anyone else from the outside. Claude Bloodgood, a master level
player who became the second highest rated player in USCF while behind prison
bars , playing just other prisoners.
"Bloodgood continued to play offhand chess games within the prison walls
throughout the 1980’s, and by the early 1990’s decided to re-form the Virginia
Penitentiary (VAPEN)Chess club. This sparked yet another controversy that again
drew national chess attention to Bloodgood. During this time, Bloodgood held
tournaments inside of Powhatan Correctional Center. "
These tournaments uncovered a serious flaw in the United States Chess Federation
(USCF) rating system. It turned out that the USCF provisional ratings formulas
along with the ratings floors caused serious ratings inflation if a small group
played numerous games within a closed pool.
This is precisely what happened at the VAPEN chess club. As the VAPEN chess club
was, what might euphemistically be called, a "captive audience" with not much
else to do, Bloodgood and about twenty or so of his fellow inmates started
playing several rated games a day. This group had members that were playing
literally thousands of games a year. This caused their ratings to jump to
extremely high levels.
When it became obvious to Claude and VAPEN that the ratings formula was flawed,
they alerted the USCF. Unfortunately, the USCF could not correct the problem
quickly, and soon Claude Bloodgood was ranked second in the United States with a
rating of 2702. This triggered an outcry from some members of the United States
Chess Federation who alleged numerous unfair and untrue allegations that
Bloodgood was committing ratings fraud. This was, of course, not the case as
Bloodgood had alerted the USCF to the problem long before he ever reached the
stratospheric level of 2702. Bloodgood was also quick to admit to anyone who
would bother asking that he was over rated. His true ability at that time in his
life was probably high expert class to low master level. At his prime, in the
early 60’s, he was probably close to senior master strength."
This is a very similiar situation that SSDF faces. I call it the "Bloodgood"
effect. Small pool of players, thousnads of games, faster and faster and faster
hardware. Rating inflation is "built-in" by unintentional design.
Most of the better links that described in detail the life of Claude Bloodgood
are now gone. He was initially sentenced to death in Virginia for the murder of
his mother which the US Supreme Court later ruled unconstitutional. So he ended
serving life and just passed away in prison a few years ago. He liked to play
the "Grob opening".
[Event "Washington D.C."]
[Site "Washington D.C."]
[Date "1958.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "C Bloodgood"]
[Black "R Halley"]
[ECO "A00"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "70"]
1. g4 d5 2. Bg2 Bxg4 3. c4 Nf6 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. Qb3 c6 6. Qxb7 Nd7 7. Bxd5 cxd5
8. Qxd5 Nb6 9. Qg2 Rc8 10. Nc3 Bd7 11. b3 Bc6 12. Nf3 e6 13. Bb2 Bxf3 14. Qxf3
Be7 15. Ne4 O-O $2 {Black can't afford this, f6 was best.} 16. Rg1 f6 17. Qg4
Rf7 18. Qxe6 Qd7 19. Qxd7 Nxd7 20. Rc1 Rxc1+ 21. Bxc1 Ne5 22. Bb2 Bb4 23. a3 Ba5
24. b4 Bb6 25. h4 Nc4 26. Bxf6 Nxa3 27. h5 Nb5 28. h6 g6 29. Bg7 Rc7 30. Kd1 a5
31. Nf6+ Kf7 32. Nd5 Rb7 33. Nxb6 Rxb6 34. bxa5 Ra6 35. Rg5 1-0
Allegedly, his father was suspected of being a spy for for the Germans during
pre-WWII and settled in the US with false papers in 1931. It has been reported
that Claude's birth name birth name was Klaus Bluttgutt III . But there many
inconsistencies with these stories and they may not be true. While on death
row, the state paid for his postage , he played up to 2000 postal games at a
time while on death row. Once his death sentence was commuted to life, the
state no longer paid for his chess postal games.
During 1996 he climbed to second place on the American rating list (Gata Kamsky
being first) with a rating of 2742 just by playing other prisonsers. He played
thousands of rated game per year while in prison. This created quite a stir
within the US chess community and his rating was later adjusted downward.
While in prison, he wrote 3 chess books,The Tactical Grob on 1. g4, The
Blackburn-Hartlaub Gambit, on 1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 d6 and The Nimzovich Attack: The
Norfolk Gambits. Norfolk, Virginia is the site of a large US Naval base and is
where his father supposedly spied for the Germans.
If he was alive today, his last rating would still placed him 1st in the
Commmonwealth of Virginia.
http://www.64.com/uscf/ratings/?nm=bloodgood&r1=&r2=&q1=&q2=&st=&Find=Find
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