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Subject: Re: Rating system flawed for online play?

Author: Angrim

Date: 22:04:26 06/25/04

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On June 24, 2004 at 20:08:17, Vincent Diepeveen wrote:

>Hello,
>
>Perhaps open a discussion.
>
>I played a few games at FICS now and again see the same thing. If you play much
>lower rated (say 200-700 points), then you lose points simply. If you play equal
>or higher rated then you win rating.
>
>A lot of higher rated players are non stop declining to play games at 3 0. It is
>not nice. But it does bring them points.
>
>What to do to fix this problem other than avoid certain pairings?

I have seen the same effect, but I don't see a way to fix it with the
rating system.  This effect is caused by the fact that humans don't play
perfectly consistently, and at speed chess this is exagerated a lot.
When I am playing suicide chess at 3 0, roughly every third game I play a
move that loses trivially, a move so bad that even a 1600 level player can
see the win against it if they think a moment.  If I am playing someone
rated higher than me, loseing 1/3 of the games due to error doesn't
affect the overall result much, and I can benefit from their occasional
errors the other 2/3 of the games, so I gain points.
If I am playing a much lower rated player though, roughly half of these
blunders actually get noticed(they are moveing too fast) so I lose 1/6
of the games and drop in rating steadily.

Best seems to be to avoid playing people(rated) who are more than 300
points difference in rating from you.  The most interesting games are
usually against people near your own skill level anyway.

Angrim



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